Instant Pot Skillet Lasagna

Instant Pot Skillet Lasagna

I love this meal! I do a lot of different versions of this depending on how much time I have and what I have in my pantry. A lot of times I just do it meatless. I like to make my own pasta sauce using tomato paste and seasoning it myself but a jar of pasta sauce works great too. You can use broken up lasagna noodles but I just use whatever pasta I have on hand and it still tastes great. 

.5 lb ground beef (optional) 

1 package pasta OR lasagna noodles(I like to use the organic pasta from Costco, Garofalo brand, because it is thicker and doesn't turn to mush in the instant pot)

1 Large jar of pasta sauce OR 2 cans of tomato paste, basil, oregano, salt, pepper, garlic salt, onion powder, and a dash of red pepper flakes... add 3 cans of extra water if you use the tomato paste

4 cups water

ADD AFTER PRESSURE COOKING:

A handful of mozzarella cheese

Stir in some Parmesan Cheese 

1 cup ricotta cheese

Saute the ground beef until it is browned then deglaze the bottom of the pot with some of the water.  Add the pasta then the 4 cups water and pour the tomato sauce on top.  Cook on MANUAL for 4 minutes high pressure. Quick release the pressure, carefully sometimes it'll sputter some of the liquid.  When pressure is fully release remove the lid and if it is a little to soupy then saute until the liquid is cooked down. Stir in the mozzarella and parmesan cheeses. Add dollops of the ricotta all over the top and sprinkle a little more mozzarella on top. 

Instant Pot Orange Chicken

We LOVE orange chicken, so when I got my Instant Pot I knew I had to convert my normal recipe to make it a meal that we could enjoy more often!  So this is a non-fried version but still really tasty.

You will need:
2-3 chiken breasts, cut into 1-2 inch cubes
1 TBS finely grated ginger
1 TBS finely grated garlic
1/4 cup water
1 1/2 TBS soy sauce
6 TBS vinegar
6 TBS sugar
couple dashes of red pepper flakes, salt and pepper

TO ADD AFTER pressure cooking
1 TBS corn starch
1 TBS cold water
1 tsp sesame oil

Dump first list of ingredients into the pot, mix it up and press Manual button, make sure it is set to high pressure and set for 4 minutes.  When it is done quick release the pressure and press the Saute button.  Mix the cold water and corn starch.  Add in the corn starch mixture and stir until it is thickened up. Mix in the sesame oil.

I saute broccoli, zucchini, shredded carrots, and sugar snap peas in lard or avocado oil with some salt, pepper and soy sauce.  Also serve with fried rice!

P.S.sorry my blog is full of bad pictures

"Instant Pot" Pot Pie Casserole

This one is for you Jake... my loyal reader 😉

Pot Pie Casserole for the instant pot

16oz box/bag of noodles
1 or 2 chicken breasts cubed into 1" pieces
1 small bag of mixed veggies (with carrots, corn and peas)
4 cups water
2 TBS chicken better than bouillon
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp of garlic powder
dash of onion powder

Added AFTER pressure cooking
1 cup heavy cream (when I don't have any I sub for 3/4 cup whole milk, just saute a little longer)

I've been sauteing the chicken in a little avocado oil for a minute or two before cooking but I think it'll be fine just dumping it in so I'm going to try that next time.

So pretty much all you do is dump all of the ingredients into the pot. Set it on pressure cook or manual (high pressure) depending on what model you have for 4 minutes.  Make sure the valve is set to seal and let it do it's thing.  Once it is done Quick release the pressure.  Press the Saute button and add the cream and stir until thickened up!  This is probably the easiest instant pot meal I make!

Stay tuned for non-fried orange chicken, tamales, coconut chicken curry and other instant pot meals!!

Salt Potatoes

This one is really easy and very yummy. We used to get these when we went to the Hill Cumorah Pageant, they were smothered in butter and so so good! I made them for the first time for thanksgiving and they were great!

