Burrito Bowl-New Favorite

I found this on Pinterest not too long ago, have made it twice and now it’s become one of our favorite meals!! It’s SO delicious!! It easily feeds our family of 6 (which includes 2 teens).
There is a bit of prep in the InstantPot before pressurizing it, but it’s well worth the extra steps!
Many times I’m starting with frozen chicken breasts so I put them in the IP with some water for 10 minutes and then save the broth after the chicken is done to use in the recipe.
Here’s where you can find the recipe: Instant Pot Chicken Burrito Bowl

Rice Pudding

My mom, who has gone to town with her InstantPot making everything from corn bread to cheesecake to homemade bread, said that this was a really good recipe for Rice Pudding.

Easy Peasy Mac-n- Cheesey

My kids beg for this often! It's SO easy to make, SO quick and SO yummy. The added bonus: it's a complete protein!

Here's how I make it:

• 3 cups uncooked macaroni noodles
• 3 cups water (you can use chicken broth if you have some)
• 2 Tblsp butter
• 1 tsp salt (adjust to taste)
• 1/2 tsp pepper (adjust to taste)
• 2 cups shredded cheddar (you can substitute other cheeses along with cheddar)

Place everything in IP EXCEPT the cheese. Close lid-seal valve- Manual cook for 7 minutes. Once complete, do quick release, sir in cheese (it will be stringy) and enjoy!!

This amount serves approximately 6 people.

Decals

Well, Angie, my fellow IP blogger, had the brilliant idea of making scripture IP decals. So I made one for her, she posted it on IP's official Facebook page and it was so popular I ended up opening an Etsy store to make them available to others.
If you're interested in one, you can find the new Etsy store here.

Oatmeal in the Instant Pot

This is an extremely helpful site for cooking oatmeal in your InstantPot.
Various types of oatmeal in the InstantPot.

Yogurt in the Instant Pot 7in1 AND 6in1

I love making yogurt to have on hand for an occasional smoothie, but mostly to replace buttermilk in recipes like Buttermilk Pancakes, batter for fried chicken or Texas Sheath Cake. Because I make yogurt so often, I invested in the InstantPot DUO 7 in 1, which I LOVE using for this purpose, but I also discovered a way to do the tedious part of it in the LUX 6 in 1 for anyone interested in giving it a shot with that one.

Here's the basic idea in making yogurt:
Heat whole milk to 180℉ or greater .
Bring milk down to 115-120 ℉ and add a small portion of yogurt.
Keep the milk at that temperature for 6-8 hours.

Here's how I do it in the InstantPot.
First, what you need:

• 1-4 pint size or smaller jars
• Meat or candy thermometer
• Whole milk
• 1-2 Tbspn yogurt for starter
• 1 1/2 C water

Now, what to do:

Fill 1 pint, or smaller, jars with whole milk. Four jars will fit in the 6 quart pot, I only had 3 clean.

Fill IP with enough water to cover bottom and almost reach the trivet. Approx 1 1/2 Cups.

Place jars of milk into IP.

 

Close lid. Seal valve. Press Steam button for 1 minute. After approx 30 seconds, IP will beep and the process begins. 

 

After "Steam" cycle is complete and your IP has beeped, you can either let it come to a natural release, quick release or, my preferred method, just turn off your IP and wait a few minutes and then do quick release. Your milk has now reached it's target temperature of 180℉ or more. Usually, it's more.

I carefully remove the hot jars from the pot with an oven mitten and place on a cooling rack. Now the milk needs to cool to 115-120 ℉.

While the jars are cooling down a bit, I fill a pot or large bowl, large enough to hold the jars, halfway full with ice water. (This step isn't necessary, but speeds up the cooling process. You can just let them sit on the cooling rack until the temp reaches 115-120 ℉.)

Now I get my starter yogurt out. I use the yogurt from my previous batch, but if you run out or don't have any, you can use any brand, flavor or style (Greek or Regular)  from the store as well.

Once I set my very hot jars in the icy water, it took approximately 6 1/2 minutes to cool to the target temp of 120. Stir the milk with the thermometer while it's setting in the icy water to distribute the cooling method evenly. Remember, 115-120℉ is OK. Don't continue yet if the temp is above 120 and if you go under 115, reheat it ever so slightly by either putting it in a pot of very hot water or microwaving the jars just a minute at a time until you're at or above 120℉ and repeat the cooling process.

 

Now that you're at your target temp, add a small spoon of yogurt into each jar of  your heated milk and stir gently.

