My Trip to King Arthur Flour

So even just writing the title to this post makes me smile from ear to ear!

King Arthur Flour Baking School

I got to go to the one, the only KING ARTHUR FLOUR (KAF) in Norwich, Vermont and it was awesome.  Let me tell you all about it. :-)

This little adventure started back in December when I got a birthday card with instructions on the outside to not open until my husband got home.  Do you know how hard that is?  To check the mail at 3pm and have to wait until 7pm to open it knowing at this point that it had to be something good!  Ack, I was dying with anticipation.  Well, my most awesome friend MJ who lives in the Boston area had conspired with my husband to put together the most incredible birthday surprise ever -- a girl's weekend away to King Arthur Flour.  Many thanks to her, her husband and, of course, my husband for making me feel so special.

I flew to Boston by myself, with just a carry-on (I felt like I was missing something or lots of somethings!) on a Friday and we drove up to Vermont the next day.  After a delicious lunch in the KAF Cafe, MJ and I proceeded to class -- Rolls: Sweet and Savory.  On the menu were sweet orange rolls and savory focaccia rolls.  Our instructor, Becca, had been working at KAF for 10 years, starting in the bakery on the 3am shift and then moving over to the Baking School.  She knew her way around the kitchen and yeast dough.

Mixing dough by hand, Finished sweet orange rolls, Focaccia squares ready to bake

The class format was pretty relaxed.  Becca took us through a recipe at her work station and then we each returned to our work stations to make our own batch.  Ingredients and tools were all provided at the table so there was no need to look around for anything.  Dishes were picked up when we finished and taken away to be washed.  We made the sweet orange rolls dough, made the savory focaccia roll dough, took a coffee break and then came back to finish up our creations.  The orange roll dough got rolled into a rectangle and filled with a butter and orange zest/oil filling and rolled up like a cinnamon roll while the focaccia was ever so gently patted out and cut into squares so as to preserve the air pockets.  To speed the process along, the dough was placed in a giant proofing box and then later baked in a giant walk-in oven (it is a bakery after all).  The best part -- every participant got to take home her cooking untouched as we sampled the instructor's finished products.  My family was happy to see me when I flew home and even happier to eat my creations!

Even though I've been making yeast dough for a couple of years now (my first attempt is now known as the hockey puck incident of 2007) I learned quite a bit.  I have always used my KitchenAid stand mixer with dough hook to make my dough but it was surprisingly easy to make the dough by hand.  Multiple times throughout the dough making process, if I had been at home, I would have added more flour as the dough seemed too sticky.  Luckily, our instructor coached me not to and just like magic with some gentle kneading and a light flour dusting of the work surface the dough became smooth and elastic.  Had I been using the stand mixer or added more flour it could have become overworked or too heavy which would have results in a dense final product.  There was also a very informative discussion about using the water temperature to help control the speed of the dough rising through the yeast activation.  If you need the dough to take longer to rise (errands to run or other things to do) use cooler water.  Makes perfect sense but not something I had considered previously.

Overall it was a great weekend with a great friend.  If you happen to be in the Northeast, try and check out King Arthur Flour, maybe to take a baking class, maybe to try one of their raspberry danishes.  You won't be disappointed either way.  And since you're in Vermont and it's a small state, make sure to stop by some other fun little tourist spots like Ben & Jerry's, Vermont Teddy Bear Company, Maple Grove Farms, Dartmouth College (technically in New Hampshire), and Simon Pearce glass

King Arthur Flour Baking School

Recipe FAIL: Instant Pot Spaghetti & Meatballs

Just keeping it real friends...

Let me tell you, I had this blog post all drafted in my mind before I even put any ingredients in the pot.  I was going to tell you how I was a mom-hero and arrived home from gymnastics practice to perfectly cooked spaghetti and meatballs.  How I dumped everything in, set the time delay, and basically won the internet. 

Except I didn't.  There was no #winning

I dumped everything in, set the time delay, we didn't go to gymnastics since the athlete wasn't feeling well so I checked the pot the instant it beeped and I was dismayed to find that nothing had cooked.  The meatballs were even still a bit frosty and the pot had not come to pressure.

