Repeat dinner faves

I got home last night and had stopped for a few groceries. I grabbed a package of cut stew meat and some grown gravy packets. And dog shampoo but that's neither here nor there.

Anyway, when I got home Hannah grabbed the raw meat pkg and was giddy with excitement. I have to tell you that's not the norm but I'm guessing, after me being gone a week, and their refusal to actually cook for themselves, she was probably craving real food.

It was late...like 9:30. She asked if we could cook it tomorrow. I told her, instant pot will cook it tonight! I told her what to do and she started the meat. She added a pkg of gluten free brown gravy mix and 1/4 cup water. She prefers it to Lipton onion soup mix.

Then I hopped into the tub with Netflix. The girls had napped earlier so they weren't tired. We let it sit on "keep warm" for about 50 minutes after it finished and took it out before we went to bed. Hannah snuck a few bites, proclaimed she needed rice, and off to bed she went.

Tonight we reheated the meat in the toaster oven (I don't do microwaves much) and she learned how to cook rice on the stovetop, old school style. It was perfection!

So easy and gives us several meals that heats fast and meets our carb/fat/protein macros.

As for the rice, I haven't liked the instant pot rice. I can't seem to get it right. It seems to be a common issue. I think if I just did 1 cup at a time it would be fine, but we make more than that so I just don't risk it.

Mastering Spanish rice would be amazing. Soon!

Hunka lunka ground beef

An interesting experiment took place. I had a big package of 97% lean ground beef in my freezer. It had been there a while and had been shoved in by a teen instead of separating it into freezer bags like I usually do. When would a mom with 2 girls need 5 pounds of ground? That's a LOT of ground!

So I had this great idea to use my instant pot to thaw it and cook it. I've heard it can be done. Easy! A facebooker on a group I'm in suggested using ground beef with a barbecue seasoning (shaker not sauce) to use for all things delicious. I figured I'd give it a go.

I peeled the heavy chuck out of its plastic and styro wrapper, made sure to get the Kotex off the bottom (I hate that stuff), and tried to bust it in half. Nope. I put it in the pot with a little water and turned on sauté. I boiled all the water out quick. It was too tall to put the lid on, of course. I had to leave so I gave up and let it sit. I got home about 2 hours later and it has thawed enough to break in half. I seasoned both chunks liberally and turned it on, adding 1/4 cup water. I used the stew option for 30 minutes. It works beautifully for roast and stew meat so I was certain if open it and find my ground beef cooked and it would crumble into perfection once finished.

Um, nope. I wish I would have taken a picture. I ended up with delicious smelling, cooked, hard, impenetrable lumps of meat. When I tried to use my spatula to break it up, it would just bend, surrendering to my utter failure.

I was able to break it up into smaller versions of itself but it was obvious this meat was unusable. I was so mad at myself. I had tasted it and OMG it was surprisingly better than I expected! I debated whether to throw it away and start over or keep trying. Since I'm no quitter, I didn't give up!

I dug around in my utensil drawer (I actually have a big drawer and a big flat crate in the cabinet full of utensils and gadgets that some may think is excessive) and found my handy dandy pampered theft tool for cooking ground meat that I never use. 

Magic! I kept pressing and twisting, turning my lunks of fail into perfect ground beef. We ate it with half-mashed potatoes and green beans. For 3 days. Because no wasting! I would sorta mix it together and add a smidge of cheese. Kind of a dismantled shepherds pie. WIN!!

This is my 94yo Gpa kicking butt back to health. That's almost a smile :)

Thanks McKenna!

My friend McKenna reminded me to  the blog so here goes....

Holidays, crazy days and we all survived. I used my Instant Pot regularly and were well fed. The last week or so I've been consumed with my ailing grandpa who's almost 94. He's the toughest man on earth and he's getting rusty on the inside.  I got back home (he's in the hospital 4 hours away) last night and as comfort food, I made ham&potato soup. I cook 2 batches, dividing the ingredients in half. 

I've decided I like mine smooth and creamy. The girls like it chunky. So, I cook mine for 7 minutes instead of 5 and then use a hand blender to smooth it out a bit. I burned my tongue. It's totally my fault, I couldn't wait!

Since I log everything into MyFitnessPal I entered the recipe and divided it by 8. It's measured as 1 cup per serving. Ish. Close enough. If you're logging macros, I've attached them via screenshot. The recipe is a few pages back and tonight I used 2% milk instead of half&half. I rarely use milk and the stuff I had expired 2 days ago. But...it was organic, marked down, and smelled fine! 

This isn't paleo but since I'm not strict, it gets a pass.

Easy Cilantro Lime Chicken and Rice

Inspired by a complicated recipe online, I simplified it for my picky eaters and it turned out great!  This is easy to change up. This is what I did:

-2.5 pound bag of chicken breast tenderloins 

-1/2cup chicken broth

-1/4 chopped cilantro

-juice of 1 lime

-2 heaping tablespoons honey

-1t salt (to taste)

-1tsp grated ginger (I used the stuff in a  tube)

-1/4 c olive oil

It also calls for 1/2 c fish sauce but I didn't have any. Also I'm scared of it :)

I put all the ingredients, except the chicken, in a mason jar and shook until well blended. I put the chicken in the pot, dumped liquid over it, and pushed the poultry setting. It automatically sets for 15 minutes. When done I let it depressurize on its own then used tongs to remove chicken. Most fell apart but we're not mushy--omg it tasted so good! I reserved some liquid to store chicken in a container for the week. 

