Easy Ricotta Cheese

A big conundrum in my house is how to get through a gallon of milk every week.  Some weeks we finish the whole thing no issues.  We live 45 minutes outside of town, and I carpool to work so smaller quantities don't often work for us. I was on the hunt for something to do with milk that is just past it's expiry.  I had dabbled in making mozzarella cheese a few times, but it is honestly a lot of work, so I save that for times when I am really feeling ambitious. 

I found a super easy recipe for Ricotta Cheese which looked quick, and I had all of the ingredients in house.  I tried it with a 1/2 gallon of milk and it turned out really well. 

Ingredients

1 L of Milk (a couple of days after expiry is fine)
1 TBSP White Vinegar
1 tsp Salt

• Over medium heat, pour milk and salt into a large dutch oven size pot like this one from Amazon.
• Heat until it reaches 160 degrees.  I use a candy thermometer.  I actually just purchased this one from Amazon.  
• Once it reaches temperature, pour in the vinegar and stir for about 30 seconds.  You will notice the curds start to come away from the whey.

•  Move pot to the counter (on a heat proof trivet like this) and let sit for 5 minutes, untouched.
• Find a container that will be big enough to hold a cup or so of cheese.  I find that tall yogurt containers work well, but for this round I used a plastic measuring cup like this one.
• Cut a piece of cheesecloth about a foot square, doubled over.  Cheesecloth can be found at any dollar store.

• You will need either a large elastic or some clothes pins to secure the cheese cloth to the container.  I bought a pack of clothes pins and I keep some of them in my kitchen.

• The curds will now be separated fully from the whey.  

• With a slotted spoon, carefully spoon the curds into the cheese cloth.  You will notice that the whey starts running through the cheesecloth right away.  You may have to adjust the cloth so that it is tighter if the curds are sittin in the whey.  You can also just pour some of the whey off.

• You will be able to see the texture of the Ricotta form within a couple of minutes of letting it drain.  After about an hour, all of the whey should be drained, and you should have nice soft Ricotta.

• You can store the Ricotta in the fridge for about a week.  I use sour cream or smaller yogurt containers for storage and just write Ricotta on it.  
• If you won't use within the week, freeze it for the next time you are making lasagna, or something else that calls for a soft cheese.
• Don't throw that whey away (haha).  I strain it through a tightly weaved strainer and then freeze the whey to use in pancakes, muffins, and anything that calls for buttermilk.  The dog also loves it.
• PS you can quadruple the recipe for a gallon!

Give this a try, it is super easy and a great way to use up left over milk!

The Kitchen Tools I Can't Live Without

There are some things I just can't live without in my kitchen.  One of those things is my knife block. When my husband and I first started dating, he had asked me what I wanted for Christmas.  We were only going together for 3 months.  I told him that I wanted a good knife for the kitchen.  Apparently he was really trying to impress me because he bought me a whole set of J.A. Henckel Knives...a professional quality set.  I was thrilled!  That set of knives is now 15 years old.  Funny story, the next Christmas he bought me the meat cleaver to go with that set, and then the Christmas after he bought me an electric knife.  He always jokes that he must trust me, otherwise he wouldn't have bought me so many knives.

After being heavily used for 15 years, the knives have developed some issues, one has cracked in half, and three of them have a rattle in the handle.  They have to go in for warranty for 6-8 weeks and I am so sad!  They are like extensions of my hands when I am in the kitchen.  I bought a cheapy knife set (for $15 on Boxing Day) to hopefully get me through.  This got me thinking about what else in my kitchen that I can't live without.

Obviously my knives.  The set I have are not made anymore, but this one is of similar quality.  The imperative thing with knives is to keep them sharp.  I let my husband do this because, well, I am clumsy and am afraid I will slice my hand off. I am a big fan of J.A. Henckels knives.  They are easy to work with, fit nicely in my hand, and are not super heavy.

