Instant Pot!

[SilverLining]

BTW, I decided to buy two more IP's. One for each of my daughter-in-laws.

One I think will love being able to make yogurt, as well as the convenience of making a quick and healthy dinner after work. The other will either love it or hate it. But both are getting the gift receipt with it.

[becca]

Mac and cheese was a win! Still have to grate all the cheese, but the rest was so much easier.

Grate cheese?  I buy it grated, but do throw in s slice or two of American if on hand.

[BensMom]

I use fontina and gruyere. Mmmmm..... This is for dinner--gotta be a little fancier . For a quick lunch I'd use already grated cheese.

[Stinky10]

looooove fontina

grated cheese often is covered in starch so it doesn't clump - potato I think and can make any recipe grainy

[Macabre]

So DH gave me an Instant Pot. It was a total surprise. It's a rectangular 6 quart 8-in-1.

But looking into this, it doesn't pressure cook. It's a pretty basic model but not a true Instant Pot it seems. I think we will need to return it.

[becca]

I think that one might be more of a crock pot.  But not sure.

[BensMom]

I made this tonight and it was a success. Everyone liked it.

http://www.platingsandpairings.com/instant-pot-cheesy-southwestern-lentils-brown-rice/

I did 1.5x the recipe because it says it serves four and we have four with ds home and he eats a lot. We had plenty left. It might have been enough, but I like having leftovers. I squeezed some lime in at the end because I had one. I added some cheese and then just put the rest on the table to sprinkle on top, rather than put it on top in the pot. Nice healthy meatless meal.

Edit to add: I don't buy taco seasoning--way too salty. I used 2Tbsp chili powder and 1 1/2 tsp cumin. I also cut back on the salt--less than a teaspoon even though I 1 1/2ed the recipe. I started cutting back on salt when ds had high blood pressure and I really notice it now when I eat salty food. It's amazing how fast you can adjust to less salt.

[GoingNuts]

That looks delish!

[BensMom]

The only problem is that it tastes similar to my turkey chili, my vegetarian chili, another chili-ish thing I make.....  Sometimes it's hard to find dishes with new flavors.

[Stinky10]

salsa

[SilverLining]

When I make stew I tend to put what I want in. I'm planning to try a beef stew in the pressure cooker (not slow cooker option). Are there any veggies that do not work in it? None of the recipes I've found have much variety of veggies that we like.

[SilverLining]

I have another question.

I plan to make Rice Pudding. I found a recipe that asks for medium-grain rice. It gives substitution for the coconut milk using whole milk.

How different will it be if I use basmati, which is a long-grain?

What about 2% instead of whole milk? (I never pay attention to how much fat in milk when baking. But I've never made a de ent rice pudding either.)

[GoingNuts]

I've never used basmati for rice pudding, but i would thinknit won't absorb as much liquid and may be grainy rather than creamy. 

[SilverLining]

I bought some Arborio. And I had half & half cream so used it. (Suggested in the recipe.) The taste and smell is delicious. The rice is a little firmer than I expected.  It's currently cooling and hopefully thickening in fridge. The recipe is from The Essential Instant Pot Cookbook.

Tomorrow I'm making stew. Kind of my usual way....have a recipe in front of me and kinda-sorta pay attention to it. Seems the important rules are; not to much or to little liquid, Don't fill over 2/3, frozen peas and corn at the end.

I'm also making french stick bread.

My sister and her husband are coming for dinner and he likes simple meals. He loves when I make baked beans.

[SilverLining]

The rice was a bit to firm, and there was not enough pudding for the amount or rice. Not a complete failure. But not a success.

The stew, on the other hand....that was a failure.

I stayed below the 2/3 line, but, got a BURN message. I assumed I hadn't scraped enough off the bottom after browning the beef. I dumped everything out, scrubbed the pot, put it all back in and started again. Got the same message. Dumped it all into a pot and cooked it on the stove. At dinner 2 hours late.

I think there wasn't enough liquid. I put in extra veggies, but didn't increase the liquid.