Shortly after we were married, we received a quesadilla maker, and it never came out of the box. Sorry gifter! We don’t have a roaster, rice cooker, donut maker, toaster oven, electric griddle, panini maker, nor a microwave which tells you that it took a long time for me to grow increasingly intrigued by this of-the-moment appliance. I’m late to the party, but I’m in and I’m stayin’. It’s easy! It works! It’s delicious! -were all my expressions after using the Instant Pot for the first couple of weeks. I’m growing confident in the results and soon will join the amazing proficient Instat Pot users society. Some cooks are making close to magic in these, and I hope to at least have a growing collection of Instat Pot simple dinners on here. Fluffy cakes and crème brulee may still required a little more seasoning than I have. Today we’ll start with a quick and easy favorite recipe that you must make tonight, please! Don’t miss it at the end of this post.

It came as a surprise to me that Nathan ordered an Instant Pot before Christmas. The next day, we began with fresh French beans and then cubed potatoes. In the next couple of days, we tried several soups and rice puddings. Lentils and all dry beans are the best in the Instat Pot! I will never, not ever, simmer dry beans on the stove top for 4 hours checking on them every 40 minutes to makes sure they’re still submerged in water. Not to mention the residue of steam and stink- ha! The time saver and hands-off approach to cooking legumes is amazing. By the way, I have the Duo 8 quart.

This post is mainly a compilation of links and resources that I have used and hope both you and I can easily come back to for reference right here. As the Instant Pot recipe collection grows, I will link all the recipes to this post.

Here’s the official Instant Pot site. They have videos and information related to all the different models that they offer. Therecipe databaseit very helpful to gain confidence in using your old recipes and converting them.

Here are some of my favorite links for recipe inspiration: Most popular Instant Pot recipes from 2017 (The Kitchn) and Heidi Swanson’s Instant Pot Recipes (101 Cookbooks). I know there are countless more, but these are the two I have used so far. The soup we keep coming back to is Zuppa Toscana. Even if it isn’t a frigid winter where you live, you must make it. So, so good.

Instant Pot Zuppa Toscana

1lb. ground mild Italian sausage

1/2 lb. bacon, cut into 1/2 inch pieces

1 yellow onion, peeled and chopped

3 garlic cloves, peeled and minced

6 medium potatoes, thinly sliced

10 cups of chicken broth or stock

1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1 cup heavy cream or half and half

2 cups kale or spinach, for kale remove the stem and chop

Cook the Italian sausage and the bacon in the Instant Pot using the sauté function until crumbly and browned. Stir in the onions and garlic until translucent. Add the broth, potatoes and red pepper flakes. Select steam and set it to 4 minutes. Close the lid. Steam handle closed too. When the pressure cooking is done, allow 5-10 minutes of cooling and lay a folded towel over the steam handle. Turn the steam handl. When all the steam has been released, open the pot. Add the kale or spinach right away and it will wilt as you stir. Add the heavy cream or half and half. Enjoy again and again!

with love, Damaris