The next thing on my list of must haves is a stand mixer.  I have been through two in my adult life, one being a regular Kitchen Aid which was gifted to me by my husband's family.  It lasted me a good 5 years before it had to be replaced, mostly due to the fact that I wanted a more powerful one.  I gifted it to a friend of mine.  I am pretty sure it is still going, 15 years later.

The 6-Qt KitchenAid was the next, which is what I currently use in my kitchen.  I bought it when it was on sale at Costco for around $300.  The unit actually ended up having a warranty issue, and KitchenAid sent me a new one. That one is still going today.  I can't even recall all of the things I have used this for baking and cooking, but it is a must have for anyone who mixes a lot.

The next must have is a good set of measuring cups and measuring spoons.  I must admin, I don't have enough of either.  I have 1 and a half sets of each (from things going missing).  So if anyone needs a gift idea....just kidding.  I prefer metal cups and spoons for dry stuff, and glass for liquids (with the exception of my Pampered Chef Measuring thingy).  I love that metal and glass wash up so well.  I find plastic ones end up getting stained and kind of gunky from our hard water.

The measuring cups and spoons that I have are very similar to these ones.  I am pretty sure I bought mine from a direct sales company about 15 years ago.

I love the glass measuring cups from Pyrex or Anchor Hocking.  You can often find these at Canadian Tire when they have kitchen deals for a really great price.

Another thing that I use religiously are these pinch bowls.  My little brother bought them for me for Christmas one year and I have since bought a second set.  They are also a measuring cup.  I love that you can pinch and pour from them.  I use these in a lot of my prep.

Last item for today's list is a great cutting board.  I have gone through so many cutting boards that I can't even remember all the ones I have had.  My favorite ones have the little ridge around them to catch any juices, and grips on the bottom.  These ones are very very similar to the ones I had that were my favorite.  That reminds me I need to get another package.

Thanks for reading this week's favorite things list!  I will be back in two weeks for another list!

Jen

These are a few of my favorite things: Baking Home Made Bread Edition

If you know me at all, you know that I love Baking!  I would spend all day in the kitchen if I didn't have a job to go to.  Cleaning the kitchen on the other hand is not my favorite. Thank goodness for the dishwasher.  As promised, I am going to try and write a weekly favorite product post for kitchen items.  They may not be the exact items that I use, but they are super similar.

Today I spent most of the afternoon in the kitchen making a batch of Newfoundland Molasses Raisin Bread.  The recipe I used can be found here: Molasses Raisin Bread.  My Mom used to make a very similar Raisin Bread when we were all at home.  Her recipe makes way more than one person can eat, so I went searching for a smaller recipe.  This one turns out great every time.  Makes about 4 loaves.  The 12 cups of flour were a bit too much for my Kitchen Aid, so I decided to do it by hand!

When making Raisin Bread, here are some of the kitchen tools that I used that I love and a bit about why I love them. I love using glass bread pans. In my opinion the bread comes out easier from them, and they are easier to clean. I had to throw out my metal ones because they kept getting water under the little lip which made them rusty. I really like Anchor Hocking ones like these ones. Canadian Tire sometimes has a great price on them.


 

I also recently purchased a Dutch Oven which is really great for baking round loaves of bread.  I purchased mine at Superstore over the Christmas season when they were on sale, but this one looks almost the same, and around the same price retail.



I love mixing my dough in a Thatsa Bowl from Tupperware. The 32 cup one works really well for a large batch of dough. Check out your local Tupperware dealer for one. You won't be disappointed.

 

When mixing dough by hand, I love using my Spurtle. It makes it so easy to mix the wet and dry together. You may be asking yourself, what is a Spurtle. A Spurtle is a Scottish Oatmeal Stirring Utensil. It is a wooden dowel which is shaped at each end. It makes stirring pretty much everything easier. I am in love with mine.

 

 If you are not into mixing dough by hand, you could mix it up in a KitchenAid mixer. You would need to be careful the flour doesn't fly all over the place. Use the dough hook and keep an eye on the dough coming up the hook. You may have to manually push it down a couple of times (make sure you turn if off before you do this...I shouldn't have to tell folks not to stick their hands in the mixer...but you never know).

