Sausage and Penne

1 lb Italian sausage

1/2 onion, diced

Olive oil

2 cups uncooked penne pasta

12 ou beef broth

2 Tb tomato paste

1 can diced tomatoes, undrained

2 cloves of garlic

1 tea basil

1/2 tea oregano

1/4 tea thyme

Sprinkles of red pepper flakes

2 ounces cream cheese

Parmesan cheese

Turn Instant Pot pressure cooker onto the Saute setting. When the display reads "HOT", add a little olive oil, sausage and onion to the pot and saute until the sausage is almost cooked through. The onions should be starting to turn soft. About 5 minutes. Put remaining ingredients, except cheeses, into the pot. Lock the lid in place, turn the dial to seal and pressure cook for 7 minutes with a 5 minute natural release. When cooking is done, add the cream cheese and stir until melted and creamy. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and enjoy!

I feel I need to mention something for the new users of the Instant Pot. Not all cooking in the pot is "instant". Yes, this meal is fast and so easy and all in one pot. But you need to plan for a little extra time than the 12 minutes of cooking time listed in the recipe. After putting the lid on, it can take a while for the pot to come to pressure. For this recipe, I would say probably around 10 minutes. Still not long, but not instant. It may hiss and steam and make strange noises while coming to pressure, but once the pin is pushed up, it is sealed and all the noises and steam should be gone. Magic is happening inside that pressure sealed contraption! And it's all in one pot! One pot to clean at the end of the night. I love this.

When I first started using the Instant Pot, I was skeptical about cooking pasta in it. I mean, how hard is it to boil water and add the pasta? I was worried it was going to come out mushy. Plus, I like my own homemade sauce. It has some of the same ingredients, but it simmers on the stove all day. How could this be good when cooked so fast? But I tried this. Because it looked easy and fast. And boy is it good. The pasta is perfectly al dente every time! I made some adjustments from the original recipe I found. As usual, add more or less spices to taste. More or less cream cheese. If the sauce is too thin, return the pot to saute and simmer until thick enough. I have been contemplating adding spinach to this recipe as well. This recipe is as simple as it gets for the Instant Pot I feel. Plus, its all in one pot. Did I mention that!?

Visit this site for the original recipe:
http://www.pressureson.net/2017/03/sausage-and-penne-with-creamy-tomato.html?m=1

Apple Sauce

12-15 apples

3/4 cup water

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 1/2 tea cinnamon

1/2 tea ginger

1/4 tea nutmeg

1/4 tea cloves

2-3 "swirls" of lemon juice

Peel, core and roughly cut up apples. Place apples and remaining ingredients in your pressure cooker and high pressure cook for 5 minutes with a quick release. Mash applesauce to desired consistency. 

So I know apples and applesauce generally conjure up nostalgic memories of fall. But here in our house, it graces the table almost daily. This recipe, minus most of the brown sugar, was one of the first solid foods we gave to my daughter and she still eats it religiously. I usually just buy the flat of apples that is on sale at Costco and use up the whole thing. And 5 minutes guys. Five. (Plus a little time for the pot to come to pressure.) I once timed the process from start to finish and it took less than 30 minutes. That's it! So worth it. I used to use the immersion blender to make this completely smooth when my daughter first started eating, but I prefer the apple sauce chunky so now I just use a potato masher. This recipe makes two of the pint sized canning jars plus a little extra to put in a storage container. I usually throw one of the jars in the freezer and it freezes just fine. If you are really ambitious, you could double the recipe, throw these in the hot water canning bath and store them on the shelf for up to a year. (I used to do this, but found I was going through them so fast that it wasn't worth the time it took to can them.) Feel free to change up the ingredients a bit too. Add a couple of pears. More or less spices. Too thick? Add more water. I do use the full 1/2 cup brown sugar now, but as I mentioned above you can use less. (Or more!) And there you have it! No need to buy the jars of applesauce any more. And the squeeze pouches for your kiddos? Nope. Just buy the reusable ones and fill it with the homemade stuff!

