Cooking! Once again with the cooking. sigh. When will I be rich enough I can pay someone to do this for me? 😉
I bought an Instant Pot in November, it took ages to get to me thanks to WalMart’s slow delivery, but that’s fine because though I wanted it, and had vague but great plans for it, I had no idea what I wanted to cook in it.
It finally got opened a week ago and there were so many warnings in the box, in the book that came with it, on the actual device, that I almost boxed it back up out of fear that I would kill myself if I tried to use it. If anyone could do it…
Instead I washed it, put it in the cupboard, and tried to figure out what to cook in it first. After much scouring of the internet for recipes I decided on Sweet and Sour Chicken. See, while the Instant Pot can be used in a whooooole bunch of ways, I mostly wanted it for it’s slow cooker settings. I owned a tiny slow cooker, because I am single and don’t need a massive slow cooker, but the tiny slow cookers are lame in that they aren’t programmable, so you have to be around to turn it off when you want it to stop cooking which means I could never set it and go to work, or practice, or wherever, because I wouldn’t be home in time to turn it off and the food would over cook.
This adorable 3 quart Instant Pot however, has all the bells and whistles, while being a small enough size for my needs. Yay!
Because I was still half convinced I was going to either (1) make it explode or (2) experience recipe failure, I picked an easy recipe to try.
I bought one of those Club House slow cooker packages and for the most part did what it said to do.
I kind of guessed how many peppers would make the measurement required, same with the onion, aaaand the celery lol I ended up using three peppers (one red, one yellow, one orange – cause I liked the colours), one red onion, three or four celery stalks (can’t quite remember), one can of corn kernels (drained), and one can of pineapple tidbits (not drained). Oh, and instead of chicken thighs I used chicken breasts, I believe I put four or five in there, but that is because they were tiny.
Except for the guessing on measurements for the vegetables I did everything else exactly as described on the back of the seasoning package. After much googling I learned that “low” on a slow cooker equals “normal” on an Instant Pot, so I set it for 8 hours on normal, oh so slowly backed away, quickly begged the universe to let this work, and went to bed.
Whoever decides to try a new recipe, in a new kitchen appliance, for the first time, when it is a meal you are taking to share with friends, is either very sure of their cooking abilities or an idiot. I’m pretty sure you can figure out which of those applies to me lol
When I checked it in the morning it was perfect! The chicken was tender, moist, perfectly cooked, the veggies were cooked but still a bit firm (which is how I like them), and the sauce was delish. I took the chicken out, cubed it, put it back in and mixed it all around, then left it on the “warming” setting until I was ready to put it in a container and take it to the get together I had made it for.
People loved it! It also made a huge amount, so I am grateful I took extra and sent people home with left overs, there is after all, only so much sweet and sour chicken a girl can eat in one week lol
I’m glad I started with such a simple meal, makes me think maybe the next dish I make in there will work out also!…maybe…
Warming up left overs…
Aaaand a close up, cause why not?
The Amazing Shrinking Woman 