Now, here's where the 7 in 1 and 6 in 1 differ. The key at this point is to hold the milk with the yogurt culture at approx 100-120℉ for 6-8 hours while the milk ferments. There are numerous ways to do that. My favorite way, without the DUO IP, is to place the jars in a cooler with a few jars of very hot water. (I heat my water in my Keurig, pour them in thick glasses, jars or mugs and just place them in the cooler with the loosely covered jars of fermenting milk. This creates a very good "incubator" to hold the temp where it needs to be for a long period of time. If it's cool in the room, you may need to replace or reheat the hot water halfway through. I just reheat mine in the microwave. The milk can now ferment for about 6 1/2 hours into perfect yogurt.
Note: The longer the fermentation, the tangier the yogurt will be.
If you do have the 7 in 1 DUO (which will be explained in the next steps) and discover you need to use your IP while you're in the process of making yogurt, you can cancel the "Yogurt" on your IP, remove the jars and place in a cooler as explained above, continuing on with the time needed for fermentation.

 Now, how to continue the yogurt process in the DUO 7 in 1.

Now that the jars have the yogurt culture mixed in, place them back in the IP pot. You can use the same water at the bottom from the steaming process, or replace with the same amount.

 

Place lid on. Seal valve. Press "Yogurt" and set time for 6:30 (that's my favorite, however if you like tangier yogurt, you can do 8:00). Wait 30 seconds, IP will beep and process will begin. Now you're done until time is complete. The IP will start counting up (rather than the usual down) during this process.

6 1/2 hours later, IP will beep and this will display. Your yogurt is now complete. I recommend a quick release so that the yogurt won't continue to ferment, but it's no big deal to let it come to a natural release. So, if you're not able to get to it right away when it's done, that's totally fine.

  

 

Here's the yogurt all fermented. I like to pour off the liquid on top, but you can mix that in as well.
Note: The yogurt will solidify more as it cools.

Place lids on jars and store in refrigerator. It will keep for several weeks.
Note: If you want to keep making yogurt, just make a mental note to save at least a Tablespoon for your starter. If you want to make yogurt but realize yours is pretty old and runny, it will still work just as well!

I hope this has been helpful. If you have any questions or other helpful hints, please leave a comment below!
Thanks!

Potatoes in InstantPot and 2 Favorite Recipes

For Thanksgiving this year, I made my (and a few others') favorite Sweet Potato Casserole recipe but this time using the help of my InstantPot. WOW! It was so much quicker and easier!! Here's how:

• Wash sweet potatoes, (DON'T PEEL) cut in half and place on trivet in InstantPot.
• Add 1-2 cups water-close lid-seal valve-manual-10 minutes.
• You can either do a quick release or natural release.
• When done, remove potatoes with a pair of tongs and place in bowl or cooling rack. When they've cooled off some, peel the skins right off.

I couldn't believe how EASY the peels just pulled right off!
After that, I placed them in my favorite stand mixer, mixed them right up and then went from there with the recipe.
I repeated the same technique the exact same way with regular potatoes (which didn't peel off quite as easy, but still easily), and then used them in our favorite Paula Deen's Twice Baked Potato Casserole.
Thanksgiving dinner had never been so easy!!

Paula Deen's Twice Baked Potatoes

This is an incredibly delicious recipe that is made so much easier with the InstantPot! Great for family gatherings and special meals!



Paula Deen's Twice Baked Potato Casserole

iNGREDIENTS

8 medium baking potatoes, about 4 pounds

1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, at room temperature

½ cup (1 stick) butter, softened

1 pint sour cream

2 cups ( ½ pound) shredded sharp cheddar cheese (divided use)

2 cloves garlic, minced or 1/4 tsp garlic powder

1½ teaspoons salt

½ teaspoon pepper

¼ cup chopped chives, for garnish (Optional)

6 slices bacon, cooked crisp, drained and crumbled, for garnish

Cook potatoes in IP. Click here to see how.

Peel and mash potatoes in large bowl with mixer, potato masher or back of fork. Add cream cheese, butter, sour cream and 1 cup of cheddar. Stir well. Add garlic, salt and pepper, and stir again.

Spray a 13x9-inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray. Place potato mixture in dish, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate casserole until ready to bake.

When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 F, remove plastic wrap and bake casserole 30 to 35 minutes until hot. Sprinkle remaining 1 cup cheddar over casserole and return to oven for about 5 minutes, until cheese melts. Garnish with chopped chives and crumbled bacon before serving.

