Cheesy Chicken Rice Pressure Cooking!

Evening friends!  I hope this finds everyone well, sane, and keeping up the health precautions recommended.  I pray nothing but the best for you all!

As you may or may not know from my last post, I got a Crock Pot, Multi-Cooker for Mother's Day!  YASSSSS!  Seriously!!  I was never going to jump on this pressure cooking bandwagon and I did good for 3 or 4 years, but....I WAAAAAAANTED one!

I wanted to create a recipe that was quarantine friendly.  Pantry and freezer staples that I thought you might already have on hand.  I tried a recipe from a blog I will not name and was a mess.  A MESS.  I did some tweaking, changed ingredients and measurements and it was delish..  I made it again, for this video and post and it was AMAZING!  My grand-babies went nuts for it, my husband AND myself.  That being said, with 5 people eating we still had half left.  It makes a good size batch but leftovers are da bomb!

Let's make this one short and sweet so I can get this out to you and figure out the next pressure cooker experiment!  Sorry I am late to the Instapot/Multi-cooker/Pressure Cooking life, but I am officially here for it now!

3-4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite size pieces
1T butter
1T oil (veg or olive)
2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
3 cups chicken broth
2 cups long grain rice (NOT instant)
1-1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 can cream of chicken soup

Set your pot on saute.  Melt butter and oil.  Add in chicken and stir while it gets some color.  Add in salt and pepper.  There is no need to cook chicken all the way through.  Just get it browned up a bit and then add chicken broth, and rice.  Stir.  Place lid on pressure cooker, lock, and make sure your steam valve is CLOSED.   Using your MANUAL button or the button assigned to that function, adjust time to 6 minutes.  Now we wait!

When it is done and has come down from pressure, remove lid away from you and add in soup and cheese.  Stir completely and eat dinner!  We ate this with a big huge salad and it was perfect!
Remember leftovers rock and so do second day leftovers!

I hope you enjoy this recipe.  Oh and YES  you can use boneless skinless thighs!

ENJOY!

Slow Cooker Sticky Chicken!

More slow cooker recipes!  You asked for them, so I am trying to oblige you!  I am taking a few of our family favorites, that I never used a slow cooker for, and use the slow cooker for quicker, hearty meals that families and especially kids will love!!

This "sticky chicken" as we call it, is DELICIOUS.  I am not sure why we started calling it that, but we did, and the name has "stuck". 
Hardy har har......  
Sometimes we eat it over rice, sometimes over egg noodles.  The awesome thing about this recipe is, it will feed an army, AND the leftover options are endless.   I have taken leftovers, added more stock, carrots, celery, and whatever rice or noodles are left for soup, I have added carrots, peas, potatoes, celery and slapped it in a  pie crust for pot pie.  I have also added chili powder, cheese, and cumin, and turned it into chicken enchiladas.  I mean, you get my drift, you don't have to have the same leftovers again the next night.

On a side note.  This whole "shredding" thing, really REALLY sends me over the edge.  I know I could use my fingers however, usually I am not patient enough to let things cool enough for that.  By the way, as I type this, my mouth is watering and I have chicken skin (goose bumps) just thinking about it.  If I use two forks, and the tines get stuck in each other, it almost sends me into shock.  I am the woman who can't put silverware away in a drawer because it touches each other  (now my teeth hurt) and the sound, OMG the sound.  OK, I can't talk about it anymore.

Here is this easy recipe that is probably one of the most versatile recipes on my website as far as leftover remakes!

4lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can cream of celery soup
1 cup chicken stock
1 T. onion powder
1 tsp. garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste
parsley to sprinkle on top if you choose

Place chicken breasts into your slow cooker.  In a bowl combine, soups, stock, onion powder, garlic powder and salt and pepper.  You may want to wait on the salt since the canned soups are fairly sodium laden (hangs head in shame).  Mix ingredients until completely combined.  Pour over chicken, flip chicken around in the mixture, cover, and set your slow cooker on high for 3-4 hours or low for 6-7 hours.  When it is done, remove chicken to a plate and shred.

When it is all shredded, add back into your creamy gravy-ish mixture and stir. 

Serve over rice or egg noodles.  We love both but did egg noodles this time!

I know this photo isn't the greatest, sometimes that just happens, but trust me when I tell you, it is comforting, filling and plain old good for the tummy!

ENJOY!

Slow Cooker Italian Style Stuffed Peppers

Ok so here is the scenario.............

You are invited to your kids house for dinner.  Your daughter in law and son are both good cooks.  But when you walk in the house  you just know THIS time is going to be different.  You sit down to dinner, and literally moan and groan over each bite of deliciousness.  This is what happened to me. 

My daughter in law and I have a great relationship.  Shocked? HA!  Oh we butt heads, we disagree, but, I just adore her strength, her mothering, her sense of humor, she is just a delight.  (sometimes a sick little delight) ROFL  Anyway, she was kind enough to tell me how she made these stuffed peppers and said that her mom-mom (eastie speak for grandma btw) has made these for years, ths way. 

I am not sure I recall my mom ever making stuffed peppers, I only had eaten them as an adult.  And I have a strange relationship with bell peppers.  If they are cooked, I want them to resemble mush.  If they are warm and crisp tender, I might hurl.  Cold and crispy or hot and soft.  Those are their only chance with me!  Kayla had said she left hers in to long, psshhh......not a chance, they were perfection!  My measurements and such may not be the same as hers but I got the whole idea and made them to share with you. 

I like the idea of the Italian style, I served mine with a little pasta and that heavenly sauce that took on the roasted pepper flavor, was nectar from the Gods.  It tasted VERY much like my Roasted Tomato and Red Pepper Marinara.  It was like a meatball, in a smooshy pepper, on some pasta, topped with this sauce, and my goodness was it a delight.

Make these, in your SLOW COOKER!!  I swear it is what this kitchen appliance was MADE for!

This recipe makes 6 peppers.  I used a couple of different colors, for interest.  But next time, I am sticking with green on this one, not generally what I would choose but they hold up the best in my opinion!

You will need:

2lbs lean ground beef
3/4 cup regular rice (not minute)
1 tbsp. Italian seasoning
1 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
6 bell peppers
4-6 cups of your favorite marinara/spaghetti sauce

In a large bowl combine ground beef, rice, Italian seasoning, onion powder, garlic powder, salt, and pepper.  Get your hands in there, become one with your food!! Mix until completely combined.  Set aside.

To prepare your peppers, cut the tops off, just beneath the stems.  Use a spoon to scrape out the sides and membranes (the white stuff), rinse and repeat. 

Now start stuffing.  This will depend on size, but I had exactly the right amount of stuffing to exactly fill all 6 peppers.  You can take some, add some, whatever you need to do to fill your peppers. 

Spray the inside of your slow cooker with nonstick cooking spray, it just makes clean up easier.  Place the peppers in the crock pot, and pour over your spaghetti sauce.  Make sure each is topped with sauce and there is some standing in the bottom.  Put the lid on and cook for 4 hours on high or 6-8 on low.  Now by all means, don't cook these quite as long if you want a more crisp pepper.

Serve with some crusty bread, or pasta, or both!  These are a delicious version of stuffed peppers and I do hope you give it a try!

Thanks Kay for your recipe!  Love you toots!

ENJOY!