“You will love how much time and money you will save with these easy and delicious recipes.” – Stacy & Matt declared on the back cover of Affordable Paleo Cooking with Your Instant Pot
squee it’s a photo from our kitchen, after a year of waiting! See more on Instagram.
We have a secret: we chat at dinner time. At least 2 times a week we use the quick-cooking device, our beloved Instant Pot. From steaming broccoli and making stew to thawing huge chunks of meat from frozen and everything in between. In fact, we use it so much we have two. And extra bowls. I’m not lying. We use it more than our microwave!
Problem is, we’re not very inventive with our Instant Pot. We are comfortable knowing how to do a few things. We make a mean broth, but our creativity nearly stops there. Which is why we LOVED Jennifer Robins first IP cookbook, Paleo Cooking with Your Instant Pot.
We had a mind-blowing realization learning what we could make! While that book was incredibly popular and beloved (still a top 10 bestseller and only $12, btw) it had a number of ingredients we don’t always have on hand and often used multi-step techniques than our simple minds often wanted to handle. Which is why we were SO excited when Jen shared she was working on another book, the Affordable Paleo Cooking with Your Instant Pot cookbook!
Earlier this year we actually tested a few recipes, including the above – Hamburger Soup. Familiar with so many food restrictions, Jen has a ton of options for people on a variety of elimination diets – from Autoimmune Paleo to 21 Day Sugar Detox and even Keto – there is something for everyone. I had an easy time finding quite a few I wanted to try!
Best of all: the recipes are not only simple and easy to follow, but the ingredients are ones that are found in almost all kitchens everywhere! Jen focused on recipes that use staple ingredients – no fancy flours or sweeteners. Just squeaky clean, veggie-packed, nutrient-rich whole food meals the whole family will enjoy. Especially because clean-up in a breeze!
Take for example, these Egg Roll Meatballs with sauce that comes together simply through the cooking process. Wha?! With staple veggies and ground pork – our favorite money saving meat – these come together perfectly in a pinch. We served these over sauteed (or roasted if you have a functioning oven) strips of cabbage and it was SOGOOOOOOD.
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground pork
- 1 cup shredded carrots
- ½ onion, minced
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- ½ tsp ground ginger
- ½ tsp white pepper (omit for AIP)
- 2 Tbsp gelatin (grass-fed preferred, not collagen)
- 1/3 C olive or avocado oil
- ¼ C coconut aminos
- ¾ C beef broth
Instructions
- Begin by mixing the pork, carrots, onion, onion powder, garlic powder, ground ginger and white pepper in a mixing bowl. Use your hands to mix the ingredients and then sprinkle the gelatin throughout the mixture, making sure to distribute it evenly or it will clump.
- Now drizzle your cooking oil into the Instant Pot bowl and press the Saute button. While the oil heats, form 1-2” meatballs with your meat mixture and then gently place them into the hot oil. You’ll saute them on all sides until they begin to brown. Shift them regularly or they may stick.
- Once your meatballs are browned, press the Keep Warm/Cancel button and then pour in the broth and coconut aminos. Secure the lid and press the Pressure Cook/Manual button. Now use the +/- buttons to adjust the time until 5 minutes is displayed.
- Allow the cooking cycle to complete and then quick release the pressure valve and remove the lid once safe to do so. Use a slotted spoon or skimmer to remove the meatballs and set them aside. What’s left in the Instant Pot is your sauce. You’ll want to use an immersion blender to give it a quick once over so that any bits left behind from the meatballs get blended into the sauce.
- Note: some of the gelatin sneaks out of the meatballs during cooking and helps create the thickness of the sauce. This also means that it will congeal and harden as it cools. You’ll want to serve it warmed or if making ahead, you’ll need to reheat the congealed sauce.
We’ve also made and loved the Cilantro Lime Shrimp Scampi & Spaghetti Squash (seriously better than I thought could be made in an IP), the internet-famous Chicken Yum Yum (we subbed our Fauxmato Sauce and it worked perfectly), and my favorite of all the recipes we tried: Sausage & Spinach Soup – what can I say, I’m a sucker for softly wilted spinach in a soup.
On my list of things to try? Golden Milk Breakfast Custard, Southern Sausage & Cabbage (Jen KNOWS her Southern food!), Seedy Sloppy Joes (with our Fauxmato Sauce), Crab Stuffed Mushrooms, Crispy Ghee-licious Smashed Potatoes, and the Garlic-Infused Ghee. GHEE. Made yourself. In the Instant Pot! This seems like an awesome time and money saving idea!
If you loved this recipe or are as excited as I am about this book, go get it! Affordable Paleo Cooking with Your Instant Pot released today and is under $15!
