Showing posts with label instant pot on campus. Show all posts
Showing posts with label instant pot on campus. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 22, 2020

Instant Pot Breakfast Bowl Meal Prep Recipe

How to Meal Prep a Week's Worth of Breakfast Bowls in your Instant Pot

Make a week's worth of breakfast bowls containing cheesy eggs, sausage, and potatoes in one meal prep pressure cooker session.

photo of 7 servings of Instant Pot Breakfast Bowls in front of an Instant Pot


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Meal preparation and the Instant Pot is a match made in heaven. In this recipe we'll use the IP to simultaneously cook the components of a meaty breakfast bowl. With just 15 minutes of pressure cooking + natural pressure release time, you'll make enough to enjoy a hearty home-cooked breakfast every day!


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Make a week's worth of breakfast bowls containing cheesy eggs, sausage, and potatoes with one meal prep pressure cooker session.



This recipe came about because my son moved into a campus apartment with his Instant Pot, because I'd stocked his freezer with a Costco box of Jimmy Dean Breakfast Bowls, and because one of his roommates does meal prepping.


He developed the basic idea on his own during the fall semester. I thought of ways to streamline the process. Over winter break we put our ideas together and came up with this recipe. This recipe is a copycat version of Jimmy Dean Breakfast Bowls and Jimmy Dean Meat Lover's Breakfast Bowls.

Friday, November 15, 2019

Curried Sweet Potato Soup in the Instant Pot

Smooth and creamy with warming Thai spices, this vegan sweet potato soup cooks up quickly in the Instant Pot for an easy first course or light meal.

image of 2 bowls of curried sweet potato soup, an Instant Pot, colorful napkins, spoons, and sweet potatoes

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I like to use my Instant Pot to prepare meal components--not just meals. In the summertime that means cooking--and freezing--endless ears of freshly shucked corn, or steaming potatoes for potato salad or my Grilled Garlic Scape Pesto Smashed Potatoes recipe. In the fall and winter that means preparing winter squash and root vegetables.

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Smooth and creamy, with warming Thai spices, this vegan sweet potato soup cooks up quickly in the Instant Pot for an easy first course or light meal.


If you find yourself with an abundance of oddly-shaped sweet potatoes from your Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm share, the farmer's market, an ugly produce subscription service or your own garden--try this recipe! It's a terrific way to use cooked sweet potatoes in a simple and satisfying soup.

Monday, October 28, 2019

Green Eggs No Ham with the Instant Pot for #MuffinMonday

Egg bites flavored with parmesan cheese and peppers, brightly colored thanks to fresh spinach. These vegetarian snacks pack a protein punch--straight from the Instant Pot!

image of Instant Pot Egg Bites with Spinach and Parm on a blue and green Polish pottery plate



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Green Eggs No Ham! Use the electric pressure cooker to make these colorful tasty protein bites any time of year--not just for Dr Seuss' birthday breakfast!


I like to offer recipes for a variety of eaters, so after I developed my Sous Vide Sausage Egg Bites I was thinking about vegetarian options. I tried a couple of recipes and methods before settling on this one. First I used mozzarella, and then feta, but I wanted a stronger flavor so I ended up with parmesan.

Saturday, October 5, 2019

Easy Mu Shu Pork in the Instant Pot

Easy Instant Pot Mu Shu Pork is a simple meal consisting of pork, cabbage, and eggs seasoned with plummy hoisin sauce and served with a Chinese pancake. Skip the restaurant and control your own ingredients by making this quick dish!


image of a blue plate of mu shu pork rolls with an Instant Pot in the background.

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image of a blue plate with easy Instant Pot Mu Shu Pork rolled in Chinese pancakes


Do you like Egg Roll in a Bowl? You'll like this variation!

When I learned about Egg Roll in a Bowl--the fast & easy method of using a couple of bags of coleslaw mix in place of chopping AllTheThings--I thought it would be perfect for my Instant Pot on Campus series. This series consists of recipes that use few ingredients with simple preparation, and I spent the summer teaching my son several recipes before sending him off with an Instant Pot electric pressure cooker to start his own Instant Pot on Campus adventures. You can find my other Instant Pot on Campus recipes here.



After I made the Egg Roll in a Bowl recipe I realized how, with a couple of tweaks, I could re-create my favorite Chinese restaurant dish--Mu Shu Pork. The Mu Shu Pork I get in Chinese restaurants has mushrooms in it, but not every eater in my household likes mushrooms. That's the beauty of cooking at home--you can customize your meals to your eaters' tastes.

Thursday, July 18, 2019

Sous Vide Egg Bites with Sausage--Instant Pot Starbucks Copycat Recipe

Start your day with a homemade protein-packed meal. This recipe is a copycat version of Starbucks Sous Vide Sausage Egg Bites made in the Instant Pot electric pressure cooker.

image of a Polish pottery plate of sous vide sausage egg bites surrounded by jars of Instant Pot steel cut oats


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I'm continuing my Instant Pot on Campus series with today's recipe post. These recipes use few ingredients and don't require much preparation--perfect for busy college students or anyone with less time or fewer kitchen skills who still wants to eat cheaply by making meals at home.


Each recipe in the Instant Pot on Campus series will have the following categories--What to Buy at the store, What You Need in the kitchen, How to Level Up, Troubleshooting, and of course the recipe + how-to video. I'll including tips for saving money while shopping, affiliate links to products I use, and hints for making this recipe suit your own tastes.

