The Weekly Eatly

3 Recipes, 2 Cooking Tips and 1 Moment of Calm

Happy Friday everyone and, more importantly, happy Halloween!

I tried so very hard today to make my new Instant Pot Mini look a little spooky but no matter what I do, this thing just keeps on looking super cute! There is just something about its jolly, stumpy form that makes me smile. I've never been a fan of small Instant Pots but I must admit I've been really enjoying testing this one. Also dressing it up!

This new mini is bigger than the original mini but smaller than the standard size at 4 quarts 3.8 litres. You can watch Part 1 of my video series here to take a closer look and I hope to finish part 2 (the cooking function tests) this weekend and get that uploaded for you all.

But for now, whether you are taping up blackout material to hide from trick or treaters or happily carving a pumpkin, I wish you a wonderful weekend with plenty of cooking and at least a little calm between the halloween screams.

Oh and I think you know what's coming...guess what this week's recipe theme is?

3 Recipes

🎃 Air Fryer Pumpkin from Sandhya's Kitchen. So quick, so delicious

👻 Pumpkin Soup or mix it up a little with Squash!(YouTube video) This Instant Pot recipe is so easy and if you're off out , just pop on that 'keep warm' button and leave the Pot to keep your soup hot til you're ready to sit and slurp. I make this soup every year but I must admit, it's often with squash not pumpkin. Shhhhh..I don't want to upset the pumpkins.

🎃 The Easiest Instant Pot Risotto for Busy Nights (YouTube video) - another of my regular recipes for butternut squash - and just as good with pumpkin. Once you learn how to make Instant Pot Risotto, you will have it way more often than the 'stand and stir' style. It's incredible and so simple!

2 Cooking Tips

I love croutons with soup. I make them by drizzling some good olive oil over cubes of old bread, adding a bit of rosemary then drying them out in the air fryer. If you want to give them a bit of spooky colour tonight, add a bit of paprika into the mix. 🧛
If you have lots of smaller pumpkins to process, did you know you can make them 'easy peel' with the help of your Instant Pot? For full instructions, check out this post from Feisty Tapas.

1 Moment of Calm

It was time to take the pumpkin out of the pot and eat it. In the final analysis, that was what solved these big problems of life. You could think and think and get nowhere, but you still had to eat your pumpkin. That brought you down to earth. That gave you a reason for going on. Pumpkin.

~ Alexander McCall Smith, The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency

Well that's it for this week. Happy Halloween for those celebrating. With lots of kindness and a pinch of pumpkin spice from me to you,