Instant Pot Successes...and a couple of not so great ones too!

I made the most amazing soup last night in the Instant Pot and I just have to share it so that I can make it again another day! It was an awesome potato, ham, bacon and veggie soup. Here's my little random recipe for the next time:

Ingredients I used:
6-7 small potatoes cut into quarter size chunks (that's all I had...I would have used a few more if I had them)
3 cups of ham - total estimate because I have no idea how much I used but it was quite a bit (I got it from Alysha from her leftovers and it was so yummy!)
3-4 slices of thick sliced bacon (could have used more, because everything is better with more bacon)
Half a small red onion (the only one I had in the house...I actually really liked the flavour it added)
2 big stalks of celery
2 large carrots
2-3 tsps of crushed garlic (I buy the big jar from Costco...love this stuff)
4 cups of chicken broth - made with the Better than Bouillon chicken stock paste (SO GOOD!)
Herb & garlic cream cheese - about 3/4 of a big container of it...could have used less!
Cheddar cheese - maybe a cups worth...could have used more!
Garlic powder and salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

• Turn IP onto Saute, throw a little butter in there, put the bacon in to cook for a minute
• Put the carrots, celery, onions, ham and garlic into the IP and saute for another minute or so
• Add the potatoes and broth...when I make any broth now I use boiling water to mix with the paste or powder...I've been using the Epicure chicken stock powder until today when I used this new paste stuff. If you use boiling water, and your pot has been used on Saute first, then it is more likely to come to pressure quicker. 
• Turn IP onto manual high pressure for 4 minutes. The pot took less than 10 minutes to come to pressure, then the 4 minutes to cook it. Then I did a quick release which surprisingly took almost 4 minutes which is the longest I've had it take so far in my IP cooking (I guess it's because of how much liquid I had in the pot).
• Opened the IP and it looked like big chunks of potatoes and ham and yummy goodness. Wish I'd taken a picture of this but was rushing to get dinner on the table!
• Next I used an immersion blender to blend up the veggies a little bit. Then I added in the cream cheese, cheddar cheese and some garlic powder and pink salt and blended again for another 15-20 seconds or so until it looked like this.

Apparently this stuff can be bought at Costco! Going to check it out next time I'm there!

Quick saute on the veggies and meat

First step...next time I'd put a bit more bacon :)

This stuff was even better today for leftovers! I had a bagel just toasted with butter and dipped it in there for a yummy and warm rich lunch on a rainy and stormy day.

The first meal I made in my IP was the weekend that Jim was away in Vancouver and I made Mac and cheese for me and the boys. I was proud of myself that I made it, and it did turn out, but the noodles were a little overcooked, and I put in way too much cheese, so the second time I made it I felt like it was way better. The next time I also wouldn't saute the ham either, and would put in way more onion. I would always saute the onions, even if just to get the pot hot as it does help with the pressurization process. 

This recipe is the easiest ever! Throw in the ham, onions, noodles, butter, salt, mustard, with either water or chicken broth. 

Water or broth should just cover the noodles. After this step I put the lid on and turned it on to manual high pressure for 6 minutes. I was nervous because on the box it says these noodles cook in a pot in only 3 minutes (which I have NEVER seen before), so I was worried they would be ruined. The pot took around 6-7 minutes to come to pressure, then the 6 minutes cook time, and then I did a 2 minute natural pressure release (only because I was busy cutting up veggies for supper), then quickly released the rest of the pressure which took another 2 minutes.

My ingredients for after it was done cooking

This is what it looked like when I took the lid off. Had to take a picture because I was so happy and relieved that the kids were actually going to get a dinner!

I stirred in the cheeses and the evaporated milk and it was done....in less than 20 minutes! James loved it...but of course Jordie hated it! He ate it anyways but not without his regular dinner time whine session!

The next day I was feeling confident and brave so decided to throw together a random casserole and hope for the best. I was in the freezer and found that bag of what I thought was hashbrowns...but turned out to be shoestring french fries (which I didn't realize until I had already mixed together all of the other cream type ingredients. I call this one my disaster potatoe casserole!