Luckily, since we didn't go to gymnastics, I had accelerated the timer by half an hour so I had some wiggle room on the expected serving time and the three hungry bellies that were sure to start growling.  So, what did I do -- add more water (not coming to pressure is usually a product of not enough water).

I went through the motions again.  [Manual] 5 minutes.  And when it showed the timer starting I checked the pressure valve...not at pressure AGAIN.  Seriously?!  This was to be my weeknight success.  Spaghetti and meatballs!  How can you screw up spaghetti and meatballs?  If anything I am stubborn persistent so I added another cup of water and repeated the process.  Again no pressure. FAIL.

The Culprit of My Failure

The Final Product

At this point, I had corndogs about to pull out of the freezer and heat up for dinner but decided to taste test the final product.  The sauce was bubbly and hot, the meatballs heated through and the pasta tender.  All in all, it resembled school cafeteria spaghetti in terms of sauce and consistency.  Given that I was feeding little people who think buying lunch at the school cafeteria is awesome, I served it for dinner and the night was saved.

After serving dinner, I discovered the culprit of my failure -- the burnt mass of spaghetti and sauce at the bottom of the pot.  A thick crust of burnt goo will prevent heat from transferring well from the bottom heating element which would prevent the contents from being able to reach pressure.

In retrospect, here is what I think led to this partial failure (we still ate spaghetti and meatballs for dinner so not a total loss):

• not starting with enough liquid
• I originally started with 1 28oz can of pasta sauce, 1 14.5oz can of diced tomatoes and 1 14.5oz can of water.  The second go round I added another 14.5oz can of water and for round 3, I added another 8oz of water.
• I should have started with 28oz of water.  I think by round 3, the bottom was so burnt over that additional water didn't matter.

• using the time delay
• having the time delay meant that the pasta had time to sink to the bottom of the pot and absorb some of the much needed water which was minimal to begin with

•  not giving up sooner
• let's face it, running the cook cycle 3 times just added to the burnt goo at the bottom

Will I try this again?  Maybe, if pasta and sauce are on a screaming good sale and I've got time to spare and a back-up plan for dinner, maybe.

Happy Cooking!

Recipe: Lentil Empanadas

You've got lentils sitting around in your pantry and you use them regularly, right?

This recipe today is the main reason I keep lentils in my pantry.  Who doesn't love a slightly sweet (hmm..is that cinnamon and raisin) but truly savory handheld pie for dinner?!  After the first time I made this and tasted it's awesomeness, I now always make a double batch because for just a little more effort I have a great meal ready to go in my freezer for those busy nights when I need dinner fast!

Lentils are nutritional powerhouses, packed with a ton of vitamins, minerals and fiber.  They are a great substitute for ground beef as they have a similar appearance and can take on flavor easily.  In addition to this recipe, I use lentils to make Sloppy Lenny's (lentil sloppy joes) as well as to stretch the ground beef and add nutrition to my meatloaf.  If you buy a bag for this recipe you'll have enough left to experiment on your own!

Lentil Empanadas
     Serves: 8 empanadas
     Time: ~50mins total (prep and cook)

Ingredients
- 1/2 heaping cup of dried brown lentils, soaked overnight and drained (see Notes)
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground cumin
- 1/8 tsp ground cloves
- 1 Tbs balsamic vinegar
- 1/2 cup raisins
- 1 box (2 crusts) pre-made refrigerated pie crusts

Directions
0. Preheat oven to 375* and place your pie crusts on the counter to come to room temperature.
1. Place soaked/drained lentils in a sauce pan, cover with water and bring to a boil.  Reduce to simmer and cook for about 8-10 minutes until cooked through and soft.
2. Drain off any excess water and add spices, vinegar and raisins to lentils.  Mix and mash gently to form a cohesive mixture.
3. Unroll each pie crust and cut into 4 equal quarters.
4. Fold each quarter in half gently to determine the middle and fill with a heaping spoonful of the lentil mixture.  Fold over and seal the edges by pressing with a fork.  Poke holes in the top to allow steam to escape.
5. Place empanadas on a parchment lined or lightly greases baking sheet.
6. (optional) Spray tops of empanadas with cooking spray and sprinkle with kosher salt.
7. Bake at 375* for 20-25 minutes until golden brown.

