ElsieD

Alrighty, then, we're in business! Rotuts, notice those colo(u)red tabs on the notebook. Now to figure out what to make first, after the water test.

I like Mikey!

I have now made a couple of things from this book. I made the Chopped Greek Salad with Mild Lemon Olive Oil Vinaigrette and Lemon Ricotta Pancakes. I liked the Greek salad so much I have purchased the ingredients to make it again. We also enjoyed the pancakes except I thought it they needed more salt. The recipe calls for 1 tsp. Kosher salt and I have made a note to double it next time. The pancakes are tender, light and fluffy, perfect for soaking up maple syrup.

Very nice!

Before I read this I got a message from Amazon as I had asked to cancel the book I ordered and have it replaced with the Healthy Pressure Cooker Cookbook. They said to send the one I didn't want back and they would be happy to process the new book as a separate order and ship it next day with free shipping. So I took them up on it. Book arrived today but have not really looked at it yet. Maybe I will put Laura's book on my Christmas list. I also purchased a notebook but they did not have any red ones. So mine is black in colo(u)r. BUT it has 5 tabs on the side which may prove useful.

I dislike sterile looking kitchens. They make me think no one really cooks in them, although I do like the that appliance thingy in the island. That and the wooden table.

Kayb, it took me about 3 1/2 hours to read through the thread in its entirety. There is so much good information in it. I am particularly keen to make the mashed potatoes, cook hard boiled, poached, and eggs cocotte, mushroom soup, pork belly, whole squash, and champ. I also want to print the temperature reference in post # 550 and the timing chart post #41. It is interesting that blue_dolphin and I both read the thread today and came away with a different list save Hummingbirdkiss's whole pumpkin, except I will do squash. Oh, and I guess my very first thing will be water! Rotuts, the pressure cooker books I currently have are Miss Vickie's Big book of Pressure Cooker Recipes, The Everything Healthy Pressure Cooker Cookbook by Laura Pazzaglia and Cooking Under Pressure by Lorna Sass. I need to take a look at the cookbook Anna N referenced by Janet Zimmerman. The reason I have for wanting an Instant Pot cookbook is because I probably won't have a clue how to adapt the recipes in the books I currently have to the Instant Pot. Maybe it is not as complicated as I expect it to be?

Mine look like the ones under the Cotton Craft label. I checked on my towels to see if they had a label and they don't. They are 16" × 19" and came in a big package, possibly 24 or so. I got them at Costco and they were cheap. They also wear and wash well.

I have just re-read all 22 pages of this thread and made notes which reference back to the post nos. of the items I am interested in. There were quite a few, all very helpful. I have one question at the moment and it relates to cook books. I ordered The Instant Pot Pressure Cooker Cookbook: 101 Incredible Recipes for Busy Families by Virginia Hathaway as I thought it might be useful to have a book specific to the Instant Pot in addition to the manual that comes wit it. However, reading the posts I got the impression that it isn't a very good book. Any thoughts? Is there another one that would be better? I do have a couple of books on stove top pressure cookers so maybe that is all I need? I still have time to cancel the cookbook as it is being shipped after my IP.

Just ordered the Instant Pot. I am soooo excited!

Looks good. What all do you put in it?

Does anyone have the Bluetooth enabled version? The Instant Pot is on my wish list and I am wondering if it is worth it to pay the extra $80 on Amazon for the Bluetooth version. I am also wondering about the Bluetooth range. I read where it works up to 30' which is about the distance from my favourite chair to the kitchen.

Do you use canned pumpkin as called for in the recipe or squash?

Personally, I don't care for ratings unless they are accompanied by a comment. I have seen recipes rated on other sites where, say, a 2 out of 5 is given but without a comment it is meaningless. I would much rather not have a rating system at all but I would like to see comments.

Wherever did you find such nice tomatoes?

Shelby, what did you coat the chicken in?

Well, Mick, I have often wondered how to braid this. Not as easy as it looks.

We grew these one year with some success as in we harvested a few, not a lot. My SIL who lives in these parts also grew some with more success as she is on a small farm and could plant them in full sun. They are delicious.

Deryn, when next in Ottawa, I can take you to a little restaurant on Somerset Street called Dumpling Bowl where they make their own dumplings. I have been there when they were making them. One person rolls out the dough, the other person stuffs and folds them. They have a variety of fillings and they can be purchased for take out in both their fresh and frozen forms. They cost about $10 for a bag containing 15 dumplings. They are very good.

For the past few years I have been making and giving homemade food gifts to members of my family as small Christmas gifts. Example include last year's hot chocolate mix with homemade marshmallows, other years have included filled chocolates and also truffles. This year, I am thinking of chocolate cups filed with a ganache and topped with some sort of caramel topping. Ever open to new ideas, I am wondering what other people will be making?

After handling the hot peppers I always rub some sort of cooking oil on my hands and then wash them well with soap. The oils from the peppers blend with the cooking oil so my hands are then free of the hot oils. Having learned the hard way, I ALWAYS do this now.

Jaymes, thank you. I have to admit that I was just going to mix the two together. I like the idea of adding the hot sauce to the non-hot sauce until the heat level is where my husband wants it. He is the hot sauce lover. I am good up until a serrano and finely minced scotch bonnets on chicken wings but that's it for my heat tolerance. My husband, on the other hand, has been known to munch on whole Thai chilis when eating at Thai restaurants.

I' d like to thank everyone for their suggestions. I haven't done anything as of yet, but I have decided that as a first step I will do what several people have suggested and that is make a second batch without the peppers and mix it with the batch that contains the peppers. If that does the trick, great. If not, I will do some small batch trials using some of the other suggestions. I'll report back. As an aside to Chris Taylor, I cannot find find Scotch Bonnets where I live in sufficient quantity to make the sauce. Therefore, in the fall I go to a big market in Montreal, about 2 hours away and get them there. The peppers were late this year and I could not get enough Scotch Bonnets so decided to make one batch using habaneros. I find the SB have more flavor.

Whereabouts are you?

Thanks, Rotuts. These inserts that came with my pressure cooker should fit the IP nicely, then.