Instant Pot -- All the Cool Kids Have One!

[Casey Pelous]

Well. I am now the proud owner of a Instant Pot. I realize this is about two years after EVERYONE ELSE HERE got one, but there you go. It was a Winter Holiday of Your Choice gift from the kiddos. (TL;DR: Our family refuses to be oppressed by your so-called "calendar" when it comes to holiday dates.)

First, I have to say the instructions are a damned masterpiece. They have you fiddle with all the removable parts -- "Remove the frammusjammus. Replace the frammusjammus." -- before you run a "test run" of, essentially, boiling some water. After the first couple of frammusjammus removal and reinstalls, I realized this was rather a brilliant way to get me to know the beast.

First dish was a keto chicken thing from a recipe I got off the web. If you're not familiar with keto, it seems to almost always involve copious quantities of cream cheese. So ... two chicken breasts, two bricks (!) of cream cheese, some spices, a bit of apple cider vinegar, a bit of water, pop the top on and press Pressure Cook for 20 minutes, shred the chicken and add some white cheddar (because there just wasn't enough cheese in it already) and OMG it was great! (Basically, chicken salad with ranch dressing for the keto-holic crowd.)

It's a little weird. While it is pressure cooking, it is silent and odorless. I hadn't realized how much sound and smell played into my cooking until it all went away -- so I'm getting used to that. When you "vent" the pressure cooker, suddenly you get a blast of what your dish smells like, about which you had no clue up until then, really.

Then this morning, I made some supposed "Keto English Muffins" which did not even remotely resemble English muffins as either the British or I know them, but were moderately tasty. Still -- about 10 or 15 minutes of prep plus 20 minutes+ of cook time for two dinky muffins? Yeah ----- won't be doing that one again.

Plus -- I'm sending a more-than-slightly-used slow cooker to daughter's house, and a rice cooker and 1950's vintage Presto pressure cooker to Goodwill, making more space than I gave up for the Instant Pot, so overall I'm pretty pleased with the new toy.

Recipes? Tips? Dire Warnings?

 

[Free]

I thought this was going to be another Canadian thread.

Anywho, I know it's a small thing, but I love insta-steamed carrots.

 

[Essence Lumin]

I have one that I haven't used much. It was a gift from last Xmas. I've had this book which looks like it has really good recipes but I haven't tried them out yet.

 

[Ava Glasgow]

No Instant Pot for me yet, but yay, another keto head!

I've heard IPs are great for making bone broth. For keto "english muffins" (more like a cornbread texture in my mind), I'd stick with the microwave or regular oven. I use the almond/coconut flour recipe from Wholesome Yum:

Paleo Gluten-Free Low Carb English Muffin Recipe in a Minute

 

[Katheryne Helendale]

No Instant Pot for me either. Someday, though, I'll buy one.

 

[eku zhong]

none for me yet.
why.. well
a) they're for sale at rediculously inflated prices to match up with the local versions of..
and
b)i would need a 100 to 110V step-up converter to operate it.
I do have a US Crockpot with a Japanese plug but it requires way more cooking time than the recommended because its performing at 100V

If I buy the instapot on Amazon Japan, it would cost between 200 and 500USD depending on the model.
If I buy the latest and greatest from Amazon US .. it would cost about 100USD INCLUDING shipping.. phhhht.

I keep on really wanting one because the Crockpot takes up so much space and I usually start stuff off on the cooktop anyway (to make up for the lag in voltage) before transferring it to the slowcooker.
Also I hate waiting around for my regular pressure cooker to be done.. and it scares me a little...

 

[Imnotgoing Sideways]

As a Californian, I'm very confused regarding what this thread is actually about. ()

 

[Essence Lumin]

As a Californian, I'm very confused regarding what this thread is actually about. ()

From Wikipedia

A multi purpose cooker that ... operates as a pressure cooker, slow cooker, rice / porridge cooker, yogurt maker, sauté / searing pan, steamer, and food warmer.

 

[Eunoli]

BoneBrothBoneBrothBoneBrothBoneBroth

 

[Casey Pelous]

No Instant Pot for me yet, but yay, another keto head!

For almost a year now -- there's 35 pounds less of me than a year ago.

I had blood work done a couple of months ago. It was all, quoting my doc, "Really excellent!' and he's stoked about the weight loss. He asked how I'd done it and I was all set to do my Keto Defense, but, no, he and his wife are doing it, too.

I've heard IPs are great for making bone broth. For keto "english muffins" (more like a cornbread texture in my mind), I'd stick with the microwave or regular oven. I use the almond/coconut flour recipe from Wholesome Yum:

Paleo Gluten-Free Low Carb English Muffin Recipe in a Minute

Those look great! I make a lot of stuff from Craveable Keto or from her web site, peaceloveandlowcarb.com, but most of her bread recipes are about half mozzarella cheese. Yummy, and a half a "bagel" is easily enough for breakfast but a bit ..... dense. Those look a good deal lighter.