Notes

• This recipe calls for a "heaping" measuring cup of lentils as I've found you need slightly more than 1/2 cup but not quite 3/4 cup of lentils to make 8 empanadas.  If you are doubling the recipe, use a very generous 1 cup scoop.  The amount you need also depends on how much your lentils expand during cooking and how generous you are filling your empanadas.    
• It may seem like an extra step to soak your lentils but it saves a ton of time.  Unsoaked lentils take about 40 minutes to cook once boiling whereas soaked lentils take about 10 minutes.  It's worth the night-before effort!
• To freeze, simply cook as directed above and flash freeze flat on a baking sheet.  Once frozen solid, store in a labeled gallon freezer bag.   
• Because this is a handheld main dish, I like to keep the sides simple and usually stick to apple slices or other eat-by-hand fruit.  It make the meal fun for the whole family.

Recipe: Instant Pot Chicken Barley Chili

​White meat, whole grain, a little bit of spice -- yes, please!

Chicken Barley Chili is a recipe that I cut off the back of the Quaker barley box many years ago. As I was getting out my ingredients in the morning and pushing my Instant Pot aside to make room the thought occurred to me, instead of simmering on the stovetop for 40 - 60 minutes why not just throw everything in the Instant Pot and give it a go! And that's just what I did with delicious results.

Instant Pot Chicken Barley Chili

     Serves: 6-8

     Total time: ~45mins 

Ingredients

- 1 cup of pearled barley

- 1 can diced tomatoes, undrained

- 1 jar (16oz) salsa

- 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into serving size chunks

- 1 Tbs chili powder

- 1.5 tsp cumin

- 3-4 cups of water or chicken broth (see Notes)

- 1 can black beans, rinsed and drained

- 1 cup frozen corn or 1 can of whole kernel corn, drained 

Directions

1. Add all ingredients to the inner pot except for the black beans and corn. Stir to combine

2. Lock cover into place and seal the steam nozzle.

3. Press [Manual] and set timer for 10 minutes.

4. Allow for natural pressure release of 15 minutes. Manually release any remaining pressure and open pot.

5. Stir in the black beans and corn and allow to heat through for about 5 minutes.

6. Serve with sour cream, shredded cheese, cilantro and diced green chilies as desired.

Notes

• I like my Chili pretty thick, more like a stew. This recipe is in between a soup and a stew as far as liquidness.  If you want a thick stew, use just 3 cups of added liquid.  If you are looking for a soupier consistency, use 4 cups. 

Recipe: No-Bake Peanut Butter Balls

Baking season is upon us but that doesn't always mean you have to fire up the oven.  Today's recipe is made with ingredients you probably have in the pantry and can be pulled together in just a few minutes.  Little hands are great at shaping these sticky treats and enjoy eating them just as much too.

I keep a baggie with these No-Bake Peanut Butter Balls in my freezer and throw them in lunchboxes or keep them around for a quick afternoon snack.  With protein, whole grains, coconut and chia seeds they are a snack you can feel pretty good about indulging in.

No-Bake Peanut Butter Balls
     makes ~32 small balls
     time: 15 minutes (minus freezing)

Ingredients
- 1 cup creamy peanut butter
- 1 cup quick oats
- 1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
- 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1Tbs chia seeds
- pinch salt

Directions
1. In a mixing bowl, combine all the ingredients and mix well.
2. Using a small dough scoop, scoop into balls and place on a parchment lined tray.
3. Freeze until firm.  Keep in the freezer in an airtight container until ready to eat.

