RECIPE: Chicken Fajitas

Tonight I decided to make chicken fajitas in the pressure cooker instead of the way I normally do with the electric skillet. It takes a LOT less time in the pressure cooker...which is the biggest thing I love about using the pressure cooker. :) Also...I use a lot of chicken when I make fajitas because we love leftovers for a couple days. You could use less chicken and everything is still the same as far as cook time, etc. It may take longer to get to pressure, but that's really the only difference. 

Pressure Cooker Chicken Fajitas

Ingredients:

2 gallon-size Ziploc bags 

6 chicken breast halves
6 packets of McCormick fajita mix

1/4 cup of chicken broth (you can substitute with water)

2-3 bell peppers

1 yellow onion

1 lg package flour tortillas, soft taco size 

favorite toppings: shredded extra-sharp cheddar, shredded lettuce, salsa or diced tomatoes, sour cream, guacamole, etc. 

Directions: 

1. Add chicken broth (or water) to the bottom of the pressure cooker. I don't use a trivet for this recipe. 

2. Cut chicken into strips that are about 1/4" thick. Add them to one of the Ziploc bags with 4 fajita mix packets. I alternate adding chicken and fajita mix so it's layered. Once you've added all the chicken and 4 fajita mix packets, shake the bag to make sure all the chicken is nice and coated. 

3. Cut vegetables into strips that are approximately 1/2" wide. Add to the second Ziploc bag with 2 packets of fajita mix and shake the bag to coat everything. 
4. Add the chicken on the bottom of the pressure cooker and then cover with the vegetables. Do not stir. 

5. Close the pressure cooker and set to high pressure for 4 minutes.  

6. Allow to naturally release the pressure for about 6 minutes before quick releasing the rest of the pressure. Once I open the pressure cooker, I stir everything together. 
7. If there is a lot of liquid still in the bottom of the pressure cooker, set the pressure cooker to brown/saute and cook it for at least 5 minutes, tossing with tongs frequently so it doesn't burn. 

8. Serve in flour tortillas with your favorite toppings. 

**I used my 8qt pressure cooker for this recipe

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RECIPE: Cheeseburger Soup

Another new recipe for the new year! This is a new soup in the pressure cooker that I basically just made up as I went. It turned out pretty yummy and it was super quick and easy. 

Cheeseburger Soup 

Ingredients:

1lb ground beef
1/2 tbs fresh minced garlic 

32 oz beef broth
1 small onion, diced 
1 carrot, peeled and diced

1 celery stalk, diced   

1 can petite diced tomatoes, do not drain 

1/2 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp salt

1/8 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce 
16oz Velveeta cheese, cubed
16oz elbow macaroni, prepared according to package

Directions:

1. Brown ground beef with minced garlic and drain. 

2. Combine beef broth, ground beef, onion, carrot, celery, paprika, salt, pepper, and Worcestershire sauce in the pressure cooker pot and stir. 

3. Pour the diced tomatoes in the pot then topped with the cubes of Velveeta cheese. Do not stir.

4. Set the pressure cooker to "Soup" and cook for 5 minutes. Carefully quick release the pressure when finished. 

5. Stir in elbow macaroni and serve. 

You can serve topped with crackers, corn chips, or whatever else you like! The picture below is of Johnny's bowl...he likes to add a lot more pepper. ;) 

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RECIPE: Grandma's Chicken Salad

When my Grandma Ina was alive, I always loved when she made chicken salad sandwiches. There was always a mountain of quartered chicken salad sandwiches for Christmas Eve at their house. She made some for me for both of my weddings. It's delicious! Unfortunately, I never got the recipe from her before she died in 2020. And as it turns out...she never actually wrote down the recipe. But between my grandpa and my aunt, I did get a list of the ingredients...so I just had to kind of wing it as far as how much to use. Grandma also boiled the chicken, but I decided to use my Instant Pot to poach the chicken. So...here's what I ended up coming up with. While it'll never be the same as grandma making it for me...it tastes the same and reminds me of her. <3 Also, zucchini relish is what gives the chicken salad *her* flavor. I found a really good zucchini relish on Etsy that I used for this recipe.

