Instant Pot Recipes - YESSSSS Please!

As some of you may have noticed I am in LOVE with my Instant Pot! I'm thinking that the Bown Family, well maybe except for Zoey, are all in LOVE with the Instant Pot!

FOR THE INSTANT POT!!!!!!!!!!

With school starting tomorrow I have got to find some Instant Pot dishes so that I can have a great dinner for the family, since we will all be eating at different times. Chuck and Mary will be eating at a normal time whereas the kids and I will either be eating early or super late due to running, swimming, homework, and everything else going on during the school year.

I've been scouring the innerwebs in hopes of finding some great recipes that I can easily make in the Instant Pot. Of course I'll still be making my Keto/Low Carb dishes on nights when we are not swim bound or on the weekends. So many recipes the whole family loves; again except our little Zoey who refuses to embrace food of any kind. 

As with many healthy dishes I went straight to I Breathe I'm Hungry to see what Mellissa has available for the Instant Pot. She did NOT disappoint!

Here are some recipes I will definitely be trying over the next month. BTW, these were found on I Breathe I'm Hungry's post about the 35 best Low-Carb/Paleo Instant Pot Recipes:

• Belizean Stewed Chicken - I'll probably use boneless, skinless chicken thighs and legs as my gang does not like a lot of fat, skin, or bone in their chicken. I might even try this with chicken breast. 
• Easy Keto Balsamic Beef Pot Roast - This recipe has info for the Instant Pot as well as cooking it on the stove. Chuck is not a huge beef fan but I'm going to give this a try!
• Buffalo Ranch Chicken Dip - I'm quite skeptical about trying this as it is very similar to the Chicken Crack recipes, but it does sound good!
• Chili - You can't go wrong with a good chili recipe and I've been trying a bunch of different ones this year! Maybe I'll do a post just on the different chilis we've tried. 
• Hard Boiled Eggs - Yeah I know this isn't a dinner per say, I mean I guess it could be, just ask Mary! 
• Ghoulash - UMMM, the name "Ghoulash" just doesn't sound appealing; however, take a look at the picture and you may change your mind!
• Jamaican Jerk Pork Roast - Oh Mellissa, this looks so good! I need to make a grocery list now!
• Spaghetti Squash - I'm in the mood for some spaghetti squash......I'm wondering if I made this the night before and then used it for the Chicken & Chorizo Spaghetti Squash bowls how it would turn out?
• Asian Beef Pot Roast - I bet you this would go great over some Shirtaki Noodles! I just got my latest order of Miracle Noodles in. Time to get cooking!
• Green Chicken Chili - Yep, I'm definitely on a chili kick!
• Rotisserie Chicken - Really? You can make this in the instant pot? Sounds like a winner winner chicken dinner to me! Wonder if I can cook potatoes in there with it?
• Meatballs??? Buffalo Chicken Meatballs to be precise! I'm trying to get away from everything red sauce and find different things to tickle the taste buds. These might do it! but sometimes you just need traditional meatballs with red sauce!
• Steamed Veggies; Chuck was just asking me about this last night...."Could we do more steamed veggies in the Instant Pot?" Well sure we can if I can find some recipes or directions! How about some Artichoke? Brussel Sprouts?
• Sausage and Peppers is always a good meal! Although I must say that nothing will ever beat the Sausage and Peppers we get at Dollywood. We dream about those!
• Mexi-Meatloaf anyone? Chuck loves meatloaf and I've made it a few different ways over the years. It will be interesting to try it in the Instant Pot. If it goes well I might try my other meatloaf recipes in there. 
• Curried Chicken with Potatoes! This looks so good! Although I typically am Keto/Low-Carb which means no potatoes I'm going to be splurging once a week with rice or potatoes so I don't go crazy! Sometimes a girl just needs her carbs!
• Zuppa Toscana - We were just at Olive Garden last week for Zoey's birthday and the adults at the table were loving the fresh pot of Zuppa Toscana. I've tried to make this soup in the past with no luck; I'm so willing to try this again!

While searching her site, I also found these lovely delectables that I'm eager to try:

• Keto Pistachio Pudding Pie - can you say yum!!!!!!
• Easy Keto Chicken Shawarma - I wanted to make this last weekend and just ran out of time!
• Keto Mexican Cauliflower Skewers - Still ran out of time last weekend!
• Keto Asian Noodle Salad with Peanut Sauce - My mouth is watering!
• Keto Shrimp & Chorizo Spaghetti Squash Bowls - I've made this before with chicken instead of Shrimp...OMG delicious!
• Keto Crispy Pork & Noodle Stir Fry - YUP, I've made this a couple of times. So good!
• 5 Spice Chicken Skewers - These look yummy! Get the grill out!