Notes

• I use unsweetened shredded coconut because I find the honey and peanut butter to be sweet enough as is.  If you can't find the unsweetened variety, feel free to substitute sweetened shredded coconut.
• Mini chocolate chips are the perfect chip for this recipe!  Since these are being made into small bite size balls you'll get a ton of chips per ball by using the mini variety and it feels more indulgent for the same amount (or less) of chocolate as regular chips.
• This recipe can be a blank canvas.  Feel free to experiment with other mix-ins that your family might enjoy.  Some ideas would be: raisins, craisins, and cinnamon chips.

The Pressure Cooker Cookbook That Should Be On Your Christmas List

You got yourself an Instant Pot.  You've read through the rather skimpy recipe/owner's manual and now you find most of your recipe searches on google start with "Instant Pot..." Now's the time to get a legit pressure cooker cookbook.  A quick Amazon search will reveal over 3,000 results.  Admittedly, I haven't gone through and looked at nor do I own more than one pressure cooker cookbook but the one I do own is pretty darn fantastic.

Pressure Cooker Perfection by America's Test Kitchen

If you've ever watched America's Test Kitchen on PBS you'll know that they pride themselves on being "America's foremost tasters and testers" and with providing the public with foolproof recipes for successful and flavorful dishes.  I own 5 different cookbooks published by America's Test Kitchen :-)

What I Love about Pressure Cooker Perfection
- it explains the science behind how and why the pressure cooker works and why you need certain ingredients in some recipes but not others
- published in 2013, pre Instant Pot craze, the recipes are written for a stovetop pressure cooker with adaptions for electric pressure cookers.  This means that anyone with any type of pressure cooker can use this book
- the flavors in the recipes are phenomenal.  I never would have thought to use a can of condensed French Onion soup to flavor my pot roast but now I won't use anything but that
- the beginning has a series of reference charts for cooking just about anything: grains, beans, vegetables and meats.  You can use the chart as a starting point and build your own recipe from there

My Favorite Recipes
- Weeknight Pot Roast and Potatoes
- Chickpea Tagine with Cauliflower
- Macaroni and Cheese
- Whole Chicken
- A Pound of Beans (for lots of other recipes)

What I Don't Love about Pressure Cooker Perfection
- I'm a "let's throw some of this in and see how it turns out" type of cook.  This book is written with very precise instructions, ingredients and directions.  Once you get past the sometimes superior tone of the recipes you'll be just fine.  That being said, pressure cooking doesn't allow much room for error as it's a closed system and operates at such high temperatures.  I've learned alot about building flavors by reading this cookbook
- the adaptions for an electric pressure cooker (hello Instant Pot) generally involve setting a separate timer so as to not rely on the built-in pot timer (reason being it doesn't start immediately when the pot comes to pressure).  I skip this step and just reduce my cook time by about 2 minutes
- some of the ingredients can be hard to find.  Examples include: cremini mushrooms, swiss chard, fennel, mustard seeds, and frozen artichoke hearts.


With all that being said, I have my copy of Pressure Cooker Perfection flagged and within easy reach in my kitchen so that I can reference it as I cook and create.

Let me know if you own a copy already, buy a copy or if you have another favorite pressure cooker cookbook!

I made frozen pizza for dinner and nobody died!

Last night my menu plan said stir-fry vegetables with brown rice.  Instead I served frozen cheese pizza, pineapple chunks, cucumber slices and baby tomatoes.

Frozen pizza for the win!

As I sit to write this, I can think of quite a few rationalizations and justifications for the pizza dinner
- I'm 6.5 months pregnant and didn't feel like cooking
- I was tired
- Hubby is away on a work trip
- I had pizza on the menu plan for later in the week so moving meals around is "allowed"
- It was Monday and we had just had guests over the weekend
- My three kids and I were playing a rousing game of 'kick the soccer ball around' and it was already getting dark and I didn't want to shorten the fun by having to go cook

But here's the long and short explanation -- I fed my kids dinner and they ate it.

It doesn't matter what it was or whether or not it included a rainbow of fruits and vegetables, what matters is that I did my job of preparing and serving a meal to my family.