Grandma's Chicken Salad

Ingredients:

4 chicken breasts

4 cups water 

1 tsp salt

1 tsp garlic salt 

1 tsp onion powder

1/2 tsp dill weed

1/2 tsp lemon pepper 

1/2 tsp Worcestershire Sauce 

1 tsp celery seed, divided

1 small yellow onion, chopped

1 1/2 cup Miracle Whip 

1 cup zucchini relish

1/4 tsp salt 

1/4 pepper  

Directions: 

1. Pour water in pressure cooker. Add dill weed, garlic salt, onion powder, lemon pepper, Worcestershire sauce, and 1/2 tsp of celery seed to water and stir. 

2. Place chicken in the pressure cooker. 

3. Lock the lid and cook on high pressure for 7 minutes. 

4. Allow pressure to naturally release for 10 minutes before quick releasing the rest of the pressure. 

5. Allow the chicken to cool then shred (I use my KitchenAid mixer).  

6. Combine the shredded chicken with the miracle whip, yellow onion, zucchini relish, 1/2 tsp celery seed, salt and pepper. Stir until mixed well. 

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Thanksgiving 2021

This year we hosted Thanksgiving at our house for my family. My mom has been sick so she wasn't able to come, but my grandma and my sister and her family joined us for dinner. I made basically the same things as last year, except I doubled the green bean casserole and candied yams recipes (probably didn't actually need to), and then I added a couple more recipes. Johnny made a whole turkey in the oven this year, so I made a spiral cut ham in the pressure cooker. And instead of buying Stouffer's Mac n Cheese, this year I made the Crockpot recipe from my grandma. It was delicious and we had plenty of leftovers! :) 

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Pressure Cooker: Spiral-Cut Ham

Ingredients:

5 lb spiral-cut ham
1 1/2 cups water 

1/2 cup honey 

3 tbs brown sugar 

1 can sliced pineapple 

Heavy-duty aluminum foil

Directions: 

1. Cut a very large piece of aluminum foil (enough to cover the ham completely) and spread it out on the counter. Remove ham from the packaging and place in the middle of the aluminum foil. Fold up the sides around the ham so it will hold liquid.  

2. Open the can of sliced pineapple. Drain the pineapple juice into a bowl. Set pineapple aside. Stir in the honey and brown sugar.

3. Pour about 1/3 of the glaze over the ham. Then carefully pour a little glaze in between each cut of the ham. 

4. Place the pineapple slices on top of the ham then wrap the foil around the ham.  

5. Pour water into the bottom of the pressure cooker. Place the foil-wrapped ham on a trivet in the pressure cooker and lock the lid. 

6. The spiral-cut ham is precooked, so it only needs to be heated. Cook the ham on high pressure for 2 minutes per pound plus 10 minutes to account for the aluminum foil. Then let the pressure release naturally for 10 minutes before releasing the rest of the pressure. 

OPTIONS: You can reduce the remaining liquid to further glaze the ham after it has cooked. You can also broil the ham after cooking for a crust. You can also fancy it up by preparing it with cloves, apricot jelly, etc. 
(this was made in an 8qt oval pressure cooker) 

Creamy Crockpot Mac N Cheese

Ingredients:

1 16 oz package of elbow macaroni, cooked for 6 minutes and drained  
1/2 lb Velveeta, cubed

1/2 stick of butter, sliced 

1 can cheddar cheese soup 

2 cups milk

Directions: 

