RECIPE: Instant Pot Cheesy Chicken Chili

We have a tendency to just eat a lot of the same recipes that I already have...so I hadn't come up with a new recipe in awhile. Johnny was wanting something different so I came up with this and made it for dinner tonight. It did not disappoint and will definitely make it into the rotation of regular recipes. :) Johnny thought it would even taste good over pasta or white rice...so we may have to try that sometime.  

Cheesy Chicken Chili 

Ingredients:

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts

4 cans chicken broth

1 pkg ranch dressing mix 

1 can red kidney beans in mild chili sauce (not drained)

1 can pinto beans (drained) 

1 can whole kernel corn (drained) 

1 can petite diced tomatoes (not drained)

8oz cream cheese or 16oz of sour cream

2 cups shredded extra sharp cheddar cheese

Directions:

1. Pour the chicken broth and ranch dressing mix into the pressure cooker and stir. Add chicken (I use a trivet with handles so it's easy to remove and shred). 

2. Add both cans of beans, corn, and diced tomatoes to the pressure cooker in that order. Do not stir. 

3. Cube the cream cheese and set on top of the tomatoes. (If using sour cream, don't add the sour cream until you add the shredded cheese).

4. Close and lock the lid of the pressure cooker. Cook on high pressure for 15 minutes. 

5. Once finished cooking, allow the pressure to release naturally for 10 minutes, then quick release the remaining pressure. 

6. Remove chicken from the pot. Add shredded cheese (and sour cream, if using) to the pot and stir. Turn the pressure cooker to sauté and heat the soup for about 8 minutes while stirring frequently to melt the cheese. 

7. Shred chicken and return to pot and stir. 

Serve topped with your choice of garnish such as tortilla chips, fritos, sour cream, green onions, jalapenos, more cheese, cornbread...whatever sounds good! 

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*This recipe was made in the 6qt Viva Instant Pot

Another Valentine's Day!

Yesterday was the 11th Valentines day that Johnny and I have spent together! It's still hard to believe that it's been so long. :) I love where our relationship is at...it's very comfortable and we just truly enjoy the everyday routine of our life. Some people may find it boring...but I love not having any drama or stress. We've both been working from home for the last 4 years and it's been so nice. We spend a little time together in the morning before Johnny starts his work day and then we get to chat during his breaks. Then after he gets off work we sit down and have dinner together and watch an episode of one of our shows or watch a movie, documentary, or stand-up special. Then he usually goes to bed earlier while I stay up and work for a few more hours. And, of course, we enjoy spending time together with the dogs. Now that all our human children are adults...the pups are our little kids now. ;) We love watching them play and talking about how cute they are and taking pictures of them. It's a nice, quiet life...and I couldn't be happier. :) 

For Valentine's Day, I got Johnny a Crazy Shirts t-shirt. He's been wanting some for awhile...I'd gotten him one for Christmas and another for Valentine's Day. I made Cheez-It Chicken Fried Steak, mashed potatoes, and corn for dinner and we watched a stand-up comedy while we ate. So it was a very nice day. :) 

I bought some duck topper to see if it helps Bozley with eating more of his food. Yesterday he barely ate any of his food. He'd just push it around and then give up. It's always difficult to get him to eat all of his food...but some days he's worse than others. He also won't eat it at all unless we put a little bit of water in it and heat it up. He LOVES duck jerky so I'm hoping that the powdered duck jerky will add a flavor that he likes to his food and he'll eat it better. 

I passed 500 sales in my CandiMakerStickers Etsy shop! :) So far I've had less sales in February than I did in January, but I've had higher profit in February. I had several larger orders which made a difference. I just added magnets to my Etsy shop and I got another eBay order for stickers. I'm slowly working on adding more of my stickers on eBay, but it's been going pretty slow. 

It didn't help that I've been sick for the past week. It's just a chest cold. I haven't felt horribly bad...I've just been very blah. There were only a couple days where I didn't really feel like doing anything at all and I ended up going to bed early. One of the days I was feeling not very productive, I redid my packaging stickers that I put on all the envelopes that I send orders out in. I'd been just using my matte sticker paper and cutting my own stickers, but it was a lot more time-consuming than I wanted to deal with. So I found some good labels that are the sizes I need and already pre-cut on the page. So while I was laying around, I set up my print templates and now I can just print a few pages off at a time and not have to worry about it. If I run out in the middle of an order, it just take a few seconds to print some more now. 

I think that's about it for an update. :) 

Already February

I've had this post sitting in my drafts for almost a month...I just keep adding to it then getting distracted before I actually finished it. :P 

On Friday, January 19th, we took Bozley and Nova to the vet to get updated on all their annual vaccinations and everything. And then the following Monday I had to take Bozley back to the vet because he broke one of his nails on Sunday. :P He broke it pretty good...the vet ended up having to sedate him to remove the broken part of his nail. It's always something! But Bozley is all healed now and doing great. Then on Monday the 29th, Nova and Bozley went to the groomer. It's the first time they'd been in two years! I love how good they look and smell after they go to the groomer. I'm hoping we can get them in a little more regularly now. They never really need actual haircuts...just a good bath, trim, nails, teeth, etc. I took this picture of them right after we got home. Nova's bows look so cute and Boz looks like he's actually smiling instead of his usual serious look. Of course...they were both wanting the duck jerky that I had in my hand so I'm sure that's why they were so happy. ;)

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I'm almost at 500 sales in my Etsy shop! I've been super busy with a lot of behind-the-scenes type stuff. At the beginning of each year I update all my spreadsheets with the dates for the new year. I also recently updated my prices, discount codes, and listing photos. Of course...I edited all my 250+ listings and THEN decided to go back and change all of them again because I've added a new option to all my die-cut sticker listings...MAGNETS! Now customers will be able to choose their size and whether they want it as a sticker or a magnet. Adding magnets meant I needed to change the tags, titles, descriptions, and add three more variations in addition to the three sticker size variations. It took me two full days and staying up way later than usual to finish it all. 

With the new product, I needed to update packaging for the magnets. I also decided it was a good time to fine-tune my cardstock cards that I pack with the orders. I now have full-page and half-page cards for both regular orders and gift orders. I used to have separate cards for separate products, but now all my products will have the same packaging inserts that only vary by size and whether or not it's a gift order. That way everyone can see what other products I have in my shop if they're not already aware. I've also included the discount codes in my shops to encourage larger orders. 

I need to list the rest of my stickers on eBay. I don't know why I keep procrastinating with it. I just keep finding other things that I'd rather do then put off eBay even more. :P I also need to finish our taxes. I already filed and paid my state sales tax and started on our income taxes (my side is done) but I had to wait for some 1099s for Johnny before I could finish. It's not like they're due soon...but I like to get them out of the way early. 

My goal for this year is to reach 1000 sales in my CandiMakerStickers Etsy shop. :) If I reach the goal a lot earlier than the end of the year, I'll set a new one. I'm optimistic. :) 

Well...I think I'll get back to work so I can get a little more done before Johnny gets off work for the day. :)