331: How to cook lighter with an Instant Pot – with Jeffrey Eisner [EXTENDED VERSION – REPLAY]

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Let’s talk about cooking, more specifically, let’s simplify how to cook lighter with your Instant Pot! It’s happened, I too have jumped on the bandwagon of cooking with an Instant Pot… and can I say, I LOVE IT. It makes batch cooking a cinch and the versatility of what you can make, my goodness, I feel like I’m just scratching the surface!

My special guest today is celebrity cookbook author, Jeffrey Eisner and he’s simplifying how to cook lighter with an Instant Pot. While yes, you could make super gooey, creamy and decadent meals like mac-n-cheese in your Instant Pot, Jeffrey is also going to show us a way to lighten it all up, cooking to your specific eating lifestyle. Whether it’s Keto, Paleo, Gluten-free, or vegetarian and vegan, it’s all about eating wholesome, real food that raises your vibration rather than ones that sink you into a food coma and total brain fog… but here’s the caveat: he promises we won’t lose any of the flavor along the way.

Here’s how.

My special guest today is Jeffrey Eisner and he’s simplifying how to cook lighter with an Instant Pot.

We tackle and simplify all aspects of it, including:
*For those just getting started using their Instant Pot, the 2-3 tips that would help you feel less intimidated, so you can get going with experimenting, playing and cooking food with it this week
*What “cooking lighter” looks like for him these days and which recipes he’s enjoying making right now, which might give you a few ideas on what to cook tonight
*Which must-have staples you need stocked in your pantry, specifically for pressure cooking
*Lawry’s seasoned salt
*beef, chicken, vegetable stock, specifically Better than Bouillon concentrated stock base
*dried beans (black, pinto, white beans)
*quinoa, rice (white, brown, wild), and farro
*herbs & spices – TIP: buy one new spice each week to build your pantry and experiment with new flavors!
*How to cook for kids or picky eaters with an Instant Pot – he shares his best advice for parents without much time to cook, but want happy bellies around the dinner table
*…and ultimately, he shared a little bit about his own wellness journey – what he wished he knew earlier on when it comes to eating lighter and maintaining his weight.

Like Jeff, I’ve struggled with my weight since I was a little girl. The number on the scale would go UP and it’d go down in waves. 20 lbs here, 30 lbs there… ugh. And like Jeff, recently I’ve started to really pay attention to the food I put into my body. Ask yourself: what is life-giving food for me and my lifestyle? And what isn’t?

I hope that wherever you are in your health and wellness journey, you’ll find this lighthearted interview inspires you to try something new with your Instant Pot cooking this week.

Q: Are you ready to cook lighter using an Instant Pot? If yes, this one is for you.
It’s time to #DoTheThing!
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Show notes available with all LINKS mentioned here: https://thesimplifiers.com/podcast/jeffrey-eisner-cook-lighter-instant-pot-replay

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Mary Baird-Wilcock, CSEP – the CEO of The Simplifiers has one goal in mind… to help you SIMPLIFY your life.

With over 17+ years experience in running a small business, she coaches creative entrepreneurs on how to simplify and optimize the operations side of running their small business.

Mary is the host of The Simplifiers Podcast, where she interviews very smart people from all over the world who take topics in business and in life and SIMPLIFIES them.

An international public speaker who’s been published in FORBES Magazine, Huffington Post and featured as one of the “Top 25 Young Event Pros to Watch” by Special Events Magazine, Mary is also on a mission to share the gospel of what a Texas breakfast taco is all about.

Hello and welcome back to the simplifiers podcast where we take topics in business and in life and simplify them and friends I want to take a slightly different right turn today and I want to talk about cooking let’s be real if we haven’t got good nourishing lifegiving food going into our bodies

Every single week guess what that’s going to Ripple out into all aspects of our work and our life and one of the things that I have started to really get into is cooking with my instant pot now I had to find the perfect guest to really simplify how to work and how to

Cook with an instant pot and lo and behold the universe certainly did provide his name is Jeffrey Eisner he is the Blogger and Creator over at pressure luck cooking it’s a leading ACC claimed and easy to follow recipe blog all about cooking with an instant pot now you’ve

Probably seen him on the Food Network Good Morning America Rachel Ray and more because you know what his first cookbook became an international bestseller within a week of its release his second book that’s come out today is called the lighter step-by-step instant pot cookbook and it features more healthc