1. Combine all ingredients in the Crockpot.   
2. Heat on high for about 1 hour, stirring occasionally.  

Recipe: Pressure Cooker Mexican Beef Stew

I made something new tonight for dinner that Johnny thought might be tasty. Like most recipes that I've made (except for a couple of the family recipes I've posted), I took a few recipes I'd found and changed it up a bit. I've found I have a lot more success that way instead of following a recipe as it's written. :) And this was no exception. Johnny loved it! It tastes kind of like taco chili with stew meat. It's delicious! Well...unless you're weird like Ashlyn and my sister and don't like soups. :P 

Pressure Cooker Mexican Beef Stew 

Ingredients:

2.5 lbs of stew meat
4 tbs flour
1 pkg taco seasoning (I use McCormick mild taco seasoning)
2 tbs of oil, divided

1 small yellow onion, chopped
1/2 tsp dried minced garlic
1lb carrots, peeled and cut into large pieces 
1 can beef broth

1 can mild Ro-Tel tomatoes

1 can chili ready tomatoes

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 can tomato sauce 

1 can golden sweet corn 

1 can green beans
top with optional shredded cheddar, chopped green onions, tortilla chips, crackers, etc.

Directions: 
Separate the stew meat into two batches, coat with flour, and sear in 1 tbs of oil in two separate batches. 
Remove stew meat. Sauté onions and minced garlic until onions have browned and softened, then remove. 
Pour beef broth and both cans of tomatoes into the pressure cooker. Add stew meat and onions, carrots, black beans, and corn. Stir in taco seasoning. Pour tomato sauce on top but do not stir.  

Close and lock pressure cooker. Cook on high pressure for 30 minutes. Let pressure release naturally for 15 minutes before  quick releasing the rest of the pressure. 
Remove lid and stir. With the keep warm setting on, add green beans and stir to heat through. 
Serve topped with whatever you like...such as cheese, green onions, and tortilla chips. I actually just topped mine with regular saltine crackers. 

*I used the 6qt Viva Instant Pot for this recipe.

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RECIPE: Instant Pot Creamy Chicken & Noodles

It is SUPER cold outside right now...and Creamy Chicken & Noodles is always a winter favorite in this house. Normally it takes 8 hours in the Crock-Pot, but tonight I made in in the Instant Pot in about an hour total. It's just as delicious but in a lot less time! :) 

Instant Pot Creamy Chicken & Noodles 

Ingredients:

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
4 cans chicken broth

1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, sliced 
2 can cream of chicken soup
24oz Reames Frozen Egg Noodles 

Directions:

1. Pour the chicken broth in the Instant Pot. Add chicken, butter, and cream of chicken soup in that order. Do not stir! 
2. Close the lid and pressure cook on high for 10 minutes. 

3. Allow the pressure to release naturally for 10 minutes, then quick release. 
4. Open the lid and carefully remove chicken, shred, then return to the inner pot.  

5. Add the frozen Reames egg noodles to the inner pot and stir. 

6. Put the lid back on the Instant Pot. Set to "Soup" for 6 minutes. 

7. Allow the pressure to release naturally for 10 minutes. Then quick release remaining pressure, remove lid, and stir again before serving. 

I serve this over mashed potatoes and corn...it's delicious! 

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

Hello 2021!

It's already January 14th and I'm just now writing my first real post of 2021. 

At the end of last week, I was finally able to grab another file for work. It was about 49 minutes long and luckily the audio quality was pretty good. I got it finished and uploaded Tuesday night before I went to bed. Then the queue was pretty dead yesterday, but today I was able to grab a 41 minute file and 46 minute file...both for the same case, which I always like. Hopefully now that the holidays are over, we'll start to see a more steady stream of files coming in...especially now that the Covid19 vaccine is rolling out. It'll be nice to return to some sense of normalcy. 

One thing I hope doesn't return to normal anytime soon is Johnny's ability to work from home! They've been approved to work from home through March 2021, but we're hoping it'll last even longer than that. 

I did some post-Christmas shopping this past weekend! 