Next up, rice. 

-2 cups rinsed white rice 

-2 3/4 cup water 

Push rice setting and use the default. I can't remember what it was. Sorry!

While its cooking, in a bowl add 1/2 cup chopped cilantro, 1.5 T olive oil, juice of 1 like, and some salt to taste. I just guessed. 

When the rice is done, let it sit for about 5 minutes before removing the lid. Then, stir in bowl ingredients. Add more salt if needed. Perfection!

So easy and the girls loved it. These are picky-ass kids so seeing them eat everything I've cooked the past week has been great!

Garlic and Herb seasoned Pork Roast

I'm not a big fan of pork, other than bacon, but I thought I'd give it a shot in the Instant Pot. I bought a 2 pound roast, cut it in 4 sections, and used some general garlic/herb seasoning I had in my cabinet. 

There are a lot of recipes online for pressure cooker pork but when I have to order ingredients online, it's just not realistic. I seasoned the roast, added 1/4 cup of water and set it on manual for 90 minutes. I ran errands and let it stay in the cooker for a few hours as the "keep warm" feature kicks in automatically after it's done cooking. I came home to perfect pork roast. It fell apart easily and wasn't mushy or weird like sometimes happens in a crock pot.

It needed more salt as I had used a low-salt seasoning. Still, it was nice to have gently seasoned meat that you could create any meal with! Add bbq sauce or Mexican seasoning to create whatever you want. Meal prep done!

Chaaaaanges

My goal with my Instant Pot is to take foods we already eat at home, ones established as our norm, and cook them more efficiently and more flavorful. I will definitely be scanning the web for inspiration and then change it up to my own taste. I see recipes where I have to special order ingredients and that's just not happening.

Living in Alaska, we have no fancy stores. No Whole Foods or Trader Joe's. About an hour away is Anchorage and I'm guessing there's a few fancypants stores I might check out for fun. But, my stuff is going to be basic family food. If I find inspiration and copy a recipe I'll be sure to post the original link. That's just polite, yo.

I hate to cook. I've always struggled with it. It's rare that I've had any complaints in my 34 years of cooking and some friends get excited when they hear I'm cooking something up. And that's flattering. But it's been complicated for me. I haven't had a healthy relationship with food. I've believed myself to be fat all my life when clearly I wasn't. With that mindset I've related to food as a necessary evil. I'm the eldest of six kids and after my parents were in a horrific accident that literally left them laid up for 11 months, I had to learn fast to feed the younger kids and my folks. My mom would tell me directions from her recliner where her shattered hip and pelvis held her captive. It was necessary and I harbor no bad feelings. I just never really learned the joy of cooking. It's always been a chore and a necessity.

I became a mom at 20 so I had to get over it and cook healthy for my family. Interestingly enough, I don't like eating my own cooking. Often I cook and skip the meal. I've been successful in eating just enough carbs to gain weight while keeping my calories under 1000cal most days. So I'm chubby and a carbetarian. Or...I was.

This is all changing. I found Eat to Perform and have been slowly changing my mindset and increasing my calories. It's like reverse dieting. We are seeing more and more in nutrition news that most people are underfed. Definitely an issue with me even though I'm overweight. Eat less, move more is no longer the recommended protocol by up to date nutritionists and scientists. I'm at the point in my life where I want to change my relationship with food and stop worrying about the scale. I believe the scale will change when I do.

Thus, my excitement over removing the burden of the cooking chores each day with a tool that, I believe, won't steal away what little free time I have. In turn, my resentment of having to cook healthy meals and the time involved is forever changed. Quite frankly I don't care if you have an Instant Pot or some other pressure type cooker. If my story sounds familiar to you I hope you find a way to create positive change in small ways and build a healthy relationship with real food. And throw in some fast and easy stuff too :)

Segregated Stew

When I was growing up my dad would make these big pots of "you should be grateful" stew. With 6 kids in the house it was usually enough to feed us for a few days. Very smart and economical. And no thank you. 

I was ungrateful. I hated the veggies cooked with the meat. I despised all the weird chunks and textures forced together in a pot. I prefer segregation when it comes to most meat and veggies. And then we'd eat it the next day. And sometimes even the next. I'm now 44 and still haven't made stew. 

Instead, I make Segregated Stew. I cook the meat and then have it over rice, or with mashed potatoes, and veggies on the side. THE WAY IT BELONGS.

When I make my stew meat I cook it on low in a crock pot for 6-8 hours on low. Tonight I thought I'd give it a go with the Instant Pot. I took 2 pounds of pre-cut stew meat, a package of brown gravy mix, and 1/4 cup water. Dumped it in the Pot and set it for the default stew setting for 35 minutes. Then I crawled into the tub with some Epsom salt. #crossfit #soreness #feelingmyage

It beeped when it was done, de-pressurized on its own and the pot kept it on warm setting until I got to it. It was fork tender and perfect. Also, I'll be donating my crockpot and will never ever use it again. We continue to be amazed every time at how the dreaded meal prep is just simple and finally realistic.

I love my Pot.