Conscious recipes tailored for those who are on keto paleo gluten-free or even diabetic friendly Lifestyles so so I’d like to welcome to the simplifiers podcast Jeffrey Eisner hey Jeff hello thank you for having me Mary I’m so glad you’re here and I really think this is a

Fun topic because you know we do talk and simplify cash flow and budgets and mindset and all that so it’s nice to take a departure and let’s talk about food today yeah sounds delicious to me yeah so first off how in the world did you get into cooking with an instant pot

Like this is a thing that’s sort of taken over your life in the last few years right to say the least it’s actually changed my life um you know I always loved to cook it was always it was therapy for me it was a passion and my cooking school was my grandmother I

Never had any formal training other than you put a little bit of this in here Jeff you put a little bit of that and that’s that was it yeah um when I I when I was you know the goal was to be an actor when I was younger and um that

Didn’t exactly pan out it just wasn’t I like stability in my life so I went the route of uh going into the public relations world where I was a video producer and then I realiz I’m not very happy doing this I was never like fulfilled and I would come home and just

Be stressed out and I would cook to make myself more calm um so I’ve always also that intertwined with having to have the latest Gadgets in life uh I discover the instant pot about going on four years ago now when it kind of first came out

And it was on Amazon it was just looking me in the face and and it was like buy me so I did and I saw the reviews were super like you know they were really strong and I was like you know what I got to give this thing a try let me see

How it works and I got it it came and then I was like where do I start it was kind of intimidating it’s a pressure cooker which but pressure cookers have like a negative connotation from back in the day they’re kind of scary looking if you look at old school pictures of them

And I was like what am I going to do here I mean I’m not going to be afraid of this thing I’m going to conquer it and then I went online looking and I saw a lot of people were afraid to use it yeah I’m like this is an this is an

Opportunity for me who worked in PR as a video producer to come up with my own video to learn it share it out and just see what happen see if I can get excited by it and see what people have to say well I made a mac and cheese recipe in

There and I shared it out into the ether I went into the I just went on to like cold calling like knocking on the door like back in the old day found these groups on Facebook went started a YouTube channel and then it just took off it’s like it seemed like like people

Because you know you go to YouTube for everything nowadays you can go from you know what learning how to fix your shoelaces to learning how to do your plumbing in your house yeah so I was like I know people probably search for this and it was an opportunity I saw and

I took it and I was like look I love take making the videos it’s fun and if anything comes of it great if not well it was fun and what have you got to lose right yeah it took yeah and and that’s the thing is that you have really

Created some a fun playful way to approach like you said it’s a very intimidating kitchen appliance it’s not like a toaster you plug it in and just stick the toast and done there are bits and Bobs and buttons and things and oh my gosh it was super intimidating for me

When I first got mine like seven or eight months ago and I have to be honest I think it’s sat in the box for a good month before I was like uh I don’t know what to do with this my brother gave it to me as a gift um and so your your

Videos which side note everything that Jeff talks about in today’s conversation you can can find over the show notes at the simplifiers podcast.com and I highly recommend checking out his YouTube channel because your videos are fun it you’re just an everyday guy just like my brother who would be like okay so here’s

The real deal here’s how this thing works so let’s talk about that if somebody was like me and they have had the instant pot in a box in the corner of their kitchen for a long time super intimidated like give me a couple of tips that would help them get over that hump

Okay well you got first of all you have it so let’s let’s waste not want not shall we let’s let’s take it out of the box and have some fun uh you know it’s uh look at cooking number one as is it’s it’s fun it’s not the end of the world

You’re making some food right and if all else fails you order some pizza right or some or or a salad or maybe some salad on your pizza I don’t know um but just don’t take it too seriously look at it and be like I’m going to have some fun

With with this start with something that’s very simple just you know a soup a quick pasta which is very easy to make in the pot some rice some hard boiled eggs could not be easier to do egg eggs is two ingredients you’re going to put some water in and you’re going to put

Eggs and that’s it and you’re going to be blown away that you’ve made hard-boiled eggs in this new found fashion um so start small as my tip uh don’t be freaked out it’s just cooking and um you know just let loose and from there you’re going to the it’s going to

Be you’re going to see either you’re going to enjoy it or you’re not going to enjoy it it’s going to be one or the other or you might have a great success the first time or it might be ah what did I do wrong and you maybe want to see

What how you can fix it the next time around so it’s really just you know you about just have confidence in yourself doing this you can do this if I can do this this is the number one thing here Mary I am not professional I an am as I

Told you I’m I’m an amateur cook guy who just likes to cook and if I can do this literally anybody they can do it it’s really quite simple to do and so here’s the things that I learned by watching your videos first and foremost I didn’t