Last night was a win for me in the constant and continuous mom battle of living up to my own high expectations.  Tonight I may stick to my menu plan and serve a well-plated "at least two vegetables and a protein" meal but I'm going to try to gauge my success by the question Was my family fed and satisfied? instead of Was this meal pinterest worthy?

Keep up the good fight moms and keep pizza in the freezer!

Recipe: Instant Pot Porcupine Meatballs

Was Black Friday/Cyber Monday good to you?  Did you finally buy the Instant Pot you've had on your Amazon wishlist for months?  If so, congratulations! 

You may find once you've unboxed your new prize and quickly skimmed the owner's manual/recipe book that comes with it that it is sorely lacking in recipes that you'd actually include in your meal rotation.  Never fear, I've got another classic to share with you today.

This recipe falls under the nostalgia category for me (much like Sausage and Rice Casserole).  Porcupine Meatballs is the only reason that I had a pressure cooker on my wedding registry.  I fondly remember my mom making it when I was growing up and knew that she cooked it in her original stovetop pressure cooker.  The recipe came from the Presto Pressure Cooker cookbook included with the pressure cooker.  The original recipe has a tomato based sauce; my mom made it with a cream based sauce and so do I.

Instant Pot Porcupine Meatballs
    serves: 4-6
    time: ~35 minutes

Ingredients
- 1lb of ground beef
- 0.5 cups of white rice, uncooked
- 1 cup of Pictsweet Seasoning Blend (frozen) or fresh diced onion and celery
- 1 packet dried onion soup mix
- 1 can cream of mushroom soup
- 1 cup of water

Directions
1. In a mixing bowl, combine the ground beef and uncooked white rice.  Season as desired with salt and pepper.  Form into small meatballs, 1-1.5" diameter.
2. In the inner pot, mix together the remaining ingredients.
3. Place meatballs on top of soup/vegetable mixture.
4. Lock cover into place and seal the steam nozzle.
5. Press [Manual] and set timer for 8 minutes.
6. Allow to [Keep Warm] for 10 minutes then turn off the release any remaining pressure.
7. Serve over cooked white rice.

Notes

• the name "porcupine" is derived from the fact that the uncooked rice with poke out of the meatballs once cooked
• plan ahead and cook your rice for serving in the Instant Pot prior to cooking your porcupine meatballs.
• The Pictsweet Seasoning Blend is a great time saver -- it's a pre-chopped, frozen blend of onions, celery, green and red peppers and parsley flakes.  Look for it with frozen vegetables.
• This recipe is a great way to use of any leftover vegetables you might have in the refrigerator.  You'll notice my picture of the finished plate has quite a few carrots.  At the time, I had about 1/2 a bag of baby carrots which had passed their lunchbox prime so I diced them up and added them to the mix!

Recipe: Paleo/Whole 30 Breakfast Sausage Patties

My husband and I recently completed a Whole 30.  If you're not sure what that means, basically for 30 days we ate only meats, fruits and vegetables.  During that time frame we excluded all grains, dairy, legumes, sugars and alcohol from our diets.  There is a ton more information at the official Whole 30 website here if you are interested in finding out more.  We undertook the Whole 30 challenge as a way to reset the amount of added sugar we were consuming and to focus back in on eating whole, unprocessed foods.

Anyways, one of the biggest aspects of the Whole 30 for us was the need to eat a nutrient dense breakfast.  You can't get by on just a bagel (no grains) or banana (not enough food) and hope to make it until lunchtime.  That's where these protein packed "sausage" patties saved the morning.  They are tasty, filling and relatively easy to make.

Paleo/Whole 30 Breakfast Sausage Patties

Ingredients
- Lean ground beef (I buy the bulk packs at Sam's Club and use 5lbs at a time)
per 1 pound of ground beef use
- 1/4 tsp sage, rubbed or ground
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp fennel seeds (this helps impart the quintessential sausage flavor)
- 2 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp smoked paprika (if you don't have smoked paprika increase the amount of regular, however smoked really adds so much to the flavor)
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 1 tsp salt

Directions
1. Using a spice grinder, grind up the fennel seeds so that you have a powder.  I like to add in some of the other spices to ensure a uniform mixture.
2. Combine all the spices together in a small bowl and mix thoroughly.
3. Using your hands, thoroughly incorporate the spice mixture into the ground beef.
4. Form the meat mixture into patties of your desired size.
5. Place on a baking sheet and bake at 375*F for 12-15 minutes, depending on size/thickness.
6. Allow to cool, flash freeze on a clean baking sheet and store in freezer bags.  Use as needed.