 

That is all she wrote for now! Thanks for reading and I hope you liked my recommendations!

 Happy Baking Jen

A Turtle Crossing the Highway in the Desert

My daily commute to work is a wild one some days.  It sometimes makes me think of the song "Over the river and through the woods" but it's more like "Over the mountain and around the lake, did I really see that, or was it a mistake?"  There is never a dull moment on this commute, and I have seen some things that I never imagined I would see on a drive to work.

The ride is a 45 minute drive on the Trans Canada (Hwy 1) from my little town to the sprawling metropolis of Kamloops.  It starts off with right-hand turn onto a dead straight stretch which is great for acceleration but quickly turns into the windy Deadman Creek area, or "Deadman's" as the locals say.  This is the first of four "sketchy" areas of the drive.  We have seen many vehicle incidents in this area, most notably a transport truck with a massive industrial unit, who clearly misjudged the turn and ended up on the opposite side of the road, tipped over onto its side.  It took a couple of massive cranes and a couple of days of work to get it out of there.  That was surely a million dollar oops.

After getting down "Deadmans" the road straightens and has an immediate passing lane, which is long enough to blow past the slow semi's who are gradually regaining speed after creeping down the hill.  This route often has semi's along the way, but in the Winter months, you are bound to see a tenfold increase.  See this route is the alternate route to the Coquihalla Highway, or as some of you may know it, the "Highway thought Hell" as it is aptly named from the show bearing the same name.  The "Coq" is closed it seems more often than it is open in the winter.  When it is closed, my daily commute has all of the "Coq" traffic.

The drive quickly goes through the town of Savona, a beautiful little town along Kamloops Lake.  The rest of the drive winds around the lake, which provides daily spectacular sunrises and sunsets.  

After Savona is the worst part of the ride, heading up "Size Mile Hill" which is I am assuming 6 miles long.  This "hill" is what I consider "the mountain" as I am sure it qualifies as a mountain pass.  It is extremely windy, very tight in some areas, has passing lanes in some areas, and still makes me squeamish some days.  This part of the drive requires laser focus.  One moment of distraction could see you down an embankment or in a head-on collision. We have seen quite a few bad accidents in this area over the last couple of years.  I still drive well under the speed limit during the winter months on this stretch because I'd rather be alive on the other side of the mountain.

One of the funniest things I have seen on my commute was on "the mountain." One day I was driving along, almost to the mountaintop, and I see what looks like a weird looking flat, round rock on the opposite side of the road.  As I come up closer, it looked like it had moved closer to the yellow line.  Dumbfounded, I tried to look a bit closer as I drove past as I knew I wouldn't be able to turn around and go back.  All I could think was "Is that a turtle?  We're like 800 ft up from the lake, and this is the desert...why on God's dusty dry earth is there a turtle in the middle of the desert?"  All the way to work I was doubting myself.  There couldn't have been a turtle crossing the highway in the desert.  I was telling one of the new co-workers about the incident.  She lived in the Kamloops area for years and confirmed that there are actually turtles in the wild.  I sure didn't think I would ever witness that on my commute to work.

The top of "Six Mile" is a beautiful rest stop that is a great place to stop and snap a picture of beautiful sunsets and sunrises.  It's also an area you need to watch out for Rattle Snakes.  Yes, you head that right, Rattle Snakes.  This area is pretty rocky and hot, which these snakes love.  There are signs there warning that there have been Rattlers spotted in this area, so heed the warning.

The downward slope of "the mountain" has spectacular views of Kamloops Lake, and is home to Tobiano, which is a luxury golf course/housing community.  It is supposedly one of the best golf courses in BC. It also has a marina, which is popular with boaters in the area.

