How to Overcome the Holiday Kitchen Rush

The holidays tend to make even the most well equipped kitchen feel a little tight with all the cooking, family meals, holiday meals, treats, dinner parties you are taking a dish to, well, the list goes on from there. Many people love the holidays but wish for just a bit more time or a few devices to save a bit of time. So here's the rundown on a few items that we love to use during the holiday rush hours:

Pressure Cookers: Pressure cookers can cook up side dishes or even main courses in a snap. They cook foods up to 10 times faster than traditional cooking methods.

Roasting Pans: Roasting pans can make cooking turkeys and other dishes a little less time consuming, particularly if you get one that has a self basting cover.

Toaster Ovens: These can come in handy for smaller items that need to be baked or for reheating food when the oven is too full to hold another thing.

Electric Knives: Electric knives can make carving a turkey or slicing a ham quick and easy work.

What is your favorite method to save time in the kitchen throughout the holidays?

How to Convert Recipes to Pressure Cooker

Pressure cookers are the microwaves of the past. But that doesn't mean we can't use them now to speed up our cooking process. If you are reading this chances are you own a Pressure Cooker, or are at least debating purchasing one.

So you've read the instructions, tried out the recipes that come with the cooker, found pressure cooker recipe lists, and are now itching to try something new or at least something you know you love, but haven't tried to make in a pressure cooker.

To convert your recipe to a pressure cooker recipe you will do best if you have a little experience with the method of pressure cooking. But to help you out here are a few basic rules that most people follow in their recipe testing:

• Decrease the length of cooking time for a conventional recipe by 2/3.
• Adjust the liquid as there is minimal evaporation of liquid from a pressure cooker. Typically, you will want to have about 1/2 cup more liquid in the pot that you desire in your finished food product.
• There MUST ALWAYS be water or some other liquid in a pressure cooker for the steam that is necessary to cook.

Keep in mind that converting recipes is a trial and error method. Have fun in your food creations!