Author: leora76

Ho ho ho! Merry Christmas and happy holidays of all descriptions to everyone out there in the WordPress-verse! As I finish up the year with my stated goal of cooking 101 recipes from Jeffrey Eisner’s The Step-By-Step Instant Pot Cookbook, you may ask yourself, “Did she make it?? Was there a holiday miracle?!” The answer is a resounding “NOT EVEN CLOSE!” And you know what? That’s ok. Maybe I didn’t have 36-hour days to work with (which would have been really handy for so many reasons!) and maybe having a Little Caesars located a bit too conveniently close caused me to miss my goal. Maybe spending weeks in Ireland, Scotland, California, Las Vegas and Florida made me unable to cook everything I wanted. Maybe going out to eat with my family or to friends’ homes for meals interfered with all the cooking time I needed. In my book, those are the best reasons for “failure” ever! It may be taking me longer than I anticipated, but I will complete this book in 2023 without a doubt, so let’s catch up on what I’ve been pressurizing lately and I’ll see you again next year!

Ahh, one of my perennial favorites, #51 Pulled Pork! I can never go wrong with a reasonably inexpensive cut of meat (pork shoulder) that can be converted into a meal to feed the masses. I must take issue here with one thing I have consistently noticed in Jeffrey’s recipes (aside from his penchant for using a ton of corn starch!): the yield serving sizes always seem wildly off! I keep doubling recipes because he tells me it will feed 4-6, and then I end up with 47 pounds of food and a single batch would’ve been more than enough. So take his yields with a grain of salt; you have been warned! Back to the recipe… It was FABULOUS. And despite what I just said, I did run out! But I was also feeding over a dozen people with 4 lbs of meat, and this juicy and tender pork made the best sliders ever on little Hawaiian rolls. The secret, naturally, is in the sauce! Heaps of spices like cumin, onion and garlic powders, paprika, etc. plus liquid smoke and 2 whole cups of Dr. Pepper (or coke) was the epitome of “Southern cooking”. I just mixed all that with a base cup of any old bbq sauce I already had on hand, and ended up with a masterpiece. 10 out of 10!

#52 Buffalo Chicken Wraps. What to say about these… Well, for starters, I can say unequivocally that I heartily dislike Buffalo anything. Wild Wings, Bills, New York… Ok, I’m kidding about the last part, I’ve never even been to that part of New York! But seriously, I could barely stand to mix this up, even though it went over gangbusters with the poker crew. Thankfully there was none leftover, so I didn’t even have to tolerate it in my fridge. Here’s the thing: there was NOTHING to this recipe! Cook some chicken breasts in chicken broth and shred (snore!) Pour bottled Buffalo sauce over it… Which is where my dislike comes in; the overwhelming smell of vinegar is so off-putting for me that I am ashamed to say I did not even try a bite. I know!! Totally broke my own rule. But here is a positive thing lurking in this less-than-stellar review: Jeffrey included a recipe for homemade Ranch that was absolutely fantastic! So while the main attraction was not my jam, I have found a killer Ranch recipe to save the day! ? of 10, but from what the Buffalo-lovers said, it’s probably an 8 or 9!

Now here is one I can’t wait to talk about! #53 Avgolemono was a sleeper hit! Let me preface this review with my opinion that Greek food is just meh. Not a huge fan of feta cheese, Kalamata olives are spawns of the devil, and I can’t even get on board with baklava. That’s not to say they don’t have their stand-out accomplishments such as gyros, tzatziki, and OMG this 4-ingredient soup! On the surface all I could say was “ew!” You want me to pour these eggs and lemon juice into boiling chicken broth?? Won’t that just give me nasty, curdled, citrusy scrambled eggs?! The answer is emphatically NO! Thanks to the magic of tempering the egg with a cup of (not exactly boiling, but hot) broth, the mixture combines with the orzo to make a thickened, creamy, lemony soup that was shockingly comforting and filling. Yes, I skipped the stupid feta garnish, but it stood alone quite nicely. As it is currently 3 degrees below zero where I am, a pot of this soup might just well be on the menu! 10 of 10.

Why, oh why, did it take me all the way to halfway through the book to make #54 Penne Alla Vodka? It’s one of my all-time favorite pasta dishes (right up there with carbonara and seafood fettuccine Alfredo.) This one did not disappoint with its pancetta and shallots sautéed in butter, then the shortcut of using jarred marinara sauce OR… the Marinara Sauce from this book! Guess which one I did (be sure to guess the from-scratch version!) Whichever you choose, next comes jujj-ing it up with more herbs and cream and Boursin cheese and of course VODKA until you end up with this melange of slightly sweet, deeply flavored sauce to pour over your grabby pasta of choice. By that I mean skip the long skinny noodles, you want something that will grip all the saucy goodness! 1o out of 10, 12 of 10 if you use his homemade marinara!

Entering the holiday season is a daunting task, even without being coupled with the self-imposed deadline of a year-long cooking project looming. Therefore I’m doing another short and sweet write-up of what I’ve made recently. If you’ve hung with me this long, you’ll be pleased to know that I am officially at the halfway point! I have a strategy ideal for this time of year (Bone Broth anyone? I don’t often have a turkey carcass lying around, but I suspect I will soon!) A hefty dent has been made in both the Meat and Pasta chapters, with honorable mentions for my work in Soups/Stews and Poultry. Somehow I am falling woefully short in Dessert, and less surprisingly, Vegetables/Sides. However, this blog is all about what I have accomplished, so without further ado, I present to you my second Recipe Roundup Express!

#41 The Ultimate Baked Beans. These smelled amazing. The ingredients were mouthwatering, and likely gave a sweet, hearty flavor (bacon, brown sugar, sweet onion, molasses, ketchup, barbecue sauce, Dijon mustard, liquid smoke, allspice, to name but a few.) The overall appearance was inviting. What I can’t describe is how they tasted… Let me explain! I made this recipe to bring to an event earlier in the year, and as often happens when there is a lot of party food, the dish was placed in an auxiliary fridge until meal time, and then we forgot. When I returned home I realized not only had we never eaten the beans I was so looking forward to, but also I had left them behind. I offered them up to my friends to serve at a family gathering the following day, and from what I heard they were good. I just can’t prove it… Oh darn, I will just have to make these again to form my own judgement. ?? of 10.

#42 Butter Chicken Bowties. Hands-down, unmitigated hit! Why? Because butter! And because chicken! How could it go wrong? The answer is it can’t. I melted a whole stick of butter and sautéed onion and garlic, browned the chicken with a mess of (not hot!) Indian spices, and when I was woozy from the melange of aromas emanating from the IP, I poured in a can of coconut milk, chicken broth and tomato paste before plopping a pound of farfalle on top. It cooked up in 30 minutes and my little family of three decimated the entire pot in short order. Dee-flippin’-licious! 10 of 10!

#43 Chicken & Broccoli. Here’s the thing; I never order this at PF Chang’s either, because it just ain’t my fave. I’m a Sesame Chicken girl! However, I was trying to find a “total Chinese meal” I could make entirely in the IP – see recipe below – even though it had to be on two separate occasions so there pot could be washed in between (or maybe someone could buy me an extra one?? Christmas is coming, hint hint!) Anyway, this was certainly pretty good, and if you’re a fan of ordering this “out”, you’ll be a fan of making it “in”. 8 of 10, because why not.

#44 Hibachi Fried Rice. Simple. Cheap. Solid substitute for Chinese takeout. I approve! I didn’t have the prescribed frozen peas and carrots mix, but it was still pretty tasty (albeit less colorful) with just peas, onions and sweet corn. I will make this again! 8 of 10; I want to try it with a protein added!

#45 Tropical Tilapia. Ok… So this is a hard pass for me. I don’t know if it cooked for too long or it was just not a flavor combo I am into, but I was on the struggle-bus to get through this recipe. Yes, I like fish. But the only thing that I actually enjoyed during this meal was the boiled Brussels sprouts. Let that sink in. The poor rice didn’t get to shine in any way, buried under that big ol’ helping of “no thanks”. There was fish. There was fruit. Oh yeah, and my favorite, bell peppers and Catalina dressing (cue the sarcasm sound effect!) Yick… -3 out of 10.

