hard-boiled eggs in the instapot!

my first instant pot post has to be hard-boiled eggs because it is literally the easiest thing to do. also, I do it every week for Eugene so I've made dozens of these. It is so, so easy. 

All you need is your IP, a steamer basket, eggs (up to 1 dozen or however many will fit in a single row), 1 cup of water, and 10 minutes (give or take).

Water goes in, steamer basket sits inside with legs down so that none of the eggs are touching the water, the eggs sit in a single layer (I have done up to 12 at a time) and the lid goes on.

5 minutes on manual y'all. I say 10 minutes give or take because it takes a few minutes to build pressure and a few minutes to release pressure at the end. After the eggs are done cookin', give them an ice bath and let them rest for a few minutes. 

The best part about making it in the IP (besides the fact that its wicked fast and easy!) is that it peels SO easy. Who else dreads cracking eggs? For some reason, eggshells have something against me because it always has to peel in at least 30 pieces. Not anymore! IP for the win! 

Hard-Boiled Eggs in the InstaPot (Instant Pot recipe)

Makes 2-12 eggs
Total time: 10 minutes         Cook time in IP: 5 minutes (on Manual)

Ingredients

Eggs (however many you want!)

1 cup water

1. Place one cup of water inside pot

2. Place steamer tray inside with legs down, place eggs in a single layer.

3. Press "Manual", set the time to 5 minutes, press manual again. The screen may show "ON" until the pressure has built up inside, then the timer will start counting down.

4. Ensure that the valve is on "Sealing"

5. After cooking, QR (Quick Release) the pressure by changing the valve position from "Sealing" to "Venting" but be careful not to burn yourself! (I do it with the back of a spatula, etc)

6. After pot has fully depressurized and lid is unlocked, place cooked eggs carefully into a bowl of ice water. I use tongs!

7. Once eggs have cooled, peel as needed. I keep unpeeled, hard boiled eggs in the fridge to peel before serving! They last up to 1 week in the fridge as long as they are not peeled.

What did I tell you. SO EASY!

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Get yours here:

INSTANT POT IP DUO 7-IN-1

Click here for the 8 quart

Click here for the 6 quart

INSTANT POT IP LUX 6-IN-1

Click here for the 6 quart (This is the one that I have!)

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The Instapot is my fave.

(this post contains affiliated links. click here for more info about my affiliated links) 

OK 'YALL. 

You knew this was coming.

Let's talk about the INSTAPOT (or officially called, Instant Pot) 

If you have talked to me at all in the last 2 months, you know that I have recently become a "pot-head". Before ya'll freak out, I'm referring to the fact that this this small 6 qt pot has absolutely changed my life. You guys. I can't talk about it enough. I have been marketing it to every single person who comes over, even to random strangers that I meet at coffee shops. I recently started a new job and when we went around to talk about ourselves, I talked about the Instant pot. Yes, that's right. Judge all you want! I'm not ashamed (actually maybe that was a bit much, but I couldn't contain myself!) 

The Instant Pot is a 6-in-1 (or 7-in-1, depending on which one you get) multi-cooker. It works as an electric pressure cooker, rice cooker, slow cooker, steamer, warmer, saute pan, etc.  It is amazing. People have been asking me...

"is this different from a slow cooker?"

"is this better than a stovetop pressure cooker?"

"if I have a rice cooker and a slow cooker, do I actually need it?" 

The answer is YES. YES. and YES. x100. 

People who know me well know that I am truly not a natural salesperson. I think the worst possible job situation for me would be if I had to go around selling stuff. I am a people-pleaser by nature and hate, hate, hate burdening others or disappointing others. I remember in choir or girl scouts when I had to sell magazines and cookies or raffle tickets and such, I would buy it all myself to reach the minimum quota because I hated asking people to buy stuff from me (lol!). But this, you guys - it's another story. I can't say enough about it! 

What do I love about it?

 (Here are just a few reasons!) 

• Like a slow cooker, it is a dump-it-and-leave-it kinda pot
• Unlike a stove-top pressure cooker, there is very little supervision required. The pot will turn off when it's done cooking (or go to "Warm") so you don't have to worry about it exploding! 
• It cooks things in record time! Things that usually take hours will take less than 30 minutes (i.e. 4-6 hours to make broth for pho takes 20 minutes in the IP)
• As a new mom, adjusting to taking care of a baby - we used to eat dinner really late because I wasn't able to prep food in time until baby went to sleep. Now, I can start prepping food while Asher is eating dinner (about 15 minutes) and then throw it all in the instapot and dinner is done cooking by the time I bathe asher and put him to bed. No more late night dinners for us! 
• It is amazing at 'hard-boiling' eggs. 1 cup of water. 1 dozen eggs. 5 minutes on the Instapot. Peels in almost-one whole piece! 
• The saute option is everything! Most of the time, I don't need any other pots/pans to clean because I can saute and brown things directly (i.e. when making pasta, brown the onions and beef, throw in dry pasta noodles, water + sauce. close lid, voila!) 
• Yes, you read that right. I threw in DRY pasta noodles. It is a one-pot wonder. No more boiling water and cooking the noodles separately! 
• Easy, easy clean up! (See point above!)
• The other options are great - I love that there is a slow cook option, if needed! 
• The meat is always fall off the bones. I even put a whole frozen chicken in to make soup once and it cooked the broth perfectly and the chicken was cooked all the way through in less than an hour. An entire frozen chicken, peeps. It's magic.
• One thing I didn't like about using the slow cooker was that my vegetables always came out too soggy and really salty. The benefit of having shorter cook time keeps the veggies almost al dente! 