Know this but there those little lips on the top of the lid you can pop it over and stick it into the the little Notch and so you’re not burning yourself on the the hot steam or otherwise I was like oh well duh no one told me that I

Didn’t know that and then second you know you talk about in your your like okay here how to get started video um you know you don’t need to worry about all the buttons there there’s just like manual or pressure cook so what buttons should we start with first there’s

That’s the thing about the instant pot like the the most I think intimidating thing about it are all the buttons and forget forget and I say in my book forget them really don’t pay attention a lot of them they’re just presets that’s really all they are I only use the

Button that says sauté which transforms this thing basically into a pot on the stove yep picture using his frying pan a skillet a pot whatever it’s that’s what it does you can sauté veggie whatever and then you’ll switch the function basically from that to the pressure function and then just it’s about

Setting time and that’s really it yeah it’s it’s just a few buttons you’re going to care about which I can imagine you living in Queens and New York you’ve probably got limited counter space and so it’s nice to have just one place to sauté and cook from and you’re not

Having to like do multiple things in multiple places right and then one pot let’s not forget one pot instead of having because that’s the thing about a slow cooker you if you want to do some things in there which is I’m not going to knock a slow cooker but um the

Instant pot in my opinion has put it onto the top shelf at this point because you can’t really sauté in them if you have want to Brown some meat before you got to do it in the frying pan and then put it in the slow cooker not to mention

It takes hours to do something in a slow cooker whereas the instant pot will give you the same thing and a literally a fraction of the time with my opinion more tender and flavorful results um so yeah it’s it’s just about convenience and as you you know it’s all about

Simplifying here and that’s exactly what this is yeah and I I at the beginning thought oh do I need to buy all the accessories and the things and you know I’ll be frank I actually bought some accessories that were like on half off sales or whatever but then I realized I

Don’t need all the stuff like I just need to get started and so the first recipe I started with was literally how to cook rice like plain and simple white rice and when I got more confident just doing that I was like well I could probably make quinoa I could probably

Make soups I mean like it it does like require a little bit of baby steps to get that confidence right 100% it’s like with anything you’re going to you want to start small uh don’t be too I could be a little ambitious at first I think

The first thing I made was a Mac and chees I think the second thing that I like attempted was like uh like pot roast which is still not super ambitious but for you know some people are intimidated the thought of making meat and you know a big grast right but it’s

The easiest thing in the world but it’s exactly that really it’s yeah yeah so your first cookbook was all yummy super flavorful foods that are like Comfort foods and things right so the second book is all about cooking lighter so what does cooking lighter look like for

You these days like what what recipes are you loving right now yeah um well cooking lighter to me it’s it’s it’s such a oh an ambiguous term really because it’s I I want a million people wanted a book that had keto I wanted paleo gluten-free Dairy

Free low you know everything so I’m like I’m those are the separate volumes in themselves and I’m like I’m only going to do one lighter book and I’m going to make an umbrella everything as best as possible so you know that’s the thing with if you’re on keto you can eat you

Can have bacon and heavy cream at every meal right and cheese and non-stop if you want you can slather it all over meat it’s fine right um but if you are paleo you can’t have any cheese whatsoever uh and you but and you get a plenty of sweet fruits um but on keto

You can’t have too many of the sweet fruit it’s just a whole thing so in order to make everybody happy with the book I you know I specify which recipes are which lifestyle compliant and if it isn’t I’ll put a little plus sign saying how you can make it lifestyle compliant

That way uh it’s so you know what I mean so like in terms of like food itself my mission with this book was to show you that eating lighter in general doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice literally a lick of flavor for anything because there’s always always substitutions that

When you because if you think of a recipe it’s like an ensemble of characters right that go into it um is since they’re all working together there are certain things you won’t even know that you’re not putting in whether if versus if it was more of a comfort type

Recipe which I’m certainly known for doing as well um so you know you in the book you have for instance crispy kale rice I’m not interested in kale typically it’s not really my favorite thing in the world but if you’re going to give it a little bit of like a nice

Little crisp in the pot and then toss it with some brown rice and some mushrooms which I happen to love if you don’t like mushrooms don’t add mushrooms uh and if you want to give it a little bit of a sweet like flavor to it like by adding

Some coconut aminos which is a fabulous substitute for soy sauce uh less sodium than that and it has um it’s gluten-free uh no there’s no soy in it you know it’s little things like that and actually in the book I also in the introduction list an entire Pantry that I suggest you have