As a Californian, I'm very confused regarding what this thread is actually about. ()

Spoiler

 

[Rose Karuna]

I got mine two years ago (when the price was still pretty reasonable) and absolutely love it. I use it about two or three times a week. What I love is that I don't have to dirty up the stove to saute like you would have to with a slow cooker. Also, the pressure really embeds some good flavors.

I had previously (in the old forum) posted a couple of recipes. My Bolognese sauce is pretty good over almost any eggplant or squash.

1 TBLS olive oil
1/2 pound ground beef
1/2 pound hot Italian sausage
1 - 2 cups of table red wine (I use two)
2 carrots finely chopped
2 ribs of celery finely chopped
1 onion finely chopped
1 bell pepper finely chopped
2 -3 cloves of garlic grated
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh Italian Parsley
1/8 cup finely chopped fresh oregano
5 or 6 large Roma tomatoes (or 1 container of whole tomatoes, I don't recommend the canned because you can smell and taste the can sometimes, if you can, get them in the carton or use fresh and puree them in your food processor)
1 can (or tube) of tomato paste
1 cup beef bone broth
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Set the Instant Pot on saute, add the olive oil. Note I ordered the non-stick version of the pot but if you have the steel it may require adding more olive oil.
Cook the ground beef and sausage, when it's cooked, add wine and continue to cook until 30 min saute is complete (if it is too "saucy" add a bit more time on saute) then pour it into a bowl and set aside.

If needed add more olive oil and cook the chopped carrots, celery and onion. When the onion is opaque, add the bell pepper and garlic. Once they are soft, remove them and put them in another bowl.

If you have a food processor, put Roma tomatoes, parsley and oregano into the food processor, blend it into a sauce, add the cooked vegetables and grind them to a fine size, then add the meat and grind until it is small but not pureed. Put it all back into the Instant pot, add the bone broth add the tomato paste and then set it on the meat/stew setting (just put that button, it's auto 30 min). When the Instant pot completes the 30 min, you can leave it to cool naturally 20 or 30 min or release the pressure with the valve and lift the lid. Add the cheese. Put the glass crock pot lid on it and set the crock pot time to between 2 and 4 hours.

You can use it over pasta, spaghetti squash, or eggplant.

 

[Ava Glasgow]

For almost a year now -- there's 35 pounds less of me than a year ago.

I had blood work done a couple of months ago. It was all, quoting my doc, "Really excellent!' and he's stoked about the weight loss. He asked how I'd done it and I was all set to do my Keto Defense, but, no, he and his wife are doing it, too.

Yay, that's wonderful!

I started about a year ago too, and while my doctors were doubtful at first, they are completely on board now. It still blows me away how effective it is, and that I can eat so much BACON!!!

I wonder if there are enough of us to have a keto thread?

 

[Essence Lumin]

I looked up keto to see what it is. I have a particular interest in ketamine since my doctor will probably be having me use it. Probably no relation but they both begin with ket.

 

[Free]

I looked up keto to see what it is.

Ketogenic diet - Wikipedia

 

[Essence Lumin]

Ketogenic diet - Wikipedia

Thank you for the link. I had glanced at that but it doesn't mention ketamine which is why I was interested. Ketamine seems like a rather powerful and possibly dangerous drug which I want to learn more about.

 

[Free]

The point of the link was to...point out there's no relation between ketogenic the diet and ketamine the drug. Although they can both make you sleepy...

 

[Ava Glasgow]

It's a low-carb high-fat diet. Carbs are VERY low so your body starts making ketones from fat and using them for fuel instead of glucose, a state called nutritional ketosis.

I use it to help manage my type 2 diabetes, and it's an effective weight loss diet for many people. It also has neurological effects due to the brain using ketones instead of glucose. My sister has found it significantly reduces the frequency of her migraines (from 15/month to 1-2/month), and it's been used since the 1920s to treat certain kinds of epilepsy.

 

[Lady Darnk Juniorette]

I wonder if there are enough of us to have a keto thread?

Wouldn't hurt to make one anyway!

Might help people to remember to get on it if they're inclined to do so.

 

[Rose Karuna]

Me too - I started in June and knocked off 23 lbs. That said; the holidays came up and I was in Italy almost the whole month of November (actually took a class there to learn how to make homemade pasta better). So... as soon as the holidays are over, it's back to keto for me. It is one of the few diets that I don't feel miserable on and works, it's slow, but it works.

 

[Ava Glasgow]

Okay, here is a keto thread for us: Keto Club (low-carb lifestyle)

And now back to our previously scheduled Instant Pot discussion.