#46 Hungarian Goulash. I spent a month in Hungary and I don’t remember seeing this on the menu. Of course I saw goulash, but it usually featured venison and it wasn’t over egg noodles but rather some different, chewier pasta I wasn’t familiar with. Whatever man… this is AWESOME! I absolutely inhaled every serving until it was gone, which was about one day. My comfort-food loving soul devoured the tender stew meat and veggies in a spiced sauce sweetened slightly by ketchup and a touch of brown sugar. It was so good that the fact I had to make the noodles separately only loses it a half point! 9.5 of 10!

#47 Coconut Curry Mahi Mahi. Fish redemption! I literally and figuratively had to get the taste of that unsatisfactory tilapia out of my head (and mouth), so I made this the following week. So. Much. Better! Not only is this a superior fish to begin with, IMHO, but the coconut milk and the creamy/sweet curry flavors smelled and tasted comfortingly delicious. I served it over white rice with a side of what look like colorless peas in this picture, but I can assure you, the camera was not doing the mahi justice. Just trust me, this was a 9 of 10 on the yum scale! I think I would just cook it a hair less, to maximize the balance of fish doneness with fish tenderness.

#48 Lobster Rolls. It appears I was really on a pescatarian kick! The lobster rolls were one of my most eagerly anticipated recipes, but sadly the ridiculous expense ($50+ for 6 little frozen tails) prevented me from having the total weight of lobster meat needed to balance the amount of mayo, and I really should have pulled back on the wet ingredients. The flavor was good, but it was, for lack of a better word, sloppy. I would have liked a better bread option, but I had these hamburger buns on hand. Sigh… 7 of 10, because I was being cheap.

#49 Orange Sesame Beef. As previously stated, my Chinese take-out order is generally limited to the beloved sesame chicken, but a close runner up has always been Mongolian Beef. Now, I don’t know what that means exactly. What does “Mongolian” taste like? I never stopped to ponder the flavor profile associated with the title, I just wanted it to get in my belly. Maybe it is in fact Orange Sesame Beef? All I know is that this was a major hit, and as my youngest walked by and this picture was on the screen, I was informed that I need to make this again soon! I guess that’s another 10 of 10!

#50 Sticky Nashville Hot Chicken & Rice. I’ll admit I was frankly terrified of this recipe. Nearly a CUP of hot sauce. A TABLESPOON of cayenne. Amplification of heat from paprika and chili powder. There was even an author’s note warning, with advice to use only 1/8 tsp of cayenne if you don’t like heat!! That is 1/24th of the amount I used. And you know what? It wasn’t hot at all. I guarantee that I didn’t suddenly become a spice lover, so I don’t know by what witchcraft I was able to eat this without even a glass of milk. Whatever it was, the entire house was able to enjoy, so if you are looking for “kick”, maybe just throw in a flaming scorpion pepper?? I’d say 8 of 10.

That’s it folks! 50% completion and 51 recipes still to share. Of those, 10 have already been cooked. If you haven’t already purchased your Instant Pot, I highly recommend one makes it onto your holiday wish lists. Have a great Thanksgiving everyone!

Sometimes friends, you just have to admit when you are woefully out of your depth. This is one of those days of dizzying clarity, wherein I realize that I simply don’t have enough hours in the day to keep up with this Herculean task I have set for myself: cooking my way through The Step-By-Step Instant Pot Cookbook by Jeffrey Eisner. I am faced with two options: 1. Quit, because it is causing unnecessary stress in my life, or 2: Take a shortcut in order to meet the goal. Which means I actually have only ONE option, since quitting is not in my vocabulary. The problem isn’t that I have fallen behind on cooking the recipes. Oh no! The problem is that I have been cooking, despite my full-time job, my part-time job dealing poker, and my OTHER part-time job as a furniture artist. Oh yeah, and having a family and four cats who also need time and attention. I have managed to get about 50% of the way through this book (which I hoped to have completed by June; now I’ll be satisfied if I finish it before the end of 2022) but I have had very little time to dedicate to writing about it. Enter the solution that came to me at 6:00am this past weekend, when I should have been sleeping but I really, really wanted to get caught up on my blog: a down-and-dirty, brief round-up of the recipes I have completed in the past couple months. It will be bereft of much of the detail and story-telling I usually like to include but the thing will be published nonetheless, for anyone who happens to base their purchasing decisions of this cookbook on my reviews! So here go recipes #33-40, Cliffs Notes style…

#33 Premium Potato Salad. Bottom line, I like the recipe from the second Magnolia Table cookbook better (I’ll be blogging about that one someday, but for now let’s just say it’s the recipe to beat!) This one did have some unique attributes; you cook your hard-boiled eggs and your potatoes at the same time in a pressure cooker, which is a major time saver and dish-eliminator. Also there are a lot of flavors going on here, including bacon, chives, dill and cheese, but I question the value added from Russian dressing and apple cider vinegar. I wouldn’t say no to this potato salad on a picnic table, but if you want a home-run (in my humble opinion) check out Joanna Gaines’ Magnolia Table 2 recipe! 8 of 10, for being a bit overly fussy.

#34 Lasagna Bouquets. This was a hands-down winner at poker night, despite clearly not being a “bouquet”. I was supposed to use campanelle, but I’ll be damned if I go to the store just to get the right shaped pasta! All the great flavors of lasagna were in there, including the ground beef, (meatloaf mixture was even an option if you prefer!) mozzarella, ricotta and your garden variety onion/garlic marinara. I love anything that doesn’t require me to boil the noodles separately, and this fit the bill even though I went rogue on the pasta. 10 of 10!

#35 Rigatoni Bolognese. Another poker night recipe (a common theme with recipes which make a huge batch, plus this group eats anything I’ve cooked pretty happily!) Funny story: I doubled the recipe, but naively didn’t think too hard about the liquid volume I was adding. I realized too late that I had doubled all the ingredients in the pot…but now there was zero room for the pasta. Oh well, thought I, that just means cooking the noodles in another pot (which I hate – see above) but then I can boil the whole pound. Imagine my surprise when I opened up the IP to discover I had made… soup. Oh yeah, that pasta was kind of needed in order to soak up the doubled liquid! Oops. Alas, while it was not the recipe I intended to make, nor even a reasonable “sauce” for the noodles since it was rather thin, it tasted fantastic, as evidenced by the picture of someone eating the melange as an actual soup! 9 of 10 for my own error.

#36 Mushroom Risotto. It’s exactly like it sounds; risotto, but with mushrooms. This was rather dryer than Gordon Ramsay would serve on Hell’s Kitchen; I could almost hear him screaming, “You DONKEY!!” at me as I scooped out what looked like Rice-A-Roni, but it tasted fine anyway. Just don’t forget to use arborio rice!! 8 of 10 for being good but nothing spectacularly special.

#37 Sausage & Peppers Parmesan. I flat refused to eat this when I made it for (you guessed it) my poker crew. Spicy Italian sausage? Pass. FOUR bell peppers?? No thanks, though I did grow them myself. Despite the fact that it smelled amazing while cooking with lots of seasonings and onions and garlic, then became creamy with two kinds of cheese, I wanted no part of it. Even though it received rave reviews and several people went back for seconds, I was having none of it. Alas, I had to cave a day or two later when it was the only thing in the fridge and we’d made some pasta. We’d run out of buns and there was enough of this mixture to ladle over noodles like a sauce. I’m ashamed to admit I ate the whole bowl and it was freaking GOOD! Peppers:1, Opinionated Chef:0. Begrudging 10 of 10!

