I hope everyone had a fantastic holiday weekend! I spent Saturday with my family and Sunday and Monday with my husband’s family. A lot of quality family time and… well, onesies.

I went straight into a pretty hectic work week so I am ready for the weekend (and the new year)!

My lovely mom gave us an Instant Pot over the weekend! While I was excited to have one I was also a bit nervous. I have never cooked with a pressure cooker before, so this is definitely a new adventure for me. I literally have no clue how pressure cookers work. Still don’t. 🤷🏼‍♀️

I did the initial “test run” with water Sunday morning and literally hid under a blanket on my couch waiting for the cycle to finish. I am happy to report that my home is still standing.

I scavenged Pinterest for some yummy looking recipes that I can use. On Tuesday I tried this Buttery Lemon Chicken recipe and it was meh. One of the ingredients is paprika and if we’re being honest, I am the President of Overspicers Anonymous. I hate when recipes call for a 1/2 teaspoon of something. Really? What is that.

I put a crap ton dash of paprika which sadly appeared to be the only distinguishable flavor by the time the dish was done. The only thing that made me excited about this recipe was that I cooked chicken breast in there from a frozen state. A FROZEN STATE, y’all.  In 20 minutes.  Pretty miraculous.

I joined a Facebook community for Instant Pot users and ho. ly. cow. has my feed blown up. It’s like a cult out there with this thing. I’ve seen it all. Bread. Meatloaf and mashed potatoes in one pot? MOONSHINE.

I really need an Instant Pot for Dummies book, so I am going to stick with the basics before I start bootlegging some booze.

I wanted to give another recipe a shot so I decided to make one of my husband’s favorite dishes… Pot Roast. Now, my mother-in-law makes a KILLER pot roast and my husband can’t get enough when she makes it.

I decided to consult the Google this time and found this recipe. Pot Roast in 60 minutes? Sign me up.

• 2-3 Lb. Beef Chuck Roast
• 1 Bag of Baby Carrots
• 1 Onion
• 5-6 Potatoes
• 2 Packets of Brown Gravy
• 2 Cups of Water

Seems easy enough, right? I stopped at the market on the way home to peruse the wine section get the ingredients.

The recipe above is for a 6 quart Instant Pot and mine is a 3 quart. Unfortunately the smallest cut of meat I could find was 2 1/2 pounds. Yikes.

I ended up having to cut the meat into pieces so it would all fit. I used one potato, half the onion, and half the carrots.

Prep was super easy. I set it for 60 minutes and went to relax. Just kidding, I had a small heart attack as I watched it build pressure.

Our house started to smell very roasty and nothing exploded so I was pleased with the progress.

After the 60 minutes were up, I was supposed to let it depressurize naturally or for at least 15-20 minutes. I waited 27 minutes and couldn’t wait any longer. I am becoming less afraid of the pressure release valve. Baby steps.

I couldn’t believe how amazing this was in such a short amount of time!

The meat was super tender and the carrots and potatoes tasted like they had been in the crock pot all day. I put it over some rice. Not that this is completely necessary, but who doesn’t love some extra carbs covered in gravy a cold night.

This recipe was good and very simple. However, it certainly does not hold a candle to my mother-in-law’s Pot Roast.

As a serial overspicer, it was a little bland for my taste. Next time I will probably add some things like garlic salt and onion powder. Definitely more onion if I can fit it.

I’m sure it will even taste 10x better tomorrow!

The Instant Pot is so easy and convenient for busy families and for people who are too lazy to prepare a crock pot meal ahead of time. Also, shout out to the people who never remember to take the meat out of the freezer.

I’ll keep you posted with other delicious Instant Pot recipes I find!

Thanks for stopping by! See y’all next time…