Cooking Under Pressure

     Once upon a time...like a billion years ago (or maybe in like 2000 or 2001), I decided to save money at Christmas by making homemade gifts.  Now, I'm not the most creative person in the world, but I grew up with a mom who was the craftiest lady in town.  Seriously, my mom was constantly creating something awesome out of just stuff.  This same mom gifted me with a craft of the month subscription the year before.  Most of the crafts just sat in the box until I gave them away.  But, candle making was extremely popular about that time, and one month the craft was beeswax candles.  They were so gorgeous, and so easy.  You just rolled the sheets of beeswax up with a wick in the middle and tied them off with colored paper, corrugated paper, and raffia bows.  Since it had been so easy, and since I was in awe of the brand new Michael's that had just opened, I decided to make "real" candles for everyone.  Since I was heating paraffin for the candles, I figured I'd also venture into the other popular craft at that time--soapmaking.
     Can we just fast-forward through this story and say, "It didn't work out too well?"  Good, because that's what I'm going to do.  Basically, I managed (I still have no idea how) to spill hot paraffin between the two glass walls of my brand new oven.  I had to take the doors apart to clean it out, and they never fit back together quite right again.  Chuck was less than thrilled, as all the money I'd sunk into supplies for gifts was a bust, and we still had to buy everyone gifts.
     The next year, I told him I was thinking about a good craft for Christmas.  "No," he said.  But, I told him to hear me out.  I was thinking I could go to the farmer's market and buy up lots of fruit and make jams for everyone.  He thought that was a great idea.  He said that cooking was really my creative outlet, so I should go for it.  Then, I said that I would just need a pressure cooker for the canning.  He didn't go for it, as he'd heard many stories of pressure cookers exploding and I couldn't even make candles without destroying a $600 oven.  So, no pressure cooker.
     Anyway, I said all that to say this:  I bought a pressure cooker this past weekend.  I guess Chuck has either forgotten about how dead set against it he was, or he decided that I'm a decade older and a bit more responsible.  Can I just say that I love this thing?  I've used it 3 out of the 4 nights that I've had it.  Sunday night, I cooked pinto beans.  I have never had beans cook so fast!  After a one hour quick soak and about 15-20 minutes to get to pressure, they were done in 25 minutes.  And I mean perfectly done--no crunchy beans.  The next night, I threw chicken breasts in for tacos.  Never has chicken shredded so easily when it was done (in 30 minutes).  Tonight, I'm making a pork roast.  A whole pork roast in 45 minutes!
     Anyway, here's how I made it.  I heated olive oil in the cooker and browned the roast (sprinkled with garlic powder, salt and pepper) for a few minutes on each side.  Then I threw in a bag of sliced carrots, 3 stalks of celery, chopped, a box of sliced mushrooms, a half pound of greenbeans, 2 cups of chicken broth (I use bouillon and hot water to be honest), some minced garlic, and a splash of apple cider vinegar.  I can't wait for it to be done so I can report back with the results!