Uh all easy to find ingredients no I’m not sending you running to the craziest Health Food Markets to find these things that can be found in pretty much any Market or our friend online you know yeah and maybe that’s the fear you know and I’ll be the first to raise my hand I

Think if you have gotten used to making kind of packaged processed foods like mac and cheese in a box or um you know frozen meals for for convenience and now you’re moving back to Whole Foods foods that don’t come in a box and aren’t you know super chemical processed it can be

Scary cuz it’s like oh oh right we’re using real ingredients here to make the same things that are nine times more healthy more likely and uh more flavorful and and actually nourishing too right yes ABS indeed it’s exactly that and like it’s like if you look at a

Box of mac and cheese in a store and you see you know it’s like it’s a little horrifying to read the the label sometimes uh and you’re better off even though you’re putting like a bunch of cheese in there and D and all that stuff you’re much better off making it

Yourself if you’re going to do it and it’s going to taste a thousand times better it’s one of the easiest recipes also yeah granted granted it’s it’s hard to find a light mac and cheese I’d say um but look there are options if you wanted to do like a you know a lowfat

Use lowfat cheese or even like a vegan cheese instead you can make it happen and see I’m curious what your thought processes on this but for me I am a vegetarian uh though I’m not a DI hard uh you know um but I I always look to

8020 rule you know 80% of the food that I put into my body every single week super healthy clean Whole Foods yummy stuff green leafy vegetables and all and 20% could be the mac and cheese could be a little bit of bread could be this that

Or and the other and I mean how do you go about eating and cooking lighter for yourself that’s exactly like the best way in my opinion to do it like you should never you should deprive yourself of the Comfort things in life you shouldn’t because you’re going to just

One day if if you’re let’s say you’re like I’m going to go on a diet and I hate that word I really do and you’re like I’m I’m not I’m just G to eat this this and this today and like and and then for the next months two months or

Whatever when the time comes and then you’re at a party or whatever and you’re like ah i’ I’ve I’ve reached where I’m happy where I am now and then like I could eat whatever I want again and it’s like then the pizza’s there and you eat that and you the Chinese food’s there

You eat it all like you know what I mean like when I’m it just all that hard work is kind of goes away it’s so much wiser and more satisfying and sustainable to like you said 20% comfort in my life and the rest of it I can be healthy you can

It’s about just fitting it in at appropriate times and while you’re doing it and that’s to me the key to sustaining like a a happy body and a happy attitude and outlook on life totally totally and so you’re not in that constant shame CLE of binging and deprivation binge deprivation you’re

You’re H you’re changing your relationship with food altogether and also with cooking and and that’s what I think has been interesting for me as I learn about cooking more healthy using real Whole Foods fruits and vegetables all the things especially herbs and spices like that’s the thing right

That’s your gig all together it it’s a it is a game Cher you take the fear out you experiment and play and uh food doesn’t become this evil thing that you’re you know grappling with and push and pull and all that it becomes more fun right 100% absolutely I think what’s

Exciting about it is that once you try something that’s lighter uh and you realize that you know that you’re controlling what you’re putting in and you’re making let’s saying instead I’m instead of using sour cream I’m going to use some Greek yogurt it makes a difference it really does and then you

See um how delicious it can taste you’ll tell yourself well I could do this I could eat like this and then it’s rewarding it feels good and you feel better when you start to slim down a little bit from doing that now of course that being said you can eat as light as

You wish but it’s all about portion control because if you eat the entire pot it’s still you know what I mean it’s yes you have to control yourself so just because something’s lighter doesn’t mean it’s okay to eat it all the entire pot that you’re just made of food it’s about

Portioning it properly yeah and I remember you talked about like um what was it the the anagram for deep deep lifestyle let’s walk through that real quickly yeah it’s I I call it living deeply exactly deep CU who doesn’t like a knce anagram right um or whatever we

Want to call it yeah anagram uh D is for determination you have to be determined if you want to do something like this um the first e will go for exercise I think it’s important when now exercise is a very general term and some people just

Don’t even want to hear it and I understand but exercise counts if you literally walk around your block one time a week like that’s exercise if you weren’t doing it before guess what it’s it’s progress and then as you continue to do it more your body will get used to

It more and you could do it a little bit more of course it could also range to something as crazy as waking up at 5: in the morning on a Sunday and doing you know CrossFit uh whatever whatever works for you it’s just something works anything the other e would be for eating

