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.

Ham and POT-ato soup

We have a favorite recipe I've used forever. I figured I'd give it a shot and actually made 2 batches. The recipe is simple:

3-4 cups diced potatoes

1 cup sweet onion chopped 

1-1.5 cups chopped ham

3 cups water or sub half liquid with chicken broth

1 heaping T boullion or 2 cube things

1/2 teaspoon salt to taste

1/2 ground black or white pepper to taste 

1/2 stick butter

1/4 flour

2 cups milk or half&half

You can also add chopped celery and carrots but we pass on those. We have some weird texture issues and sometimes those things just don't belong in our soup.

Chop potatoes, onion, ham and add to pot with liquid and seasonings. Turn pot on steam for 6 minutes. I did 8 the first time and the potatoes were mushy and it was like mashed potato soup. It was definitely a variation I liked but if you want potato chunks, stick with 6. After it's done, vent the pot and it'll be super hot when you open it.

While that was cooking, melt the butter and flour together and cook on very low to keep from burning for 1 minute. Since I had no stove or microwave, I improvised and baked it together in my toaster oven. Sometimes I impress myself. 

Add the butter/flour mixture to the pot and the milk. Using an immersion blender, gentle pulse everything together to blend but not too much or you'll purée it all. Since that happened on my first batch it was actually perfect for drinking out of a thermos. Surprise mistakes are the best!

That's it. Easy. The picture may not be the most appealing. Next time I cook it I'll do better. This is all that's left and I snapped a pic straight out of the fridge.

Change it up as you desire but just know that if you heat up again, the milk can scorch at the bottom. I can't wait to make this again!

Rescue Tortellini

After a long day at work, allergy shots, and errands I got home at 8pm. Starving. I went to Crossfit last night and didn't have near enough to eat after, or today. Since Thanksgiving was last week we are officially sick of turkey. Nothing was thawed and the fridge looked hopeless. I opened the freezer and there sat a package of pasta from our last trip to Costco. My eyes glanced across the room to my waiting Instant Pot, empty and needing some attention. 

Now, like I said before, I like predictable. I had never seen a recipe for frozen processed pasta-crap we rarely eat. But, I figured I had nothing to lose! We aren't big pasta fans but we were willing to take a risk. Also, we were getting hangry.

I dumped half the pkg in along with a jar of Traditional style Ragu. We aren't down with any chunks so it's plain Jane all the way. I added 1/2 cup of water and set the pot to steam for 6 minutes. I made sure the vent thingy was closed...I almost forgot! I changed a load of laundry, asked the girls to fold some blankets, came upstairs and it was done. The girls were shocked! I was shocked! It took about 10 minutes total. 

Damn I love science.

So I bought an Instant Pot

Amazon.com had a sale. 

 Prime free shipping to Alaska. Why in the hell would anyone say no! It arrived 2 weeks ago and sat in the box. I had no idea where to start and even less free time to figure it out. I like familiar. I like to do things with a predictable outcome. So I left it in the box.

Thanksgiving. The day before the stove ran out of propane. (I live in 2 places but that's another post.) I needed to take things and stuff to my sister's for dinner. Luckily, everything was cookable in the oven. Except...mashed potatoes.

Lonely sat my pot in the box. I googled and found a few ideas how to Pot them. I set the girls to peeling 5 pounds of potatoes. I added 1.5 cups of water and set the Pot to manual for 5 minutes. After it was done I vented the Pot and they were done! Drained them, added a stick of butter and some milk...and mashed.

Perfection. I wish I took pictures but I didn't know I would become such a huge fan of the Pot! 

Now I'm setting out to make dinner fast and easy without a lot of complicated ingredients. And save my sanity with weekly meal prep! That's the bonus.