My grandparents gave us cash for Christmas and I used part of that to purchase the PowerXL Grill Air Fryer 12-in-1 Combo. I am SO excited to try it out! It just arrived Tuesday and I haven't actually used it yet. It does have a pretty strong plastic smell (which I've seen is typical for air fryers). So I've run it a few times without food in it to try and burn off that smell using apple cider vinegar and lemon juice. I just put it in a dish, set it to 400 degrees for 5 minutes, let cool, repeat as needed...then a final time with just lemon juice to get rid of the vinegar smell (I hate that smell!). I'm really impressed with how quiet it is while running! I think I'm really going to get a LOT of use out of it! 

I also got a gift card from my other grandpa and decided to get an Instant Pot. I currently have the CooksEssentials 8qt oval pressure cooker that my grandma bought almost 15 years ago. It still works great and I've used it A LOT! However, I don't always have a need for a pressure cooker that big...especially now that we're just down to one teenager who is a picky eater anyway. The inner pot is also REALLY heavy. So, I decided to get a smaller pressure cooker to use regularly and then I'll still have the oval pot when I need a larger one. I found the Instant Pot Viva 6qt on sale for $50 so that's what I used my $50 gift card on. I'm glad I got it while I could, because it isn't available at that price anymore. 

I've gotten to the point where our oven/stove could go out...but I could still make almost anything without it. :P Especially since we also have a toaster oven (with a rotisserie that I haven't actually used in the 2 years we've had it). 

I also had a credit on Amazon, so I picked up another spice rack to add to the bottom of our white cabinet. I'm really pleased with how everything is coming together in the kitchen. :) 

Our new TV was also delivered today! :) The TV we've had in the living room has been having some major issues. It started out that every once in awhile when we'd turn it on, it would have "solarized" colors. I tried all the troubleshooting online and the only thing that worked was turning the TV off, holding the power button down for about 10 seconds, and then turning it back on. Then it got to the point that I would have to turn it off and on multiple times before it would go back to normal. Then shortly after that it started turning itself off right after we turned it on. I'd have to turn it on several times to get it to stay on...and quite often the colors would be off and I'd have to go through the process all over again. We got to the point where we had to leave the TV on all the time and rely on the Fire Stick to put the screen in sleep mode without actually turning off the TV. It lasted almost 10 years though...so we got a lot of use out of it. But since it was Christmastime, I asked Johnny if my/our Christmas present this year could be a new TV for the living room. We went from a 47" 1080p to a 65" 4k TV...and it cost less than the old TV did back in 2011! And fun fact...Bozley watches the new TV even more than the old one. ;) 

Well...gotta get back to work! 

RECIPES: Thanksgiving Dinner!

If you're looking for a list of recipes for a complete Thanksgiving meal (at least what our Thanksgiving meal was this year) that doesn't require a whole lot of work...then you've come to the right place! I decided to post them all together in one post instead of making separate posts for each one. 
Note: This was dinner for four people plus leftovers. 

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(left to right, top to bottom) Reame's frozen egg noodles, mashed potatoes, cornbread casserole, green bean casserole, French onion dip with chips, candied yams, banana cake bread, Stovetop stuffing, whole cranberries, Heinz turkey gravy, SteamFresh corn, store-bought pumpkin pie, strawberry whip dream, turkey breast, Hawaiian Rolls, Stouffer's mac n cheese

Pressure Cooker: (Frozen) Turkey Breast

Ingredients:

7 lb young turkey breast with bone and skin, frozen 
1 can chicken broth

1 tsp poultry seasoning

3 tsp celery flakes

1/2 tsp garlic salt 

1/2 tsp paprika

1/4 tsp onion powder

Directions: 

1. Remove turkey breast from the wrapper. Remove gravy packet using hot water and set aside. Pat the turkey dry and place in the pressure cooker. 

