blue_dolphin

Thank you, @Shelby! I was worried that stirring would mash my already tender beans so I probably did the right thing last time but this gives me a good guideline for the next round.

@Anna N, I don't keep milk around either but I had both whole milk and half & half leftover from the brunch I hosted last week and I've been enjoying this batch. I'd sent my brother out for the smallest container of milk and he came back with a 2 qt carton so I have lots! I know real ricotta is made from leftover whey from sheep's milk cheese in Italy, not from leftover cows milk in my kitchen but I think it's still a treat !

@Shelby, can I ask how long you simmered the beans + combined ingredients and what Instant Pot setting you used? Last week, I made some delicious baked beans, roughly following this recipe, which calls for soaking beans overnight then cooking them in water until tender before adding the rest of the ingredients and baking in the oven for 5 hours. I cooked a pound of unsoaked Rancho Gordo yellow eye beans in the Instant Pot for 20 minutes (manual), expecting to simmer them for a while longer after releasing the pressure but they were already done and some were already splitting. I'd planned to do the rest of the cook in the Instant Pot but when I saw how tender the beans were I was afraid I would end up with an Instant Pot full o'mush. I have more confidence in my ability to simmer beans in the oven so I transferred everything into a covered casserole, into the oven @ 275 for 4.5 hrs and ended up with very tasty beans. I have no complaints with the results but I'd like an oven-free method to use in the warmer weather. I have never pushed the "Slow Cook" button on my IP....is now the time?

@Anna N's breakfast got me thinking of marmalade so...toast (sadly not from homemade bread) topped with homemade ricotta and homemade lemon-rosemary marmalade. The sun should eventually come out later today but the marmalade added some early sunshine to an overcast morning.

Yes, 6 tablespoons sounds like a lot of mustard, doesn't it? But the recipe is written for 2 lbs of dry beans so that's a LOT of beans, too ! Turns out to be just the right amount to balance out the maple syrup and molasses.

Pulled pork sandwich, baked beans ( @janeer's wonderful recipe over here as recommended by @patrickamory, thank you kindly), mixed vegetable slaw enjoyed with a Lagunitas IPA. And yes, it's barely 11:30AM here. I waited as long as I could. The other half of the sandwich already has a couple of bites out of it !

Wow, it's so impressive to see those beautiful old machines in regular use today! Thanks for sharing!

@rotuts - yes, 1 cup of water was certainly NOT enough to submerge all the meat. In fact, when I started the pressure cook, I could barely see any liquid - looked like a big pot-o-meat ! The recipe called for a 5 lb roast and said to cut the meat into 3 pieces and then arrange them in a single layer on top of the bacon, already browned in the bottom of the pot. I had a 6 lb roast and there was no way it could fit in a single layer so I arranged it so that each of the three pieces touched bottom (and the liquid) and had some portion in the "steam space" above. I ended up with about 3 cups of defatted broth that I've reserved in case the meat needs moistening later on. In my initial tasting, the meat was plenty moist but I'll probably package and freeze the meat in chunks and the broth in ice cube trays so I can easily thaw some of each. To season the meat, I used TJ's smoked sea salt (instead of the Hawaiian salt specified), plus the recipe calls for bacon so the broth has a distinctly smoky flavor. I like the flavor in the meat but it may not be the most versatile broth for other dishes. I'll give that some thought in case I try this again. And I'm pretty sure I will.

Over in the sales and bargains thread, @andiesenji mentioned finding Pork PICNIC SHOULDER - BONE-IN $1.24 per pound at Walmart. My local Walmart neighborhood market didn't have exactly the same deal but had bone-in pork shoulder blade roasts for $1.74/lb so I picked one up and cooked it in the Instant Pot. I followed this recipe for Pressure Cooker Kalua Pig that seems to have a following in the Instant Pot community. Lots of pulled pork sandwiches coming my way!

This AM, another batch of ricotta. For lunch, I used the leftover ricotta whey to make an asparagus risotto with mushrooms and shrimp. I was inspired by this post: Asparagus Spring Risotto & making micro stock on hippressurecooking.com, though I didn't adhere exactly to the recipe. I liked the idea of using the asparagus trimmings to flavor stock for risotto but didn't want the asparagus in the risotto to be cooked quite so long so I just used the tough asparagus ends, mushroom stems and a few dried mushrooms pressure cooked in whey for the "micro stock" that I strained before adding it to the rice. I roasted the rest of the asparagus and sautéed the sliced mushrooms while the rice was cooking and added them, along with the shrimp after the pressure was released.

