It's a cool gadget

I love gadgets and new toys.  I always have to have the latest cell phone or other electronic.  Recently, one of my bridge friends mentioned that she had purchased an Instant Pot and was really liking it.  I mistakenly thought she meant an electric tea pot, but I was very wrong.

So, now I own an Instant Pot.

They call this a 7-in-device.

I can saute, slow cook, cook rice, pressure cook, warm, delay cook,
and I'm not sure what else.
I was mainly interested for the feature of timed cooking.
I have a little history of getting distracted while cooking and that's not a real safe situation.

So, I thought this item might be good for me
(sometimes I have to protect myself from myself).

I was right.  This is a good thing.
One of my first meals, poached eggs on kale.

Then I slow cooked a big pot of veggie soup.

No big deal here, but the stainless insert comes out and goes in the diswasher,

so that's handy.

My favorite, so far, was this sausage & veggie combo.

This was the best summer meal, oh yum.

Someone gave me a bag of zucchini, many of which were huge, 

so I peeled & removed seeds and chopped.

Pressure boiled them with some stock and then put them in the blender to puree.

I used some of the resulting creamy base to make corn & hash brown potato & green chili chowder.

The rest went in the freezer for later.

This week I picked up a basket of fresh green chilis at a house nearby who has an honor system vegetable stand.  

Today I chopped the chilis and threw them in the pot.

Added red wine vinegar to cover, enough to make steam for pressure of course.

Pressure cooked for 1 minute with a long pressure release time.

Put the whole works, seeds and all into the blender for puree.

I let the spicy mix cool.

Now my little container are ready for the freezer.
The house probably smells wonderful, my eyes are almost watering.
This is a spicy sauce, but with intense green chili flavor.
I'm going back to the honor system stand to get more of these chilis, so I can repeat.

I've also made red potatoes, sweet potatoes, sweet corn, and boiled eggs in the Instant Pot.

I found a couple of blogs with recipes and conversions and there is a very active group on Facebook.

It's a fun new toy.  I think it will encourage me to cook more, eat better food and let's face it, 

it's a cool gadget, makes yummy food, is easy & safe...what could be better.