6 Tips for newbie instant pot users

I've written before about how much I love my Instant Pot with suggestions for what size to get and where I think the IP excels but I can understand why the IP would be overwhelming. Well, I'm here to help you get that bad boy out of the box!

1. Read the manual
I will say that I never, never, never read the manual for any appliance but one of the best suggestions I received when I got my instant pot was to look at the manual. It is a very different style of cooking and it will take some getting used to but trust me you will get a feel for how long things take to cook just like over time you learned how long you should put things in the microwave.

So, take a browse of the manual, do your water test and get cooking! You got this.

2. Your pot has a built in lid holder!
This is kind of neat huh? And it just might keep you from knocking your lid off the counter and breaking the plastic :-)

Nifty, huh?

3. Your sealing ring might get funky
Personally, I have not had this problem but I see this asked about online constantly. Your sealing ring can absorb odors and get a little funky. I store my lid upside down on my pot and I think this helps to keep it aired out. If your sealing ring gets smelly you can clean it by putting 1-2 cups of white vinegar in your pot and putting it on the steam setting for 2 minutes, then allow it to air dry. If that doesn't work, you can order new sealing rings.

They're pretty inexpensive, so it's not a bad idea to replace them occasionally regardless of smell issues.

4. What accessories do you need?
You can get a lot out of your IP without buying a bunch of accessories but depending on what you want to cook in your pot, some accessories might be useful. The first one I bought was a silicone lid for storing leftovers right in my pot (I bought this one, it's not IP brand but works well). I wrote a whole post on what different accessories can be used for and how useful I find them to be if you are wondering what you should get.

A cover for your pot to go in the fridge can be handy!

5. What is NPR, QPR and PIP?
The IP has an almost cult following and you'll soon see why but what in the heck are these people talking about? These are the most common acronyms you'll see online and in recipes. They mean:
NPR = Natural Pressure Release: this means after the cooking time ends, that you let the pressure release naturally for a certain amount of time, in other words you wait and do nothing. The pressure will slowly come down and your food will continue to cook somewhat.
QPR = Quick Pressure Release: this means that you open the valve and the let the pressure come out as quickly as possible. It usually takes 2-3 minutes for my pot to release all of its pressure in a quick release. Some recipes will call for a certain amount of NPR followed by a QPR and some you can QPR as soon as they're done cooking.
PIP = Pot in Pot: this is a cooking method to cook two things in your IP at the same time without them getting mixed together. I talk a little more about this in my post on accessories, including what kinds of pans/pots can be used.

6. The steam could damage your cabinets
Many people have a problem with where to put their new IP in a kitchen with limited counter space because if you use it a lot the constant steam releasing can damage your cabinets over time. You might think you could put it on the stove and turn your vent on but the internet is full of tales of woe where people have accidentally melted the bottom of their new IP when they put it on the stove because they accidentally turned it on.

I honestly don't think I have ever accidentally turned on my stove but if you do this proceed with caution. I warned you! Another solution is to get a 3 inch plastic elbow joint and place it over your vent to direct the steam away from your cabinets. If you're lucky there is an obvious home for your new appliance that isn't on your stove or under your cabinets.

This could save your cabinets!

Now, do you feel ready to get cooking? Check out my post on easy newbie recipes and get cooking!

Make pudding with almond milk!

You may have noticed a small notice on the back of instant pudding boxes warning users that instant pudding can't be made with soy milk. The internet tells me this is because something in cow's milk it what causes the pudding to set up.

I unfortunately noticed this little moniker after coming home from the grocery store, intending to use almond milk to make pudding for dirt cake. There was no way I was going back to the store.

Enter cornstarch.

You can make instant pudding (I made butterscotch) with almond milk! This is what you need:

1 (small) package instant pudding
2 tsp corn starch
1 1/2 cups almond milk

Mix the corn starch in with the pudding mix and slowly add the almond milk while whisking all of the ingredients together. Allow the pudding to chill.

Update: this has become one of my most popular posts of all time. Tell me, what are you making with your pudding/almond milk? How is it working for you?


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Perfect, creamy hummus

I made the most amazing hummus earlier this week. Possibly the best I've ever had. The first few times I made hummus I was always disappointed, it just wasn't creamy enough. Even after I bought my food processor, which significantly improved the hummus making process, let me tell you, I still found it to be lackluster. Until last week, I read a tip to heat up your chickpeas when making hummus to get them to blend smoother and I thought I'd give it a try.

Results? Amazing! I heated my chickpeas up in the microwave for 20-30 seconds before putting them in the food processor and the difference was like night and day. The hummus was almost frothy when I was blending it. You also want to use a small amount of the liquid from the can of chickpeas, this helps too, but not nearly as much as heating them up first.

I also put a fairly significant amount of paprika in this batch, which gave it a really nice spice profile.

It's summer (almost)!

Ahhh...summer! Summer is potentially the best season for eating, fresh produce abounds and I'm tempted to while away the days in a hammock eating fresh fruit or sit on a picnic bench with some BBQ. sigh.

Misty daydreams about summer perfection aside, the season offers ample opportunity to enjoy inexpensive, quality fruits and vegetables. With this in mind, I recently attended a BBQ - the first of many of the season, hopefully - and made one of my favorite deserts for the occasion, fruit pizza.

