Category Archives: Go To Dinner

Go To Dinner, Instapot

Instant Pot Thoughts

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Flowers_April 2017

I thought I’d continue my Instant Pot or Instapot thoughts.  So far I’m finding that the instapot is not:

  1. Going to help me lose weight…I feel people start cooking healthier foods with the Instapot (?)…I will say Indian cuisine calls for coconut milk etc etc and though delicious it IS high in fat.
  2. Going to save time.  Most of the recipes say “25 minutes” but fail to account for things like a) I don’t chop like a chef, b) we have three children and two dogs, c) I forgot where the garam masala is and d) the instapot takes time to pressurize and depressurize…so I plan on an hour for each meal.

What the Instapot does allow for:

  1. Hands off while cooking amazingness.  I can be present while someone needs a book read, a diaper change, a face washed, a crayon wall drawing rescued…etc.
  2. Cooking frozen meats to cooked deliciousness without having to thaw the meat out
  3. Cooking two meals on a Sunday in a reasonable amount of time so that I can heat up Monday’s dinner but then cook Tuesday’s dinner the day prior.
Coke with low sugar maybe no calories
The Instapot is not the Coke 0 of cooking.  High fat is still high fat…

I thought I’d share some of my favorite recipes:

Butter Chicken (It’s not spicy … just delicious)

Chicken Korma

Pork Carnitas

 

Then add that into my other “in a pinch” recipes:

So Life Happens

Only If You Have Time

Go To Dinner

Only If You Have Time

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On one of those amazing weekdays where I got home early, I decided to make “Swiss Enchiladas.” The actual recipe is extremely simple and had I thawed the meat entirely the night prior, or not dumped the entire half gallon of milk on the floor (my fault…not Sweetpea’s…thankfully I had over ordered milk this last round)…etc etc…it might have taken maybe an hour to make. For me this past time…it was more like 2 hours (2.5 hrs?). That being said I definitely did not take a picture :).

Just a picture of Sweetpea helping! I'm a huge fan of getting her involved!
Just a picture of Sweetpea helping! I’m a huge fan of getting her involved!

This one is one of my go to recipes. If you like a little kick to it use Rotel, if you don’t want a peppery kick don’t add green chili’s and use plain old chopped tomatoes. When I make it ‘more bland’ I add in pepper to the milk mixture. Anyway, I really like this one.

http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/swiss-enchiladas

1 1/2 cups chopped onion (I don’t always include this one)
2 cups chopped roasted skinless, boneless chicken breast (about 2 breasts)
2 garlic cloves, minced (I don’t always include this one either)
2 (4.5-ounce) cans diced green chilies, undrained (I use one can with one can of Rotel)
1 (14.5-ounce) can petite diced tomatoes, undrained
2 cups 2% reduced-fat milk
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 (8-inch) fat-free flour tortillas
2 cups (8 ounces) shredded Swiss cheese, divided (I cheat and use pre sliced swiss and just cut up strips)

With my modifications it boils down to:
0. Preheat the oven to 350
1. Chop up chicken and cook until done
2. Add in 1 4.5 oz can of green chilies and 1 14.5 oz can of original Rotel (cook for about 7 minutes)
3. Put in separate bowl
4. Pour 2 c milk in a pan with 2 T of flour (mix the flour with about 1/4 c of this milk so it’s not clumpy). Cook together until it thickens (about 5 minutes).
5. Arrange in your chicken mixture in the burritos in 9×9 glass pan or 9×13 pan (I add in cheese to each enchilada).
6. Pour milk mixture over everything and put four slices of swiss cheese on top
7. Cook for 25 minutes at 350’F