#38 Chicken Tortilla Soup. It’s finally getting to be soup season, but I made this ages ago, only because I had some avocados that needed using up. And somehow they didn’t even make it into the picture! My thoughts on tortilla soup is usually that the best part is the toppings: cheese, sour cream, avocado, tortilla strips… really it could be dishwater underneath all that and the soup would still be pretty good! This was certainly not dishwater, though I can’t recall specifics about it. Suffice it to say it was yummy and I’d make it again the next time I have a struggling avocado! 8 of 10 for not being especially memorable, but a solid recipe nonetheless.

#39 Sausage & Shells. Look at me, the original pasta rebel, using the ingredient the recipe called for! Don’t get excited, I just happened to already have it, otherwise you know I would have used anything vaguely pasta-related! This is a lousy picture (when compared to the photo in the book) because you can’t see all the things that really made it a stand-out recipe: spinach, fresh tomatoes, artichokes… There is a load of vegetables in here and you can’t even see them! Heck, even the sausage chunks seem to have settled at the bottom. You’ll have to take my word that despite my subpar photography skills, the recipe was delicious, hearty, and filling. Score one for the shell pasta! 10 of 10.

#40 Baked Potatoes. Last but not least… No, actually on this list, these potatoes really are the “least” exciting. This photo captured them at their most glamorous, if you catch my drift. Ok fine, the potatoes were raw when they went in, and cooked when they came out, and I suppose it cut the cooking time roughly in half to use the IP. But, and this is a big but, the texture of the skin is sooooo blahhhhh… I get that many people don’t eat the skin of a baked potato anyway, but for me this is sacrosanct. There is nothing better than a nice crispy skin baked with flavored olive oil brushed on and herb and garlic seasoning rubbed in. It is hands-down my favorite part of the baked potato experience and you don’t get that here. If you’re in a hurry and don’t care about “the skin in the game”, then knock yourself out with the Instant Pot; in half an hour you’ll have a satisfactory potato on the plate! 5 of 10; cooked, but boring!

If only the urge to write struck me as often as the need to cook, I’d have this book half done already! Just this week I wrapped up my 48th recipe, Lobster Rolls, when I was able to find a pack of tails for the bargain price of $50 at Costco. For right now however, I am still reaching into the past and trying to recall the details of recipes gone by so I can catch you all up. But stay tuned down the road for that lobster roll story though; that’s one you’ll want to try!

It’s July. No one wants #29 Clam Chowder at this very moment, certainly not in a heavy sourdough bread bowl, as was the serving suggestion. Come September, refer back to this memo, because you’ll want to have this on your table! I’m something of a clam chowder snob, or as much as one can be without having spent much time on the east coast. I have zero interest in Manhattan clam chowder, which is an abomination to me, but this one hit all the right notes of celery, potato, onion and of course lots and lots of clam bits swimming in a creamy base. Cardinal chowder sins are: 1) skimpy clammage, 2) thin soup, and 3) bland seasoning. I would go a step further and also say that I don’t like it when I have to wait too long for anything I want to eat, so a soup that simmers all day long is just cruel. This was in my bowl in under 45 minutes and had great flavor, thanks to bay leaves, cooking sherry, seasoned salt and Old Bay. There was an optional ingredient I considered trying, Zatarain’s Shrimp and Crab Boil Concentrate, but I was suspicious of the author comment “for an extra ‘kick'”… That could mean so many things, usually along the lines of “spicy”, so I skipped it. If you’re into “kick”, give it a whirl! Either way, this is a 10 of 10.

I couldn’t love this any more if it were Taco Bell delivery and they actually got your order right! It was quick, it was simple, it was delicious. #30 Fiesta Chicken Tacos achieved the Trifecta, and then throw in “cheap” to top it all off! Normally I am a beef taco girl, and I never purposely choose chicken when ordering Mexican food unless it’s a quesadilla. While I don’t think I will suddenly abandon carne asada or barbacoa when next confronted with a menu, I do think I will make these chicken tacos at home again. A mere 12 minutes stood between me and dinner, and the cooking liquid packed a flavorful punch. The chicken breasts poached in a mixture of salsa, chicken broth, taco sauce and a variety of seasonings (it’s already a miracle I liked this so much, given my distaste for taco sauce) and then shredded up beautifully using the hand mixer method. I admit I didn’t think that would work at all, but when it’s tender enough, it absolutely does! Once the chicken is shredded all that’s left is adding back as much sauce as desired and filling your shell of choice, then topping. Only suggestion is to spring for those flat bottomed hard shells or invest in the cute fluted taco holders; I had to do quite the balancing act to get this glamour shot before the tacos keeled over. 10 of 10 for flavor and adaptability; you can take this concept in a million directions!

Fun fact: #31 Beef Stroganoff was the very first “grown up” recipe I tried to make from the Good Housekeeping cookbook my grandmother bought for me as a teenager. Thus began my love affair with cookbooks and learning the culinary arts. I think it took me four hours to make that first time because I had to read every step over and over, plus my knife skills were markedly less developed at the time. I had to cook mushrooms! Ew! I had to use ONIONS!! DOUBLE EW!! Oh how times have changed, because now those ingredients are part of what made this IP version so delicious. Also it was an excellent use of our 1/4 cow, which is slowly diminishing in the freezer. For some reason the butcher who broke down the beef gave me “stew meat” that measured about 3 inches square, so once I cut them into actual bite sized pieces, this was a breeze to prepare. I always cheat and buy the pre-sliced mushrooms, so the only other effort was dicing an onion and making the egg noodles on the stovetop. Additionally this recipe called for a packet of onion soup mix, so I’m glad I got over my aversion to the greatest flavor enhancer since salt! “My” beef stroganoff has always been my favorite, something of an amalgam of that Good Housekeeping version and tweaks I have perfected over the years to the seasonings. I like to use flank steak, which was incredibly cheap when I was in my youth but now costs roughly as much as an ounce of gold.
This called for stew meat or chuck cubes, but really I see no reason you couldn’t go as cheap as hamburger or as expensive as steak if you want. His flavor profile included surprising touches such as Boursin cheese, Dijon mustard and sauvignon blanc, none of which has ever been part of my plan, but I will say he knows what he is doing. I’ll give him a 9 of 10 (just because mine is still best!)

This is what it’s all about, right here. If you’ve ever wondered why someone would challenge themselves to make every single recipe from a cookbook, despite knowing there will be recipes for dishes they do not like, #32 Chicken Shawarma (or something like it) is the answer. Sometimes you find recipes you probably never would have made that you DO like! I have had a tiny little packet of shawarma seasoning residing in my cabinet for at least six years based on someone recommending it. I didn’t know what to put it on, what flavor to expect, nothing, so I just never got around to it. Well friends, my eyes have been opened, and now I know I like at least one Middle Eastern dish! Hummus and baba ghanoush notwithstanding. The author did state that his version is adapted from the traditional flavors he experienced when visiting there, but I like what he did with it. I built the mix from scratch with paprika, curry powder, seasoned salt, black pepper, cumin, turmeric, cinnamon, cayenne and hot pepper flakes. Not enough flavor for you? There’s also three cloves of garlic! All this was sprinkled over onion wedges cooked in butter and chicken thighs and pressure cooked with garlic broth. Serve it all up with tzatziki in pita rounds, and you have yourself a treat! 11 of 10; a bonus point just for giving me something I have never tasted before. Maybe he even deserves an extra point if I finally use that packet of shawarma languishing in the spice cabinet.

You know what totally does not sound appetizing when the temperatures outside reach three digits? Literally anything remotely warm. You know how the Instant Pot cooks food? Oh yeah… with immense heat! Ugh. On the one hand, using the IP to make dinner alleviates the need to fire up the oven or stand over a hot stove, so that’s a point in its favor. On the other hand, much of what comes out of said Instant Pot is going to be comfort food, stews, soups, hearty meals, etc… When all I want is a gallon of ranch dressing and something cold to pour it on. My original intention was to have this book completed by the end of June so I wouldn’t be pressure cooking during the Hades-like temps of Colorado in summer, but here I sit at just about the halfway mark. My best laid plans may have fallen short of the mark, but bear with me as I catch you up on some of the recipes I made in cooler times. Those chilly nights will be here again sooner than you think. (Or at least I keep telling myself that!)

