Pressure Cooking

One of my goals for the year is to try making something in a pressure cooker that I received as a gift some 13 years ago and have never used. Pressure cookers have always been scary and fascinating to me- something I want to want to try, but have never quite gotten up the courage for.  Recently, I was buying a can of beans at the Co-op, and a volunteer cashier who knows I love to cook, looked disdainfully at my beans and said "Why are you buying these canned beans? They're a total waste of money and they don't taste good either".  She went on to tell me that she regularly cooks pots of beans in a pressure cooker and then freezes them to use in recipes. "I love cooking beans in my pressure cooker. They taste great and they're much cheaper", she explained. After she finished extolling the virtues of pressure cooking,  I made a mental note to drag mine out and take another look at it.  After all, beans are an excellent source of dietary fiber, and they are much cheaper, tastier, and healthier (usually much less sodium) when they are cooked from scratch. Cooking beans in a pressure cooker, rather than on the stove-top reduces their cooking time, and I've found that there are lots of recipes online that are one pot meals for pressure cookers. Essentially you throw a bunch of stuff in the pot, turn it on, and let it do its thing. I found the site hippressurecooking to be an especially good source of information. Wish me luck- I'm glad I have the brave Count Zachula by my side for this one!