Leftovers, including quiche du yesterjour: Ahhhh, the last of the houseguests here since Thursday for a family wedding departed via airport shuttle at early this AM. The travelers only wanted coffee, fruit and yogurt before hitting the road but as soon as they left, I assembled a meal of leftovers from the brunch I hosted yesterday. Spinach, mushroom and onion quiche, croissant and fresh fruit. Eaten while enjoying one of the wedding centerpieces.

Interesting indeed! From the Bloomberg article @KennethT linked to above: I took a look at the Chef'd site and was amazed at the number of chefs or other partners they are working with.

I have what remains of my grandmother's dishes and totally support holding on to them if you have the space. My nanny's dishes were not "fine" by any definition. They are a Staffordshire flow blue pattern called Watteau, like this one on ebay. They were much used and many of the plates and serving pieces have fine cracks under the glaze from being heated in the oven because my grandmother always wanted hot food served HOT! A lot of them broke in the Northridge earthquake and sometimes I kick myself for having had them out on display rather than carefully packed away but then I wouldn't have had the pleasure of seeing them on those shelves every day. So my recommendation to you or your mom - if you decided to keep them, use them or display them so that you get to enjoy them.

I think that's a good idea, @Deryn. I did consider some sort of coating - I was imagining poking the big crab pieces deeper inside the cakes and then doing some sort of panko or other crust. I think it might help but I figured if I was going to do all that fiddling I might as well just buy some nice crab and make my own!

I use 1 cup of rice and 1.25 cups of water or stock for 23 minutes at high pressure + 10 minutes natural release. I see from reading the package directions that doesn't exactly save a ton of time but it's easy to just set it and forget it . To avoid sticking to the bottom, especially with a small amount of rice I like to use a pyrex bowl on a trivet with a cup of water in the pot.

Yes, I like it and try to keep it on hand. Cooks up well in the Instant Pot and seems a little more "fancy" than plain brown rice.

I'll second @MelissaH's recommendation of this one. I borrowed the digital edition from my library and read it on a recent trip.

@JoNorvelleWalker, thanks for reporting your experiences with Purple Carrot. Did you actually get delivery of one meal at a time? That's a little different from some of the other services that ship 2-3 meals together. I thought Purple Carrot might offer some interesting vegan umami flavoring options to explore since I usually reach for the usual parm, pecorino Romano, anchovies, fish sauce for that purpose. The little ketchup and mustard packets you got with the black bean burger kit are disappointing in that regard as are the paltry amounts of fresh herbs. Sorry about the mealy apple as I'm sure you were craving something crisp to go with that baguette and cheddar. Used to be hard to get good apples around this time of year but I would think the Southern Hemisphere apples would be good now. Ah well, hopefully there was some wine?

Thanks for the link, @liuzhou, it was a fun read!

It's a cloudy morning so I had to add a little sunshine...a sunny poached egg and avocado on toast and a little leftover butternut squash soup: Did I mention it was a sunny egg? Oh yeah!

My brother and SIL (+ 3 golden retrievers) have vinyl plank flooring and are very happy with it. I was very impressed with the look and feel of it when I visited. I own a townhouse that has been subject to slab leaks which have damaged laminate flooring in adjacent units. I am planning to replace all the flooring there with vinyl planks. Just trying to sort out how to handle the stairs. Brother & SIL's place:

A scaled-down, 2-egg version of this shaved asparagus frittata from Smitten Kitchen: I didn't have prosciutto or scallions so I browned some diced pancetta and thinly sliced onions in the pan before adding the rest of the ingredients.

For "hard boiled," I've been using the steaming/quick chill method that is linked to in that Serious Eats piece: For an easier, quicker, and even more fool-proof version, see our newer recipe for steamed eggs. The results have been flawless.

I picked up some big fat asparagus and farm fresh eggs at today's local farmers' market and had both for a late lunch: Roasted asparagus and poached egg.

@Anna N, your breakfast is killing me! I've been out of eggs for a while now, pending today's local farmers' market. I know I could run out for some grocery store eggs but I'm holding out for the best!