One of my perennial favorites, and evidently as popular as Creme Brûlée for cookbook authors, good ol’ #24 Sausage & Spinach Soup (aka Zuppa Toscana; come at me Olive Garden!) Ok, so this version differed slightly than others I have made in the past, and at this point I think I am up to four different approaches. The “Holy Trinity” for this soup is Sausage-KALE-Potato, but as you can see right there in the title, Jeff swapped in spinach as his green of choice. Now, I could Google it and give you a detailed rundown of the health benefits and vitamin content of one vs. the other, but frankly if you care, you can do that yourself much faster than I can explain it. For those who don’t give a hoot and just want to know how it tastes, you’re in luck! That’s what I’m going with. The fact of the matter is I couldn’t tell a difference! Kale in its raw form is FAR tougher than delicate little spinach leaves, so I thought it would end up rather mushy in this soup, but I was pleasantly surprised. I’m 87.3% certain I used golden new potatoes instead of red potatoes (the usual for this recipe), and that turned out indistinguishable from the original as well. The bottom line is this soup is the bomb, and you can be successful with just about any reasonable substitutions. Now if Jeffrey can just publish a recipe for Endless Breadsticks…

Another two-fer meal! I did make #25 Refried Beans a day before I made #26 White Queso Chicken Enchilada Casserole due to time and cooker availability restrictions, but that is just an argument for having multiple IPs in your kitchen! First, the beans; personally I am a huge fan, whether they be homemade or plopped out of a Rosarita can. My husband could happily skip them, but he was a good sport to at least try these and I don’t recall complaints (except one, which I will cover later.) My kiddo snarfed these up and leftovers didn’t last long! 2-1, these were a winner. What I did not understand when I planned to make refried beans is that there is SO much more that goes into them! I always believed that it was pretty much pinto beans and some seasoning, cook forever, then mash. Oh how naive I was… This recipe called for no fewer than 10 ingredients, to include green chilies and bay leaves, which I did not see coming. Based on the flavor, I suggest you don’t argue and just put everything in; they were DELISH. The part I was less thrilled with was the texture. I don’t know if it was the mile-high Colorado altitude that caused an issue (I am not even certain that comes into play with pressure cooking, but I’m happy to blame every cooking failure on the altitude!) but the beans were not quite soft enough for my liking. I was able to mash a decent amount, but even with busting out the immersion blender to break them down further and snapping the lid back on for additional pressure cooking still resulted in a little kernel of hardness in the center of some of the beans. P.S. I don’t recommend that method, I was just giving it a whirl. Going forward, I will try a tiny bit more liquid and another 10-15 minutes of pressure BEFORE I natural-release for half an hour. That’s right, even in the IP, these beans will take you nearly two hours to prepare. Better than all day on the stovetop, right?? Just be sure to factor that into your dinner plans.

Now, about those enchiladas… It’s no secret they are just not my favorite and are a right pain in the butt to make, no matter whose recipe I am using. I don’t enjoy making them. There, I said it! One strike against them from an IP perspective is that in order to really make this work, you have to cook the chicken in the pot, then remove it, roll it in a tortilla and bake in the oven. Oh no you di’int Instant Pot! I demand ONE-POT WONDERS!! I don’t want to heat up the oven, and I don’t want to stick my hands into the hot chicken mixture to get it into the tortillas and end up with white queso sauce up to my elbows. But I did really want all that melty cheesy goodness on top, so I had to bite the bullet. But here’s the deal; first of all I think these were a little bland, so I would steal some of the seasoning that was so liberally and expertly applied in the beans and make sure the chicken gets the same treatment. Then I would make the recipe as directed, but skip the tortilla-wrapping altogether, melt the Mexican cheese blend on top in the IP, then serve the chicken mixture in a bowl with a tortilla on the side along with the beans. Boom. Workaround. And no elbow-queso!

I confess I was insanely eager to make #27 Spiced Short Ribs. Like I could not stop thinking about them for at least week before I got them in my mouth. Obsessed. The cookbook photo was one these bad boys nestled on a pillow of fluffy mashed potatoes (ok, actually it was cauliflower puree, but my brain interpreted potatoes) with a delicate sprinkle of freshly diced chives, and it was a centerfold worthy of Playboy back in the 50s. Classy yet sexy! The sauce was rich with warm aromas: allspice, Chinese five-spice, hoisin, cinnamon, honey, garlic and red wine. This did not disappoint when cooking! Oh, the heavenly scent!! Of course I started by seasoning the short ribs with S & P and then searing each side (a bit tedious since they were cubes and therefore took forever to get all six sides cooked equally), and the smell of sautéing beef just added to my anticipation. Since in my mind the perfect accompaniment was mashed taters and not some silly vegetable substitute, that’s what I made while the ribs cooked for an hour and a half of exquisite torture. So… Did it live up to the hype? Yes. Yes it did! The only downside for me is that this cut doesn’t have ENOUGH meat on its bone to satisfy me, and I could have let it pressure cook another 15-20 minutes to break down the connective tissue even more (stupid altitude again??) I wanted to gnaw every scrap of edible meat and leave nothing behind, so maybe next time I can try this idea on boneless (country style) ribs. Beef or pork, I think this is a Hall of Famer!

At last, we get to another Poker Night meal, #28 Jewish Brisket. You may have noticed an exceptional jump in my photography skills as you gaze in wonder at the tender beefiness above, but rest assured I had nothing to do with it. I had to steal the glamour shot straight from the cookbook! This recipe (which I DO take credit for preparing!) went so fast I couldn’t even snap a pic before it was just scraps. That should tell you all you need to know about how much of a hit this was. In fact I barely got any after my card-playing friends got in the buffet line! We made brisket sandwiches and topped with our favorite barbecue sauces and sliced pickles, but even without the addition of sauce, the flavor was on point and the meat was juicy and fall-apart tender. It was so simple too! I conveniently have a quarter of a cow stashed in my freezer(s), so at least I didn’t have to go out grocery shopping for an expensive cut right now; I used a 5-lb piece. Four coarsely chopped yellow onions were sandwiched between halves of the brisket, and then it was drenched in a sauce made from ketchup, brown sugar, vinegar and garlic. I highly recommend making this traditional Jewish recipe regardless of religion, gender, creed, nationality, race, etc. YUM knows no boundaries!

Have you ever been so behind that you think you’re ahead?? I am currently sitting pretty at 41 recipes proudly (and deliciously) completed from Jeffrey Eisner’s “The Step-by-Step Instant Pot Cookbook”, and was feeling pretty smug about my progress until I realized… I have only written about half of them! The struggle is real, yo! See, the trouble is that I eat just about every day, while the time I dedicate to writing about eating is slightly less predictable! I am endeavoring to power through a quick synopsis of roughly 20 recipes over the next few blogs to get myself back on track, so grab a cup of coffee (and your pressure cooker of choice) and let’s talk some IP!

Mmmmm… Egg Loaf… Just like Mom used to make! I jest, but my mom actually does make a mean egg-salad sandwich, and I learned to duplicate her recipe many moons ago. It’s easy, but the step that always proved a hinderance to making a batch whenever the fancy struck was the egg boiling/cooling/peeling process. Sometimes it’s just easier to make a PB&J! Well friends, take that excuse off the list, because #19 Egg Loaf is the answer to your prayers! Not only did I finally have an excuse to use my wee little IP bundt pan, but I also discovered the simple workaround for the time-consuming shell peeling step: just eliminate the shells! There is absolutely no more to this “recipe” than spritzing an IP-safe dish (glass or metal) with cooking spray, cracking in your desired number of eggs, and letting the machine do its thing. Pros: obviously, getting a dozen or more eggs cooked all at once that will not have to be peeled, and which can be immediately chopped for use in potato or egg salad, as a topping for chef salad, or even for a terribly boring breakfast. Cons: you save the peeling time and accompanying mess, but the cook time is at least 25 minutes (including Natural Release), so plan accordingly. With that caveat, 10 out of 10!