One post would not sufficiently help me to elaborate on the glories of the Instapot, but I am hoping that this post will serve as a precursor to the many, many Instapot recipes that I am planning to share on this blog. When I initially purchased it, Eugene gave me a mild stink eye (like just a 20% severity) but after just one week, he was completely sold on it. Maybe he will let me buy another one in a few years. Maybe.

To give you a quick overview, so far I have made chicken pho (20 minutes), korean braised chicken aka dalk jjim (12 minutes), steamed corn (3 minutes), hard boiled eggs (5 minutes), boiling crab style sausage and potato boil (5 minutes), bone broth (1 hour), steamed veggies for asher (2 minutes), rice, minestrone soup (6 minutes), pasta (6 minutes), bossam (15 minutes). 

It's magic! I can't wait to share with you guys all the fun and easy things I make in it.

If you are interested in purchasing one, please use one of my affiliated links below:

INSTANT POT IP DUO 7-IN-1

Click here for the 8 quart

Click here for the 6 quart

INSTANT POT IP LUX 6-IN-1

CLick here for the 6 quart (This is the one that I have!)

* * * 

Cheers to making lots of IP magic together!

xoxo

9 months

i'm almost 2 weeks late (eep!) but before it's too late..

--

dear asher,

happy 9 months, my beautiful boy.

this post has been on my mind for some time now. 9 months is big. big for you but also so, so big for me. as of this month, you have been outside in the world as long as you were inside of me (woah, that is either a really grammatically incorrect sentence or just plain confusing.) for 9 months, it was just the two of us! you were growing, developing and being formed by the very Hands of our creator. before the world met you, I knew you. only me. what an amazing honor and privilege to be a mama: every hiccup episode, every stretch and turn, every uncomfortable corner -- I was there and it was just you and me. 

for the last 9 months or so, the rest of the world got the sweet pleasure of getting to know you, too! you are such a fun and happy little guy. 

at 9 months, you love to eat practically everything (especially meat, noodles, zucchini and papayas). you drink your water out of a straw (we have altogether given up on the bottle!) you crawl around on all fours, stand yourself up and love to climb and can balance standing up though you love to fall into my arms! you are a total ham and such a little jokester. you love to play pick-a-boo and pop out from behind the couch or the table. you hate, hate, hate the vacuum cleaner (you cry in terror and cling onto me like a baby koala - i love it!) and elevators and the sound of the magic bullet, too. you can give high fives and learned how to do the korean "jem jem" baby trick. you've been in the thick of 8-10 month sleep regression (hello 20-30 minute naps!) which is why it took me so long to write this blog post. you love it when daddy comes home and give him the biggest smiles. you poop in the bathtub (*sob*) but i'm thankful that you're not constipated anymore. you still love to sleep with your lovey aka swaddle blankets tied with a hairtie! and you still love going outside. you get really happy when we go grocery shopping but your favorite shops are target and costco (esp for the samples!). you have 3.5 teeth (your top tooth is HUGE by the way.) you love to crawl while holding something in your mouth. you are a squirmy worm and it is so. hard. to change your diaper and clothes! you wave and smile at strangers and only have stranger anxiety when you are tired or immediately after a nap! by habit, you immediately fold your hands to pray after our bedtime book and it makes me so happy! you are growing and changing so much and so fast. I wish time would pause!

there is not a single day that goes by that my heart does not burst with love for you. I am so, so grateful every single day for the amazing blessing God has given to us in you. I feel so, so lucky to be your mama. things are not always easy. daddy is really busy in this season of life, working so hard for us! I haul you around everywhere and sometimes force you to skip your naps or keep you out hours past your bedtime because of my work schedule or church events. but you are such a trooper and so good to me! I thank God for you every day. 

you are definitely becoming your own little person. 

you are starting to cause trouble and disobey (i.e. why do you love touching the outlets and chewing on powercords?!) mama needs lots of wisdom and guidance from the Lord to teach me how to raise you up in a way that is honoring to Him! I know you don't know what a "newb" is yet, but it basically means I have no idea what I'm doing! but in the Bible, God tells us that He has given us everything we need for life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3) so I am clinging to Him to teach me as I go. 

I know there are gonna be so many times I will mess up and fall short. but please be patient with me! I'm praying that as I seek to love and honor Christ with my own life, that it would overflow to the way I raise you and that you would come to see the hope and joy that can only come from knowing Him as your Savior. the world is scary. and life is hard! but God is faithful and sovereign and good. I hope and pray that you would come to see that at an early age so that we can learn and grow and persevere in this life together.

I love you, son. Cheers to many more happy, healthy, fun and chaotic months.

xoxo,

mama