Pressure Cooker/Ninja 4-1/Air Fryer Thread-6/6-6/19

I just pinned it!

Thanks for the Bolognese recipe. I've added it to my list.

So, here's my question of the day. I've found a meatloaf recipe online that include potatoes and baby carrots. You're supposed to put the carrots and potatoes in first, with broth, then put the meatloaf on a trivet/strainer on top of the vegetables. Then it's high pressure for 25 minutes.

But, after the vegetable disaster last night where they were mush after THREE minutes I cannot believe these will stay whole after 25! The photo shows potatoes and carrots that look whole though. So I asked the blog writer and she replied to say that she likes her vegetables soft but perhaps 25 minutes would be too soft for me. She suggested waiting to add the vegetables until the last five minutes.

So my questions are:
-- how is it possible that these aren't mush after 25 minutes?
-- and, how do I add vegetables in the "last five minutes"? Do I have to set the original time for 20 minutes, then do a quick release, add vegetables, bring it back up to pressure and then do five minutes? And, do you think five minutes is enough for a carrot? 

I guess if worse comes to worse and they were too soft we could just mash them and mashed potatoes/carrots with our meatloaf, which would be fine.  lol

eta: Here's the recipe so you can look at it.  Meatloaf in the pressure cooker

My question is this-why would using a pressure cooker be a good idea for meatloaf and veggies? It seems like with having to open and add the veggies and bring thungs back up to pressure each time it would take a lot longer than just cooking it in the oven.

Well for me it saves me turning on the oven. I hate to do that in the summer when I have the air conditioning on -- I feel like it negates all the work the AC has been doing. Also, I'd have to cook the potatoes/carrots/whatever by some other method. so this does it all at once (even if I do add them in at the end). I could do an all-in-one-pot thing in the crock pot but then that would take all day.

Also I hate to cook, so less time = good news to me. lolol

I had friends over for lunch, I grilled some shrimp and cooked the corn in the IP.  One of my guests has an IP and never uses it - after eating that corn she will!! She saw how easy and quick it was and how great it turned out, she's a convert now!
I bought one for my daughter as an early birthday present, it was delivered to her today.  She was thrilled!  When my other daughter moves into a bigger place she'll get one, too!
Ribs in the fridge for later...

Well, I tried the pulled pork recipe posted here.  I am sold on my Instant pot now,  This is the first time I've used it (I'm ashamed to say it's sat  on a shelf unused).  I'm sold.

50 minutes cooking time!!!  Melt in your mouth.  about an hour for it to pressurize and cook.  

Can't wait to try other recipes.

I used mine twice today. I made a banana bread in my push pan that I had bought for my cheesecake that I did last week, and used it again tonight for my rice.

The banana bread came out really nice, very moist. The only difference (from oven baking) is that it doesn't brown on the top.

I used my pot three times yesterday all with great results.

First I made refrigerated pasta/sauce. The worst part of making pasta like that is that it takes 2 pans and I have to boil the pasta, which ALWAYS results in a messy boil over. In the Instant Pot, I just used my small 8" pan, put the pasta in and covered it in the sauce. I cooked it on high pressure for 15 minutes and it was well cooked and yummy. One pan, no boiling - my kind of lunch.

Then I made the fabulous brownies again at DH's request. This time I used my springform pan and that worked wonderfully. Although they weren't quite as thick as using my 8" pan, they were still thick enough to be wonderfully fudgy and it was no hassle removal from the pan to cut and serve.

Last, but not least, I took a shot at my Italian Beef recipe. The only thing I changed was that I increased the water - the original recipe called for 3/4 cup of water and I increased it to 1.5 cups. I could probably have cut it back to slightly over 1 cup, but I've found that I always need extra juice when I reheat, so I think I'll probably be glad for the extra juice. I cooked it at high pressure for 2.5 hours and it shredded beautifully with no effort. I may never make it in my crockpot again. (I used a 3 lb. rump roast with a nice layer of fat that I cleaned off before shredding - I think that the recipe always works best with a roast that has a bit of fat for flavor and tenderness. It's pretty easy to remove before shredding)

All in all, a very successful day and very few dishes.

Oh, one tip that the brownie recipe gives is that when you add water to the bottom of your pot (when cooking in another pan), always use 1 Tbsp of white vinegar because it keeps your pot and rack from getting a white residue.

Yesterday my contractor (who is amazingly nice) was telling me about his 15yo dog having an upset stomach. Withun 15 minutes I had rice with chicken broth ready for him to take to his dog to help his tummy! I was happy to hand it over and it was done right before he left for the day so perfect timing,

Ok girls. My IP is supposed to arrive today. I have chicken breasts, a half ham, ground beef and various beef roasts (no chuck roast) in the freezer. What should I fix for dinner tonight?

I'll be curious to see how the meatloaf turns out with the veggies. Make sure to update us!

I found some chicken thighs in the freezer too, so I decided to make this: www.thekitchenwhisperer.net/2015/08/15/pressure-cooker-honey-bbq-boneless-chicken-thighs/

Crap, I didn't realize until I pasted that link that it said boneless and mine are bone in. Dammit. Well they're already defrosted so we're gonna try it......won't be the first time I've screwed up dinner. Fingers crossed it's still edible.....off to find out how much time to add to the recipe for bone-in.