I struggle with pronouncing the title of #20 Chicken Oreganata every time I try to say it. It just doesn’t roll off the tongue. It does however, roll pleasantly onto the tongue, as this was delectable! I think a better title would have been “Artichoke Chicken” as there was certainly a lot more of that and just an average amount of oregano. Even though the chicken breasts were sliced crosswise into thinner filets, I still found this a very filling dish when served over spaghetti with the “oregano” (artichoke) cream sauce poured over top. Technically I was supposed to use angel hair, which might account for the fact that I was stuffed like a tick at the end of dinner. Some Parmesan and Italian breadcrumbs topped it all off with a quick hit under the broiler, but I think that step could have been improved by mixing the combo with melted butter before carefully watching it under a low broiler. Clearly mine got away from me a bit, but nonetheless this was a good one. 8 out of 10, mostly due to my own mistakes of serving overly heavy pasta and an almost-but-not-quite burnt topping!

#21 Chicken Soup. NAILED. IT. There is nothing more to say on this topic except buy the book and make this soup immediately. (I’ll be eagerly awaiting my endorsement kick-back, Jeffrey!) It’s that good. Of course it features all the expected veggies (onion, celery, carrots) and the always reliable egg noodle (cooked on the stovetop separately), but where this soup shines is in the seasoning. Plenty of fresh garlic, Italian seasoning, several bay leaves, lemon pepper, fresh dill and parsley… The flavor combo is swoon-worthy! Comfort food at its finest, and brothy enough that it can be made even when the temperature creeps up in the summer without feeling too heavy. 10 out of 10, even accounting for having to wash a second pot!

And finally, a twofer: #22 & 23 Lemon Pepper Miso Glazed Salmon and Lemon Asparagus Parmesan Risotto. Partially I wanted to double down on the lemon flavor, partially I just wanted to kill two IP recipes in one meal. Success on both fronts! But to be totally honest… I did not have any miso paste. I think I ended up basically making a teriyaki glaze based on all the other ingredients used. Brown sugar, sesame oil, soy sauce, fish sauce and (duh) lemon juice paired with salmon seasoned in lemon pepper to bring home the flavor. I’ve had miso before, but it was unremarkable enough that I don’t feel I missed out on a thing by leaving it out. The only other time I have attempted fish in the IP (not counting the clams in my delicious chowder) it was shrimp, which turned out terribly overdone and chewy. Not so with the salmon! I gently steamed the fish for 4 minutes (yes, only 4! Don’t argue or you’ll end up with rubber like I did when I questioned it!) and then cooked up the glaze using the sauté function. Perfectly cooked and sweet, yet citrusy flavor. I could have hit it again with a squeeze of fresh lemon after it was plated, and that would have kicked it up a notch. I stand by my miso-less-ness, but if you try it with miso, let me know what you think!

Risotto is a sensitive subject for me, as it usually requires so much work and tending that I get REALLY tetchy when it doesn’t come out right. This one was…ok. I have subsequently made another of his risottos and it came out much better, largely due to a helpful note that I wish he’d included on every risotto recipe: you MUST use arborio rice! Oops. I had a 417-pound bag of plain ol’ white rice from Costco that was sitting on a shelf waiting for an apocalyptic event or a family reunion requiring a dish that “serves 85”, so naturally I reached for that. The result was not quite as done as I prefer, and the asparagus flavor and texture became a little dull in the IP. Next time I try this (there will be a next time, which shows this recipe still held promise!) I will steam the asparagus separately or roast it in the oven to maintain the bright green color and tenderness. Jeffrey instructed me to steam just the tips (insert joke there) in the microwave to use as a finishing touch, but they were the only good pieces as far as I was concerned, as the other parts were mushy. On the whole as a meal, I was satisfied and happy but by no means blown away. 7 out of 10, points leaning heavily on the success of the salmon. Risotto, you can use some work, but I believe in you. And now in arborio rice too!

Spring may have sprung (in between freak snowstorms here in Colorado), but I am still working through a backlog of recipes that I produced during the frigid temperatures of January and February. Therefore, please don’t expect any light side dishes or salads from this blog. In fact, even if there is an “Instant Pot Caesar Salad” listed in this book, I am going to respectfully refuse to make it! That being said, prepare yourself for some ridiculously good comfort food to make the next time the mercury dips, or whenever you just want Creme Brûlée. Which is always. Dessert has no season!

Ah, my ol’ favorite: “pasta and _____”. Pretty much anything works here, chicken, beef, even pork cutlet, but I have a particular affection for shellfish of all varieties. My go-to has always been shrimp fettuccine in cream (not tomato) sauce, but #16 Linguine with White Clam Sauce is a close second! My only objection to this recipe is that the pasta was not absolutely drenched. Specifically in Alfredo sauce, or something similarly thick and creamy. But that’s not what this is, so basically I’m mad because this isn’t another recipe altogether! Since I can’t reasonably hold that against this IP recipe, let me say that the sauce it did use was pretty tasty, and although the photo looks fairly dry, there was a coating of garlicky, buttery, clammy goodness on all the noodles. Like most sauces with a butter and cream base, reheating pretty much destroys the velvety texture, so you’re much better off just planning to have a couple guests over and polish this off in one sitting! PS, somehow I managed to take a pic that appears bereft of clams, but I assure you there were 20 oz of the little guys in there! Overall rating for this (accounting for my Alfredo-bias) is an 8/10. I docked a point for the author having access to a wider world of Better Than Bouillon flavors than I have EVER seen, thus requiring me to improvise. Evidently Clam BTB is a thing… Somewhere.

I generally chafe at anything claiming to be “the world’s best” anything in the food world. It’s just too much pressure (zing! I snuck in an IP joke!) to live up to! However, in this instance I must tip my hat to the author. He really nailed #17 Best-Ever Pot Roast, and mine turned out amazing in a fraction of the time that it would have taken in a slow cooker. The key to a great pot roast for me is the seasoning, and I was not disappointed. Too often a fancy-pants chef will insist, “if the meat is quality, all you need is salt and pepper and the flavor will sing.” Bull pucky. I submit that no matter how “Kobe” my beef might be, some garlic and onion powder will never make it worse. The average Joe/Josephine Homechef isn’t routinely buying $29/lb meat, so I need my Costco bulk beef to sing too! Or at least hum a few bars… My roast was improved by seasoned salt, parsley, rosemary and thyme (Simon and Garfunkel would approve, despite the lack of sage!) onion and garlic powder, and S & P. Worcestershire sauce and fresh garlic along with red wine gave the meat a depth of flavor as well, and searing each side in butter and olive oil caramelized the surface beautifully before it was set to pressure cook. Most pot roast recipes have a standard onion-celery-carrot component, and most are served over mashed potatoes, but due to the intense heat of a 60-minute pressure cook, I made little foil “packets” for the potatoes and carrots which just sat on top of the meat while it cooked. This kept them from dissolving into mush, which they would have done if they were exposed to all the liquid for that long. Admittedly I was skeptical about not having MASHED potatoes, (clearly the superior form of spud, along with the noble French fry) but these were tender and delicious and definitely lower in calories. Rating: 10/10, and I concur with the “Best-Ever” title without objection!

