I always buy a lot on Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday. I do it all online. Mostly, I try to take care of stuff that’s been dangling out there for a while and it’s a good enough reason to get the thing for a discount.
Last year I bought an Instant Pot on Black Friday along with half of the country. I loved that thing so much that I bought the 8 quart Instant Pot on Prime day. I gave my mom the 6 quart, so that’s how I shared the love. People ask me my favorite thing to make it in it. It’s a toss-up between hardboiled eggs (ramen style with soft yolks) and this butternut squash soup. The soup takes 5 minutes to assemble and then after coming to pressure, it’s 10 minutes in the Instant Pot.
Butternut Squash Soup – Easy Instant Pot Recipe
Butternut Squash Soup in 10 Minutes
Here’s the recipe, mom’s style (as in no measurements, and totally arbitrary amounts):
One large bag of precut butternut squash from Trader Joe’s. Chop a small onion, a cluster of celery, sauté onions and celery in butter. Use a goodly amount of butter. Don’t know how much that is? Add more to be safe!
Add a small bag of baby carrots and the butternut squash, grate fresh ginger over it, add pink Himalayan salt to taste and a carton of your choice of stock (I prefer chicken stock).
Set instant pot for “soup” and walk away. When the instant pot is done, use an immersion blender. Served topped with cracked pepper. Sometimes I add toasted pumpkin seeds on top or a dash of plain yogurt. Also a good way to get your vegetables in during the holiday season!
If you don’t have an immersion blender, this is a much harder soup to make. I bought my immersion blender years ago for $25, (I have an earlier version of this one) and it’s seriously useful since I make this soup all winter long, every winter.
If you want to make a delicious pork roast to go with this, then you absolutely need this cookbook – How To Instant Pot. I bought it for my officemate to demystify the Instant Pot experience. If you are new to pressure cookers, or are familiar to pressure cookers but are just new to cooking in the IP, this is your handbook. There are a million IP cookbooks out there, and it can be overwhelming. I consider this one the true beginner IP book. Enjoy!
#Adulting
Mostly, I bought writer stuff. My favorite thing was the Master Class BOGO. I bought an all-access pass and got one to give as a gift to my co-author, Ken Bebelle. Ken said that Facebook keeps serving him ads of the Thomas Keller Master Class when he is hungry. My family members are huge Golden State Warriors fans so I’m definitely watching the Steph Curry one with the kids! But for the reader and writer, having classes from James Patterson, Neil Gaiman, Dan Brown, Shonda Rimes, Judy Blume, and RL Stine at your fingertips is just a steal for that price! So far, the James Patterson lessons have been amazing. He has charisma and intensity when he speaks. I’m riveted by his lectures. The lecture series are all short, and I watch them at 1.3x speed. The classes then have worksheets for download and a forum for discussion. What a fantastic resource.
In the shopping for others category, I bought pajamas and headphones and stuff for the local teen shelter. I made my annual donations to the animal shelter and the local community services organization who help seniors, vets, and families in need in my backyard.
Then I bought dull things like webhosting services and wordpress themes. I know, right?
To top it off, the thing I bought for myself was a Dyson v10 vacuum. It cost a fortune but vacuuming is such a chore and good tools do make the difference. And, it was $200 off, plus I used the Ebates 10% discount. Do I know how to splurge or what?
The Things I Didn’t Buy
I didn’t get toys for the kids. I bought them a basketball camp instead since I’m trying to do more experiential gifts. I didn’t get a Nintendo Switch like I had been thinking about because I figured in the end, it would collect dust the way our xBox did. Also, I did not get a Roomba, even though I could use one for use to deal with the puppy shedding like crazy right now. But I’m staying strong on the experience front. More of our budget has gone towards taking trips as a family and doing more activities together like sporting events.
Here’s to making memories instead of accumulating stuff.
Holiday Spirit