Instant pot still is my best friend. I seriously rarely use my stove. Instant pot is my number one. Then air fryer and my electric wok.

Before I move on to what’s cooking these days, I need to praise Instant pot and Cuisinart for their service. I had an error with Instant pot before that they sent me a new Instant pot. And recently my Cuisinart air fryer, dunno how what when, one of the knob broke. I emailed the support since I couldn’t find it online to purchase the replacement. Back and forth, long story short, they sent me a whole new set. And all I have to do is return the old one with broken knob to them. Shipping all taken care of. How amazing is that? So glad to chose those 2 brands. Not only the products work really well, they stand behind their brand. And that’s what you want when you buy a product.

Well, Texas weather as you know is up and down the bunny trail. One day could be flip flop in the morning and bundled up later on. So does our meal ☺.

Thanks to Instant pot, it really make it easy to put meal on the table. I have been trying if I can, 1 meal not more than $10. I have been hunting for meat on sale and work my menu around what I can find. Kroger on Wednesday seem to be my best bet to get meat on sale. This is an example. I bought this pork shoulder, bone in but it’s very tiny bone. A whole 4 lbs only for $4.96.

I cooked half yesterday in Instant pot. Adding a can of pineapple tidbits, red pepper, onion and garlic. Sautee in Instant pot, then pour the sauce mixture of the pineapple juice, low sodium soy sauce, brown sugar, salt and pepper. Serve with steamed jasmine rice. The pork cooked in Instant pot for 15 minutes. Here is the Hawaiian pork.

Less than $10. Does it look like a cheap meal? I think not.

My second meal using part of the pork was today. I was talking to one of my friend and did not realize it was 5 pm already. A little panic hit me. Ran to the kitchen, open my fridge and found that piece of pork. I have carrots, green onion, shallot, garlic and a canned of red kidney beans. Toss them all in Instant pot, add water, salt, pepper, nutmeg and a little fish sauce. Turn on high pressure for 20 minutes. Cook rice in rice cooker and I went back to work. 30 minutes later, dinner is served.

Pork soup with red bean. It was perfect for this cold weather.

And that’s our dinner. Thanks to Instant pot and Kroger sale. I am able to keep my meal on my tight budget without looking so sad.

It is a challenge I appreciate very much. Be creative in the kitchen.

The other day, I put my Instant pot to rest. I actually used my stove and oven. The mission was to use whatever I have in the pantry, fridge, freezer.

I had 2 russet potatoes that I had steamed in Instant pot for Christmas lunch and ended up not use them all. And I have some baby spinach that screaming to be use asap. Mushroom and leftover stuffed mushrooms filling. We love the scalloped potatoes and creamed spinach I made on Christmas day. So for our quick meal I decided to make both dishes with adding some sliced baby bella mushrooms and turn it into 1 pan meal. For the protein we add some chicken breast. Stuffed mushroom for the appetizer.

For dessert I have tiramisu. Clearly we did not like it 😁.

I made some for my sweet neighbor. It was her birthday on Sunday.

Talk about dessert, and my mission of using what I have on hand, I was going to make apple cake but who knew, I don’t have egg left. 😂 Hard to believe. I ran out of egg. What’s for dessert my son asked. I looked around and saw some granny smith apples. Some flour butter sugar later, Apple crisp was our dessert that night. With whipped cream on top and sprinkle with a little cinnamon. Who needs egg? 😋

That whole pan, gone at once. Both my husband and son gobbled them up.

It was a pretty simple dessert. I don’t measure my ingredients anymore. 3 granny smith apples, peeled, cored, sliced, toss with lemon juice, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and clove plus cornstarch. That’s what I use for my apple pie, tart etc.

For this apple crisp, I just pour the mixture into lightly buttered pyrex, put 1 tablespoon dotted butter scattered around. And topped them with the crisp factor. A mixture of 1 stick of butter with 1/2 cup flour and 1/4 cup sugar, mix with pastry cutter until crumbly. Baked in preheated 350° oven for about 40 minutes just until bubbly and golden brown.

Serves them warm with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

What’s cooking they ask… 😁.