Hope Comerford (editor) - Fix-It and Forget-It Instant Pot Light & Healthy Cookbook: 7-Ingredient Recipes for Weight Loss and Heart Health

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Good Books is an imprint of Skyhorse Publishing, Inc., a Delaware corporation. Visit our website at www.goodbooks.com. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file. Cover design by Laura Klynstra Cover photo by Meredith Special Interest Media Print ISBN: 978-1-68099-747-7 Ebook ISBN: 978-1-68099-795-8 Printed in China Contents Welcome to Fix-It and Forget-It Instant Pot Light & Healthy Cookbook Instant Pots have become a staple in many households in recent years. Known for its quick cook time and convenience, the Instant Pot is making life a lot easier for home cooks and families everywhere. Just like any new appliance, it can take some getting used to.

However, with a little patience and practice, youll be an Instant Pot pro in no time at all! This book has 127 light and healthy recipes to help you get started with a healthier lifestyle, or to help you to continue to cook light and healthy recipes for yourself and your family. What makes these recipes light and healthy? Well, it depends on your definition of healthy. Some people are choosing a low-carb lifestyle; some are choosing to focus on whole grains, some are focusing on low-fat, low-sodium or low-sugar diets; and some are looking for gluten-free recipes. No matter what you deem healthy, you are sure to find what youre looking for in this book. Please feel free to use margarine instead of butter, coconut oil instead of olive oil, gluten-free flour instead of regular flour, nondairy milk instead of milk, etc. Make the changes you need to the recipes to suit your healthful choices.

Ive said it before, and Ill say it a million more times: make recipes work for you and your family. If you dont care for an ingredient, omit if possible, or swap it out for something else you do enjoy. Each recipe in this book contains seven main ingredients or fewer. In a section labeled Light and Healthy Pantry Staples below, you will find a list of staple ingredients you will always want to have plenty of on hand for the recipes in this book. The items on this list are not included in the seven-ingredient recipe count. Dont worry, these are mainly spices, rice, oil and a few baking staples.

Everything else you need for each recipe will be listed in a handy grocery list on each recipe page. So, dust off that Instant Pot, pull it out of the box, or grab one at the store and get cooking! What Is an Instant Pot? In short, an Instant Pot is a digital pressure cooker that also has multiple other functions. Not only can it be used as a pressure cooker, but depending on which model Instant Pot you have, you can set it to do things like saut, steam, and slow cook. You can cook rice, grains, porridge, soup/stew, beans/chili, meat, poultry, cake, eggs, and yogurt. Because the Instant Pot has so many functions, it takes away the need for multiple appliances on your counter and lets you use fewer pots and pans. Getting Started with Your Instant Pot Get to Know Your Instant Pot The very first thing most Instant Pot owners do is called the water test.

It helps you get to know your Instant Pot a bit and might even take a bit of your apprehension away. Step 1: Plug in your Instant Pot. This may seem obvious to some, but when were nervous about using a new appliance, sometimes we forget things like this. Step 2: Make sure the inner pot is inserted in the cooker. You should never attempt to cook anything in your device without the inner pot, or you will ruin your Instant Pot. Food should never come into contact with the actual housing unit.

Step 3: The inner pot has lines for each cup (how convenient, right?!). Fill the inner pot with water until it reaches the 3-cup line. Step 4: Check the sealing ring to be sure its secure and in place. You should not be able to move it around. If its not in place properly, you may experience issues with the pot letting out a lot of steam while cooking, or not coming to pressure. Step 5: Seal the lid.

There is an arrow on the lid between and open and close. There is also an arrow on the top of the base of the Instant Pot between a picture of a locked lock and an unlocked lock. Line those arrows up, then turn the lid toward the picture of the lock (left). You will hear a noise that will indicate the lid is locked. If you do not hear a noise, its not locked. Try it again.

Step 6: Always check to see if the steam valve on top of the lid is turned to sealing. If its not on sealing and is on venting, it will not be able to come to pressure. Step 7: Press the Steam button and use the +/- arrow to set it to 2 minutes. Once its at the desired time, you dont need to press anything else. In a few seconds, the Instant Pot will begin all on its own. For those of us with digital slow cookers, we have a tendency to look for the start button, but there isnt one on the Instant Pot.

Step 8: Now you wait for the magic to happen! The cooking will begin once the device comes to pressure. This can take anywhere from 5 to 30 minutes, in my experience. Then, you will see the countdown happen (from the time you set it at). After that, the Instant Pot will beep, which means your meal is done! Step 9: Your Instant Pot will now automatically switch to warm and begin a count of how many minutes its been on warm. The next part is where you either wait for the NPR, or natural pressure release (the pressure releases all on its own) or you do whats called a QR, or quick release (you manually release the pressure). Which method you choose depends on what youre cooking, but in this case, you can choose either since its just water.

For NPR, you will wait for the lever to move all the way back over to venting and watch the pinion (float valve) next to the lever. It will be flush with the lid when at full pressure and will drop when the pressure is done releasing. If you choose QR, be very careful not to have your hands over the vent, as the steam is very hot and you can burn yourself. The Three Most Important Buttons You Need to Know About You will find the majority of recipes will use the following three buttons: Manual/Pressure Cook: Some older models tend to say Manual, and the newer models seem to say Pressure Cook. They mean the same thing. From here, you use the +/- button to change the cook time.

After several seconds, the Instant Pot will begin its process. The exact name of this button will vary depending on your model of Instant Pot. Saut: Many recipes will have you saut vegetables or brown meat before beginning the pressure cooking process. For this setting, you will not use the lid of the Instant Pot. Keep Warm/Cancel: This may just be the most important button on the Instant Pot. When you forget to use the +/- buttons to change the time for a recipe, or you press a wrong button, you can hit keep warm/cancel and it will turn your Instant Pot off for you.