I honestly don’t think I have a done a cookbook yet that didn’t have a version of #18 Creme Brûlée. This is a beautiful thing, since it saves me about $60 each time I make a batch and therefore do not have to order it at restaurants for a while! I think my favorite thus far is still an Alton Brown recipe I made many years ago which I doctored with espresso flavors (as I did here), and while I have made many a delicious brûlée, none have quite reached that level of perfection. Making this dessert in an Instant Pot was both easy and stressful, mostly due to my irrational fear of something exploding when I put the lid on. I don’t know why I continue to feel trepidation about putting cooking vessels (in this case oven-proof glass ramekins) into an IP, but I just woo-sah’d myself into a calmer state and went for it. The creme mixture was pretty standard, the only unusual ingredients being nutmeg and cinnamon, but I like to add coffee extract as well. Heavy cream and egg yolks plus sugar and spices all went into a microwaveable bowl and heated for 45 seconds, then I poured the liquid into my ramekins. Normally this would the part that is so easy to mess up: placing the creme brûlées into a bain-marie (water bath) and transporting the whole sloshing pan to the oven. One drop of water splashing into the creme mixture will ruin it, as the dessert will not set up. For the IP version, all I had to do was wrap the ramekins in foil and stack them inside! There was water in the pot, but with the “lids” on, I was less worried about contamination. They were done cooking in 15 minutes, then as usual had to chill overnight or at least a few hours. So that’s the good part, they were super easy; on the downside, the texture was…weird. If you like tapioca pudding, this will not bother you in the slightest, but I could do without it. The crazy thing is that there were not actually “lumps” in the finished product, it was more like there were “holes”. It looked like little tiny air pockets had formed while cooking, and it gave an almost curdled appearance, though it certainly was not. The flavor was on point, and once I took a bite I could tell that it was in fact smooth…ish. For me the “aerated” mouthfeel was less than ideal, so I prefer the tried and true (and still stressful) method of baking them in the oven. If I ever find myself in some sort of creme brûlée emergency, I know how to knock out an acceptable batch in short order, but the overall rating will sit at about a 6.5, because I demand a silky smooth texture. But on the plus side, I still got to light them on fire!

Linguistic arguments aside, this week in IP history I created a little something for both factions: the “Oh, I’m not eating carbs anymore” people and the “give me all the desserts” people all have something amazing to discover in these paragraphs, so read on for the deets!

It’s easy to get caught up in preparing main dish after main dish when making your way through an entire cookbook, and often those “extra” recipes get forgotten entirely, such as sides and veggies. I mean, it’s not exactly tough to throw a steamer bag of frozen {insert veggie of choice here} into the microwave and boom, three minutes later the sides are ready. But we aren’t here for the easy way out! Well, sort of… this blog season IS all about cooking quick! But I digress. I noticed my checkmarks were leaning heavily to the soup and poultry sections, so I figured it was time to branch out to the chapters I was less comfortable with. Enter the humble spaghetti squash for #15 Spaghetti Squash Scampi. I confess to having never eaten one of these things until I was well into my 30s, and being utterly delighted when I first dug a fork into the roasted squash and dragged it through to produce the long, thin strands of vegetable ribbons that so accurately mimicked, you guessed it, spaghetti! I knew it was supposed to do that, but I was ridiculously tickled when it actually worked. If you know me, you can probably guess which direction I took the versatile squash for that first experiment: sweet, not savory! I added butter, cinnamon and a bit of brown sugar, like I was dressing a sweet potato. I managed to restrain myself from adding marshmallows… I went with this because I was trying to get my kiddos on board with eating a new vegetable, and thought that might “sweeten” the deal so to speak. They weren’t especially enthused, but I liked it! Next time I tried it served like actual spaghetti, complete with marinara and meatballs, which was decent but not my fave. Over the years I also tried a butter/pepper/Parmesan combo that I liked, and swapped back and forth between the sweet and savory applications whenever I felt like I had served corn or peas for too many meals in a row. Prior to my No Shopping January kickoff, I stocked up on fresh vegetables and snagged one of these beauties, mostly because they keep forever. When I finally got to prepare this veggie, I was most excited by the word “Scampi” in the description, which I have long associated with one of my favorite shrimp recipes. I had a dietarily responsible, keto and low carb friendly “side” dish ready to take a walk on the wild side, so I decided to make the MAIN dish. And so it became the base for #16 Sweet and Sassy Shrimp! I could practically feel the pounds melting off my hips, knowing this dinner was going to be so virtuous. Not to say that it was boring! I particularly enjoyed the addition of onion (was actually supposed to be shallots) and garlic, plus parsley, butter and Parm. A little lemon juice and white wine jujjed it up, and suddenly squash held its own with the shrimpy star of the show. The squash rates 10/10; no major disasters to report!

Here, alas, is where the story takes an unfortunate twist. Just gaze upon the picture above; it looks pretty good, right? Well, it definitely could have been, had I not petrified those poor little shrimpies. But let me back up to the “pros” of this recipe (there were a lot of them!) First off, I had everything I needed on-hand to make the sweetly sassy sauce, and I was able to clear out plenty of shelf space from half empty bottles of honey, hot sauce and apple cider vinegar! Second, the shrimp doesn’t need to be thawed to make it, so deciding on dinner at the last minute doesn’t disqualify this meal. Using frozen is a pro, but let me give you a “pro tip” so you don’t encounter the same issue I did: even though the author said to set the cook timer for one minute if the shrimp are frozen, DON’T DO IT!! It’s a trap. For thawed shrimp the instructions are to cook for zero minutes, which sounds weird but as soon as it comes to pressure, it beeps and you immediately Quick Release. Well folks, I should have just done that, because I have never nearly chipped a tooth biting down on a shrimp. “Rubbery” would have been a vast improvement for this poor seafood, but I passed that about a mile back. I’m not certain what went wrong, as these were jumbo shrimp for sure and they should have been able to withstand a bit longer cook. My guess is they sat too long in the hot sauce while I did other things. So let my screw-up be a lesson to you in the future, because truly, the sauce and overall idea of this meal was fantastic. The squash was a great component to use as a base, and the flavor rivaled any restaurant. Just pull back the throttle on that cook time and give it a try! 5 out of 10 for my abject failure to properly cook shrimp, but I have no doubt I can nail it next time!

I have to end on a more sweet, less sassy note! #15 Customizable Cheesecake has been the recipe I most looked forward to, dreaded, and feared, in equal measure. I am a cheesecake snob of the highest order, and the first time I saw people posting about making it in an Insta (Instant?!) Pot I called BS. I had images in my head of dumping the ingredients into the pot and then having it plop out perfectly, and I just didn’t see how that could be remotely possible. That’s because it isn’t, of course, and I was being ridiculous! Turns out you still need a classic springform pan, and they just so happen to make one wee enough to fit inside the IP. I’m glad I checked on this prior to setting out to make the cheesecake, because I had intended to use my regular springform pan, and that’s about 3 inches in diameter too wide to fit into the pot! Amazon was my friend, delivering the most adorable little bundt pan to go along with the 6″ springform, so now I can make every recipe in this book with no further equipment. Back to the cheesecake; first way this recipe differs from the many versions I have made in the past is the crust. It’s exactly the same ingredients (graham crackers and butter), except there was no need to par-bake it. Instead I just stuck it in the freezer whilst preparing the batter. This is where I hope you had some squash and shrimp for lunch, because I have the rest of your daily allotment of calories right here! Using my 600-horsepower KitchenAid mixer, because ain’t nobody got time to do this by hand, I combined cream cheese, sour cream, sugar and eggs with the all-important Jell-O Instant Pudding mix. There is no such ingredient in traditional baked cheesecakes, but I imagine this is what makes it stable, and also where I took my first departure in making it “customizable”. The instructions called for vanilla pudding mix, but I prefer chocolate. I can assure you, any flavor will work as long as it is INSTANT. The long-cook version is a no-go. Once the mixture was as smooth as it could get, I poured it into the springform pan and covered the whole thing in aluminum foil. I filled the IP with two cups of water and lowered my creation into the bain-marie it had transformed into (essentially a double-boiler situation, using the water bath to gently cook through the pan.) 45 minutes later I let it natural-release for a half hour and voila! Cheesecake was born. It had to chill overnight like any other cheesecake, but it was faster and easier to cook than I believed possible. So… how did it taste?? I’m pleased to report that even though it wasn’t uber-complicated and take hours to prepare, the flavor was on point, especially topped with my favorite, cherry pie filling. I will dock a point for the texture being ever-so-slightly off; there were tiny pockets of cream cheese that didn’t blend in enough while mixing, so next time I’ll be sure to have it at room temperature and mix even longer. I give it a 9 out of 10 for that reason alone, though I guess my cat gave it a 10 of 10; I lost out on the last slice when the little thief hopped on the counter and went to town on it!