Vegetable Beef-not so pretty-Soup

Busy working on Christmas craft projects today, 4 o'clock hit and I was needing to get supper going. Not having prepared well, I started digging through the pantry, fridge and freezer to see what I could throw together in my nifty-difty InstantPot. Thankfully, the thrown together and prayed over conglomeration had everyone at the table saying "This is good!". Phew! Thank you Lord!
I thought I'd post it just in case you all found yourself in the same predicament and happen to have the same or similar ingredients on hand... or if you wanted a K-family approved Vegetable Beef (venison in this case) soup.
Here's what I had:

• 1 lb of very frozen ground venison (beef would obviously work too)
• 1 14.5 oz can of diced tomatoes (stewed would work as well)
• 8 oz bag of frozen peas
• 8 oz bag of frozen corn (mixed veggies works well too)
• 1 cup Macaroni Noodles (not needed. You could use chopped potatoes as well)
• I sprinkled some salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, chili powder and cumin on the meat while I was "sauteing" that in the pot- I'll get to that, and then again into the pot before cooking.
• 2 cups broth from cooking hamburger/venison, or water if you don't use this method
• 2 cups chicken bone broth that I had in the freezer from another IP recipe. You can use water instead though.

Here's what I did:

• Cooked frozen venison on rack with two cups of hot water on "Manual" for 10 minutes. (I think the hot water brought it to pressure quicker. I'll keep experimenting.) If your meat is not frozen, you can just skip the pressure cooking and just saute it with seasonings (or not is fine too)
• Quick release- Remove meat that wasn't yet cooked through.
• Pour juice into another dish, place meat back into pot and "Saute" with seasonings added.
• When meat is browned, add all other ingredients, including that juice you just poured into another dish, and stir.
• Close lid-Valve to "Sealing"-Manual-10 minutes.
• Quick release was fine if needed on this.

We sprinkled cheese on ours and ate it with saltines. 

Any left overs can be frozen for later.

Yum, warming and healthy! Win-win!

I hope your family enjoys this as much as we did!

Cheesecakes in the InstantPot

My mom has been having fun with her InstantPot and has been making cheesecakes. She brought one to a family gathering yesterday and it was SO yummy that I have to share the link! I've been wanting to make one but haven't had time yet; now I know where to look when I'm ready.
Cheesecakes in the IP

Pepe Le Pew

Did you notice on those Instant Pot Facebook sites how people are asking for help in naming or choosing names for their Instant Pot and their second or third pots.  I am not sure if my excitement or thankfulness for this time saving device has hit the point in me searching through baby name books but I can say that after a strong Texas chili and 2 chicken dishes my pot, or silicone seal, has definitely earned the name of Pepe La Pew.

I have seen several posts on this definite drawback for those wanting to do a sweet and savory dish back to back and many have invested in a separate ring for those two foods (myself included).  I also read that Instant Pot was making, not yet released, color coded silicone rings for our convenience.  I have also read many posts about cleaning the ring to remove the smell, baking soda/vinegar scrubs, apple cider vinegar soaks, etc. The manual itself says a good clean in in the dishwasher does the trick.  As that is the only one I have tried, I can say for sure that it did not remove the odor in my ring.  I read in a comment of someone using a steam cycle and lemons to clean their valves so I wondered if  lemon essential oil would have any effect on my silicone ring.  And lo and behold it did!  Here is what I did.

2 cups of water in the bottom of the cooking pot with 5 drops of lemon essential oil, making sure it is food grade, or maybe they all are.  I don't know that answer so make sure to ask your oil distributor.  I set the pot to the steam cycle for 5 minutes and did a quick valve release.  Depending on how stinky your stink bug is, you may have to repeat. I really hope you have the same success I did and that it continues to work for both of us!

InstantPot CookBooks

On Amazon you can find many InstantPot cookbooks for 99 cents in the Kindle download. If you have "KindleUnlimited" then they're free.
If you don't have a Kindle, that's fine, you can download the Kindle App (if it isn't already on your electronic device) and view it from there; even on an iPad!
Here is a link for anyone interested.
Instant Pot Cook Book 

Garlic Chicken with Potatoes and Green Beans

Here's my favorite go-to meal that my family loves to eat as much as I love to cook!
Layer in order:
1 Cup of water in bottom of IP.
5 potatoes cleaned and cut (I cut into large chunks to save time)
Bag of frozen green beans
2 garlic cloves crushed or chopped into small pieces. or Garlic powder
1/4 cup (half a stick) of butter cut into small slices and spread on top
Chicken (I used a whole bag of frozen drumsticks here but have used other pieces (breasts and thighs) and any type works just as well.
Salt and Pepper sprinkled on top
Any other seasonings you'd like to add like Rosemary, Oregano, Thyme...
Lock lid- Valve to "Sealing"-"Manual" or "Poultry"- 30 minutes- walk away.
You can either do Quick Release or Natural Release on this one.
Notes: Serves 8. It takes approx 30 minutes to come to pressure because of all the frozen foods. You can decrease amounts of the potatoes or beans to make more room for more chicken or vice versa.
Enjoy!

