Don’t worry, I am not trying to sell you anything

But you all need to buy this – like now. 

LOL

No, you should not buy this kitchen appliance because I will make money.  You should buy it because it will make your life better.

What am I talking about?

The InstaPot

I am completely IN LOVE!

InstaPots are great – if you don’t have one you should.  See the one I have HERE.

Side Note:  If you follow my link to buy the pot, I will get approximately two bucks because I’m an Amazon affiliate.  You won’t pay any more – but they’ll send me a teensy royalty and I will love you forever.

It is finally summer break, the kids are out of school (or almost depending on your school district) and the long slow days of summer have arrived.  This is when we have time to sip that extra cup of coffee on the back porch, play games under the breeze of the ceiling fans and grill grass-fed steaks.

Uh, not here.

I am still busy planting the final veggies for summer, thinning the over-planted seedlings from spring and harvesting the first fruits of the garden.

Time is my enemy and I have no idea where it all goes.

Wait, yes I do.  There are 4 children who constantly need their mama.

Just this week:

• My oldest (19 years) slid into his summer duds to realize none of them fit.  It looks like being a college student changes your body a bit.  I had to take that child shopping (no Amazon wouldn’t work, I don’t think any of us knew what size he needed).
• My 14-year-old is squinting at televisions again, so she had to go to the ophthalmologist for a yearly exam and get some new specs.
• All 4 kids went to the dentist for their annual cleaning.
• I had to take my 17-year-old who is beginning her prerequisites for nursing school to get herself properly immunized and tested for the healthcare field.

Fun Fact:  I am happy to report that the nursing field is quite thorough and is properly screening and inoculating prospective candidates here in Kentucky.

Between my lack of staying on top of immunizations and the extra dose of protection that is required to be a nurse, my poor daughter has become a human pin cushion.

We homeschoolers are not necessarily “on top” of vaccines.  When my 19-year-old son began college 2 years ago he had to present his healthcare records to the University of Louisville before beginning classes.  One look at his somewhat sparse record promptly resulted in a tray of shots.

When my daughter began the process towards nursing school, her road was even more stringent.  Not only did she need a tray of immunizations (so she won’t come down with a case of Measles) she also needed blood work, 2-step Tuberculosis Testing, a 10-way drug screening, and a background check.

What does it look like to visit doctors, dentists, get immunizations, drug tests, background screenings, and find summer clothing in one week?

Lots of driving.

AND, there were the usual trips to the library, Walmart (cat food, ziplock bags, avocados, etc)…

OH – and I also am the proud co-owner of a pawnshop – so there is that.

No slow days of summer here.

At least not yet.

Bring on the InstaPot!

Everything I have been cooking over the past month has come from a ceramic vessel, electric pot, or straight from the garden.

Dinner is meat and green stuff.

Delights I’ve been pulling out of the InstaPot Recently:

• Whole roasted Herb Chicken
• Meatballs
• Pork Carnitas
• Pork Butt Pot Roast
• Soup Beans
• Asian Beef
• Spaghetti
• Chili
• Osso Buco
• Grass-fed Pot Roast

So, I shove one of these beauties into the InstaPot and frantically run all over the earth with children.

When I get home at 5:30, I skat out to the garden and pick whatever I can make into side dishes.

• Turnip Greens
• Mustard Greens
• Collard Greens
• Radishes
• Asparagus
• Lettuce (Bibb, Buttercrunch, Romaine)

And then we eat.

All this meat and farm fresh eating have their perks.  It will fill you up.  It will make you feel great.  Your stomach will flatten.  Your pants will be looser.  You will be eating super healthy!

“Make Dinner After Breakfast”

This is my theme song right now.

I’d say the only thing preventing us from consuming (unhealthy) take-out for dinner is the electric pot.  It allows me to make dinner after I eat breakfast.

Which is a phenomenal thing.

Most of us own crock pots and they can be super handy.  I love that crockpots are easy and I can make dinner after breakfast and not need to think about it for the rest of the day.

There are a few things I don’t like about crockpots-

1. I don’t love that everything I pull out of a crockpot tastes the same.
2. I don’t love that it turns pork loins into cat food.
3. I don’t love that it makes chicken skin mushy.

I have been skeptically spectating the InstaPot revolution from the sidelines and waiting to see if it sticks. 

After reading many reviews and talking to friends who own them, I began to look into the magic pot more closely.

