Instant Pot - Writing Challenge, Day 11

I adore my Instant Pot.  It's my favorite kitchen appliance, followed closely by my Crock-Pot.  With the Instant Pot, it's so easy to whip something up, turn it on, and then...wait.  Go do something else around the house.  Wash the dishes you might have just dirtied (if you had to dirty any...when I make chili, the Instant Pot is literally the only "dish" I have to use).  Do some chores.  Water the garden.  Read a book.  Watch TV.  As long as you're near enough to keep an eye/ear out for any issues (of which I've had none so far), you can do literally anything.  It's just like the Crock-Pot in that regard, except the cooking goes faster.

The Instant Pot also has the slow cooker setting, so you can use it like a Crock-Pot if you choose.

I'll post more recipes I've used as time goes on.  It's been a busy couple of days, so I didn't have time to get any together for this post, but I'll do a few and eventually do a compilation linking to them, I think.  You can check out this chili recipe that I posted when I first got the Instant Pot.  It was the first thing I made, and I adapted it from my mom's chili recipe.  For now, I'll just give a few general tips I've come across.

When I first got the Instant Pot, I did read my instructions and did the water test (something explained in the getting started guide that comes with it and that I definitely recommend you do if you haven't used one before.  It basically makes sure it works the way it should and gives you a way to do a test run to make sure you know what you're doing.).

Certain models, however, have different buttons/pre-sets than others.  So sometimes if you're reading a recipe, you  might come across a button you don't have.  I used this guide a few times to familiarize myself with what they meant.  Each pre-set button on mine is set for a certain amount of time.  So you can get the same result by setting it to "Manual" instead of one of the pre-sets and just punch in the time you want.  I do that most often.  This particular guide I linked to has the user manuals for a bunch of different models, as well as what each pre-set means and what time it cooks for, so you can take that and apply it to your model if a recipe mentions a pre-set you don't have.

I will dedicate a post to recipes I have tried myself, but since I don't have that ready yet, I'll leave you with this list of recipes I want to try:

Amy + Jacky's Pressure Cooker Chicken Noodle Soup

Chicken noodle soup is a traditional favorite of mine.  I love having it on cooler days or when I'm sick, and it's one of the things I miss most from my childhood.  My grandma made the best chicken noodle soup.  Unfortunately, I don't have the recipe for it.  This definitely has different stuff in it than hers did, but it sounds pretty good to me.  I'm always on the lookout for other versions to try to see if I can find something similar to hers though.  If I ever find it, I'll share!

Amy + Jacky's Pressure Cooker Mac and Cheese

I mean, come on.  It's mac and cheese.  It's a staple in our house, though what we normally make usually comes out of a box.  I've made homemade mac and cheese on the stovetop, and it came out amazing.  I definitely want to try this one in my Instant Pot.

Instant Pot Baked Potato Soup

Potato soup is another winter favorite, so I'm planning to try this one when it gets cooler.  Darryl doesn't like soup (other than my chili), so I'll have it all to myself!  That's like a week of lunches and snacks!  Haha.

I constantly find new things, but I'm slower about trying them.  I'll let you know how these and some others go as I experiment with them!

My Instant Pot Chili

I hope you had a wonderful merry Christmas!  Mine was spend traveling all over the place to visit with family.  It was a big weekend and a lot of driving, but it was so worth it to get to see everyone I normally see at Christmas.  The past few years it's seemed that it's been more difficult to get to everyone, but with some careful time management planning, we got to see everyone we needed to over the course of about four days.

First and foremost, the best part of the holiday was seeing family and friends, but a very close second was that almost everyone who got me gifts seemed to gravitate toward kitchen items.  We have a lot of doubles and triples on some of the more basic things, like pots and pans and regular dishes.  Between what I brought to the house and what Darryl brought to the house and what we've been given since, we have that stuff covered.  As I think I mentioned before, we also have FOUR crockpots.  

At Christmas, various people got us kitchen stuff - an aunt got us a big set of mixing bowls; my mom's dad and stepmom got us a glass casserole dish with my name on it and some wooden cooking utensils; my mom's mom and stepdad got us a really cool baking dish and some tea towels she made herself; my dad and stepmom got us an iced tea maker (which I've already used and it's phenomenal); and my mom got us something I've been wanting ever since I saw this blog post by Carly Heitlinger (although Mom  didn't know I wanted one) - an electric pressure cooker.  She got me the Instant Pot.