Salt Potatoes

Small bite sized potatoes (the bag I have is 28 oz so I'll do a recipe based off of that)

1 cup of salt

3 TBS butter

4-5 Cups water

Wash the potatoes, leaving the skin on. Place water and potatoes in a large pot. Pour the salt over the potatoes...yes, it is a LOT! Don't worry most of it is left in the pot, but it leaves a beautiful layer on the skin of each potato! Cover and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium and let it cook for about 25 minutes or until the potatoes are tender (stick a fork in it, if it glides through it's done). Serve with melted butter!

Roasted Potato Wedges

These are really good and so easy, the only thing is that you need to plan ahead of time because they do take a while to cook. I found this recipe here.

Roasted Potato Wedges

4 red or gold potatoes

1 TBS olive oil

2 TBS bread crumbs

1 TBS Parmesan Cheese

Seasonings- I use parsley, salt, and pepper with just a little garlic and onion powder

You could also use Italian style bread crumbs instead of plain for a different flavor.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Wash potatoes and slice them into wedges. Place into a medium sized bowl and toss them in olive oil until they are well coated. Add the bread crumbs, Parmesan, and seasonings. Mix until it is evenly coated. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until desired crispiness, flipping halfway through. I usually do 15 minutes then flip then and then another 15 minutes and that is enough time, it also depends on the thickness of your wedges. You want the coating to be browned and the potatoes to be soft.

English Toffee

Here is a treat sure to impress and perfect for the holidays! It has very few ingredients and is easy to make! Growing up my mom always made this during Christmas time along with lots of other goodies to hand out to neighbors and friends. It is definitely a favorite!

English Toffee

1 C sugar

2 TBS water

1/2 lbs ( 2 sticks) real butter

2 C chocolate chips

1/2 C chopped nuts

Combine first three ingredients in sauce pan. Stir on high until amber color (dark yellow turning brown). If you don't cook it long enough it will be sugary and grainy. I always cook it a little longer than I think it needs because I start to get a little panicked that it is going to burn and take it off too early so let it keep cooking until it is a really nice amber color!!

Pour onto cookie sheet. Spread smooth. Immediately put chocolate on, let melt and spread evenly on top of the toffee.

Sprinkle nuts on, I usually leave some without nuts because I prefer it that way. Let it set. When cool break into pieces by putting knife in straight up and bringing knife down.

Freezer Cooking: Chicken

First off, I'm so sorry I haven't posted in a while and that my posts have been scarce. My life has been pretty crazy, but hopefully I can keep up with the blog a little better in the future!

So I did my first ever freezer cooking day a few weeks ago! It has made sticking to my menu SO much easier!

I bought 20lbs of chicken breast and made all chicken meals, I thought it'd be better for me if I focused on one main thing.

I spent the night before cutting all of the fat and nasty stuff off and stuck it all into 2 gallon size freezer bags. That always takes me forever because I'm so picky about getting every little thing off, so I wanted to get it done so I could just focus on cooking the next day.

Everything I bought:

20 lbs Chicken

1 lb Bacon

25-30 thin slices of ham

flour tortillas (10 pack)

sour cream

Chicken Bouillon

1 head of broccoli

1 can of Green enchilada sauce

I had a some stuff already I'll try to remember all of it so you aren't missing something if you want to make these same meals

Basic Ingredients for bread- Bread flour, sugar, rapid rise yeast, salt

Provolone cheese - at least 6 slices

Shredded Cheddar cheese (for enchiladas and a little bit for the stromboli)

Cream Cheese

Shredded Mozzarella Cheese

Shredded Parmesan/Romano cheese (or just Parmesan)

Mr. Yoshida's Marinade (or any other Teryaki sauce/marinade)

Cajun seasoning

Dry Italian dressing mix packet

Butter (about a stick and a half should be enough)

salt and pepper

Milk

Freezer bags- I have a lot of qt sized so I mostly used those, probably 12-15 of them, plus 6 gallon sized ones and a few regular storage bags for the pizza ingredients that go inside the gallon bags)

Here is what I finished with:

2 Chicken Alfredo Pizza Kits

4 Stromboli

3 meals of stuffed chicken for Cordon Bleu

2 bags of cubed (raw) chicken to use for Orange Chicken

3 bags of marinated chicken tenders (Italian, Cajun, and Teriyaki)

2 dishes of chicken enchiladas

I also had 4 bags of plain shredded chicken to use for other random meals

So far we've tried the Stromboli and chicken Alfredo pizza... YUMMY! I also used both of the bags of cubed chicken for orange chicken... I love that stuff!!

