Instant Pot Hominy Sweet Potato with Brown Rice

This is a pot in pot dish. The vegetable mixture is cooked at the bottom of the instant pot while the brown rice is cooked in another container above it using a trivet. The hominy held its form and texture and compatible with the long cooking time of the brown rice. The sweet potato  thickened the flavorful sauce.  Comforting and easy dish.

Instant Pot Hominy Sweet Potato with Brown Rice

Vegetable Spice Mixture 

1 large tomato
2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp ginger
2 tsp onion powder
2 tsp curry powder
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp coriander powder
1/8 tsp turmeric
1 tsp sweetener
Salt to taste
1 can chickpeas, drained
1 can hominy, drained
2 lbs sweet potatoes, peeled and quartered
1 cup vegetable broth

Rice

1 cup brown rice
1  1/2 cup water
1/4 tsp salt

Place all the ingredients of the vegetable and spice mixture at the bottom of the Instant Pot and mix. 

Put a trivet on top of the mixture.  Place an oven safe six or seven inch dish above it.  Add the brown rice, water and salt to the dish.

Place the vent in sealing position. Cook at higb pressure for 30 minutes.  Naturally release the pressure for ten minutes. Then quick release the pressure by putting the vent in venting position.

You are a big boy now

Dear Luca,

You will be four this Friday.  Many things have happened this past year.  Little things I call Lucaisms. Stuff you say for example that I want written in stone because they are too cute to forget.

When we were talking about what you and Maddie want when you grow up, I noticed Maddie is interested in what your mama does namely be a doctor.  When it was your turn you said you want to be an All Aboard person which I had to figure out what it meant.  It turns out you want to be an engineer like your dad,  You have been watching the show Dinosaur Train where the train engineer says All Aboard during the episodes.

However you got tired of me asking you what you want to do when you grow up and one day when asked you were so annoyed you said emphatically, NOTHING. That was what I get for being annoying.

You love repeating expressions you hear from me.  Of course the OMG word is number one.  But there are words I just realize I must be saying a lot upon hearing them from you.  One day as you were getting to leave, you stopped and said "Actually" like you were thinking of what to say next.  I do say that word a lot.  Another is the phrase, "I could not believe it".  Lately your mama said you went home repeatedly saying "blood pressure", "blood pressure".  You must have heard me say that when I was concerned about it at one point.

You and Maddie are very different.  Whereas Maddie loves me to put on so called Jesus songs or Summer Bible songs upon setting foot in my car, you instead request for no music to be played. Actually you prefer making the music yourself by singing about anything you see around you or things that had happened the day before. I really find it entertaining since you get kind of poetic at times describing the weather and sceneries we pass by.

You still like to ask why incessantly and I have been asking you to figure out the reason yourself at times and I am impressed with your logic. Sometimes you come up with the reason to my own whys.

You sort of enjoy storytelling when we go to the library.  But one time you turned to me and honestly said, "I do not like craft", which is usually how the session ends.  I noticed that to be polite you would do it but so hurriedly.  You are always dying to play with the trains, magnetic squares, legos, the kitchen stuff at the library playroom.

Your parents could not believe how I catered to your obsession with monsters and zombies by borrowing every week, close to Halloween, books on those creatures.  You just kept on requesting for more books that were displayed to take home.

You have learned to push the button to open the automatic doors in the library which you follow with the Open Sesame proclamation.  You love going up the new elevator in the library and push the button to go up.  You feel so grown up.  While there, we visit the art gallery and one time you corrected the identity of the animal in a painting which I  said was a chicken.  You were right, it was an eagle.

You still love cars and trains and also street signs.  The latter is a must when playing with the different bins of toys available in the library.  You find so much joy trying to read the meanings of the signs.

As far as food is concerned, you switched to pb and j or peanut butter and jelly from chicken nuggets. You love the orange juice you get at my house which you don't get at yours since your dad loves to finish jugs of them which your mama does not like to happen.

Finally you started being toilet trained this December and you were moved to the three year olds in day care.  A little late which we thought will never come.  Not quite there yet but lately you have been pretty good.  You were so proud one day you called Maddie over to look at your poop in the toilet.  And just a few weeks ago, you were promoted to the four year olds and now you are bringing home homework.  Yes you are a big boy now.  I am so proud of you.  Happy birthday!

Love,

Lola.

Did I Say That?

For interviews, you are advised to have memorized answers for some questions like how do you see yourself in the next five years or why did you leave your last job.  But I have been caught unprepared for some simple ones.

One such question was asked by the Vice President of Academic Affairs of a small college who ended the interview by asking me what book have I read lately.  What I usually do when I was not prepared what to give for an answer was to go through what transpired in the past week or so in my head. For this question that was what I did and my answer was "I read a cookbook".  I was into cooking and that was the last one I read.  I research recipes of what I like to cook and I go through cookbooks for the best way to prepare them.  I remember her saying, cookbook with a surprise with a bit of a sarcastic tone.  She did not like my answer and I do not think I liked the question then either.

In another interview, I was asked "what are your hobbies?".  Again I went through my past week or two and I answered, "I attend the activities of my children like their soccer and basketball games and programs my husband sings in".  The interviewer was not impressed with my answer and rephrased the question into "what do you do for fun".  For me, my priority in life then and even now is my family and being there at their games or programs meant a lot to me and that filled my time and made me happy. Isn't that what hobbies are for?  To heck with sophisticated answers like I love playing the piano which one of the principal investigators in a research place I used to work at said is a good answer. It will make you look like a people oriented person since such instrument bring people around you.

