multi-pot

Soup Time! Instant Pot* Chicken Tortilla Soup

/ TaMara

This soup is one of my favorites.  Quick, easy and full of goodness.  And using the electric pressure cooker makes an easy recipe even easier.

I was being overrun with tomatoes, and then our heatwave broke with a nice cold, rainy weekend. Perfect time to start some soup.

Chicken Tortilla Soup

  • 4 boneless chicken breasts, cubed**
  • 8 cups of water
  • 2 tbsp red wine vinegar
  • 2 tbsp orange  juice
  • 1 tbsp limejuice
  • ½ tsp ea. – Mexican oregano, basil, rosemary
  • 1 tsp crushed garlic
  • 1 large chopped green, yellow, or red pepper
  • 1 to 4 jalapenos chopped (depending on the heat you like)
  • 1/4 tsp red chili pepper flakes
  • 12 oz frozen sliced carrots
  • 8 oz frozen green beans
  • 2 celery stalks, chopped
  • 1/2 small onion
  • 16 oz frozen sweet corn
  • 14 oz canned or fresh tomatoes
  • 1 cup fresh cilantro, washed and chopped
  • ½ cup shredded cheddar cheese
  • 4 flour small flour tortillas
  • salt and pepper to taste

Instant pot, Multi-Pot or *any electric pressure cooker

Continue reading →

Instant Pot Chicken Noodle Soup

/ TaMara / 4 Comments

Cool weather has settled in and I’ve had a pot of soup on most days. Today I felt like some simple, quick chicken noodle.

Easy Chicken Noodle Soup

  • 8 cups water
  • 12 oz sliced carrots (I used frozen)
  • 2 stalks of celery, sliced
  • 1 lb boneless chicken breast, cubed
  • 1/2 onion, diced
  • 2 tsp crushed garlic
  • 2 tsp dried poultry seasoning
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 8 oz egg noodles

electric pressure cooker (instant pot, multi-pot, etc), blender Continue reading →

Holiday Dinner Menu: Flank Steak Pinwheels

/ TaMara

What’s on your plate for this holiday weekend (how did that happen)? Are you sad summer is waning or is fall more your season? Most importantly, whatcha cookin’?

This steak is easy to make in the oven, but I thought I’d try it on the grill this time. Works great – just remember to cook it away from the coals or turn the grill off if it’s electric, like mine.

Flank Pinwheel Prep Final

This steak can be prepped the day before, just wrap each one tightly in plastic wrap. Makes it great for a date night, anniversary or small dinner party. I pan-seared and finished in the oven/on the grill in the same pan, because of the cheese. The reward was great pan drippings when I was finished, which I drizzled over the potatoes before serving.

Flank Steak Pinwheels Final

On the board:

  • Flank Steak Pinwheels
  • Grilled Sweet Corn
  • 4-Minute Potato Salad (recipe here)
  • Fresh Sliced Peaches

Flank Steak Pinwheels

  • 1 large flank steak, butterflied
  • salt and pepper
  • crushed garlic (at least 2 cloves)
  • 8 oz sliced provolone cheese
  • 1 bunch washed and dried spinach leaves
  • 8 wooden skewers
  • olive oil

Cast iron skillet Continue reading →

Instant Pot: Beef and Barley Soup

/ TaMara

 

JeffreyW makes mouths water with this photo of his Beef and Barley Soup (with bonus Foccacia recipe here)

For the stovetop version, click here.

It has been unseasonably warm here, but I still wanted soup. Checked the freezer and I had a cross-rib roast, that would do since there was not a secret stash of chuck roast tucked away. All the other ingredients were handy, so Beef and Barley soup was it.

I added a potato, diced small, just because.

Beef & Barley Vegetable Soup

  • olive oil
  • 1 lb chuck, cut into small cubes
  • 1/2 small onion, diced
  • 2 tsp crushed garlic
  • 14 oz of tomatoes (fresh or canned)
  • 8 cups of water (or water and vegetable broth**)
  • 12 oz sliced carrots (frozen ok)
  • 12 oz green beans (frozen ok)
  • 3 stalks of celery, chopped
  • 1/2 cup barley
  • 1/4 tsp cayenne
  • 1/2 tsp ground pepper
  • 1/2 to 1 tsp salt (more as desired)
  • 2 bay leaves (remove before serving)

large saucepan

Heat oil in the instant pot on the sauté setting. Sauté onions for 1 minute, add beef and brown on all sides, add garlic and sauté for 1 minute making sure not to burn the garlic. Add remaining ingredients.  Set the pot to Soup/Stew setting and cook for 35 to 40 minutes, until barley is tender.  Use natural release method.

Serve with biscuits or cornbread.

**For vegetable broth,  I blend the tomatoes, and an additional 6 oz of carrots, 6 oz of green beans, 2 stalks of the celery, 1 cup water into a smooth puree, to make a hearty base for the soup.  I like the hearty stock.

Yum.

It’s soup season, so here are a few more: Tomato Soup and Grilled Cheese,  Chicken Tortilla Soup, and Minestrone with Tiny Meatballs

 

Locked Down Cooking: Raiding the Freezer

/ TaMara / 2 Comments

I’m trying to clean out the freezer, using up items before my weekly shopping trip. Since I can’t run out to pick up something I may have forgotten, I’ve had to get creative as I cook. Here are two meals made from what was in the house on those days.

My favorite Oven-Baked Fried Chicken and mashed potatoes, with a little twist: smoked brisket gravy. The thing about oven-baked chicken is there’s not enough drippings to make a good gravy. But in my freezer, I had little secret ingredient to make a great, smoky gravy: burnt ends. These were leftover from my very first smoked brisket.  Continue reading →

Instant Pot: Turkey Noodle Soup

/ TaMara

I found a really good deal on lean ground turkey and packaged most of it up to store in the freezer. While I was there, I decided it was time to make some space, so I pulled out the turkey broth I made from Thanksgiving leftovers.

Ground turkey ✔
Turkey Broth ✔

Time for some turkey noodle soup! And it was mmmm, mmmm, good.

Turkey Noodle Soup

  • 1 lb ground turkey
  • 8 cups of liquid – a combination of turkey or chicken broth and water
  • 16 oz frozen vegetables – you can add a bag of mixed veggies. I used carrots and green beans
  • 2 stalks of celery, chopped
  • 1/4 cup celery leaves, chopped (opt)
  • 1/2 small onion, chopped
  • 10 oz egg noodles
  • 2 tsp crushed garlic
  • 2 tsp sage
  • 3 tsp poultry seasoning
  • salt and pepper to taste (you’ll probably need 1/2 tsp of each for the ground meat and more for the soup itself)

Add salt, pepper and 1 tsp poultry seasoning to turkey and mix well. Continue reading →

Multi Pot: Chicken and Dumplings

/ TaMara

I’ve updated my Chicken and Dumpling recipe for the Instant Pot/Multi-Pot version.

Creamy Chicken & Dumplings

  • 2 boneless chicken breasts*
  • 4 boneless chicken thighs*
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 sprigs of parsley
  • 2 stalks of celery, chopped, w/leaves
  • 8 oz carrots
  • 1 small onion, chopped
  • 2 tsp salt
  • ½ tsp pepper
  • 32 oz chicken broth or water
  • 1 tbsp flour
  • 1 tbsp butter
  • 1 cup milk or cream

Instant pot (I have a Multi-Pot)

Cut chicken into large pieces. Heat oil with the saute feature, add chicken and brown. Add remaining ingredients (except flour, butter & milk). Set to soup setting and pressure cook for 20 minutes.  Let pressure release naturally. Continue reading →