Spaghetti Squash in the Instant Pot

I love hard squash, but cooking them always required some planning since they take a good 45 minutes baking in the oven. The Instant Pot makes this job so quick and easy!

Spaghetti Squash cooked in the Instant Pot

1. Place rack in instant pot and add a cup of water.

2. Cut squash in half and remove seeds. I have heard of people skipping this step and just cooking it whole, but I would rather deal with the "squash guts" raw than cooked and even more slimy, so I remove them first. My chickens love them. :D

3. Place the halves in the Instant Pot. I am able to fit two small squash in my 6-quart pot! Close the lid and close the seal.

4. Press the "manual" button and cook at high pressure for 5 minutes, then release the pressure.

5. Scrape out the squash with a fork. If you prefer your squash to be softer, you can cook another minute but I like it to be more firm and not mushy.

I love to eat this with marinara sauce, or sauteed with butter and garlic. I also make the Loaded Spaghetti Squash Casserole from the Trim Healthy Mama Cookbook and it is amazing.

Vegetable Soup in the Instant Pot

I recently did a month-long "pantry challenge" where I challenged myself to try to use as much as I could from the freezer and pantry, minimizing trips to the grocery store and then only for fresh produce as needed.

Following that rule, I made vegetable soup! It was so easy and we made grilled cheese sandwiches to go with it. By cooking in the Instant Pot, it tastes like it cooked all day but really it only took 45 minutes from start to finish.

If you don't already have an Instant Pot, you can use a regular slow cooker or just make it on the stove and let it simmer a while. But really, you should get an Instant Pot. ;)

Vegetable Soup in the Instant Pot

2 Tbsp Olive Oil
1 Onion, diced
2 cloves Garlic, minced
2 stalks Celery, diced
3 Carrots, sliced
2-3 cups of Vegetables (I used green beans and corn since I had them on hand, plus some shredded zucchini I found in the fridge. I add peas if I have them, and sometimes diced potatoes if I'm not worried about carbs)
2 cans Diced Tomatoes
2 cups Stock (I used chicken stock from the freezer, but would use water if I needed to make it vegetarian)
2 cans V-8 Juice
Herbs and Spices such as Oregano, Basil, Marjoram, Parsley, Thyme, Bay Leaf  (I added all of these, probably a tablespoon of the first 4 and a teaspoon of thyme, plus 1 bay leaf)
Salt & Pepper to taste

Push the Saute button on the Instant Pot, and saute the onion, garlic, celery and carrots in olive oil for a few minutes until the onions are tender.

Turn the IP off and add the rest of the ingredients. Give it a stir, place the lid, turn the valve to "sealed" and push the Soup button. Mine automatically set for 30 minutes and I thought that sounded good. Dinner is done!

Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes

Mashed potatoes - delicious and simple, but kind of a pain to make. How many times have I burned my fingers trying to remove hot potatoes from hot water? Then there's the variability of cooking time - you want them done but not TOO done, and then you don't want them to sit in that water and end up with pasty mashed potatoes. It can be a bit stressful.

No more of that! Using the Instant Pot makes it so easy. Cooking the potatoes in the instant pot with the milk makes it so simple, and there's nothing to drain! I hope to never boil potatoes for mashing again.

Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes

4lbs Potatoes, peeled and cut into quarters
1/2 cup Milk (I used Buttermilk)
1/2 tsp Salt (to taste)
1 tsp Pepper

Toss the peeled, quartered potatoes into the instant pot. Add milk, salt and pepper. Close the lid, turn the seal so it's closed, and push the Manual button and adjust the time down to 10 minutes. When it's done, release the pressure. Add butter to taste, and mash with a potato masher right in the pot. Done!

If you prefer to whip your potatoes, you can still keep this a one-pot dish and use your hand mixer right in the instant pot insert. :)

Easy Shredded Chicken

How many times do you want to make a recipe and realize one of the ingredients is cooked chicken? I used to sigh and toss those recipes aside, as I knew I didn't have time to do double cooking - who wants to cook chicken and then cook a whole meal? I also hated dicing or shredding the hot chicken. I always burned my fingers doing that, or if I waited until it was cool I could dice it but shredding it was a total pain.

Enter my kitchenaid mixer. I'll never forget the day I realized I could use the paddle attachment to shred my chicken for me. What a life saver! I can throw the hot cooked chicken breasts right in and the mixer shreds them up easily. The key is to do quick bursts of the mixer, don't just turn it on full blast or it'll throw the chicken right out of the bowl. Put a few breasts in, pulse it until you like the level of shredding, then dump it into a large bowl to the side and do the next few breasts. Repeat until it's all shredded.

SO for a while after this realization, I would boil boneless skinless chicken and then shred it in my mixer. Then I would do large batches in my crock pot, which was great, but it took all day to cook them. Still better than boiling, but not fast.

THEN I got my Instant Pot. Hello! Now I don't even have to deal with boiling chicken anymore! I can cook 5 lbs of chicken at once - I just throw it in the instant pot with some water, set it to pressure cook, and walk away.

I actually keep cooked, shredded chicken in my freezer now so I can use it in recipes as needed. I even keep some seasoned with taco seasoning. So convenient!

Whichever method you use to cook your chicken is fine. I highly recommend the Instant Pot for cooking chicken because it's so fast and easy but if you don't have one, go ahead and use the crock pot if you have time, or boil it on the stove if you are in a hurry.

