When I was growing up, food was a major part of my Italian family. I would watch as my grandmother would cook all day and love how rich and flavorful pasta sauce or soups would turn out. This was a very old world way of cooking and it stuck with me well into my adulthood. Fast forward to 2017, I was working two jobs and I was hungry. Let’s face it, I am a millennial and I want anything the instant I think of it. This is both a blessing and a curse when it comes to food, as I keep finding out. The internal struggle is real when it comes to microwaving dinner vs cooking something on the stove for hours or just going out to a restaurant and calling it a day.
Enter a newer kitchen appliance called the Instant Pot. It is basically a high-tech pressure cooker that is appealing to busy, non-cooking millennials and working people alike. I first heard about this from social media, the source of most of my news these days, and Black Friday was right around the corner. I love a good deal as much as I love a good dinner so I ordered one and had it shipped as fast as possible. I couldn’t wait to get this Instant Pot in my hands. I loved that it promised faster cooking time but delivered the quality of old world cooking I was used to from my youth.
When it arrived I was honestly nervous, scared, excited and skeptical all at the same time. It sat in the box for a little bit before I worked up the courage to take it out and plug it in. I decided I wanted homemade chicken noodle soup but I didn’t want to wait all day for it, so I built up the courage to open the box and go grocery shopping. I got home, threw all the ingredients into the pot and set the timer. 40 minutes later, the timer beeped and I opened the pot. I was shocked to find out I had delicious homemade soup in a fraction of the time needed for the traditional way that took all day. It tasted just like the original recipe.
Success was mine. I finally found a shortcut for cooking all my old family recipes without sacrificing any of the flavors that I love. This Instant Pot opened my eyes to how I could reevaluate my life and see how stuck in my ways I really was. One kitchen appliance has allowed me to eat in more and expand my cooking abilities. So what else have I been missing out on because I thought I knew the best way of doing things? What other shortcuts can I be doing to save my valuable time that doesn’t require me to sacrifice quality? I’m not sure, but I am willing to find out and try new things I would have otherwise stayed far away from.
