Tag: Food

Posted in Instant Pot

Instant Pot Chicken Alfredo + Whatever’s In The Freezer

Posted on by michellebartosch

I found this incredible IP recipe for Alfredo that is so easy, I can’t help making it every week! This time, however, I had to make some single-mom friendly tweaks by starting with frozen (that’s right, frozen) chicken and adding some frozen veggies for my toddler (and crushed red pepper for me!).

I scoured Pinterest for multiple Alfredo recipes and decided the fewer ingredients in the recipe, the more likely I would be able to make it with a needy toddler “helping.”

Chicken Ingredients:

  • 2-3 frozen chicken breasts
  • 1 cp water
  • 1 tsp Chicken Better Than Bouillon (because who are we kidding–I wouldn’t have chicken broth in hand if my life depended on it 🤦🏼‍♀️)
  • 1 tsp minced garlic (I have no idea where my need to add this to everything comes from 🤷🏼‍♀️)
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Toss these ingredients in the IP and cook on manual high for 15 minutes with a NPR for 10 minutes. Take out, shred/chop/whatever you have time and patience for, and set aside.

Empty any remaining liquid from IP and add in Alfredo ingredients:

  • 1 and 1/2 cup chicken broth (or water with 1 and 1/2 tsp Better Than Bouillon)
  • 1 and 1/2 cup heavy cream
  • 1/2 lb uncooked linguine noodles, broken in half (make sure all noodles are covered by liquid!)
  • Frozen veggies if desired (I added 1 cup frozen peas and carrots)
  • A dash of crushed red pepper for a kick!

Cook on manual high for 8 minutes with a quick release. Wait 2-3 minutes to cool down.

Slowly stir in 1 cup of shredded Parmesan cheese & chicken.

Enjoy the ridiculously yummy goodness!

Posted in Las Vegas Living

Yummy Tummy Instant Pot Spaghetti With Meat Sauce

Posted on by michellebartosch

This has officially become my favorite go-to Instant Pot recipe for busy nights. I love that I can adjust the ingredients based on what I have on hand, I can make larger batches if I want to make extras to freeze, and my daughter says “Yummy tummy!” whenever I make it =).

Even more exciting, this is a recipe I came up with all on my own! My first IP trial and error recipe. So, here it is–step by step–a recipe I’m bound to make 1-2 times a week to keep the freezer stocked!

So, here’s what you’ll need to get this Yummy in your Tummy!

  • 1lb of ground beef
  • 1 tbs minced garlic
  • 1 tsp basil
  • 1 jar of spaghetti sauce (I’m a hardcore Prego fan, personally!)
  • 1/2 package of spaghetti noodles (I prefer angel hair pasta, but that’s just me)
  • salt and pepper to taste.

Instructions:

  1. Set IP to saute. Add ground beef, garlic, basil, and salt and pepper to taste. Cook, stirring often, until browned.img_5902
  2. When browned, drain any grease (if necessary).
  3. Break 1/2 package of noodles of choice. Make sure they are broken in half to ensure they all fit and can be fully covered by liquid.
  4. Pour in spaghetti sauce of choice & one jar of liquid. Do not stir.
  5. Cook on manual high for 7 minutes with an instant pressure release.
  6. Stir! Use sauce function if you’re unhappy with the amount of liquid.

img_5906

And, voila! Yummy Tummy Instant Pot spaghetti! Pop in the freezer for later consumption if desired.

Enjoy!

Posted in Instant Pot

Salsa Chicken

Posted on by michellebartosch

I recently acquired an Instant Pot for my birthday this year after reading countless reviews of how quickly and easily things can be cooked. With a 2-year old on my heels and knowing I’d be alone with her in LV for an undetermined amount of time, quick and easy translated to “miracle” and “survival.” Before I share this recipe, I want to make something clear to anyone who may not be familiar with an Instant Pot.

An Instant Pot is a pressure cooker. This means it has to pressurize to cook the food. It also means–ready for this?–the pressure has to be released!

See that little black nozzle? That’s where and how the pressure is released. See that part that protrudes or pokes out? Yeah, THAT’S NOT WHERE THE STEAM COMES FROM!

I am a BIG fan of blogs. I research every new purchase and read countless blog entries from real people who’ve really used the products. One brilliant (note sarcasm) blogger recommended using a kitchen towel on top of that black nozzle to turn it and release the steam. At NO TIME did it occur to me that that the steam might come out of the little holes on TOP of the nozzle. It is a miracle I still have all the fingers on my right hand. Admittedly, however, I still flinch when I go to release the steam 😭 I now use a long spatula to poke the nozzle to the venting position 👌🏻

On to the recipe!

One of my FAVORITE slow cooker meals consists of chicken, a jar of salsa, and taco seasoning. Although the Instant Pot does have a slow cooker feature, I have a toddler I need to feed in about 2 hours. So, I decided to toss in whatever ingredients I had lying around and see how it turned out!

Since we’re new to LV and took as few items with us as possible, I haven’t yet built up my seasoning and spice stash. But I DID manage to find minced garlic, cumin, and cilantro–which I’m convinced should be in every dish containing salsa 💃🏼 …because…cilantro! Yum! 😋

The chicken 🐔 breasts I had were super thick, so I ended up cutting them up a bit to ensure quick cooking. They were also still a bit frozen. I seasoned them with salt, pepper, and cumin.

I tossed a teaspoon of garlic in the Instant Pot. If we’re being honest, I have no idea why. I don’t know if I’ll even be able to taste it through the flavor of the salsa and the cumin, but I think garlic makes everything better…so in it went! I added half the jar of salsa, the chicken, and the rest of the salsa.

After that, I set the IP to manual or “Pressure Cook” to 12 minutes and did a 10 minute natural release while I took a bath 💁‍♀️💅🏻

The final result was shredded chicken that I then used with chopped spinach in quesadillas that my daughter wouldn’t eat. Luckily, I made a bunch and froze them so she could choose not to eat them later, too! 👍

But! Look at all that left over salsa! Not one to waste an ingredient before attempting to turn it into something that ends up being inedible, I tossed in one cup of rice and cooked it on high using the “rice” button. Oddly enough, the rice is the only thing my toddler ate! And I never used that cilantro 🤷🏼‍♀️

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