I have given answers which in retrospect make me appear like I have not much grey matter in my brain or an airhead. Or could it be I reached a point of exhaustion from answering questions from a panel of 6 interviewers.  One such occasion was an interview held in the Philippines for the prestigious Fulbright Scholarship that will afford me a chance to come to the United States to study.  One member of the panel of interviewers asked me what I  would say if somebody asked me to describe the Philippines to somebody who has not been there.  I said it was a beautiful place with plenty of coconut trees and beaches with a beautiful sunset or something close to this.  Oh my.  Thinking back after the interview, that was I get for watching too many beauty pageants.

By the way I did not get any job offers from those interviews but I  have had also job offers from other successful ones but I do not remember what the questions were asked and any answers that are worth remembering or cringing about now.

Instant Pot Sweet and Sour Chicken and Chicken Adobo (Pot in Pot)

      

Sweet and Sour Chicken

Chicken Adobo

Most chicken packages you buy in the grocery come in family sizes or 8 pieces.  When you are down to two in your household, our tendency is to cook a big batch of a certain chicken dish then freeze what we do not finish.  However there have been times when I have not been organized and forget or too lazy to freeze the leftovers or promise to eat the rest but do  not and I end up getting tired of eating the same thing. The result one plastic container of forgotten dish I am sometimes afraid to eat after being in the fridge for two weeks getting ditched.  Instant Pot to the rescue!   I decided to use the pot in pot method and cook one dish, sweet and sour chicken, at the bottom of the pot and the other dish, chicken adobo,  in another container positioned on a trivet above it. 

Instant Pot Sweet and Sour Chicken and Chicken Adobo (Pot in Pot)

Sweet Sour Chicken Ingredients

4-6 pcs chicken thighs
1 cup catsup
1 cup water
1/2 cup vinegar
1/2 cup sugar or sweetener
2 tsp garlic powder
1 tbsp onion flakes
1/2 tsp ginger powder
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 cup crushed pineapple with juice
1 tbsp. cornstarch


Chicken Adobo Ingredients

4-6 pieces chicken thighs
6 tbsp soy sauce
6 tbsp white vinegar
6 cloves whole garlic
2 bay leaves


Directions

1.  Place all the ingredients of the sweet sour chicken EXCEPT the crushed pineapple and cornstarch at the bottom of the instant pot. Place a trivet on top.

2.  Place all the ingredients of the chicken adobo in an oven safe container and position it at the top of a trivet.

3.  Set the valve to the sealing position.  Press Manual/Pressure and cook both dishes at the same time at high pressure for 15 minutes.   Then allow the instant pot to sit for 10 minutes for the pressure to release naturally.  Set the valve in the venting position to quick release the rest of the pressure.

4. Remove the container with the adobo and the trivet.  Add the crushed pineapple and cornstarch to the sweet sour chicken at the bottom of the pot and press the saute button and stir the mixture till the sauce thickens.

Instant Pot Black Beans and Brown Rice (Pot in Pot)

Cooking black beans and rice using the pot in pot method in the instant pot is perfect since they have the same cooking time.  The result is black beans that have body and not mushy texture.  The spices used give the bean dish an addictive flavor.  The beans are definitely several notches above the canned ones.   The brown rice is also well cooked.  Why cook it separately when you can save electricity and time doing it this way.

You can buy a taller trivet but I decided to be resourceful and use a small custard cup to add height to the trivet that comes with your instant pot.  To easily remove the bowl or cake pan with the rice, I used an aluminum sling I made with a 20 inch long piece of foil I folded three times.

Instant Pot Black Beans and Brown Rice (Pot in Pot)

Black Beans

• 1 lb dry black beans
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 bell pepper, diced
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp cumin powder
• 1 tsp coriander powder
• 1 tsp dry oregano leaves
• 1 tbsp. garlic powder
• 1/8 tsp chili powder
• 3 cups water
• 1 tbsp. miso paste

Brown Rice

• 1 cup brown basmati rice
• 1 1/2 cup water

1.  Rinse and drain the dry black beans, discarding stones and dried up beans. 

2.  Add and mix all the bean ingredients except the miso paste in the instant pot.

3.  Place on top of  the bean mixture, an empty small custard cup to add extra height to the trivet. Position the trivet on top of the custard cup.  Center the aluminum sling on the trivet and center on the sling an oven proof six or seven inch bowl or cake pan.  Add the rice and the water to the bowl or pan.

 4.  Position the valve in the sealing position.   Press Manual or Pressure  and cook the beans and the rice at high pressure for 35 minutes.

5.  At the end of the cycle, let the pot sit in order for the pressure to be released naturally for 10 minutes.

6.  Then position the valve in the venting position to quick release the rest of the pressure.

7.  Using the aluminum sling, remove the pan with the rice.

8.  Remove the trivet and the custard cup.

9.  Add the miso paste to the cooked beans.  

10.Serve the beans over rice topped with cilantro or green onions or avocado slices.

Unknow

i am tired of trying to understand
to know the answers to questions in my mind
i am tired of figuring out
if what i just did was right or not
i just want my mind to rest
to decompress in His warm caress
assured He loves me no matter what
as i am. not this. not that.