When I break it down I work in a kitchen. It’s an ice cream production company, but when you take out the commercial ice cream machine and -30 degree freezer I cook and I clean. I spend a lot of time on the job and when it comes to getting dinner on the table I’m keen to using real tools that make my life a bit easier without sacrificing our family requirement of real honest food for dinner. I have two tools in my arsenal to combat the short time for our daily family time, our pressure cooker and slow cooker. Both devices convert time, energy, and ingredients into a tender and flavorful family meal with ease.

Our slow cooker, which also does triple duty as a rice cooker, steamer, and warmer, was purchased back in my single days and has to be at least 10 years old. It has seen it’s fair share of pot roasts and chicken stews. In the morning, start with some thought, common ingredients and spices, and usually an inexpensive piece of meat and by dinner time you’ll have a complete meal with little effort. It’s the perfect appliance in the modern urban world.

About three years ago my mother gave us our pressure cooker. It has lost is shinny stainless steel exterior but it has given us countless tender moments in less than an hour often times with similar slow cooker results. For me when I don’t have time to plan out dinner in the morning, the pressure cooker gives me a chance to compose a dish during the day. On my way home from work, I stop by the grocery store to get whatever I need and before I get settled in I have the pressure cooker on the stove top putting in work. I can’t doze off for too long because once the time is up – depending on the dish anywhere from 20 to 60 minutes we are ready to eat.

I’ll have to dig in my crate to share with you some of my recipes for these real and useful time saving cooking tools. More to come…