Cajun Smoked Deviled Eggs

18 eggs

1 cup water

3/4 cup mayo

3/4 tea Cajun seasoning

1/2 tes Sriracha Sauce

1/2 tea salt

3/4 tea pepper

Smoked Paprika

Bacon

Place eggs on trivet in the Instant Pot with a cup of water poured below. Cook on High pressure for 7 minutes. Quick release and place eggs in an ice water bath for 5 minutes. Peel eggs. Using a foil pan, smoke eggs at low heat (around 250 degrees) for about 20-30 minutes. Cut eggs in half and remove the yolks. Put yolks, mayo, Cajun seasoning, Sriracha, salt, pepper in a bowl and mix well until smooth. Place yolk mixture into a zip lock bag and cut the corner of the bag to allow you to pipe the yolks into the egg halves. Sprinkle with paprika and place a piece of bacon on each half. Enjoy!

One of the first things I read about was hard boiled eggs in the Instant Pot. What? Seriously? Cuz it's not that hard to boil water with eggs in it. Why do I need to use the Instant Pot for that? But, I was curious so I tried it. The eggs came out fine but only doing a handful of them, it didn't seem worth it to me to haul out the pot. For our Father's Day BBQ, my husband was smoking some meat- since the smoker was already going to be up and running, I thought about doing the smoked deviled eggs. True, it does take about the same, if not longer, than using the stove. It takes a bit for the pot to come to pressure. However, with the larger amount of eggs I was using, I didn't think they would all fit comfortably in my regular stove top pot. Also, I did notice that the peels of the pressure cooked eggs all but fall right off. How many times have you made deviled eggs and the whites of the eggs are ruined by the time you get them peeled? Not only are these eggs smooth, the time it takes to peel them is hardly anything. I read about several different methods of hard boiled eggs in the pot- the 5-5-5, the 3-3-3, and others I found. I randomly chose one page that said 7 minutes will give you a good solid yolk so there you have it. To actually smoke the eggs, the timing and temp can vary. You can throw them in the smoker while you are bringing the smoker up to a higher temp for something else. The longer you smoke them, obviously, the more smoke flavor your eggs will have. The eggs will start to turn a beautiful golden color so just watch for the color change and gauge for yourself how long to leave them in the smoker. I realize not everyone has a smoker. I know there are ways of turning your regular grill into a smoker or there is liquid smoke flavoring. But I have also made these without smoking and they are still delicious. I like to put pieces of bacon on these just to add a bite of crispness and flavor but feel free to experiment! Shrimp, jalapeno, olives, etc... 

So next time you are trying to decide what to bring to the Summer BBQ, give these little gems a try! 

Instant Obsession

Last year, on Black Friday, we succumbed to the pressure (pun intended) and bought an Instant Pot. Everyone swore this gadget would change our lives. Now, being the Crock Pot Connoisseur that I am (if you weren't present for my Crock Pot Obsession blog, follow this link and enjoy! crockpotcookery.blogspot.com) I was skeptical to say the least. But it was Black Friday. And it was on sale. So now we have an Instant Pot.

To say I was instantly obsessed could possibly be an understatement. I was searching Pinterest all day looking for anything I could put in there. Four or five times a week the Instant Pot was fired up. It never made it off our kitchen counter. It really was a game changer. Having a little person in the house means not always having the time in the kitchen I use to have. I can prep while she is sleeping and spend minimal time actually cooking while she is awake. If I'm working, my husband can make dinner quickly when he gets home from work. And the cleanup? One easy pot to wash- easy peasy. Forget to pull the chicken out the night before? No matter. Throw it in there frozen!

I started talking to friends about the Instant Pot. We exchange recipes. We exchange tips. After the success of the Crock Pot blog, it was inevitable that someone brought up the idea of an Instant Pot blog. I laughed and blew it off. But the idea kept creeping in. Why not share my recipes? With the Crock Pot blog, people were giving me recipes left and right. This could be a good way for me to gather more recipes. Here we are. Another blog has begun. Welcome. Like it? Become a follower and tell your friends and spread it on social media please. Don't want to miss a post? Follow by email and be notified of new postings. The links to follow are on the right hand side of the blog. Hope you enjoy being a part of my new obsession. If you have any recipes you would like me to try out and post here, please send them my way!