I think I may have gotten lucky with Vegan in an Instant; I had a coupon and opened the book to a specific page, and basically bought it from that. This is an officially endorsed Instant Pot book; I do have one, but it’s an older model that does not have the yogurt setting; putting one recipe out of reach. This is ok with me, since that’s not the recipe that caught my eye anyways.
The I got lucky part is that a lot of the breakfast options are grain bowls with enough variety that I’ll be happy for a while; options include Bananas Foster Millet, Loaded Sweet Potato (I’d never thought to Inst-Pot cook a whole potato, but it makes sense), Crunchy Granola (in a pressure cooker no less), Chocolate Steel Cut Oats, and Blueberry Baked Oatmeal (again, in a pressure cooker? vs oven or stove). Some of the times make it sound like using the Instant Pot would actually take more time, though less hands on, like with the Strawberry Chia Jam; that has a 1 minute pressure cook. If add in the 5-10 or so minutes the thing might take to get up to full pressure, and another 15 minutes for the pressure to naturally drop, before you add the thickeners (and don’t cook them either; the chia makes sense, but the arrowroot not getting cooked directly makes me wonder)?
A lot of lunch/dinner options look decent like the jackfruit taco (also pulled jackfruit sandwiches) look more promising than some of the other versions of that I’ve seen since the saute and pressure together might mean a little more of the spicing flavors get into the actual filling, the enchilada bake (as with the oatmeal recipe) uses the pressure function which again might require less hands on, but this recipe relies on sauce not included in the recipes (and I don’t like most commercial enchilada sauces- boo), the 2 minute pressure cook on the portabello burgers might actually be a good option for someone without a grill, the falafel recipe involves the oven in addition to the saute function which doesn’t work so well for me on account of being such a small space for cooking, and a handful several bean or rice bowls, soups, and salads that look decent although a bit standard (like peanut tofu bowl or split pea soup).
There are really two recipes that I’m probably going to have try first, both more in the staple category; I’ve been looking for a decent quick/easy/not too bad for you refried bean recipe, and the one here is promising if I adjust the recipe slightly, as in saute the spices briefly before deglazing and turning on the pressure so the spices don’t taste so raw; I hate that, especially with something like cumin, the primary spice used. That leaves the recipe that I grabbed the book for in the first place, which is going to sound a little silly, but it’s applesauce. I grew up with apple trees and an apple press (my dad had a hand one for sauce, and a big outdoor one for cider). Basically, you pressure cook a bunch of apples and some lemon water, and that’s it. It sounds obvious, but I like that there’s timing and amounts, as well as seasonal mix-in options; I’ll definitely be starting with that additional cup of cranberries, although I will have to be adding some sweetener to the whole thing to adjust for the fresh cranberries.
I’m not too sure about the Dessert chapter because I’ve not had great luck with cakes in the Instant Pot; they turn out so gummy even when you follow things exactly. Apparently some of the newer models have a Cake function preinstalled, but I’d have to go with the Pressure function (at least the book tells you how to do it both ways), but I’m still probably going to stick to things like poached pears and baked peaches (both recipes present here); I’m still debating about the chocolate hummus.
I haven’t tried any of these things yet, but I will soon; maybe the beginning of Lent would be a good starting place. I’ve never been that kind of religious (as in giving something up for the 40 days) but it still marks a good definitive starting point to start a new set of recipes.
