What NOT To Do with a Pressure Cooker

For Christmas this year, my brother got me a pressure cooker. I'll spare you the brand/make, but it did NOT come with an instruction manual. Normally, manuals are all over the Internet, but my husband and I had no luck finding one.

So, we started making phone calls. The manufacturer transferred us around until they finally admitted there was no online manual. No wonder our searching had returned void!

Long story short, the customer rep authorized a return to the retailer and said the only way we were getting a manual is to get a new pot.

I was excited about the thoughts of having a manual, until I started thinking about what was going to happen to the pot we already had. I had used it once, it had no manual, no packaging left (already trashed it), and no future if it was returned. I just knew the store would trash it after it was returned because who is going to resale a used pressure cooker with no book off the shelf?

So I kept it, determined to learn how to use it. I wanted to be a good steward of what I was given.

Let the trial and error begin.

The Internet has lots of websites devoted to recipes for the pressure cooker, but none of the recipes tend to match my southern home-cooking (and affordable!) style. As I create more recipes I hope to include them on here.

So far, I've managed to make lasagna, meat loaf, pork chops, and a few other things with success. In fact, I have used it nearly every meal since I got it for veggies or meat, and I'm very happy with the progress.

Until tonight...

Tonight I decided to cook rotini. I'm not sure if you can cook pasta in a pressure cooker or not, but I decided to give it a whirl.

Insert one pound of whole wheat rotini, covered in water, lid locked, set on the pre-programmed rice setting (this seemed to be the best match).

It took a while for the pressure to build, and when it did, it auto-defaulted to 15 minutes. Any cook knows that this is TOO LONG for pasta, so I watched the timer until 11 minutes had passed. I hit the stop button and flipped open the pressure valve to quick-release the pressure.

BIG MISTAKE.

Water started shooting out of the cooker all the way up to the top of my cabinets...a good three feet above where it was sitting. I had Brother in my arms so we took a good jump back and threw a rag on to the top but by this point it was too late. Water was pooling on top of the lid, cabinets were dripping, and it just kept coming. I knew this couldn't be good.

By the time it stopped, I knew that I was going to have to spend some extra time flushing the starchy water out of the valve. The starch would definitely be a clogger which would cause some malfunction.

Fast forward 15 minutes when the mess is cleaned up. I have a pot full of rotini cooked right to the point of perfection...plus five minutes. My whole wheat masterpiece turned into a pot of slimy pasta. My supper turned into a pasta bake in the hopes that the oven will dry some of the slime out. Cover it in cheese and nobody will ever know.

Let's throw in a spiritual connection...

How many times do we do things our way only for them to wind up, well, slimy. Recently, I've had a plan for how my life should be going. I had everything planned out just the way I wanted it. Quit job, move away to designated spot, find job, live happily ever after for now.

Funny how God has a way to shut doors. Every door I had opened on my own just got shut. Slimy!

So I spent a few weeks moping about my situation and let my joy dwindle to crying jaunts and bad attitudes. I suffered, my family suffered, and I definitely fell under conviction. I knew that God was working on something else, probably assuredly even better than my plans. God opened my eyes to see that my situation wasn't a bad as I was making it. He has encouraged me to (and work with my analogy here) put some cheese on this and make the best of it.

We never know what is coming tomorrow, whether good, bad, or ugly. But what God does want from us is to make the best of the situation. I have endured many tears and pity parties to come to this conclusion. And I still can't do it on a constant basis. Next trial, I'll probably stare at my slimy mess and wonder where I went wrong, but for now, I've got a pretty awesome cheesy pasta bake to enjoy. Not what I wanted for supper, but I'm excited to have it for now.

So, tune in for some recipes and maybe some more "What not to dos".

I'm praying for God to help you lay some cheese on your gloom.

  Bon appetit!