Wisely like being mindful about what you eat and what when and when you do it uh you don’t want to eat something at you know right before you go to sleep because you’re going to wake up in the morning and feeling like there’s a brick in your stomach and it’s going to offset

Your day and like I well why I even bother I already feel like I’ve screwed up and you just eat what it’s it’s a lot of it has to do with that mentality it’s just be think before you eat you know um and then p is portion control for deep

And it’s like we just said you have to just really just be uh mindful about how much you’re eating be just and eat slowly that’s my biggest downfall I can shovel food and then you’re not you have to just be slow like it’s a perfect time to do it

When you’re you know when you have company of course because you can have a conversation put the phone down for a second you know things like that answer an email in between if you’re by yourself um it’s really about that so those are the four things that’s good I

Love that uh and it’s always a nice reminder these are things that we intuitively deep deep deep down inside know is true but we forget right like this is the simple parts of life that actually make eating and cooking food more joyful and actually you know deeper I believe it affects your digestion

System it affects your your energy levels it affects everything so it ripples out when when you look at Joy or look at cooking food with joy it it changes everything I agree so let’s talk about our pantry so um given the recipes in your cookbook what should we stock in

Our pantry as Staples specifically for pressure cooking for pressure cooking specifically uh the number one rule is no liquid no pressure you need to have liquid in a pot enough of it to come to pressure um because this the process is that you know it’s it’s essentially just

Boiling water or any kind of liquid that’s in there and that it’s it gets to the point where there’s nowhere for it to go because a lid is securely put on there and uh that’s what it’s almost like a little teac Kettle then a little

Pin will pop up in the lid it’ll lock and then it Cooks y so liquid and so that being said broth to me it always adds more flavor to things now whether this be any kind of broth that you love like if I I love this product called

Better than Buon it’s great uh but you can I typically like to use low sodium broths when I’m using it because honestly the difference is very minor in my opinion especially since we’re just using it as a flavor base you could always make your own broth by simply

Just if you whether you’re a vegetarian just get a bunch of vegetables leave the skins on whatever vegetables you want and some water and this boil it in there for about 2 hours let it pressure cook and when it’s off when it cool season it

How you want to season it yeah um you the same thing with chicken or beef broth use the bones of the chicken the crazy Parts you normally might not get like the feet things like that um you would use to make something like that so broth is super important um another

Thing the the suggestion you had there of better than bullion I swear you guys this is the jam it is so good so flavorful and it has vegetarian and non veggie uh options and also I I like it because it’s small it doesn’t take up a

Lot of space in the pantry whereas if you’re buying big jugs of broth it can take up a lot of space so yeah that’s secret ninja trick there for sure it’s great yeah great what else do I need my pantry you need I think you definitely

Need uh some seasoned salt because to me seasoned salt is one of it’s I think it’s my go-to seasoning it’s less it’s less sodium than iodized salt not regular salt uh by a bunch actually if you look at the the labels between the two it’s it’s less and it’s a way has a

Lot more flavor going for it as well it’s not spicy um if we’re going to name brand just I mean I don’t have a partnership with this brand or anything but I love lri it’s like the classic and you could find it like at any Market um

It’s like if I have to pick like one spice it’s going to be that for pretty much everything so definitely have some of that on hand uh of course you want to have like you know it’s important if whether you’re uh following dairy or not dairy with your life have some element

Of that whether that be uh a milk or like a half and half or a non-dairy milk like an unsweetened almond milk cashew milk don’t get one that has like the flavors like vanilla or or sweet just because it’ll substitute for milk yeah um speaking of which we we’ll never

Pressure cook uh most Dairy Under Pressure because it can curdle and it can you don’t want to do that like cheese you add that at the very end but non-dairy milks you could add prior because well guess what there’s no dairy in it yeah um and I explain all this in

My book as well so I would say those things those things are very very key to have for sure and um just so you always have it on hand have some rice and have some quinoa some beans you can have some eggs any of those things are just

Important to have in your pantry at all time and I mean like I go into this in great detail in the book and I give you a list literally if you ever want to go to the market and stock your kitchen it’s there um those are the key Basics

And you know what I I love about the book in particular um is the way it’s laid out uh the table of contents you can quickly look through all the recipes see which ones are keto or vegan or vegetarian and it’s very easy to follow and then anything that isn’t vegetarian

For me I just swap out like say if it’s a beef stock to a veggie stock you can always make substitutions but when it comes to stocking my pantry what I have been doing lately is if there’s one thing on your list that I don’t have I