When I found out that there was a 9-Way Instapot that was a rice cooker AND a yogurt maker as well as a slow cooker and pressure cooker, I was sold.

Cooking Rice

Cooking rice on the stovetop is somewhat high maintenance.

Our Vietnamese neighbor puts rice in a rice cooker every morning.  They have rice ready to go for meals all day long.  His rice is always perfect, never scorched, never mushy.  Rice cookers are nice like that.

The InstaPot is a wonderful rice cooker – it is completely hands-off and won’t ever burn.

Making Yogurt

Yogurt is another delicate product that is tricky to make in a home kitchen. Yogurt making is a precise science. Making yogurt on the stove top or in a crock pot gives inconsistent results at best.   If you want to thick, rich yogurt from your kitchen (and I do) you should have a device that can make it perfect for you – while you milk the cow.  I have never invested in a yogurt maker because I could never justify the cost or the storage space for an appliance dedicated to making just yogurt.

The InstaPot doesn’t need to be wrapped in towels or fussed with – it will make thick, rich yogurt without your help.

Pressure Cooking without the Risk of Explosion

I have wanted an electric pressure cooker for years.  Shoving food into a device, which can expertly pressure cook food AND not explode is incredibly appealing.

The InstaPot is revolutionary.  I mean – shut-the-front-door, wonderful.  It cooks the perfect roasts, short ribs, carnitas, and loins IN MINUTES.

Mind Blown.

The rice, the yogurt, and the pressure

This is why I spent $99 on the InstaPot.

DH actually got for me for Christmas and I’ve been using the heck out of it.

A couple of thoughts if you are considering buying one:

1. I really like the 6-quart model.  It will hold a 5-6 pound roast and is large enough to feed my family of 6.  They sell bigger ones (8-quart, I think), but I’ve heard that the larger ones do not cook as well, as consistently or as fast (2 of my best friends have the big ones and they don’t have the success I have had).  It makes sense to me that the larger vessels would require longer cooking times or may change the result of the meat.
2. Don’t put frozen meat in the InstaPot.  One of the big boasts of this magic cooker is that you can shove a meat-cicle into it and it will defrost and cook it.  I have tried this a couple of times with terrible results.  Yes, the meat was properly cooked and looked fine but it tasted terrible.  Very metallic (I’m guessing blood?)  My family didn’t like it.  When I used the same exact recipe with thawed meat it was fabulous.

What Have You Done For Me Lately? 

I don’t own appliances that I don’t use.  I don’t have a toaster, electric can opener, deep fryer, Kitchen Aid mixer, popcorn popper, Keurig, electric griddle or tea brewer.

My home and kitchen are not that large and the limited space goes to the people who help me on a regular basis.

Appliances I could not live without:

• Nutrimill – My electric grain mill.
• Bosch Mixer – can make over 6 loaves of bread at once.
• Omega Masticating Juicer – Fresh juice is a miracle food.
• Espresso Maker – Yes, I am a coffee snob.

The newest addition to my Must-Have, Kitchen Appliance Arsenal is the InstaPot.

InstaPots are great – if you don’t have one you should.  See the one I have HERE.   I love it.

It Gets Even Better

[LOL – I sound like an infomercial]

One of my favorite features on the InstaPot is the “keep warm” function.

This is so cool.  The “Keep Warm” feature allows busy cooks to make the meal whenever is convenient and the pot not only cooks it – it keeps it warm until you are ready to eat.

Here is what it looks like:

1. Stuff the pot after breakfast.
2. Set it to slow cook or pressure cook
3. When the cooking is complete this baby AUTOMATICALLY switches to the “keep warm” function and will keep food warm for up to 10 hours.

Whether you put dinner in the pot at 5 pm, 3:00 in the afternoon or after breakfast, the Instapot will cook it perfectly and keep it warm until you are ready to eat.

It’s 9 am and I’m going to go get my InstaPot working on dinner.

By the way, if you want to get into the good stuff around here, you should join the site.  It’s such a great deal.  It’s only $10 bucks and you’ll get-

• Over 400 private posts & recipes
• Real food Menu Plans
• Free eBooks
• Access to the Healthy Breadmaking Course
• Access to the Gardening Goods
• Private Email updates every week
• Good grief, I could keep going there is SO MUCH… go here to learn more.

And it’s only 10 bucks.  I really should consider raising the price.  😉

XO,

Candi