Fruit pizza is something of a modern classic, or so I feel and it's the perfect treat on a summer day. It's fresh and cool to the taste and takes advantage of the season's bounty. That's right, I said bounty. I'm feeling very nostalgic or something today. When my mom would make fruit pizza, my sister and I would gorge ourselves on it, arguing that it is really only good for 2 days.

Fruit pizza

Crust (can be made ahead & frozen):

4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup butter
1/4 cup white sugar

Press crust into the bottom of a 9x13 pan and bake 10-12 minutes at 350 degrees, or until lightly brown.

Sauce:
8oz cream cheese
3TB sugar
1/4 fruit juice (orange, pineapple, apple)

Blend all ingredients together and spread evenly over crust.

Topping:
3+ different types of fruit, sliced (I recommend the combination pineapple, strawberry and banana)

Sprinkle fruit slices over sauce until desired coverage is reached.

Glaze (keeps fruit fresh):
1/2 cup fruit juice (orange, pineapple, apple)
1TB of corn starch

Mix fruit juice and cornstarch in small sauce pan and cook on medium heat until it thickens, about 5-8 minutes. Drizzle glaze over fruit.

Eat within 2 days, 3 maximum.


Tips & tricks

1. If you use canned pineapple in its own juice (not syrup) there will be enough juice to make your glaze and sometimes also the sauce
*If you're in a hurry, you can use pre-made sugar cookie dough and will get more or less the same result, just be careful of the baking time.

2. I think it goes without saying, but some fruit will hold up better than others. If you use bananas or apples make sure to get each of them with a dab of the glaze to keep them from turning brown.

3. If you're feeling fancy you can also make this as individual tarlets. Make your crust in a greased muffin pan, letting them cool before trying to take them out, then spread (or pipe if super fancy) the sauce in and top with fruit. These really make a lovely impression but are slightly more work.

4. Take care not to let the glaze get too thick or it will be very gelatinous on the top of the pizza. In the one pictured above, I let it cook just a little bit too long.

Pesky garlic

It's so not a secret, but when cooking for myself, I do everything possible to find a shortcut. However, I'm aware that sometimes the easiest way isn't the best. Hence, my dilemma - I love garlic but it's so much effort to cut it up all the time and usually I opt for either dry, minced garlic or what I call "semi-fresh" garlic.

Being perfectly honest, dry garlic is seriously lacking in flavor when compared to the real thing but it's just right there in it's little jar ready to go. Just use twice as much! Semi-fresh garlic, is what I have termed the stuff that comes pre-minced in a jar, it's moist and it needs to be kept in the fridge. It's better than the dried stuff but still a poor substitute for the real thing and it requires the use of a spoon. I mean another dish to wash?!?

A couple of years back, my beef was the amount of time it took to peel garlic. Then I read (somewhere...?) that if you pop it in the microwave for 2-3 seconds to warm it up the peeling will slip right off! And what do you know, it does! Don't put it in longer than 2-3 seconds, it gets hot really quickly.

Recently, I haven't been feeling like expending the effort to slice/mince the garlic. I'm lazy, I know. Then I saw a niffty looking trick on thekitchn. Use a fork! It's recommended by thekitchn when you're mincing only 1-2 cloves. I haven't tried it for more than that but I probably will, when I have more than that to mince. Keep in mind this technique will not get you equally sized pieces of garlic perfection but do you really care? I sure as hell don't.


Sorry for the less than fabulous photo, my camera ran out of batteries!

So there you have it - 2 tips leading to garlic perfection.

Holiday gift guides from The Kitchn

Like to give and get food gifts? The Kitchn has done a great round up of food and cooking related gifts for the holiday season. Check out the full spectrum here.

There are definitely some things on the list I want to give to myself!

Turkey's not just for Thanksgiving

About a year ago, I decided, against all my childhood education, to eat less red meat. It's healthier, and cheaper. Ground turkey is about $3/lb vs a lean ground beef for $4-5/lb. My family thinks I'm nuts. My step-dad resolutely refused to eat turkey bacon last Christmas even after I expounded on it's health benefits and got my mom to buy and make some for breakfast. Yea...I'm from the Midwest, aka beef country.

So, I've converted to turkey bacon relatively easily and turkey sausage, on the rare occasion that I eat it. However, when I'm eating a BEEF dinner, I want it to taste like beef. No turkey meatloaf here. Alright, well, I don't actually like meatloaf, too bad as I'm told my mom's is excellent. It's one of her signature dishes that people always ask for, but I digress.

Solution? Mix it half and half. I buy a pound of turkey and a pound of beef, use half of each and put the other half in the freezer in freezer bags. The freezer is the single girl's best kitchen friend. If you want less than one pound, you can divide into 3 parts. I do this with lasagna and tacos all the time, throw both the beef and the turkey in the pan and cook 'em together and not only does it look exactly like beef but you can't taste the difference. Only your thighs will notice!

So on the plus side we have good health, save money and no taste loss. Single girl gourmet approved.

New and improved butternut

When I wrote about my favorite baked butternut recipe (which is in the oven again right now...) I complained about what a pain in the rump it is to slice the skin of the squash, well, I was complaining also to my aunt and she came through with a tip! Well, apparently it came from grandma first - the wisdom of the ages.

Auntie said to put the whole squash in the oven on low heat like 250 for a few minutes until it warms up and then cut it up. Worked like a charm! Butternut sans frustration!