Notes
My biggest tip for making sausage patties is to make a tester patty so you can see if spice level is to your liking or if it needs adjusting before you cook up the whole batch.  To do this, after incorporating all the spice mixture, simply make a sample patty the size of a quarter or so.  Microwave it for 10-20 seconds until cooked through.  Taste and adjust your seasonings as desired. 

Recipe: Instant Pot Pork Loin and Potatoes

As promised in my Favorite Quick Serve Dinners post, below is my recipe for cooking a whole Pork Loin Roast and Potatoes in the Instant Pot.  The ease of the recipe is unsurpassed and it is so tasty -- I've made it twice in the past month!

Instant Pot Pork Loin and Potatoes
   serves: 4-6
   total time: ~1hr

Ingredients
- one 2.5-3lbs pork loin roast
- 5-6 baking potatoes, scrubbed and cut in half
- 1 cup of water or chicken broth
- seasonings of your choice

Directions
1. Pat dry and generously season your pork loin on all sides.  I like to use salt, pepper and herbs de Provence. 
1.1 (Optional) Using the Instant Pot [Saute] function, brown the pork loin on all sides making sure to crisp up the fat cap as much as desired.  Remove pork loin to a separate plate while you assemble the rest of the dish.  If you skip this step, no biggie, your exterior just won't be crispy.
2. Scrub each potato and cut in half.  Layer potatoes in the bottom of the inner pot, stacking and overlapping as necessary.
3. Pour in one cup of water or chicken broth.
4. Place seasoned pork loin on top of the potatoes.  The potatoes will act as a rack to keep the meat elevated.
5. Lock cover into place and seal steam nozzle.
6. Press [Meat] and set the timer for 25-30minutes depending on the size of your pork loin.
7. When cooking time has finished, allow to [Keep Warm] for 10 minutes and then turn off and release the pressure.
8. Remove the pork loin to your carving board and use tongs to remove the potatoes.
9. Serve and Enjoy!

Notes

• because of the extended cooking time needed for the meat, the potatoes are only halved and the skin is kept on.  This helps prevent them from falling apart into mush at the bottom of the pot.  When it is time to serve, the skins will slip right off and they can be mashed with a fork, cut into chunks or served as it.
• Using a 3lb roast and 30minute cooking time, my roast's internal temperature was 158*F prior to carving.  If you like your pork loin roast a little more pink in the middle, feel free to experiment with slightly less cooking time.
• For a true one dish meal, have a half-head of cabbage chopped and ready to go when the meat and potatoes are done.  Once you've removed the meat and potatoes, toss in the cabbage, reseal your Instant Pot and let it come to pressure for 1 minute on [Manual].  Quick release the pressure and you'll have an additional vegetable ready to go!

My Meal Planning Tips

This week is all about food and what it takes to get food on the table.  For me, grocery shopping is a minimum two day process with the first step in the process being MEAL PLANNING.

I'll be honest, I didn't really start taking meal planning to heart until I had my second child and my husband was deployed for a year.  All of a sudden, I had two little people to take care of, one of whom was very needy, and I myself couldn't just get by on goldfish and chicken nuggets for a year waiting for another set of adult hands to free me for a leisured dinner prep.  I realized and began to utilize the sacred naptime for dinner prep as well as discovering a range of freezer cooking recipes.

The biggest part of planning is actually writing something down!  For me, I have found that the standard vertical monthly calendar from Printfree.com is absolutely perfect.  There is enough space to write in an entree as well as note any activities and it's a single sheet of paper which takes of little space and is easy to reference.  I think it's very important to annotate your family's activities and commitments on the meal plan because when filing in dinners you can quickly know that on Wednesday evenings you need a crockpot, scoop and serve or other quick meal so that you can eat as soon as you get home from sports practice.

