My Christmas Gift

For this past Christmas hubby asked me what I wanted. I thought and thought about it and decided in between an Instant Pot electric pressure cooker or a TRX workout system (well the cheaper but comparable WOSS system) and a high density foam roller. Hubby had asked me this question before Black Friday rolled up and after much thought I decided on an Instant Pot after hearing rave reviews from a few friends who have one.

We already have a stove top pressure cooker but I'm always afraid to use it for fear of it exploding like how in the movie Radio Flyer. We also have a crockpot which I use a lot, but with getting an Instant Pot I can eliminate both gadgets and just have one to do the same work. Plus it's electronic and all I have to do press a few buttons and it does the magic. 

The first meal I ended up cooking in it was a rack of St Louis baby back ribs and it only took 30 minutes to cook! That is the actual cooking time after the pot has come to pressure. It took maybe about 15-20 minutes for the pot to pressurize, then the actual magic started. 

Since this was my very first thing to make in the IP (I will be using this abbreviation to refer to the Instant Pot frequently) I was nervous as heck and didn't want to screw it up. Especially since my hubby was skeptical in getting it for me. I went to the university of YouTube to find an easy enough recipe to follow and I found this recipe by Great Chow and I had all the ingredients on hand. 

After this was done cooking, it literally did fall off the bone. The meat was so tender and flavorful after I did the BBQ sauce glaze in the oven. The only thing I'd change for next time is to use less apple cider vinegar. Otherwise, this was better than when I make it in the oven. 

Here is the link to Great Chow's website for the recipe. Really easy to follow and delicious. 

https://greatchow.wordpress.com/2015/03/31/bbq-ribs-the-greatest-fall-of-the-bone-braised-baby-back-ribs/

Banana Mochi Bread

This type of banana bread has become s family favorite over the past few years. It's unlike your regular banana bread recipe since it calls for mochiko flour (sweet rice flour) and it turns out a little more dense because it has almost a mochi like consistency with a perfect amount of sweetness. I found this particular recipe a few years ago on Just a Pinch while Googling for a banana bread recipe. This one intrigued me because of the use of mochiko flour. I'm glad I chose it since it's become a favorite of my boys. So much that my oldest asks me to buy bananas with the intention of eating them but secretly doesn't just so I can make banana mochi bread. Depending on my mood I'll make a batch into loaves, in a cake pan, or as muffins. 

Here is the yummy recipe that I hope you'll enjoy!

BANANA MOCHI BREAD

Ingredients:

1 box (16 oz.) mochiko flour 

1 cup Bisquick

4 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

2 cup sugar

1 1/2 cup oil

3 tsp vanilla extract 

5 eggs

3 cups very ripe, mashed bananas

1 cup walnuts or macadamia nuts, chopped. (I omit this everytime since certain little people don't like nuts)

Directions:

Combine first six ingredients in a large mixing bowl.  Separately mix oil and vanilla and add to dry ingredients.  Add eggs and mix together until batter is well blended.  Stir in bananas and nuts.  Pour into 4 greased loaf pans (8 1/2 x 4 1/2 inches).  Let batter sit for about 5 minutes before putting it in the oven.  Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour, do a toothpick test, if it comes out clean, it is done.  Remove from oven onto a wire rack to cool.

*To bake in a 9x13 baking pan, bake for 1 hour.  To bake into muffins, fill muffin tin with cupcake liners, fill tin 3/4 full, and bake for 20 minutes or till brown. Still do a toothpick test to check if it's done. 

Happy New Year 2016!!

Another year has gone by and I always tell myself to keep this blog more active but I don't.  I laugh that the one and only blog post of 2015 was a recipe for kim chee.  

Some good has come out of my dormant blog though. A foodie page on Facebook called Ono Kine Recipes has been sharing a whole bunch of recipes I've posted in past. Mostly it has been the local Hawaiian recipes that have gained exposure on Facebook via Ono Kine Recipes. When a few of my friends contacted me of my blogged recipes being shared, I got excited and started "fan-girling" 😆😊. This was a Facebook page that I was already saving and sharing posts from and now here's my very own blog recipes being shared. It's pretty cool I must say 😉👍🏼. 

On another note regarding everything else going on in my "semi chaotic life". Things have been going well and super busy. Hubby is ever so busy in all things football, big kid is in the second grade and just started taking up Brazillian Jiu-Jitsu, little kid is turning 4 in two weeks and continuing on with speech therapy school, and the fur child is getting old with congestive heart failure and taking a bunch of meds to help prolong his time with us. 

That right there is a HUGE amount of info to delve into since there's been basically LOTS of life info missing from the last time I was actively blogging. So to start off with what I hope is a more active blog this year is my first recipe of 2016 to share in another post which I will post immediately after this post...I promise 😝.  

So here's to a New Year to everyone! We've got 366 days to make the best of it...well 365 now that it's past midnight as of right now for me 😆. Stay tuned for the first recipe 😃.