I have a confession: I didn’t make this soup the Day After Thanksgiving. I stashed the leftovers from my Christmas turkey in the freezer…and forgot about them. I was googling around for a recipe idea when I stumbled across the idea of mashed potato dumplings. That’s when I remembered the frozen turkey bones in my freezer, and the leftover mashed potatoes from Sunday dinner. I loaded up my Instant Pot with frozen turkey bones and I was off to the races. This is why I beg people to save the bones from roast birds. Leftover turkey, roast chicken, whatever you’ve got – it makes a fantastic pressure cooker broth. After you have broth, the world is your…soup? Yes, the world is your soup. Where was I? Oh, yes, mashed potato dumplings. I couldn’t pass up using leftover mashed potatoes in turkey soup, or calling it Day-After-Thanksgiving soup. (If I could work stuffing and cranberries in somehow, I would. But that seems a bit too far.) The potato takes the place of the milk, butter, and …

Grandma said: If you want luck in the New Year, you have to have pork on New Year’s Day. Who am I to argue with Grandma? Here’s my New Year’s day recipe inspired by the German side of my family, Instant Pot German Pot Roast with Mustard. In Germany this is a Senfbraten, or mustard roast, pork rubbed with mustard and cooked with onions, carrots, and thyme. I use my Instant Pot Pot Roast trick of cutting the roast into pieces – it cooks faster and more evenly. Other than that, it’s a standard pot roast; brown it to add a flavorful crust, sauté the onions, simmer in a little wine, add the roast and some broth, and cook with carrots until falling-apart tender. (You don’t have to add the carrots, but they’re my wife’s favorite part. I get asked a lot of pointed questions if there aren’t carrots.) Oh, and of course I made a side of Sauerkraut and Kielbasa – Grandma says you need pork AND sauerkraut for luck in the new year. …

Did I remind you to save your Thanksgiving turkey carcass? No? Dang it, I slipped up this year. I hope you did save the bones, though, because here’s what to do with it. (I’ve got a spare carcass in my new freezer, so I can make another batch of soup in a month or so.) This is my day after Thanksgiving sorta-posole, a Southwestern style soup inspired by the cans of hominy in my pantry. Hey, Thanksgiving was busy, and I wanted an easy after-the-bird soup this year. While I was in the pantry, I grabbed a can of Ro-Tel tomatoes and a can of black beans and went to work. You have to be willing to get rough with the turkey carcass to fit it in a 6-quart pressure cooker; I break the backbone away from the breast to get it to fit. If you have an 8-quart cooker, you can just drop it in there. The key to this soup is the add-ins; I crumble tortilla chips into the bottom of the bowl, …

Instant Pot Beef Goulash. Hearty Hungarian beef and paprika stew, ready in about an hour thanks to pressure cooking.

Instant Pot Easy Braised Oxtail. Simple and delicious braised oxtail in a little over an hour thanks to pressure cooking.

Instant Pot Rotisserie Chicken Noodle Soup – how to make a pot of homemade chicken noodle soup using a store-bought rotisserie chicken.

I got a bag of flageolet beans in my Rancho Gordo bean box and immediately thought of France. Instant Pot Flageolet Beans with Lamb, here we come! This recipe is in memory of Peter Mayle, author of A Year in Provence. He is a large part of why I’m writing this blog; I vicariously visited the south of France through his books, dreaming of lavender and sunshine. Ten years ago I got to live that dream, traveling to Provence and Paris, and taking cooking classes. Six months after that, energized by the trip, I started writing Dad Cooks Dinner. Unfortunately, Mr. Mayle passed away last month at age 78. His last book, My Twenty-Five Years in Provence, is sitting unread on my bedside table. I don’t have the courage to open it yet. Au revoir, Mr. Mayle, and thank you for the inspiration. Flageolet beans (pronounced Fla-zhoh-lay) are small beans, some white, some pale green. They remind me a lot of navy beans and are as Traditional French as you can get without wearing a …

Pressure Cooker Beef Back Ribs Texas BBQ Style, a quick way to make beef ribs in your pressure cooker or Instant Pot

Pressure Cooker Beef Stew Provencal (Beef en Daube). Beef stew with the flavors of Southern France, in about an hour from the pressure cooker.

Pressure Cooker Day-After-Thanksgiving Vegetable Turkey Soup. A great way to use that leftover turkey carcass – and any other vegetables you have on hand.

Pressure cooker vegetable beef soup. The perfect Fall comfort meal, with made from scratch broth using meaty beef bones and a pressure cooker.

Pressure Cooker Italian Sunday Gravy. The Italian meat stew, with pressure cooking for about an hour replacing the traditional all-Sunday simmer.

Pressure Cooker Lollipop Drumsticks. The BBQ circuit classic, brought inside to your pressure cooker.

Pressure Cooker Beef Brisket Enchiladas with Red Chile sauce. Shredded beef brisket smothered with homemade enchilada sauce from my pressure cooker.

Pressure Cooker Pork Country Ribs with Cider and Mustard recipe. Country-style ribs with apples and mustard – a hearty meal from the pressure cooker.