You then come into the Cherry Creek area, which is a similar type community to mine, an acreage/hobby farm community.  This stretch of road is known for deer getting hit on the road.  I have had to call in more than my fair share of calls to the cops to assist animals on the road that were hit but still alive.  There is a couple of times a year, which the morning commute happens at the same time as the "deer witching hour" as I like to call it.  It's when the drive starts in the dark at my house and is just getting bright by the time you are coasting down "the mountain."  It only lasts about a week, but it's not uncommon to see 4 or 5 deer being hit on the highway.  I have the local RCMP number in my phone so I can make a quick hands free call if needed.

The drive through Cherry Creek is actually a good 1/4 of the drive.  There is a beautiful horse boarding facility, and we often admire the horses and their shenanigans.  One morning I was driving through, as I was coming into Cherry Creek I sadly saw an adult and baby raccoon who had been hit on the road, which actually got to me and made me sad.  A few minutes later I was driving past the horse facility and one of the horses was standing next to the fence, resting his head on one of the fence posts.  This immediately made me bust out laughing and think of this meme.

One morning, just a little further down from the horse facility, there was a tour bus that had crashed overnight.  Turns out it was Jason Aldene's tour bus, which had an accident after their concert in Kamloops.  Luckily noone was hurt in this accident.

One day in the spring of 2017, I was driving through Cherry Creek and was shock at what I saw.  The day before we had noticed some flooding in some of the farmers fields in the area.  We hadn't thought much about it.  This one day, as I was driving towards one of the local roads in the area, I noticed that the water from the creek was overflowing its banks.  Turned out to be one of the worst flooding situations in a nightmarish spring.  Roads washed out, bridges washed out, and it was a true disaster for the people in this area.  Cache Creek, the town to the west of our house, also had massive flooding and sadly lost their beloved Fire Cheif in rushing flood waters.  Mother nature sure was not happy in 2017.

Just a bit further down the road, one morning I came upon a broken down donut truck who looked like he was on his way to a carnival or food festival.  I pondered whether the driver could whip me up a batch of donuts in exchange for a ride to town.  Although I love Donuts, I have also been schooled in "stranger danger" and decided not to stop, he looked like he was on the phone calling for assistance.  Now I want Donuts.

After winding through the last curvy area in Cherry Creek, it is smooth sailing into Kamloops.  As much as the commute along Highway 1 sounds terrifying, the sketchiest part of the ride in the winter is usually in Kamloops.  Once you make the turn onto Highway 5, which is actually the end of the 120km/hr Coqihalla, it's a bit of a "dodge the slowing down trucks" game.  Luckily the merge onto the highway is it's own lane, so most days the trucks are just blowing by you on the one side and not coming up behind you in the same lane.  

For a city that is in the middle of many mountainous areas, and has been getting "good old Canadian Winters" I am sure since before snow clearing equipment has been around, Kamloops has some seriously awful winter driving conditions.  Everyone always asks about my commute during winter conditions. Most of the time the highway is relatively clear, but once I get into Kamloops, it's like "ice road truckers" on actual roads.  The roads are so slippery.  I almost slid through a turning lane right into a car at the top of the lane one morning.  I could see the ice from about 150 feet away, but there was no avoiding it.  You could see about 10 other vehicles tracks who weren't so lucky and had to steer their cars into the side of the road into the snow banks.  

One of the biggest complaints I have about the commute is that BC seems to put gravel mixed with sand on the roads for traction, well not quite as big as regular gravel, but damn those rocks can cause some damage to windshields. Thank goodness most insurance policies here cover windshields.  I have to replace mine probably twice a year.  With a 60km each way ride to work and back home, I get hit by a flying piece of gravel probably once a week.  My windshield has more cracks than a plumber convention (sorry if that offended any plumbers).

I am sure the next many many years of making this commute will have many more interesting things to see.  Truth be told, the commute does get easier as time goes by.  It is a good wind down after a hard day at work because you have to shut your brain off and concentrate on the road.  Thinking about work on the road will get you into a situation that you may not want.

I hope you enjoyed these stories.  Thanks for reading.