Tuesday, June 18, 2019

Instant Pot Taco Rice

This comfort food combines taco-seasoned meat with cooked rice and salsa in a hearty bowl of family-friendly food. This recipe is great to serve a crowd, too. Use the Instant Pot for easy clean up!

image of a bowl of taco rice topped with shredded cheese, diced tomatoes, corn, lettuce, and tortilla chips

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This is not a pressure cooker recipe, but I am including it in my Instant Pot on Campus series for a couple of reasons. First, this recipe is a family favorite which my son has cooked on the stovetop many times under my tutelage. I'm posting it on my website so that he can access it without sending me texts at 10:49pm asking how to make it.

photo of an Instant Pot programmed to use the Sauté function


Second, using the Sauté function on the Instant Pot or Mealthy (or Brown on the Presto) makes your electric pressure cooker function like a high-sided electric skillet. When I make this dish in my 12 inch cast iron skillet I inevitably fling some of the contents all over the stovetop as I'm stirring. That results in a thorough cleaning not only of the skillet but also of the stove. Using the Instant Pot to cook this meal saves clean up!


The third reason I'm sharing this is because I think that electric pressure cookers are hidden gems for disabled cooks. Instead of having to strain to access a stovetop to brown meat--or pay to modify the stove height--cooks can position the electric pressure cooker on a convenient flat surface and work in comfort. Wear an apron and mind the splatters, though.

Friday, May 31, 2019

Instant Pot Vegetarian Breakfast Burritos


Use the Instant Pot to speed up your meal prep! In this recipe we'll cook eggs and potatoes at the same time in the electric pressure cooker then create Egg and Potato Breakfast Burritos, Egg Salad, and Mashed Potatoes. Cook once, eat twice, and get out of the kitchen to enjoy life!


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Welcome back to my Instant Pot on Campus series! I created this recipe series to help my son learn some basic recipes for when he heads back to school armed with an Instant Pot electric pressure cooker. You can see my inaugural IPOC recipe, Spaghetti and Meatballs, right here.


Each of the Instant Pot on Campus recipes will have several things in common. These recipes use a small number of ingredients and have easy prep. I'll walk you thru what to buy at the store, what you'll need in the kitchen, what could go wrong and how to fix it, and how to Level Up when you're feeling fancy.


In today's recipe we're going to cook two building blocks--hard boiled eggs and roasted potatoes--and combine them in various ways to make a variety of meals. This Instant Pot recipe works for vegetarians and omnivores alike.


What to buy at the store



photo of ingredients used to make Instant Pot Egg and Potato Breakfast burritos

These ingredients are handy to have around because they keep well. If you only grocery shop once a week, use this as your go-to meal the day before you shop (kinda like your 'I'm doing laundry' outfit).
  • Eggs (up to a dozen)
  • Small potatoes (up to 3 pounds waxy Yukon or redskin type--NOT russet)
  • tortillas
  • cheese (cheddar or colby jack works great)
  • Tabasco or your favorite hot sauce

I generally get my eggs from the local coop which means I'm getting whatever size the chickens are laying, but anywhere from Medium to Jumbo will work in this recipe. The larger the egg, the longer you may wish to cook to achieve a chalk-like yolk.


As for potatoes, the smaller the better works best in this recipe. You will not cut the potatoes before cooking, so choose egg-sized or smaller potatoes to make sure they are fully cooked.

If you've got a box grater, a block of cheese is generally cheaper per pound than a bag of shredded cheese. However, it's a timesaver just to open a bag and shake out what you need. Your choice! Same with tortillas. If you prefer breakfast tacos, get a smaller corn or flour tortilla. If you've got a bigger appetite, get the burrito-sized tortilla.

Friday, May 17, 2019

Instant Pot Spaghetti and Meatballs

Use the Instant Pot to make spaghetti and meatballs the easy way--simple ingredients and only one pot to clean! This is a terrific recipe for campus cooking as it uses few ingredients and simple prep.


image of a shallow pasta bowl with pressure cooked spaghetti and meatballs and a side of garlic bread


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Hi and welcome to the first post in a new series I've started called Instant Pot on Campus. This summer I'm teaching my son how to use an Instant Pot electric pressure cooker to make simple meals. Later I'll stuff an Instant Pot box* into the already overloaded car and send him off to school, confident that I've built a foundation for success in the kitchen. *Military spouse tip--save your boxes.

Each Instant Pot on Campus post will have the following categories:
  • What to buy at the store
  • What you need in the kitchen
  • How to Level Up
  • The Recipe
  • What to do when something goes wrong
Please share this post with folks who are just starting out in the kitchen. Thank you!

Let's get to the first post in the series, Instant Pot Spaghetti and Meatballs!


What to buy at the store

photo of the ingredients needed to make 2 batches of Instant Pot spaghetti and meatballs (meatballs, noodles, spaghetti sauce)

You might as well buy the ingredients for a double batch, otherwise you're left with half a box of spaghetti in the cupboard and half a bag of meatballs in the freezer. Avoid the temptation to just dump the whole box of noodles in--you'll get a burn error message and probably won't end up with an edible meal.
  • 1 pound box of spaghetti noodles (thin, thick, regular . . . your choice)
  • 1 bag (24-32 ounces) of frozen meatballs
  • 2 cans or jars (24 ounces each) of spaghetti sauce
Since you're going to use the whole can or jar of spaghetti sauce at one time, go with the can. It's usually a better deal--unless you don't have a can opener. Cheaper items are usually located on the lowest shelves in the grocery store since companies pay extra to have their products displayed at eye level (and their prices reflect that).