Many years ago in another life I used a crock pot and everything I made in that crock pot tasted the same. And every recipe I found used cream of something soup or onion soup mix—bleh! I still have a crock pot—it sits on a shelf in the Montana downstairs pantry gathering dust—I bring it out for parties to keep food warm.
So along comes Judy from the Patchwork Times—she lives in the country, has chickens, raises a HUGE garden, feeds the two of them fabulous meals and raves about the Instant Pot—a seven function machine—slow cooker, pressure cooker, yogurt maker, rice cooker, saute/browning, steamer and warmer. Judy felt the same way I did about the original crockpots, cream of something soups and onion soup mixes. She was so determined to make this work—in summer time, Judy is in her garden from early morning to late evening. She wanted a way to have dinner on the table when her husband Vince comes home from work. So Judy ordered the book, 365 Slow Cooker Suppers by Stephanie O’Dea.
I have had the Instant Pot in my Amazon “saved for later” cart for I bet at least one year if not longer—I just couldn’t hit the buy button at $129. I was glancing through the Amazon “deal of the day” during last week’s cyber selling blitz when I noticed the Instant Pot—at $68!!!! I hit the buy button so fast the computer was smoking!! And I also ordered a used copy of the cookbook.
Well, Sunday we enjoyed our first meal from the cookbook/Instant Pot. We eat our large meal of the day around 1pm and if you were going to cook a roast in the old style crockpot, you would have to get up mighty early to get that roast cooked by 1pm! Not with the Instant Pot—it has a delay timer allowing me to put the pot out in the garage (I don’t like to smell food cooking during the night 
Michael has worked on the countertops all day long—we are nearing completion and then I will post photos. I had a HOA board meeting this morning and went to Wickenburg this afternoon—there went my day!
Life is good!
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Yesterday, I decided rather late in the day to have Frijoles Charros for dinner with appropriate accompaniments and started it all with dry pinto beans in the Instant Pot using the pressure cooker button. It took a longer stretch of time to finish cooking those beans than the recipe specified. Hmmmmm. Don't know what went wrong but the pressure cooker certainly was faster than the soak 'em stew-em all day I previously used. However, I think I better plan differently next time I do that recipe. Rats :/
ReplyDeleteI've been going back and forth about the Instant Pot and almost bought it when I saw the Cyber Week deal. I think it would be a good idea, especially when we are out hiking all day. But I don't think I would end up using it. I haven't had a crock pot for years, and I have been wavering about getting one since we started fulltiming. Six and half years later I still don't have a crock pot. I'm really a griller. I grill everything...fish, seafood, meat, veggies, potatoes, lettuce, and even apple turnovers. I do tons of foil packs. So I guess I'll keep thinking about the new Instant Pot. Keep posting recipes while I think:)
ReplyDeleteI used my crock put a lot when we spent summers in Maine... great having dinner ready when we got off work. Just thinking about it makes me hungry for the green chile stew. I liked using it in the rig as it warmed up those cold mornings a bit. I don't have one here... we use the grill really often. Maybe we just cook different in colder weather than we do when it's warm?
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