Jen

That time I moved from the North Pole to the Desert

For the last two and a half years, I have been writing this post in my head.  The whirlwind of this time passing has spun me "right round" about 10,000 times.  I decided that it was time to sit down and put it on paper...well metaphorical paper.

It all started in May of 2003 when I jumped on an airplane the day after I graduated from university.  I was headed off to the "North Pole" aka Fort McMurray, Alberta.  I call it the "North Pole" because to be frank...it's freaking cold for 1/2 the year.  The 12 years I spent in Fort McMurray was also a whirlwind.  I secured a great career and worked with some amazing companies.  I met my husband, got married and bought our first house.  We got a dog, made a lot of friends and had a lot of fun.  

Having grown up in British Columbia my husband always dreamed of moving back to the province.  Being from the East Coast, I had never even once thought about living in British Columbia.  My friend who had moved from Fort McMurray to Kamloops BC had given me a line on a job with an amazing company in her town.  I applied for the job and hadn't heard anything for months.  Fast forward to October of 2014, my hubby really injured his back, and we weren't sure what the future held.  The day after he was taken by ambulance to the hospital for a 9-day stay, I got a call from said company, asking me to interview for the job.  I ended up turning the job down because I just wasn't sure what the future held...and it just wasn't the right time.

About 6 months later, the job was coming around the second time.  My husband was feeling much better and encouraged me to apply for the job again.  We had one dilemma though, we needed to find somewhere to live. We searched and searched for the perfect property.  We had initially been looking at older properties which needed a bunch of work.  We miraculously came across a property listing that had everything we were looking for, rancher house with a big kitchen, huge shop and a decent chunk of land.  The only thing that could make this property better would be if it was closer to town.  A 45-minute commute to work would be a challenge, but doable.  We put an offer in on the house on the spot.  I got the job a couple of days later.  In two short months, we would be moving to sunny Savona, BC.

I was scared to death of what was to come.  I was scared of being alone while my husband worked.  I was scared of the drive to work.  What if there was a huge snowfall, what if there was a wildfire while I was at work.  What would I do with the pupper if I was going somewhere?  What would I do if something in the house broke?  What would I do if someone broke into the house in the middle of the night?  The list of fears was endless.  

The last Friday in July, I packed up my office, packed up my Suburban, and the next morning I officially headed out of Fort McMurray.  I thought I would be more emotional when I left.  I said my goodbyes to family and friends during the week, but I can honestly say I didn't shed one tear leaving my house and the place I called home for the last 12 years.

It took me 2 days to get to Savona, with a stop into Calgary on the way down to see my Sister and Brother-in-Law and to break up the drive.  The drive from Calgary to Kamloops is a beauty that time of year.  It was also tire melting hot.  I knew I was getting closer to "home" when I rolled through Kamloops.  I had only been to the property once before with our realtor.  In the 15 minutes we were there I managed to step in a massive cactus patch and had a huge cactus quill shove itself right through my squishy sneaker sole, right into the pad of my foot.  You may be thinking, why would there be cactus in your new yard? Well, the answer to that question is because our new house is in the middle of Canada's desert.  

My new job started the day after I arrived in the new desert home.  The drive to work was a bit intimidating at first, going up and down a windy mountain every day.  Luckily that mountain is part of Highway 1, and it's a bus route so it is kept quite clean.  The first couple of days in my new house I met more neighbours than I had the entire 12 years in Fort McMurray. See, our house is at the back of our property, perched on a gorgeous bench that kind of overlooks a river.  There is another bench about 300 feet below us, which is closer to the river.  There is a "road" aka "dirt path" behind our house that people walk and ride on all the time.  Multiple times a day horses, people, dogs, and other assortments of animals make their way past the back of our house.  We have a beautiful covered deck that is parallel to that train, so I spent a lot of time getting acquainted with the views from the back of the house.  Conveniently it's very close to the trail so I also got to know the neighbours quite quickly.