Just add one thing on in my shopping cart every single week so I just build it slowly over time um but yeah like my my key go-tos are big bags of dried black beans rice quinoa things like that um you know and and same same with the

Spices so if I don’t have I don’t know bay Leafs or thyme or whatever I just build it one at a time one per week as I go on so I build the pantry yeah that’s a very smart thing to do very smart and go wholesale clubs is

A great place also to stock up on these things because they’re going to last you forever it’s a better price how much more you’re getting um and they have a you know yeah yeah and you know another tip that I just thought of um no matter

Where you are in the world listening to this it’s more than likely sure that you’ve got a buy nothing group Bey nothing again the links are all in the show notes and that is such a brilliant resource so if you find buy nothing Manhattan or buy nothing Phoenix or buy

Nothing Paris you can actually put out onto the Facebook group hey I’m in search of new spices for my pantry and people in your neighborhood or in your area say hey I’ve got a whole Pantry of spices that I’m not using you can pick come up for free so you know think about

Things like that that are just clever so you’re not having to spk over a lot of money to do this stuff it can be very very simple those are all nice people yeah yeah it’s amazing I trust me je amazing trust you so talk to me about cooking

For picky eaters or kids what advice would you give parents don’t tell them what’s in it but seriously I mean you have obviously if there’s an allergy you should have of course always be mindful of that um but off and in all honesty that’s a rule I have as long as they’re

You know it’s not going to violate a dietary restriction or a religious thing like being kosher or whatever uh don’t tell them sometimes what’s in a dis just say try this and I’m telling you nine times out of 10 they won’t even realize that like let’s say they hate

Cauliflower because let me tell you something in the lighter book cauliflower is one of the best substitutes for potatoes m um and because you know potatoes are full of starch and they’re amazing you could do a million things with them but when it comes down to them being soft when you

Like you mash potato um or um like a chowder where sometimes we have potatoes in there when it’s cauliflower and it’s softened I don’t even like cauliflower by the way when it’s on its raw state I’m not into it but when it’s cooked and it’s softened up it’s an amazing

Substitute uh often times with a soup like my cream of cauliflower in the book um we do a pureeing step before we even serve it so it be you don’t even know it’s really in there just becomes part of the soup and when it Seasons up a

Little bit it’s you don’t even realize it’s you just say honey try this and you know if you’re a soup lover because who come let’s get real who doesn’t love soup um just try it out and then don’t tell them and then they’re like guess what are you just say cauliflower or

Something like that and they’ll be like what yeah and I think that in that moment it gets people excited about like wow I like caulif I didn’t realize I liked it and um know that happened to be the first time when I ate es cargo by parents like don’t I mean of course

That’s not the healthiest thing in the world but like they were like they wouldn’t tell me what it really was and I ate it and I was obsessed with it and like you just ate snails and I’m like what what no so it’s that’s the way I

Look at it truly it’s like just try it out trust me you’re going to enjoy this my if you cook especially if you’re the cook in the household what choice do they have anyway right like you’re cooking for them so it’s like give it a try and if

It’s you know I feel like kids nowadays um I don’t have children but I have a niece and nephew well two two nephews now um and they’re so impressionable at such a young age with food that and they can become picky like just like that that it’s like Incorporated earlier if

You can and I think they’ll eventually take to these things yeah I think you’re right and I had read somewhere some long time ago that your taste buds the actual cells on your tongue uh change every seven years and so things that you thought as a child ooh I don’t eat

Avocados ooh I don’t eat cauliflower whatever it is you actually might be surprised you might actually like it now cuz I’m still on the hump of I don’t know if I can eat olives and brine foods like it’s just not my thing but maybe maybe if I’m open-minded and try it out

Then who knows you know again that goes back to what you were saying earlier of just having fun and experimenting with it as well yeah and I think if you want to eat lighter in general you need to be a little open-minded I you can’t be super stubborn in your ways because

You’re making the choice to eat lighter you have to be a little open-minded as a result of it no it’s not going to be like going to the drive-thru and getting like a triple cheeseburger you know it’s not that’s not what we’re doing here but it doesn’t mean it’s going to be any

Less satisfying on the taste buds or the stomach you know you’re going to feel it’s really about just and I think I know this from my own experience uh trying new things and trying food and then realizing what I’m putting in my body is way better for me than if I were

To have gone through the drive-thru or to eat and a super like indulgent dish um yet I’m just as satisfied after eating I I’m going to make the choice to go that way especially some results when I look at myself in the mirror you know it it it

