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Slow Cooker, Crock Pot, and Instant-Pot!

Joining the Instant-Pot Cult

I’d kinda gotten into cooking with a Crock Pot, thanks to having to make batches of chili for pot luck meals, but the “slow” part of the slow cooker never sat well with me. I guess there is a poetic, domestic pacing to having a meal cook itself over 8+ hours, but I’d never been terribly happy with the results, at least from my own attempts at all-day simmers. I’m not sure how I finally got around to ordering an Instant-Pot, but I’m glad I did. It’s an easy and fast way of making a small repertoire of vegetarian goodness at home.

While I’m a voracious meat eater, I prefer not to cook meat at home. No idea why. Anyway, here are some very easy recipes.

Pasta Faux-lognese

A vegan alternative to the ground meat pasta sauce:

  • 1 cup Bob’s Red Mill Textured Vegetable Protein
  • 1 jar of good marinara sauce
  • 1 large onion
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 small can tomato paste
  • 1/2 cup of water

Dice the onion and sautee it in the Instant-Pot with the olive oil until translucent. Add all other ingredients, stir a bit, and cook on the “Soup” setting for 5 minutes. Serve over pasta. Or over polenta.

Vegan Chili
  • 1 cup Bob’s Red Mill Textured Vegetable Protein
  • 1 package of Wick Fowler’s 2 Alarm Chili Mix
  • 1 medium can diced tomatoes
  • 1 medium can kidney beans
  • 1 medium can pinto beans
  • 1 large onion
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil

Dice and sautee the onion with olive oil for 2 minutes. Add all other ingredients (well, maybe hold off on the cayenne from the chili mix, and I use half the salt packet and none of the masa), stir a bit, and cook on the “Soup” setting for 5 minutes. Serve with anything that goes with chili.

Soy Curl Curry
  • 1/2 package Butler Foods Soy Curls
  • 1 tablespoon salt
  • 1 jar Indian Curry simmer sauce
  • 1 large onion
  • 2 tablespoons butter

Soak the soy curls in room temperature water, stir in salt, let it sit for 10 minutes. Chop and sautee onion with the butter for about 2 minutes. Drain and add the soy curls, sautee for another 2 minutes. Stir in the simmer sauce, and cook on the “Soup” setting for 3 minutes. Serve over rice.