I have used it three times now, and I love it.  I can't wait to adapt more of my recipes to it and try others for it that I've found.

The first thing I decided to try in it, as Carly did, was chili.  Not trying to be a copycat or anything, but I'd been wanting to make chili for a while anyway, and it was a FREEZING cold night (this was last Wednesday) - it just seemed like the perfect time for chili.  

I'd asked Mom for her recipe a while back because I've always loved her chili.  She uses onions in hers, and Darryl and I both hate onions, so I adapted her recipe a little to what you'll find below.  Feel free to try it and let me know what you think!

Niki/Jordan's Instant Pot Chili

For 2 people: 

• 1 lb ground beef 
• 1 can kidney beans 
• A few tbsp (or more if you want) of Oliverio peppers (chopped in food processor) 
• Tomato juice (enough to almost cover other ingredients in pot) 
• Onion powder (just a sprinkle over the browned beef) 
• Chili seasoning (Marcum or McCormick packets are what I normally use – or you can use your own seasoning) 

Instructions: 

1. 1. Turn the Instant Pot on Saute at regular heat. 
2. 2. Add ground beef and cook, stirring occasionally until browned. 

In the meantime: 

3. 3. Rinse and drain beans. 
4. 4. Chop up a few tablespoons of Oliverio peppers in the food processor. 
5. 5. Once the beef is browned, drain it and return to the pot, then sprinkle onion powder over the beef (not too much, it doesn't take a lot). 
6. 6. Add beans and peppers/sauce to beef. 
7. 7. Add tomato juice until it almost covers the other things in the pot. 
8. 8. Add chili seasoning packet (or your own seasoning) 
9. 9. Stir everything to make sure it's mixed together well. 
10. 10. Put lid on Instant Pot (make sure it's set to venting when you put it on, then set it to seal) and change setting from Saute to Manual (mine doesn't have a Beans/Chili setting as some do, but if yours does, you can use that).  Time should be 30 minutes. 

11. 11. When it's finished pressure cooking, you can either let it natually release the pressure or quick release.  I choose depending on how hungry we are lol.  If you decide to quick release the pressure, as always, be careful to avoid any hot steam or liquid that may come out. 
12. 12.  Top with cheese, sour cream, whatever your heart desires.  I stick with cheese, and having that mixed and melted into the chili just makes it that much more awesome.
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    The perfect bowl of chili with tea made from my new iced tea maker. :)

    
    
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18. I've so far only made the amount in this recipe for Darryl and I, and it makes enough for the two of us to each have a couple bowls. 

We've done it with the beef and beans, less the peppers, and also with the beef and peppers, less the beans.  Both ways were awesome, but next time I'll be doing it as instructed above since I now know that Darryl is ok with peppers (we were out of beans the last time I made it, or they would have been in there too!). 

Give it a try and let me know what you think!

Banana Ice Cream. Yummmm!

So, I've been on Pinterest a ton lately.

It's addicting....

In my adventures on Pinterest, I have found some really tasty looking recipes!  (Trying to weed out the healthy ones because I'm really trying to get back into shape - starting with eating healthier!)

With that said, I found this simple recipe for banana "ice cream".  Though, as my mom pointed out last night, you can't really call it ice cream since there is no "ice" or "cream" to be found in it.  You just use bananas.  Chop/blend them up in a blender or food processor, and you end up with a custard-like substance.  Put it in the freezer for a couple hours, and it's a little more like regular ice cream consistency.

We tried it yesterday, and it was a hit.  My brothers preferred the straight from the blender version.  We tried a little bit of it that way and then put it in the freezer for an hour and a half and had more of it.  I put the rest back in the freezer for mom to try when she got home from work....annnnd it was rock solid when she got back.  Whoops. Heehee.  She had to wait a little while for it to thaw out, but after she tried it, she said it was pretty good.


Here's the pin if you're on Pinterest: 

Source: cometogetherkids.com via Jordan on Pinterest

And here's the link to the blog.


Hope you try it and enjoy!