Pays off it really does yeah and you know I really appreciated reading in your book you talk about in your introduction your own weight loss journey and and wellness Journey for that matter um it sounds like for you the keeping weight off as been a struggle for a long time just the same

As me like I am right there in that same boat with you what have you learned along the way like that you wish you knew earlier on when it comes to eating lighter I think that what I that it’s that it’s about really finding the balance and to to remind yourself the

Other stuff will always be there it’s not going anywhere yeah although when the pandemic began I got a little freaked out when all my favorite Chinese restaurants were closed for a period of time like oh my gosh like my I if I had I known I would have eaten this the last

Three months straight but no thankfully there a lot of them have come back but no it’s it’s about telling yourself uh the food the pizza the you know the egg rolls they’re always going to be there in the future and you can reward you know what I mean so it’s like it’s not

Going anywhere and you can have that and you can certainly eat it and um it’s just be a little more mindful if you if you know that you’re going to have some Grand fantastic family style meal like at an Italian restaurant and do it up with all the carbs and the amazingness

As you should if you’re doing a meal like that right um plan for it start just eat lighter that week and guess what you’re not GNA be a you’re not gonna don’t starve yourself by by any stress of the imagination just make more light conscious efforts when I lighter

You know I mean when you’re eating more um when you’re planning something like that in your life and I think that’s what’s that’s what keeps us sustainable and that’s what keeps us happy and it kind of it reminds me all Al of um I don’t know if did you read that book

Atomic Habits by James clear you know he talks about that in particular of as you’re changing habits uh to something that’s more lifegiving it it’s a matter of repetition so for me uh four months ago I would have been like you’re not going to get any kale into my body anytime

Soon no way not even hiding and sneaking it in but I’ve just started experimenting with cooking with kale or green leafy vegetables colored greens all of that and actually I love it like I’m so a kale person now than I ever was before and it takes that repetition of

Of experimenting trying new dishes seeing what you like and your taste buds also do change along the way right yeah ABS 100% definitely I I really do and I agree with what you said about the taste but they definitely do shift yeah um yeah it’s just there’s a lot involved in

It and it’s just at the end of the day it’s food let’s just tell us us that we we should also remind oursel that you know like what we’re what we’re eating here isn’t you know it if you don’t like it you just don’t try you don’t eat it

Again it’s this isn’t a big these aren’t there’s a lot larger fish to fry so to speak in our lives than worrying too much about how something might taste so just what have you got to lose other than trying and of course know if you’re allergic to it or something prior you

Don’t want to have any issues there um but it’s it just really comes down to what have you got to lose try it so what are your favorite favorite uh recipes from second cookbook oh I mean there there’s so many and uh my goal like I

Said was that everything had to be taste like it wasn’t lighter per se it had to taste like it was a full unbelievably delicious meal I love my pork pazle recipe in there um or I should say pole it’s I know I was pronounced that it’s

More of an S sound to it even though it’s spell with a z um it’s a fantastic Mexican stew um that’s very um reliant on um chilies in there but not spicy ones we use oncho chilies which is essentially just dried Pano Peppers so delicious um I love that

The chicken catori that I have in there um truly fantastic and the way I do mine is I you know I lighten it up a little bit I use no sodium added tomato you know products when I put them in there um and you can always add Sal if it

Doesn’t taste salty enough whatever for you which is by the way very rare that you’ll ever one of my recipes and feel like it needs more seasoning I feel like you can always add a little bit more at the end cool uh something like that and you know you you’re vegetarian like and

I love Indian food and I have tofu ticka Masala instead of chicken ticka Masala really delicious and it’s just loaded with protein and good stuff in there I’m hungry now thank you you have enticed my taste buds and if you guys are curious as well I highly recommend checking this

Out his website again is pressureluck cooking.com and the second cookbook came out today so you can find that in bookstores all over the world or even at your local book store uh right down the corner it’s called the lighter step-by-step instant pot cookbook easy recipes for a Slimmer

Healthier you now Jee I have a few questions as we wrap up um and thank you again so much for your time I think you know hopefully like just breaking down the uh Fear Factor of using this new fangled uh machine with all the buttons and gadgets it it really is quite simple

And really fun to play with so here are my questions for you um these are questions I like to ask everybody that comes on the podcast first and foremost what’s one book or blog that you’re reading these days that’s either inspiring you or poking holes and challenging your belief system