Chicken Casserole

This is based on the classic recipe my mom always made for people when they were recovering from surgery or just had a new baby. It's my go-to comfort food, especially when the weather gets cold.

I have altered it to remove the cream of chicken soup, and instead use sour cream. I also use brown rice but white rice is in the original, and usually use chicken breasts instead of a whole chicken because I keep those on hand. This recipe is gluten-free as long as you leave off the breadcrumb topping.

Chicken Casserole

2-3 Chicken breasts, cooked and chopped*
2-3 boiled Eggs, chopped
1 small Onion, chopped
1 cup Chicken Broth (if you boil the chicken breasts, just cook the leftover water down and use this)
2/3 cup Sour Cream
3 cups Rice, cooked (any kind is fine, and mixing types is great too)
1/2 tbsp Salt
1/2 tsp Pepper
2/3 cup Mayo

Topping (optional)
4 tbsp Butter
1 cup Breadcrumbs 

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl, and pour into 13x9 pan. Bake at 400* for 35 minutes or until golden brown.

* The easiest way to cook chicken breasts is in an electric pressure cooker like an Instant Pot. I'll never boil chicken again! I put frozen chicken breasts in with about half a cup of water, pushed the "Poultry" button and in 15 minutes they were cooked perfectly.

Shredding hot cooked chicken is easier than chopping it, using an electric mixer. I describe how to do that here.

Hardboiled eggs get the Instant Pot treatment now, too! Set your eggs on the IP rack, add a cup of water. Seal and cook under pressure for 5 minutes, NPR 5 minutes, then release. Your eggs will be perfectly cooked and easy to peel.

Beef Stew (gluten free)

This is one of our favorite meals and everyone in the family loves it! It's easily adaptable for different diets. Feel free to drop or sub different veggies if you are trying to reduce carbs. Some recipes coat the beef in flour before browning, but I skip that part and don't miss it, so this recipe is even gluten-free.

I love to make this in my Instant Pot. It cooks so fast yet tastes like it simmered all day.

Beef Stew

1 lb Beef Stew Meat (any roast cut into chunks is fine)
2 Tbsp Oil of your choice (I use refined coconut oil or olive oil, veg or canola is fine if you use those)
1 Onion, diced
2-3 cloves Garlic, minced
2 cups Beef Broth (or water)
1-2 cans Diced Tomatoes
1 quart V8 Vegetable Juice
3 cups Veggies, fresh or frozen. Classic options would be Carrots, Celery, Potatoes, Green Beans, Peas, and Corn. Alternative options could be Zucchini, Sweet Potatoes, or Rutabagas.
1 Tbsp Oregano
1 Tbsp Marjoram
1 Bay Leaf
Salt and Pepper to taste

Instant Pot directions: 

Push the "Saute" button and brown all sides of the beef in the oil. Add the rest of the ingredients, stir, and close the pot. Make sure the valve is closed for pressure. Push the "Meat/Stew" button and let the Instant Pot do all the work for you!

For Stovetop Cooking:

Heat oil on medium and brown meat on all sides. Add onions and saute until they soften. Add beef broth, scraping the bottom of the pot to deglaze it, and let simmer while you prepare the veggies.

Add remaining ingredients and bring to a boil, then cover and reduce to a simmer. The meat will get more tender as it simmers so it's nice if you can let it cook for at least half an hour or longer. Taste it for any needed salt. Depending on your V8 and Beef Broth, you may need to add some. Enjoy!

This can be made in the crock pot, but I recommend not skipping the first section where you brown the beef and cook the onions with it. After that point, when you add the veggies and herbs, you can throw it all into the crock pot on low for several hours. It also freezes really well. Sometimes I will get a bulk amount of stew beef and make a large batch of Beef Stew to freeze.

Barbacoa-Style Shredded Beef

We recently had a couple of Chipotle restaurants open and we went a few times. I always got the burrito bowl with chicken. My husband always got this mysterious thing called "barbacoa". He kept encouraging me to try it but I declined, enjoying my safe chicken. Finally I tried it and I haven't ordered chicken since. Love it. Totally addicted. Had to figure out how to make it myself or go broke eating at Chipotle. This is DELICIOUS and tastes just as good. :) Hooray!

Barbacoa-style Shredded Beef

Start with a chuck roast. Anywhere between 2-4 lbs is fine. I usually go for bigger because I like leftovers to make more meals. Cut it in half and trim most of the visible fat. Place in slow cooker or instant pot.

In food processor or vitamix, puree the following:

1/2 Onion
1/4 cup Lime Juice

1/4 cup Tomato Paste
4 cloves Garlic
1 1/2 Tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar
2 tsp Cumin
2 tsp Salt
1 tsp Oregano
1 tsp Cloves or Allspice

Pour the puree over the roast in the slow cooker. Pour about a cup of Beef Broth on top, and drop a few Bay Leaves.

Cook on low for 7 hours. When it's done, shred it with two forks and put it back into the amazing sauce in the slow cooker that was created during cooking. Keep on low for another couple of hours to really soak up the flavor of the sauce. 

Serve! I've had it plain, in a burrito bowl like Chipotle, on a salad, in soup, the list goes on and I will be blogging some of my ideas here in the future. Enjoy!