Monthly calendars, a document protector and a magnetic clip make meal planning painless.

My secret weapon in meal planning calendars is that I keep them for one year (yep, a whole 12 months) in a document protector that is clipped to the side of my fridge.  That way, when November 2016 is coming around, I can pull out November 2015 and remember some of my seasonal favorites that might have been forgotten through the previous months of summer cooking.  At the bottom of the calendar I also might note recipes that interest me or that I remember from previous months so that I have them in a visual queue for the next time I'm planning meals.

There aren't really any right and wrong ways to meal plan.  For me, I like to write out at least 2 weeks worth of meals (we are fortunate to have a chest freezer and second refrigerator) so that I can really stock up when I take a trip to the grocery store.  I also schedule a vegetarian meal once per week as well as a meal that involves fish or seafood (a great meal to have the night before trash day so you don't have to worry about salmon skin or shrimp tails sitting around for too long).  Also, I try and update the  meal plan based on what we actually ate.  This helps me know that I still have a particular freezer meal available or that I didn't actually serve burgers twice in one week.  Finally, I have a mini-white board that is stuck to the front of the fridge where that week's menu is written.  This helps me immediately know what I'm serving so I can consider what prep work might need to be done as well as making sure I have meat thawed and ready to go for future meals.

What's for dinner? Look and see for yourself!

Come back tomorrow and I'll be discussing Grocery Store Strategies so that the necessary chore doesn't have to be a necessary evil!

Recipe: Instant Pot Sausage & Rice Casserole

Unless you live under a rock, you've heard of the Instant Pot.  And by heard of it, you may have heard people speaking mystically about its magical powers to have dinner on the table in 4 minutes with you not having to lift a finger.  Yes, there are many recipes that involve a 4 minute timer (this included) but there is still some work involved and the entire recipe isn't done and on the table in those four minutes.  Nonethless, I'm a big fan of the Instant Pot.  I've had a traditional stove-top pressure cooker for years and loved the many recipes and flavors I could build in it; the Instant Pot is no exception.

Today I present to you one of my all-time favorite meals.  This is the meal that my mom would always include on the menu whenever I came home from college and still manages to include when I visit.  I've been making Sausage and Rice Casserole for myself and my family for years and after I scored an 6Qt Instant Pot IP-DUO60 7-in-1 this summer on Amazon's #PrimeDay I decided it was a recipe worth converting from the oven to the Instant Pot.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

Instant Pot Sausage & Rice Casserole
  serves: 4-6
  total time: ~30 minutes

Ingredients
- 1lb ground sausage
- 1.5 cups of uncooked white rice
- 1.5 cups of water
- 1 cup of Pictsweet Seasoning Blend (frozen) or fresh diced onion and celery

Directions
1. Using the Instant Pot [Saute] function, brown and crumble 1lb of ground sausage.
2. Once brown, remove sausage to a holding plate and drain any excess grease from the inner pot.  Add 1.5 cups of uncooked jasmine rice to the inner pot along with the 1.5 cups of water.
3. Carefully return the browned sausage to the inner pot.  Add the vegetables on top.
4. Lock cover into place and seal steam nozzle.
5. Press [Manual] and set the timer for 4 minutes.
6. Allow to [Keep Warm] for 10 minutes and then turn off and release the pressure.
7. Stir and enjoy!


Notes

• Save time by having a 1lb bag of sausage already cooked in the freezer.
• The Pictsweet Seasoning Blend is also a great time saver -- it's a pre-chopped, frozen blend of onions, celery, green and red peppers and parsley flakes.  Look for it with frozen vegetables.
• This recipe is very flexible, add more or less of any particular ingredient and it can flex to feed as many mouths as are at your table.  Just make sure to keep a 1:1 rice:water ratio
• This recipe can also be assembled in a traditional casserole dish and cooked in the oven, covered at 400* for about 40-45 minutes.  Increase your water to about 2 cups to account for evaporation.