Um I’m not the heaviest reader and I when I do read I like it to be really light so I’m I’m having fun right now and I miss travel so much yes um it’s been I think we all are a great deal and this guy when I was in Palm Springs a

Year ago I found this book with this guy named Charles Phoenix and it’s uh addicted to Americana and it’s a super kitchy fun book with all these like landmarks and stuff throughout the country and just I love kitchy things and it just it’s a great escape for me

To just have some mindless fun and look at all the crazy things that this country has to offer and to put them on the list to at some point visit them so that’s something that I enjoy um I like to keep things as lighthearted as possible sometimes I feel like

Especially this past year it’s been kind of heavy on a lot of us so I I like to you know I like to escape yeah no and that’s what I feel like yeah that’s a great book recommendation and you know I think sometimes we fall down the rabbit hole of self-development books or

Professional books and it’s like oh it’s just a heavy rabbit hole it’s nice to have something that’s light and it gets your imagination sparked in all things so we’ll put the link in the show notes for that book for people if you guys want to check it out so tell me who’s

Somebody in your network that you know personally that you just feel is up to brilliant things we could shine a spotlight on them and who knows maybe we’ll have them on the podcast one day I mean I’m gonna say this is because um I feel like I was introduced to you from

Her as my cousin Denise Silverman and she to me is one of the most um I can’t think of anybody who’s more of a go-getter than her she was a a huge upand cominging public relations star in New York um back in her when she was in

Her 20s then she and her husband my cousin Mike uh she married and Mike is actually my blood cousin uh they moved they just up their life and moved to Austin where she started and followed her passion with uh wedding planning industry and then she quickly became

Like the top event planning company in Austin um and then she once you know after doing that for quite some time very successfully she Swit she switched gears again and now she’s into um the wine industry and it’s just it’s fascinating for me to watch somebody build something from literally nothing

Which she’s done multiple times and I just she’s she’s an incredibly wonderful person so inclusive cares about everybody else before herself and um she’s also very involved with the Texas 4000 I believe it’s called it raises awareness for cancer it’s a big bike ride I think they do from like Alaska to

Is it Texas I’m not it’s a four yeah 4,000 miles so that sounds about right uh so she inspires me a lot and when I started press shlock actually she was somebody that uh I kept telling myself if you know like it was inspiring for me

That if I’m like if she did this maybe I can do something like that for myself I would say Denise is a superstar I’ve known her for God like probably 15 years now she is a superstar so yes I will link her up in the show notes if people

Are curious to learn about Denise and all the things that she’s up to you can click over at the simplifiers podcast.com and hook up there I believe gratitude and Simplicity go hand inand tell me what are you grateful for today I’m grateful that I’m alive I I

Really am I it was it’s just been a crazy year I’m grateful for I mean me and my partner Richard both got this thing uh when right when everything just stopped in in early March last year when no one knew what was really going on it

Was around the same exact time Tom Hanks had gotten it and I just kept checking Tom hanks’s Twitter every day praying that he was still alive I’m like if Tom Hanks is still alive maybe I’ll be okay yes but it was just so scary and uh I

Think a lot of us have put things into this put a lot of things into perspective for a lot of us and I’m just really truly grateful to be here and above all else that’s really that’s all I have to say it was scary for a little

Bit and uh well I’m just yeah I know that I’m grateful for you and I’m so I’m sure your fs and family and your fans online are so grateful for you and your health and all the things that you’re doing your bright Sunshine that’s put out into the world thank again reminder

His website is pressureluck cooking.com and again the links are in the show notes uh including your social media handles and all that is there one particular social media outlet that you like to hang out at YouTube Instagram you I would say YouTube is probably one

Of my big ones for sure yeah so you just all you got to do is type in pressure like pressure cooking look and you’ll find me yes just go to put it in anywhere you’ll find my handles but I have to get up on the Tik Tok that’s

Like the hot thing now and I’m totally behind so pressure look or pressure cooking on Tik Tok H that might be a whole new Avenue who knows so um my final question for you today is this and again thank you so much for your time today someone

Somewhere in the world is listening to you and I right now she’s got a a an instant pot it’s sitting on her counter she has not pulled it out of the package cuz she is absolutely intimidated by it what’s one thing you could whisper into her ear right now just to encourage her

In this moment um wow I would whisper and I would tell her you can do this it’s only dinner it’s only dinner it’s only dinner and you know like I said Pizza is one phone call away if it’s f it fails that’s all I was you can do this is what

I could tell them Jeff thank you so much for your time today it’s my pleasure thank you for having me Mary I really it was a lot of Fun