 

 

Easy Peasy Pork Chops

I bought some pork chops on sale to have on hand for whenever I could use them. Well, tonight I had a few minutes to get something ready before running off to basketball practice. After doing a very quick scan online, I landed on BBQ Pork chops. This is what I did: BBQ sauce to cover bottom of pot, layer of pork chops and repeat making sure the top meat layer is covered in sauce. Plug in, lid on, valve sealed, "Manual" at 30 minutes; ran off with the kids, got extremely exhausted and famished playing basketball for 1 1/2 hours- well, I didn't play that whole time, but my kids did- drove home to have perfectly done pork chops staying warm and waiting for us. Hubby was happy, kids were happy, I was happy. Another reason I'm SO thankful for my InstantPot (and pork chops on sale and a whole bottle of BBQ sauce in the fridge and easy recipes like this AND times together with family, whether we're playing ball together or sitting around the table together!)

What to do when Mimi is sick-

I really thought that my first post about my new adventure into Instant Pot Ⓡ cooking would have been my Black Bean and Rice dish beginning with dried beans and brown rice (1st dish in cooker) in 45 minutes. 

  No! This post is not even about my creamy and perfectly cooked steel cut oats (2nd dish) made withOUT my arm cramping up while stirring it for 30 minutes as I direct my kids and husband to make their own breakfast because mom can't leave that pot for fear those little oat kernels will stick, dry and burn which will result in me spending the rest of the morning alternating between soaking and scrubbing my pot. Nope this post isn't about how I just popped those steel cut oats into my cooker and walked away to fix my kids a nutritious breakfast of pop-tarts and milk.

This post is about how my father-in-law showed up at noon to surprise my husband by splitting some wood and mentioned to myself and my 3 year old that Mimi was sick!  The thought of someone sick, not to mention her Mimi, is enough to put my 3 year old on a mission of mercy and unavoidably me as well.  The only cure to save the day was Chicken Noodle soup, of course!  We rushed inside, our wood pile is small so I knew we didn't have a long time to prepare our dish. 

Addilyn immediately began cutting up carrots and celery, thankfully left over from our Thanksgiving crudités.  This post is also NOT about how to ruin your child's love for cooking by being too much of a perfectionist in the size and shape of vegetables going into a soup.😄 

After checking my instruction manual on how to use the saute feature--3rd dish, remember, not an expert-- I added a little bit of olive oil, garlic, carrots, and celery to the metal insert in my IP and cooked those veggies down.  Next I dumped in the required 1 cup to 1 1/2 cups of liquid, chicken broth in this case, threw in 5 FROZEN chicken tenders and set that pot to manually cook for 8 minutes at high pressure.  I walked away and began cooking lunch for my hungry wood splitters.  Before I could get those ham and cheese sandwiches browned on the cooktop the IP beeped.  I did a quick release of pressure, removed the lid, set the pot to saute again ("more" setting) and added the 4 more cups of chicken broth.  The pot still super hot boiled very quickly and Addilyn dumped untold amounts of dried noodles into the soup until I noticed and stopped her.  A short 5 minutes later we had some "Fix Your Mimi Right Up Chicken Noodle Soup".  

All done in ONE pot in a SHORT amount of time.  After ladling up our creation into a nice canning jar with a fancy ribbon we were able to send it right home with Papa. I am certainly hoping our Mimi is all fixed up and that my daughter continues to fulfill Romans 12:13, with her love and faith of a child.  "Share with the saints who are in need. Practice hospitality."   

Links to recipes:
 http://myplantbasedfamily.com/2015/04/02/instant-pot-mexican-casserole/
http://www.hippressurecooking.com/pressure-cooker-oatmeal-how-to/
http://www.pressurecookrecipes.com/pressure-cooker-chicken-noodle-soup/

Quick Release vs Natural Release

Quick Release means to turn the valve from "Sealing" to "Venting" as soon as the cooking time is complete (the Instant Pot will beep loudly when finished). I recommend using a long utensil handle to turn the valve as the steam will be releasing hot and fast!
Natural Release means to wait approx 15-20 minutes after the cooking time is complete before releasing the pressure. The IP (InstantPot) will automatically transition to "Keep Warm" mode and will start counting up so you can see when you have reached that time. You will still need to release the pressure as before.

For starters

Here's a good video to watch for an introduction to your InstantPot.
Just click here.
Happy cooking!