The first weekend at the house, about 8 women showed up with wine, to welcome me to the neighbourhood.  I had met some of them already, but most were new.  They told me all about the community, including all of the creepy crawlers I had to be wary of.  There were snakes, including rattlers, black widow spiders, coyotes, mice and many other critters.  After the gang of women departed, I started making a list of things I needed to pick up to defend our property.

I headed into Kamloops Canadian Tire the next day armed with a list of things I needed.  I had never been to this Canadian Tire before so I had no idea where to look for the things I needed.  An older gentleman who worked there asked if he could help me.  I handed him a note that said...

The worker may have looked at me like I was an axe murderer that just escaped from the jail up the road.  To make myself feel better, and to prove I wasn't some sort of shovel-wielding killer, I quickly explained that I just moved into a new house in the boonies and I need these things to ward off the critters and pests.  He helped me find the four items and I made my way back to the desert.

About two weeks after moving into the house, my husband was home for the weekend.  We decided that we had to do something about the 6 foot tall weeds in the front yard.  My husband showed me how to turn on and run the John Deer lawn tractor that came with the house.  To be honest, it may have taken him a few times to show me before it stuck in my head.  As I was mowing the "lawn" which is really just weeds and cactus, the wind was picking up quite a bit.  As I was about 3/4 of the way finished mowing through the 6 foot weeds, I wasn't going to stop for a little wind.  Turns out it was actually a lot of wind, and it was kicking up "tumbleweeds" and blowing them around the yard.  One of them hit me square in the side of the face as I was rushing to finish up mowing.  I ran for cover onto our covered deck.  

Much to my disgust, I noticed a small snake slithering between the deck and the siding.  I panicked because I knew if my Husband saw it he would die...or at least faint.  I grabbed the Canadian Tire shovel that I just purchased, and I "relocated" the snake.  I can't say how or where, but let's just say it wasn't in our yard anymore.  I went up to the shop and told my husband and he almost passed out. 

That night when we were just getting ready to go to bed, my husband spots a mouse in the house.  Great, just great.  Another critter that needed to be dealt with. Luckily there were some traps which the previous owners had left.  The next morning the mouse was no longer.

Who knew that the first couple of weeks in our new home would be so eventful.  I never thought I would learn to drive a tractor, deal with a snake, get hit in the face by a tumbleweed and kill a mouse in a 24 hour span.  

Here is to many more adventures in this crazy countryfried life.

Jen

Caramel Chocolate No-Bake Cheesecake

Over the Christmas season, I saved all of the bits and pieces of a couple of batches of shortbread cookie dough and froze them to use in the future.  I also some cream cheese that needed to be used up.  One snowy weekend I decided that I would make a cheesecake.

Out of all of the kitchen tools and gadgets we have, I couldn't for the life of me find a cheesecake spring form pan.  I knew I had one at one point in my life but coupe not locate it when I needed it.  In hindsight, I should have made this cheesecake in a square baking pan.

This recipe is one you may want to make when you are in the kitchen doing other stuff as it has quite a bit of waiting around time.

Shortbread Base

1 cup Butter
1 cup Flour
1/2 cup Icing Sugar
1/2 cup Corn Starch
1 tsp Vanilla

Caramel Layer

1 can Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk
1 tbsp Butter

Cheesecake Layer

2 block Cream Cheese (8oz)
1 cup Powdered Sugar
1/2 cup Whipping Cream
1 tsp Vanilla

Chocolate Ganache
1 bag Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
1 cup Whipping Cream

Shortbread Base:

• Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees. 
• Mix all ingredients in mixer until soft dough forms.
• Spray springform pan with no-stick spray.
• Add 1/2 the shortbread base and pressure into the bottom of the pan forming an even layer.
• Freeze the remaining dough or make some cookies.
• Bake crust at 325 for 25 minutes until slightly brown.

Caramel Layer

• Heat butter and sweetened condensed milk in a pan over medium heat until it turns a slightly brown color.
• Pour over the precooked shortbread base.
• Refrigerate for 1 hour.

