Friday, January 6, 2017

Instant Pot Adventures - Beans

I finally got around to cooking beans, from soaked dried beans, in the Instant Pot this week. This is funny since we try to eat three servings of beans a day. Why three?

I've been a fan of Dr. Greger's for years and always looked forward to his annual DVDs filled with new nutrition information. You can imagine how happy I was when Dr. Greger started his free website with daily short videos on various health topics related to nutrition. Last year he wrote the first book I ever felt the need to buy in electronic form so I can read it anytime on my phone, How Not to Die. I also added the daily dozen app to my phone as soon as I could and I use this checklist almost every day.

 You can read about six of the foods he recommends to eat daily, here.

Beans weren't the first things I tried in the Instant Pot since I wasn't super happy with beans cooked in our stove top pressure cooker. I like cooking beans on the stove the "normal" way in big open pot, but I have had an issue more than once where the water cooked off or the beans boiled over. Both situations are not fun and one time we even had to throw out a pot and leave the house for a few hours. Not fun, not environmentally friendly, and not something I have to worry about anymore because I loved the beans from the Instant Pot!
Four bean chili topped with guacamole and a sourdough toast point.
I made red beans first and they came out really well cooked, which makes me think we weren't cooking them long enough in our stove top pressure cooker. While I was cooking a batch of chickpeas in the Instant Pot, I threw together some chili for lunch on the stove with three other types of beans, diced red onion, diced tomatoes, cashews, corn, turmeric, black pepper, chili powder, chipotle powder, and some leftover ghost pepper salsa.
I added the chickpeas to a risotto I made last night. I love having beans on hand to throw into everything or just eat on their own. I've been lazy lately and using canned beans, but I'm back in the soaking habit and with the Instant Pot I see a lot more homemade beans in our future.
Anyone else out there following the daily dozen? Share your favorite recipes or just fun ways you've found to meet daily goals.

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