Feel free to look through my "Recipes" label to for all the dishes I've posted over the years. One of these days I'll get my recipe book finished and will post it; not published, just posted for others to enjoy!

If you have a favorite Keto/Low-Carb or Instant Pot recipe that you love please share it! I'm always up for trying new recipes!

When I get some more free time, HA HA HA, I'm going to look at the email my BFF Jill sent me. There were several Instant Pot meals that caught my eye!

Instant Pot Blueberry Zucchini Oatmeal

I am LOVING the Instant Pot!

Sunday I made my second batch of oatmeal. This time Blueberry Zucchini Oatmeal!

I know, I know, who puts Blueberries in oatmeal? I mean seriously, what was I thinking?

Well, I was thinking that I needed something to go with some Zucchini, and what better than blueberries! To be honest I was dreaming of my friend Nadia's Blueberry Zucchini Bread. And since I'm trying to keep the carbs low and I know I can't control myself with that bread around I decided to go a better route for myself. Sorry Nadia, but your food is so good I cannot control myself around it!

Let's start with the fact that anything I put in the Instant Pot does not look good BUT just because it doesn't look good doesn't mean it tastes bad! Some things just look gross! LOL!

Jesse took a look at this and said "I'll pass, don't ask me to try that!" I love what comes out of his mouth. He's such a funny kid! But you know what, I was making this for me so "No soup, errr Oatmeal, for you!"

I did a little more research on my Instant Pot and decided to give the "Porridge" setting a try! I didn't want to have the "Burn" message pop up again! This was definitely the ticket. So if you have a "Porridge" setting and you are using rolled oats, 6 minutes is a perfect setting.

Looks pretty dang gum good in there! Yeah, Yeah, yeah, Jesse, I know it looks like vomit, but it doesn't taste like vomit!

This recipe made four servings of yummy blueberry oatmeal with a serving of zucchini mixed in. You could not taste the zucchini at all which is even better when you are looking for something on the sweeter side.

Ingredients

• 1 pint of Fresh Blueberries (1 cup to cook, remainder for top of oatmeal)
• 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
• 1 cup Quaker Rolled Oats (uncooked)
• 2 1/4 cups water
• 1/8 tsp salt (optional)
• 1 Tbsp Swerve sweetener (optional but included in nutritional information)

Directions

• Coat the bottom and sides of the inner Instant Pot pan with non-stick cooking spray. 
• Mix in all the ingredients in the Instant Pot; stirring well.
• Set the Instant Pot to "Porridge", High, for 6 minutes, "Sealing"
• Once it is done, release the seal
• You can use the remaining blueberries as an additional topping for the oatmeal. 

Nutritional Info from (MyFitnessPal)

Instant Pot Pumpkin Oatmeal

For a while now I've been seeing friends comment or post about the Instant Pot, raving how good it is. Not to mention seeing the recipes that they've been posting! YUMMY!

First off, WTH is an Instant Pot?!?!?!?!

From my quick searches its a pressure cooker, crock pot, steamer, sauteer (I don't think that's a word) etc, etc, etc, etc all in one. Now, if you plan to get one, all my peeps out there kept telling me to only get the Instant Pot brand; no other brand will do.

What's a girl to do?

Lord knows I LOVE me some kitchen appliances and I waited a LONG time to finally get an Instant Pot. As with many of my kitchen gadget purchases I had to purchase this, well I was trying to, without Chuck knowing. He thinks we have too many kitchen gadgets that go unused. And although he may be correct in some cases he's not always correct about my kitchen gadgets. I would use the Kitchen Aide mixer a lot more but he seems to think that it's his and I'm not allowed to use it. I giggle, mostly on the inside, when he gets all possessive about that dam mixer!

After doing a little research I found that Kohl's had the Instant Pot Ultra 10-in-1 on sale and was offering 20% off if you purchased online and had it delivered or you did in-store pickup! SOLD!!!!!!!!! That saved me over $60! I purchased it on Friday morning and picked it up that afternoon.

I texted with my BFF Jill about what I should make first. She says "Start easy. Do the water test first. Read the manual. Then start with the 5-5-5 method for hard boiled eggs or something simple." My reply was "Where's the fun in that? I don't do anything simple or easy. I just jump in!" Jill replied "I know! That's part of why I love you!" AWWW SHUCKS!!!!! LOVE YOU TOO JILL!

I have been wanting Pumpkin Oatmeal for about a week now so I figured why not start out with Oatmeal; how hard can that be? I mean, come on, it's oatmeal!

Chuck and I did do the water test, Jill will be proud of me! But that's where I stopped with the "start easy" way of things. I jumped right in to the oatmeal. I found numerous recipes online but settled on something of my own based on other recipes, because...let's face it...this is how I roll! Buttered roll preferred if you don't mind!

