A year ago this Christmas I got a pressure cooker from my parents.  The fad hadn’t hit full force then yet, so I was a little unsure about the whole thing.  I had an image in my head from when I was young… mom’s noisy old pressure cooker was on the stove hissing away, and then suddenly there was a huge squirt and orange stuff was plastered all over the ceiling.  Yeah, orange stuff.  Those pressure cookers scared me!  Who wanted a repeat of that??

So, I was a little leery to start.  The first time I used it, I wasn’t even sure I wanted to stand next to it.  I mean, come on!  Contents under pressure means things can explode, right?  LOL…  Thankfully, I figured out how to use the thing, and now it’s in use at our house at least once a week.  It makes things so easy and quick…  recipes that took all day in the crockpot, I can make now in a little over an hour in the pressure cooker.

Here’s the Instant Pot, the leader of the fad… 😉 You’ll see that most pressure cooker recipes online call for the Instant Pot, but mine does all the same things and you can use exactly the same recipes.

And here’s mine:

A little less pricey, but just as nice. 🙂

Did you know that you can make hard-boiled eggs in a pressure cooker?  You can also take ground beef straight from the freezer, from frozen solid to nice and brown all the way through in just a few minutes.  All you have to do after that is drain, crumble, and add to your favorite ground beef recipe.

You can also take dried beans and put them into the pot to cook… no need for an overnight soak. (With no “interesting” side effects from the beans either! ah-hem!)

The biggest thing for me is rice! I’d been having the hardest time making rice that didn’t stick together. These pressure cookers make awesome rice steamers, and it comes out the same fluffy consistency that you get at Chipotle or Panda Express, places like that. We’ve been eating a lot more healthy rice since I’ve been able to make it yummier now!

Do you have a favorite Pressure Cooker recipe or function?  I plan to post some of our family favorites soon, what kind of recipes does your family enjoy?  Have a great day!