I’ve been putting off getting an Instant Pot for quite some time now. I mean, do I really need another gadget in the kitchen? I’ve been trying to downsize the house and simplify my life and having a new kitchen gadget just didn’t seem to fit that goal.
But wait!
I ended up buying one on a ‘super deal’ one day and for now I can’t go back! Before you judge, let me just say that I can agree that maybe it’s just a fad. I’m the first to say that I can go all in for a month or two on something new and better, and then loose my interest just as fast. But this little gadget has been pretty cool to experiment with so far and if we end up gaining 10 to 15 lbs in my experimenting, well so be it!
So what have I made these past few days? Well I made steamed eggs (Bruce you were absolutely right – steaming works great!) 5 minutes on steam and they’re done. SHAZAM!
I’ve made spaghetti also in it. I wasn’t thinking that this would be a show stopper but I wanted to give it a try anyway. I always use homemade spaghetti sauce and it is a lot runnier than when you use a commercial kind. So would this even turn out? Now granted I don’t really like how runny my spaghetti is, but it’s homemade and I like canning, so it’s a win win. So first into the pot went some browned hamburger that I had leftover in the fridge, broke up a box of spaghetti noodles in half and criss crossed them on top, poured 2 pints of homemade spaghetti sauce on top, added another about 3/4 pint of water, salt, pepper, and some Italian seasoning – then closed the lid. Set it for 7 minutes and when the timer went off I left it set for a couple of minutes and it was done! Just like magic! And the best part is that the noodles soaked up most of the juice and it wasn’t runny at all!
And last night I made some stew which was just as easy or easier. That took 30 minutes, but it’s also a keeper!
Now I’ve made some banana bread that ended for the chickens to eat the other night. I was feeling kinda cocky with my little machine and so I made up my own recipe of cooking the bread. Yup, not so good.
I’m hoping that my excitement wears down a little bit though these coming weeks, because we’ve got a lot of leftovers in the fridge and I’ve got quite a few things that I still want to try out.
So at the end of the night when I’m shutting the kitchen lights off, the little Instant Pot catches my eye sitting kinda proud on the counter top. See in our house, I really can’t stand stuff cluttering up the counter. But for now, while I’m still pretty excited with all the new recipes to try, she’s got her own little spot in the kitchen and is definitely counter top worthy! 