Cheesecake Layer

• Mix room temperature cream cheese, whipping cream, powdered sugar in a mixer until smooth.
• Add vanilla.
• Pour over cooled caramel base.
• Smooth out top with a spatula.

  

Chocolate Ganache & Finishing

• Warm whipping cream for three one minute intervals in microwave (or over low heat on the stove)
• Pour chocolate chips into the hot cream.
• Stir until chocolate chips are melted into the cream.
• The mixture should look like warm runny chocolate icing.  
• Let cool for about 10 minutes.
• Stir again.
• The mixture should be a silky smooth pourable icing.
• Pour over cheesecake layer.
• Top should be smooth like a skating rink.
• Refrigerate for 4 hours.

    

This dessert is pretty sweet which is why I think it would be better as a square.  A little goes a long way.

This would be a great addition to a hot cup of coffee.

Jen

Instant Pot Egg Souffle

I love eggs, and I love Starbucks.  Over the weekend I was checking out recipes and I stumbled across a couple of recipes for "Starbucks Sous Vide Eggs" which I had never heard of before.  I have been trying to make my own coffee every morning to avoid paying for coffee.  So far it has worked, I have only been to Starbucks maybe 2 times in December.  Yah for my pocketbook! Boo for my knowledge of new Starbucks menu items.

When you head over to the Starbucks website, the first thing on their site is about their "Sous Vide Eggs" which essentially are like an egg souffle made in a Sous Vide machine.  Sous Vide is a method of cooking the food in a water bath. Food is in a vacuum sealed bag.  It's fancy schmancy and you need a special machine.  I decided to give these a try in my instant pot as many of the recipes had recommended.

Ingredients:
4 Eggs
1 Cup Cheese (I used cheddar/mozza mix)
1/2 Cup Cottage Cheese
1/3 Cup Heavy Cream
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp Pepper
Other Spices (I only used S&P for this round)
4 Slices Pre-Cooked Bacon
Cooking Spray

I thought I would have enough small mason jars to use but I didn't.  The mason jars that didn't have food in them were the 500ml size which has a fluted top which would not allow for the eggs to come out easily.  I found a large silicone muffin tin which I don't really ever use.  I decided that I would cut this pan up to fit into the instant pot.

Mixing the Souffle - Add all ingredients except the bacon into a blender. Mix on high for 25 seconds.  Volume should double.  

Preparing the Instant Pot - Add 1 cup of water to the bottom of the instant pot.  Add in the wire baking rack that comes with the unit.  

Preparing the Muffin Tin - Spray each muffin cup with non-stick spray.  Add a 1/4 of the bacon to each cup.  Set the muffin tin inside of the instant pot on top of the wire rack.  Gently pour the egg mixture into the muffin cups.  This is a bit tricky to do while the tin is inside of the unit, but because of the flexibility of the silicone, it was impossible to pour it in the cups and then getting it into the unit.

Setting the Instant Pot - After checking all of the seals and gauges, put the lid on and turn the pressure gauge to closed.  Use the steam function and set for 7 minutes.  When it is done, let it come down in pressure naturally for 8 minutes.  Mine came down naturally in 6 minutes so I just left it in the pot for another 2 minutes.

Removing the Egg Souflees - I had to use tongs to grab the silicone muffin tin and pulled it out of the pot.  The eggs looked like little eggy muffins.  They were kind of silky like on the top.  I gently removed an egg from the tin.  It was soft but held it's shape.  

I decided to throw a little bit of Dave's Hot Sauce on the plate with my egg souffle.  The souffle was quite tasty.  It was like a really soft omelette.  It was a bit silky, and soft and had a mild cheese flavor.  The bacon was a nice addition.  

Overall I would give this recipe a 4 star.  It was pretty labor intensive for the four little souffle but it is delicious.  Would I pay $5 for one of these at Starbucks?  Probably not.  These would be a good option for a fast food low carb or Keto diet option though.

As always, thanks for reading.

Jen