2. Mix all of the seasonings together and then rub all over the turkey. 

3. Pour chicken broth into bottom of the pressure cooker pot. Add the turkey.

4. Lock the lid. Cook on high pressure for 45 minutes. 

5. Allow all of the pressure to naturally release completely.  

6. Carefully remove the turkey from the pressure cooker, carve, and enjoy! 

Green Bean Casserole

Ingredients:

2 cans cut green beans, drained 
2 cans Cream of Mushroom soup

1/2 cup milk

1 cup French fried onions 

Directions: 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  
2. Thoroughly mix green beans, soup and milk. Top with French fried onions. 

3. Spread into 2 qt baking dish (mine is 7" by 11"). 
4. Bake for about 15-20 minutes until onions are a dark golden color. 

Cornbread Casserole (recipe from my Grandma)
Ingredients:

1 can cream style corn  

1 can whole kernel corn, drain  

8 oz sour cream  

1 large egg

1 box cornbread muffin mix

Directions: 
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  
2. Mix all ingredients and pour into an 8"x8" baking dish. 

3. Bake for 45 minutes.   

Candied Yams
Ingredients:

40 oz can of Bruce's Yams, drained

1/4 cup butter, sliced into pieces 

1/2 cup brown sugar 

2 cups mini marshmallows 

Directions: 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  

2. Spread yams in an 8" by 8" baking dish. Evenly distribute butter over the yams. 

3. Sprinkle brown sugar on top of the yams and butter. Cover with a layer of marshmallows.

4. Bake for about 15-20 minutes or until marshmallows have browned on top.  

Strawberry Whip Dream
Ingredients:

6 oz strawberry Jell-o mix (not sugar-free!) 

2 cups very hot water

1 3/4 cup cold water 

8 oz Cool Whip, thawed

16 oz sliced, fresh strawberries (plain, no syrup or sugar added) 

Directions: 

1. Pour hot water into 3 qt baking dish. 

2. Stir in Jello-mix until completely dissolved.  

3. Stir in cold water. 

4. Refrigerate for 1 hour. Remove and use hand mixer until Jell-o is very frothy. 

5. Stir in Cool Whip until nice and smooth. 

6. Fold in strawberries. 

7. Return to refrigerator for at least 2 hours or until ready to serve (I left mine in overnight). 

Now...I like to take shortcuts wherever I can...especially when I'm preparing such a big spread. With some things, I just don't want to do more work if I don't have to. The Reame's egg noodles, Stovetop stuffing, Heinz jar of turkey gravy, Bob Evans mashed potatoes, Stouffer's mac n cheese, and Steamfresh corn are all prepared according to the package. The French onion dip is simply a package of Lipton Onion Soup mix stirred together with 16 oz of sour cream. Oh and the banana cake bread recipe I've posted to my blog before. You can find the recipe here. :) 

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! 

Recipe: Pressure Cooker Chicken Lettuce Wraps

I always used to order the lettuce wraps from PF Chang's...and it sounded like a nice summer recipe to make! It turned out very yummy and they're very easy to make. :)

Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Ingredients:

2 lbs ground chicken
1 tbs vegetable oil
1 cup chicken broth
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 cup Hoisin sauce
1/4 cup soy sauce, low sodium 
1 8oz can of water chestnuts, chopped 
1/2 cup long-grain white rice
1-2 heads of lettuce (depending on size), separated by leaf
chopped green onions for garnish
Sriracha sauce if you like some kick

Directions: 

1. Turn pressure cooker to saute. Add oil and brown chicken about five minutes. Stop the saute function and drain before returning chicken to the pressure cooker.  
2. Add chicken broth, garlic powder, Hoisin sauce, soy sauce, water chestnuts, and rice. 
3. Lock the lid and cook on high pressure for 4 minutes. 
4. Allow pressure to release naturally for 10 minutes and then release remaining pressure. 
5. Stir the chicken mixture. Spread a spoonful of the chicken mixture in the middle of a lettuce leaf. Top with green onions and sriracha sauce if desired.

*I used the CooksEssentials 8qt Oval Pressure Cooker for this recipe.

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