So before I set off on completing a duathlon (see post later today) I set the Instant Pot to make some pumpkin oatmeal! BTW, a "Duathlon" is a thing and yes it is spelled correctly!

You really can't get much simpler than this oatmeal recipe. You can omit the salt if you want, and you can add sweetener if you want. 

I'm not a fan of stone-cut oats; they just aren't my thing. But I do enjoy rolled oats and well Quaker is my favorite. I can't imagine why you couldn't use any other brand so go for it if you want to. Same thing with the pumpkin; I'm a Libby's girl but use whichever brand you want!

Now, this was my first Instant Pot recipe and things didn't go according to plan. Do they ever? UMMM, Yes, Yes they do but this one didn't; however, my results were DELICIOUS!

Make sure you grease the inner Instant Pot bowl with something! I used Pam Cooking Spray but you can do it however you want.  Put all ingredients in the bowl! 

I've seen some recipes where they cook the oatmeal in a glass oven safe bowl instead of directly in the Instant Pot. I'm not really sure why you would do that unless you just wanted to. To each their own! But I'm not using another dish unless I absolutely have to. Chuck gets grumpy when there are tons of dishes for him to clean.

I would recommend adding in some type of sweetener at this point as well. I didn't and added liquid stevia to the individual servings but when I made my Blueberry Zucchini Oatmeal on Sunday I mixed it in while cooking. 

Make sure you stir everything up before closing the lid and turning it on. I know this does not look appetizing but think about the end result. Not to mention, what oatmeal looks appetizing?

My settings.....well this one was more difficult to figure out. There are not a lot of blog posts out there for the Instant Pot Ultra 10-in-1. So I had to take some educated guesses and figure some things out. Bottom line is, you will have to play around with your Instant Pot to get things the way you expect them. 

OK, So based on several other oatmeal recipes I found you set it on Pressure Cook, High, for 4 minutes for rolled oats, with the "Steaming" setting on. Once cooked, you can either release the steam or you can let it continue on it's course. Well if that doesn't help a newbie!!!!!!!!!!! Seriously, it did not help! I literally scratched my head! CCCCHHHHUUUUCCCKKKKK, can you come help me! "Why of course dear!"

When I set all of this, and then went out for a 5K run (the first part of the duathlon), Chuck heard the Instant Pot beep and then it displayed "BURN". AHHHHH! My biscuits, I mean OATMEAL, are burning! 

Now all of this was unbeknownst to me. Who would have thought you could burn oatmeal in this thing. Everyone keeps saying that it is fool proof! Well Guess What???? It was! YUP, It was fool proof!

Chuck let the steam out and did nothing else to it. I'm sure figuring that the oatmeal was burnt and that I would clean it up! Silly man, he knows I don't do dishes!

However, when my run was over I came up to hear that the oatmeal was burnt. I had a sad sad face because I was really looking forward to pumpkin oatmeal before my 18 mile bike ride (2nd part of the dauthlon). YES, I wrote that number correctly!

Guess what, Ladies and Gentlemen? The oatmeal was perfect and did not burn! When I opened up the Instant Pot, the oatmeal was pumpkiny goodness! It smelled amazing and I couldn't wait to have a bowl!

I immediately separated it into four servings and set out to try it. Remember, I didn't put any sweetener in this to begin with. Bad choice Karen! OK, so I added the liquid Stevia to my individual serving at this point which had it tasting so much better. I also added some chopped walnuts to mine and sat down to have lunch!

NOW, what I learned when making my 2nd batch of oatmeal (Blueberry Zucchini) was that I should have used the "Porridge" setting on my Instant Pot Ultra. The Directions for this recipe are based on that much better experience.

Finished Oatmeal!

Ingredients

• 1 Cup Canned Pumpkin Puree
• 1 tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice
• 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
• 1 cup Quaker Rolled oats (uncooked)
• 2 1/4 Cups Water
• 1/8 tsp Salt
• OPTIONAL: Sweetener of choice (not included in Nutrition Facts)
• OPTIONAL: Nuts, raisins, any topping (not included in Nutrition Facts)

Directions

1. Use non-stick spray for the bottom and sides of the inner Instant Pot pan. 
2. Mix in all the ingredients in the Instant Pot; stir well.
3. Set the Instant Pot to "Porridge", High, for 6 minutes, "Steaming". 
4. Once it is done, release the steam and serve!

Nutritional Information (via MyFitnessPal)

As many of you know, I am not a professional cook and do things my own way all the time. I do however enjoy posting about my experiences and have fun while doing it. I hope you have fun  making Instant Pot Pumpkin Oatmeal!