I mixed everything together, including a good sized chunk of my mom's awesome cheese ball, and then went to throw in the "hashbrowns' and was shocked to see that they were french fries. I rolled with it and figured it would be a learning lesson whether it worked out or not.

Well it didn't work out at all. Within a few minutes of the pot starting working I heard this beeping and went in and saw the dreaded BURN message on the front! I released the little bit of pressure that had built up and opened the lid to find it burned to the bottom of the pot...but the smell was amazing! So I threw it in a pan and threw it in the oven for 20 minutes and presto, James and I had lunch that day. It tasted really good and I learned a ton that day (via FB groups) about always using a clear liquid in the bottom of the pot and to avoid creamy type sauces on the bottom of the pot as they do tend to burn quite easily. I hope to find a great casserole dish that I can use to do the pot in pot method so that I can attempt this kind of casserole again!

Uuuugggghhhh this was a mess! BUT, I did put some water in the pot, threw it back in the IP, put it on Saute and just let the water boil away and I did some slight scraping of the bottom. It came out great!

Once again, James loved it...and of course Jordie wouldn't touch it because it had potatoes in it!

A few days later I made some super easy shredded chicken for caesar salad wraps (and to have a bunch for leftovers too). I just put a bunch of seasoning salt on it, threw in some Epicure chicken stock in the bottom, manual cook for I think 20 minutes, and then a quick release. This was super tender and moist and I loved it.

There was lots for the wraps, then more wraps for James's lunch, and then another 1/2 of a yogurt container's worth for chicken noodle soup a few days later.

I didn't use a sauce or flavour recipe for this pork tenderloin because I'm usually scared of some of the ingredients on those recipes! I just threw some random stuff in there and turned it on for 20 minutes high pressure, then a natural release for 5-6 minutes. When it was done it was super tender and falling apart, but pretty bland. I didn't have the guts to try the pot in pot method so I ended up cooking rice for this dinner on the stove...but I'm getting closer to trying it!

I made some yummy chicken and noodle soup but didn't take any photos. I didn't super love the egg noddles that I used in there because I felt like they were overcooked and soggy (even though they only cooked for around 5 minutes). The flavour of the soup was great using the Epicure chicken stock, carrots, celery, 2 small chicken breasts (cubed and sauteed) before the main cooking began.

Another night I made a yummy honey garlic chicken and noodle casserole that is similar to a recipe that I've made many times in the oven (but took way longer that way!) This night I sauteed up some onions, carrots and chicken in bite size pieces because I hate cutting up food on the kids plates while my dinner gets cold! Then I threw in the noodles with some chicken broth, then put the trivet tray on top of the pasta and in a small casserole dish put a can of cream of chicken soup mixed with some honey, honey mustard, crushed garlic and onion powder). I think I cooked it for 4 minutes on high pressure, but for some reason that night it took closer to 15 minutes to pressurize (of course because we had somewhere we had to go). When it beeped I quick released the pressure, lifted out the dish of sauce and the tray it was sitting on, then dumped the sauce into the noodles and served it up.

So I decided to make Mac and Cheese again because Jim was home and I thought maybe he'd like it. He just isn't a big pasta guy, much prefers his meat and potatoes. This time I had some unopened garlic sausage from the holidays so decided to saute it up with the onions for a minute or two and throw it in there. Jim did not love this but didn't hate it either. James really liked it, but Jordie complained again that he doesn't like macaroni and cheese anymore. I served this with a Caesar salad so I knew he at least had some food to eat that night because he only begrudgingly ate about 8 bites of his plate.

Tonight I used the last of the ham from Alysha, made some scalloped potatoes in the oven, and then attempted rice and veggies in the IP. The rice was actually pretty darn good but definitely a bit of a different texture from cooking it on the stove. I rinsed the rice for about 2 minutes (never knew that was a thing) but it helps with burning and the starchy foam coming up through the steam release (makes a huge mess I've heard!) Then I put a bit of oil in the pot on saute, then put in the rice with some salt and boiling water, then put the trivet on top and put the beans in a steaming basket. Cooked for 12 minutes, then a quick release. Rice was good, veggies were a bit mushy but overall a good experience again! 

Next up is apple crisp on Friday night after supper!