I’m pretty sure I have made this reference before, but in case you missed that blog, here it is again: do you remember the 80’s television ad for Rice Krispies treats, where the mom reads a romance novel behind the closed kitchen door all day after knocking out the recipe in a matter of minutes, only to frizz up her hair and throw flour in her face before “exhaustedly” coming out to present the treats to her grateful family? Yeah; it’s like that. Do you remember that kitchens used to have doors?? It’s hard to get away with such shenanigans in today’s open concept, eat-in kitchens, but the delight remains the same: creating dinner at the touch of a button is a miracle for working parents everywhere!

I took the idea of meal prep simplification one step further by cheating my face off for the preparation of #10 Crabby Creamed Corn. Not just a short-cut appliance, but a whole short-cut side dish! You may notice from the picture that this meal appears to be a step above your average Tuesday night reheat, and that’s because I made this recipe utilizing my Christmas dinner leftovers. Prime rib, mashed potatoes and Ree Drummond’s creamed corn graced our holiday table, and it was phenomenal at the time. It was also especially convenient to already have creamed corn made, so I literally just had to dump in a half-pound of lump crab meat to “make” the IP recipe. Hey, it still counts! For the sake of argument and to have something to say about it besides “it was good”, I’ll give you a compare and contrast. Ree’s corn calls for almost nothing aside from corn, yet it is creamy, rich and tastes like heaven. The only other ingredients are heavy cream and butter, pepper and salt to taste, simmered on the stovetop for 20 minutes; somehow this alchemy gives the impression of a cheesy flavor. It is entirely hallucinated! The IP corn however, DOES call for cheese, and a lot of of it. The dish was already quite thick, so I worried about making it clumpy; half a package of cream cheese and half cup of Parmesan was on the border of excessive. If my corn had been “pristine”, perhaps that would have been a reasonable amount. I skipped adding more butter, but I threw in the bit of sugar that it called for, though I couldn’t figure why it was necessary. Crab=sweet, corn=sweet, so I scratched my head on that one. Anyway, I mention that my corn was already thick for a reason; there was a real danger of getting something called a “Burn Notice” when there isn’t enough liquid in the IP to form steam. This was news to me; I love a cookbook that teaches me stuff, not just recipes! Apparently while cooking in the IP, the fluid shouldn’t be much thicker than soup broth or you risk burning food to the bottom, which means I was breaking the cardinal rule: “Don’t pressure luck”… There it is, the Dad joke you were waiting for! (Credit to the author for that pun, btw!)

When I was married four months ago, there was one thing I was really looking forward to. Ok, maybe the list was slightly longer of things I was looking forward to, but definitely in the Top 5 was my dinner. We had sampled the menu several months in advance, and hands-down our favorite option was #11 Chicken Marsala. Of course, the caterer’s chicken Marsala was not made in the Instant Pot (as far as I know!) but the meat was tender and juicy, the sauce was hearty and had a rich flavor, and the mushrooms were perfection. I daydreamed about that meal more than I should, with its fluffy bed of mashed potatoes beneath the chicken, and I sang its praises to everyone trying to decide which meal to choose. Such was my anticipation that I avoided other chicken Marsalas, saving myself, as it were, for the full-sized portion I was going to enjoy at my reception! Imagine my disappointment when the waiter, with great flourish, presented the plate to me at the head table…a plate of fried chicken cutlet. Not. Even. Close. No mushrooms, wrong sauce. I have no idea what the “new chef” was thinking Chicken Marsala was but my friends, that was not it. The beef brisket dish was wrong too, by the way. Nothing was inedible, but it was so NOT what we ordered! Which goes to show, you better be happy with WHO you are marrying, because “perfect” weddings do not exist and something is bound to go wrong! All of this brings me to the point of this tale: I never got the Chicken Marsala I was promised and I’m still craving it! I am sad to report that this version is also not my ideal; Ree did it better. I had a couple of issues with this recipe, and I am starting to notice a trend in this book. One is that my buddy Jeff errs on the side of caution when it comes to seasoning, so I have found more than one occasion where the idea was solid, but the execution was lacking when it comes to flavor. The same spices but MORE of just about everything would probably be good. Second, he’s never met a tub of corn starch he doesn’t like. I get it, too-thin sauces and soups and stews are kind of a letdown, but he takes it a bit far in my opinion. The Dijon pork ended up suspended in what appeared to be a “mustard jello” when it cooled down, and that just ain’t appetizing, folks. There are plenty of other options, such as a roux of flour and butter or flour and oil; masa; arrowroot; heck, even brown gravy mix! Jeff relies heavily on the corn starch slurry, which makes some recipes too gelatinous. Moving on: the (under-seasoned) chicken cutlets were sautéed in the IP, so yay for one-pot usage; however the prescribed time barely put any color on them. As Chef Anne Burrell says, “Brown food tastes GOOD!” This was beige food at best. I ignored him and kept sautéing, hoping not to fall into the trap of cooking too much early on, not understanding how long it would cook again in later steps. The mushrooms also could have done with a little more time in sauté mode, but the quantity vs. the space inside the pot was probably the deal-breaker. Mushrooms will never cook properly if the pan is too crowded (they are full of moisture!) so they end up sweating too much without caramelizing. It’s Julia Child 101. What resulted from this effort was a passable but not exceptional Chicken Marsala. To be fair I didn’t have actual Marsala wine, so we used a rando dry red wine, and I subbed in onion for shallots (since I am still in No-Shop January), so perhaps that accounted for some of the blandness. Nah; I think I’ll just blame the wedding caterer again!

Ah yes, the recipe that really should have been first, since 99% of newbie IP purchasers don’t do anything else with it: #12 Hard-Boiled Eggs! Also I made that statistic up, but I would place money on the odds that I am close. There are 487 methods of “correctly” boiling eggs (another wildly inaccurate statistic, but you get the idea) and I have tried quite a few in my day. Some of my favorites are: 1. Boil the water first, then place room temperature eggs in the pot once it’s rolling; 2. Place the eggs in COLD water, then slowly bring the temperature up over medium heat, and as soon as it boils, turn off the fire and slap a lid on the pot for 10 minutes; 3. Never use fresh eggs; only use ones that are three weeks from purchase date or older; 4. Once done boiling for 15 minutes, rinse the eggs with cold water and stick them in the fridge; 5. Boil the eggs with vinegar; with salt; with eye of newt and wing of bat! Honestly, the list goes on and on, but I have gotten results that were all over the map no matter what I did. Look no further friends, for I present to you the “5-5-5” method! It’s really that simple; pour in a cup of water and place eggs on a handy-dandy egg rack (sold separately of course) OR lay them down on the trivet, anything that keeps them directly off the bottom. Manually cook for five minutes; Natural Release for five minutes (a.k.a. just leave it alone and wait for the timer to count up those minutes before doing a Quick Release); remove the lid and use tongs to move the eggs to an ice bath for five minutes. F-L-A-W-L-E-S-S. Now, I have done this numerous times, and occasionally I get distracted and forget about them sitting at one step or another. Luckily the pot shuts off after the initial cook, and while leaving them too long on Step 2 resulted in overcooking, the worst that happens is a green ring around the yolk. No real harm done other than aesthetics. Forgetting them in the ice bath? Completely fine. All you were trying to accomplish is stopping the cooking process, and it can’t get any more “stopped” once it cools down. I was excited about the fact that, barring a good episode of Supernatural making me forget that I was cooking anything, these eggs come out perfectly hard-boiled every time, never rubbery and never smooshy. An unexpected benefit I discovered is that for some reason this cooking method make the eggs eject from the shells like a fighter pilot punching out of a downed jet. The satisfaction of removing an entire shell in one piece is an unrivaled joy! One thing to note is the 5-5-5 method technically applies to a half-dozen eggs, and I don’t see any reason in the world why someone would want that few. For a full dozen eggs (the proper amount) the ratio is actually 8-5-5…but that doesn’t sound nearly as catchy!