I put 8 lbs in the crock pot on low and let that cook for 5 hours or so, flipping pieces around ever 1.5 hrs.

Find the 6 largest chicken breasts, stuff with ham and cheese, rub salt and pepper on the outsides and put 2 in each freezer bag.

Cut the rest of the breasts into tenders and cubes.

I put 7-9 tenders (I cut them kinda too small on accident) into each bag (total of 3 bags). One with Mr. Yoshida's marinade, one with an Italian dressing packet mixed with 2 TBS butter, and the last with some Cajun seasoning mixed with 2 TBS butter... we'll see how those turn out I've never tried this before!

For the cubes just cut it into 1-2 inch cubes and do 1-2lbs in each bag.

When Chicken in the crock pot is done take out and put directly into the kitchen aid with a whisk attachment (I do a few breasts at a time) and turn it on high for 7-10 seconds, until it is all shredded. Pour into a big bowl.

Mix up 6 batches of pizza dough, separate and put 2 balls directly into freezer bags and freeze. I used the Pantry Secrets Bread Recipe that can be purchased here but I can't share... sorry! A basic Pizza dough recipe will work!

I made up a cream of chicken sauce to go in the enchiladas and Stromboli so I mixed that up as follows:

6 TBS butter

7-8 TBS flour

1 1/2 C Chicken broth (I used water mixed with bouillon)

3 C Milk

a dash of salt (only if needed mine was pretty salty from the chicken bouillon)

Melt the butter in a large sauce pan, using a wire whisk, mix in the flour until it is thickened but not clumping, you need to put enough though so that it will thicken up enough with all of the liquid you are going to add. Let it brown over med-high heat (you want it browned just slightly... don't burn it! ). Whisk in the Chicken broth (have the milk ready also) slowly but consistently, giving it time to thicken up but before it has the chance to clump up you want to keep pouring. When you've used up the broth start with the milk, same thing keep pouring it in until it stops clumping and it is a nice consistency, you want it thick like gravy. Taste it and add a little salt if needed.

Set aside to use later.

Wash and cut the broccoli put a little water in the bottom of a container and steam it in the microwave for 2 minutes, until mostly done. Divide it into 4 equal amounts.

Roll out one of the dough balls into approx. 10x12. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Put a handful (don't need a lot) of shredded chicken in a strip down the middle, topped with 3-4 pieces of ham, you can break it up a little to make it easier to eat. Then put some broccoli in with a handful of shredded cheese. Last ladle some of the cream of chicken sauce over it. take the ends and fold them in and fold one side over and bring the other side all the way over and seal as best as you can. Put it seam side down on a large cookie sheet. Repeat that 3 more times with the other Stromboli. Use 2 separate cookie sheets because you don't want them to touch at all... I put all of mine on the same one and it was a disaster trying to separate them to freeze.. luckily I salvaged them but learn from my mistake and make sure they aren't touching when you bake them!

Cut 3 large slits in the top (see picture above) and bake them for 15 minutes or so... until the bread is pretty much done, let them cool, then freeze separately in gallon size freezer bags. (I took mine out and let it thaw for like 2 hours then baked it at 350 until the middle was warm... it took a while like 30 minutes or so and the bread got a little hard but it was still really good!)

While those are cooking you can start on the pizza kits by making Alfredo sauce, pretty much the same technique as the sauce we just made but different ingredients. Divide it between 2 bags and put into a gallon size bag to start the pizza kit.

Put enough mozzarella for one pizza into a bag x2 and mix in some Parmesan/Romano. Put 8 slices of uncooked bacon into 2 little Ziploc (4 in each) and add to the gallon bags.

Put some shredded chicken (I put a big handful in each) into 2 Ziplocs and add that to the bag and then your pizza kits are ready for the freezer!

Lastly do the chicken enchiladas. I just did 2 8x8 pans with 5 enchiladas each!

If you have shredded chicken leftover put 1-2 cups in freezer bags to add into casseroles or tacos!!