“What’s for dinner, Mom?” says the daughter unit.

“I was planning on making that mall court chicken in the Instant Pot,” say I.

“Well, can I make it for us?”

**falls down in a dead faint, a blissful smile of awe on my lips…**

Yes folks, this was an actual conversation held with my now 14-year-old just a few weeks ago, after she evidently underwent alien abduction, a lobotomy or an exorcism; whatever it was, it resulted in a formerly sullen and irritable teenager to blossom overnight into…exactly the wonderful and sweet-natured girl she had previously been before hormones took over with a vengeance. If it doesn’t last, at least now I will have documented proof that it happened!

But moving on to the food! My daughter has long been in the kitchen alongside me, learning to cook and bake at an early age so I would never have to worry about her leaving home and not being able to feed herself if it didn’t come from a can or defrost in the microwave. To be fair she eats a lot of that stuff right now, but that harks back to the teen thing. At least she has the skill set for options! So when she said she wanted to prepare this IP dinner for her step-father and me, I was more than happy to let her learn to use this new tool. It could very well be a trusted appliance on her first countertop as well! I’ll agree that the title of this recipe, Mall Food Court Bourbon Chicken, sounds a little inelegant, but hey, not every meal has to be gourmet! I absolutely adore bourbon chicken, so I was excited to see how this version stacked up to mall food court standards. Face it, mall food courts exist because we love the cheap, mass produced snacks they offer! Come to find out it wasn’t as simple making this at home as one might think, assuming one of the factors to consider for simplicity is how many things go into it. The bourbon sauce consisted of ten separate ingredients PLUS bourbon (which naturally gets to be mentioned all by itself.) I had no idea! The only store-bought items were hoisin sauce and ketchup, while the rest was made up of soy sauce, honey, garlic, fresh ginger, rice vinegar, brown sugar, cornstarch and chicken broth. Can’t you just smell it?? We sure could, as we lounged about on the sofa and let the child do the “hard labor”. The beautiful thing about the IP is that all I had to do was explain a couple button functions, demonstrate how to lock the top on and orient the vent so pressure would build, and define what Quick Release and Natural Release meant. After that, she was off to the races and had no trouble following the recipe whatsoever; dinner was divine, and I couldn’t have done any better myself! She now feels comfortable using a pressure cooker, which to be honest I would not have let her near when it meant using my old manual one! I consider that a major win, since she can now whip up a quick dinner for herself (and her lucky parents!), and I will forever treasure the sautéed chicken oil spatters on page 138 of my cookbook as a reminder of this historic event. Rating: 12/10, for showing me my beautiful baby girl is still alive and kicking in that emo-goth teenager shell! Plus it tasted great!

Sometimes fate has a way of popping into your life at he most opportune times. One such example of this was last week (i.e. the first week of January), when I had just declared the start of a dubious tradition in our household: “No Shopping Month”. Now don’t be fooled, if we need toilet paper, we aren’t resorting to Kleenex in an attempt to circumvent a trip to the store, but from the 1st to the 31st every new year, I try to a) clean out and toss any food items that have expired or were left open to go stale, and b) use up the remaining pantry and freezer staples that so often go overlooked (I’m looking at you, barley; more on this later!) To be honest, 2022 might be the first year where I try to go TWO full months without a trip to the grocery store; we are that stocked up! One thing we did not have an abundance of was pasta sauce. Spaghetti is a popular go-to meal when Mom isn’t home to make supper, and the Hubster doesn’t feel like heading to a drive-thru. He’s reasonably comfortable making pasta (always in a pot that’s too small, but he DOES always remember to salt the water!) and opening a jar of marinara. I could predict the panic that might set in if we had only a jar or two on the pantry shelf while looking down the barrel of potentially 60 days of a shopping ban, so when my book flopped open to Garlic Marinara Sauce all by itself, a recipe I hadn’t even noticed in the index, I knew it was fate making herself known. This sauce demanded to be made immediately!

I get unreasonably pleased whenever I have every single called-for ingredient on-hand without having to make substitutions. It makes me feel like I had a pop quiz dropped on me and found out I was totally prepared! My excitement ratchets up another level when I get to use up the last of any given container! Since the point of No Shopping Month (aside from the literal fortune I save in grocery bills), is using up the bits and bobs crowding my cabinets and shelves, I was stoked that I polished off a bottle of seasoned salt, the tail-end of a bottle of red wine, and a tube of tomato paste I had completely forgotten about in the refrigerator door. I just so happened to have a major overstock of garlic bulbs, and this recipe required 30 cloves. By the way, I still have a surplus of garlic, even after the sauce! After sautéing a beautiful and aromatic pile of sliced garlic and diced onion in olive oil, I tossed in garlic broth, canned tomatoes (used up several cans of those as well!) and the rest of the seasonings, letting it pressure cook together for 10 minutes. You read that correctly. Ten. Minutes. I know right now there are Italian nonnas rolling over in their graves about the “gravy” not simmering on the stove all day, but I’m German and I have no grandkids, so I’m happy to have it done in less time than I can watch a Netflix program!

Now, Jeff (the author) made some style choices that I do not necessarily agree with, because he evidently likes a more “garden chunky” sauce than we like. I didn’t publish the cookbook photo for precisely that reason; in his sauce you can clearly see garlic slivers, torn basil leaves and hunks of tomato. That doesn’t fly in this house, so mine got hit with the immersion blender, as well as slightly more tomato paste than he called for. The result was four 32 oz jars of flavorful, thick marinara that we paired with some homemade meatballs that week, and the rest are in the freezer, ready to bail us out when the Prego runs out! Rating: 9/10; mine was actually a 10, but I doctored the product with extra fresh herbs, which made it perfect! I’m noting that as written, the author tends to under-season, IMHO.

Finally we come a recipe I have been looking forward to since for ages: Beef & Barley Soup. The temps in Northern Colorado have been hovering in the teens for most of January, after delivering a particularly dry and brown Christmas followed by a New Year’s Eve snow dump (Thanks, Marie Callender’s…) There is nothing better to eat when the outdoors are frigid than rich and hearty stew or soup, and this one qualifies as both! Let me explain. You know how if you undercook rice it will retain a crunchy core that resists any attempts to rehydrate later? You could leave that rice in a bowl of water for a week and it’s never going to get softer than it already is. Barley is a somewhat unique grain in that it continues to be as absorbent as that Quicker-Picker-Upper brand would have you believe their paper towels are. The photo below shows how the soup looked directly after cooking; by the next day there was a 50% reduction in liquid and plumper grains of barley. By day three, no liquid remained at all and it closely resembled risotto. That is not to say unappetizing! Rather the dish becomes even more filling, and my husband continued to chow on the leftovers for several days, simply adding some broth to get back some soup-like texture. This was a fantastic opportunity to use up the second half of the barley I bought…wait for it… FIVE years ago. Yep, that’s another fun fact about this amazing grain; if it’s kept in an airtight container, it can last almost longer than you want it to! I have never figured out another use for barley, so soup is about it. You may have noticed, there are a fair number of soup recipes in the world, and I want to make almost all of them! I rarely get the opportunity to repeat one, so I was thrilled to see the IP version of a recipe I loved from Alton Brown’s Good Eats: Volume 1. When I popped the lid of the barley container, there was not a whiff of mustiness or any indication that it had gone stale, and I was not disappointed. Enough waxing poetic about grain; the rest of the meal was rounded out with the titular beef (stew meat in my case, cut into bite sized pieces), carrots, celery, onion, and garlic. I was able to clean out an entire vegetable drawer plus use up the last of a box of chicken broth in addition to the beef broth the recipe calls for. If your educated palate can discern between broths when you are eating this, then go ahead and keep it pure; I was just glad of the extra space in my fridge! B&B soup gets a big 9.5/10, the only think keeping it from perfection is my desire to get just a touch more seasoning into the final product next time. Which that means I’ll probably end up with a half-bag of barley in my pantry that I carry into 2035…