Instant Pot Green Beans & Polska Kielbasa

 

It's literally a one pot meal!

What you'll need:

• 1 1/2 pound fresh green beans, ends removed and washed
• 1 1/2 pound baby red potatoes, quartered and washed (leaving skin on is optional)
• 1 small Vidalia onion sliced
• 14 oz Hillshire Farm Polska Kielbasa
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1/2 stick of butter
• Salt to taste

The method:

1. Pour the broth into the inner liner of the Instant Pot then add the green beans, potatoes, onion, and Polska Kielbasa. Season with salt and then lay the half stick of butter on top.
2. Make sure the liner is securely in the lid (you don't even want to know why I remind you), put the lid on and make sure the valve is in the Sealing position. Press the Pressure Cook button, cancel the Keep Warm, then set the timer for 30 minutes on High Pressure. 
3. When time is up, let the pot naturally release (meaning do nothing). This will take 10-15 minutes. Take the lid off and enjoy!

Instant Pot Beef Fajita Nachos

 

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 2 lbs carne asada (or the meat of your choice)
• Two 1 oz fajita seasoning packets
• 1 medium green bell pepper, thinly sliced
• 8 oz sliced mushrooms of your choice (I used baby Bellas)
• 1 medium Vidalia onion thinly sliced
• 1 cup pineapple juice

Optional

• Queso dip
• Sliced avocado
• Sliced black olives
• Pico de Gallo
• Sour Cream
• Tortilla chips

The method:

1. Add olive oil to the inner pot of the Instant Pot. Set Instant Pot to saute on normal.
2. Add the meat and fajita seasoning and stir. Once the meat has browned, remove with slotted spoon and set aside.
3. Immediately add the pineapple juice and vegetables (pepper, mushrooms and onion). Scrape the bottom of the inner pot as you stir to remove any remain stuck on meat. Cook the vegetables until they are tender-crisp. 
4. Press the Cancel button, then press the Pressure Cook button and adjust to high. Press the Keep Warm button to turn that function off. 
5. Add the meat back to the pot and stir. 
6. Place the lid on top and make sure the valve is set to Sealing.
7. Cook on high pressure for 25 minutes. After the 25 minutes, let Natural Release (meaning don't do anything yet) for 10 minutes. After the 10 minutes, Quick Release (meaning to turn the valve to venting).
8. At this point you can serve as normal fajitas. Be sure to use a slotted spoon so your fajitas aren't swimming in the juice.
9. If you want to serve as nachos, this is how I make mine:

• Place a layer of tortilla chips on your plate.
• Add a thin layer of warmed queso dip.
• Next add the meat and vegetable mixture from the Instant Pot.
• Now add another thin layer of the queso.
• Top with sliced avocado, black olives, pico de gallo and a dollop or sour cream.
• Enjoy!

Baked Spaghetti 2.0

 

My homemade baked spaghetti with yummy garlic knots that you can find here. 

Ingredients:

• 16 oz box of angel hair spaghetti (or your choice of pasta)
• 2 - 16 oz packages of ground Italian sausage
• 24 oz jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce
• 15 oz carton of ricotta cheese
• 6 oz jar of 4C Homestyle Parmesan Romano cheese
• 1 oz packet of Ranch dressing mix
• 12 slices of BelGioioso sliced fresh mozzarella

The method:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Brown the Italian sausage in a large skillet, breaking it up into finer pieces as it browns.
2. While the sausage is browning, bring your water to a boil for the pasta and cook according to the package directions. Let thoroughly drain.
3. Once the sausage is browned, drain any grease and pour in the spaghetti sauce. Simmer on low for 20 minutes.
4. In a bowl, mix the ricotta cheese, parmesan/romano cheese, and ranch dressing mix.
5. In a 9x13 pan, spread the cooked pasta on the bottom of the pan. Next spread the ricotta mixture, followed by the spaghetti sauce with sausage. Finally, lay the slices of mozzarella on top.
6. Bake in preheated oven for 25-30 minutes or until the cheese on top has browned a little and the spaghetti concoction is bubbling. Enjoy!

This is also something that freezes well to make ahead and cook later. If you're not a fan of Italian sausage, hamburger meat works well in it's place or no meat at all. You could also try different cheeses with this. Seriously, there's a lot of ways you can switch it up. Actually as I was typing all of this out, my youngest child said that he'd like to have mushrooms in it, also. 

Instant Pot Egg Bites (Totally Customizable and Easy!)

 

(You can see the mozzarella pearls showing through the tops of the egg bites)

Most recipes for egg bites on the internet make like 14 bites, but sometimes you just don't want to make that many so here is my recipe for 7 egg bites. And you can customize this with whatever ingredients you want like cheese, bacon (the Oscar Meyer Recipe Pieces on the salad dressing aisle is perfect for this), ham, sausage, veggies, etc. The possibilities are endless!

Ingredients:

• 3 large eggs
• Pinch of baking powder
• Dash of salt
• 7 Bel Gioioso Mozzarella Pearls (I get them at Walmart but this is optional)
• Silicone Egg Mold
• Trivet 
• Non stick cooking spray

The molds will not fit inside of an Instant Pot smaller than 6 quarts.

The method:

1. Spray the egg bites mold with cooking spray and set aside.
2. Mix the eggs, baking powder in salt in a measuring cup. (The spout comes in handy)
3. If you're adding other ingredients like cheese, meats or veggies, now is a good time to put them in the openings of the mold.
4. Pour the egg mixture in each opening until it's 2/3 full. Put the top on.
5. Add a cup of water to the liner in the Instant Pot. Set your Instant Pot to pressure cook on low and set the timer for 11 minutes for the 6 quart and 8 minutes for the 8 quart. 
6. Place the mold on your trivet with handles and place inside the Instant Pot. Put the lid on the Instant Pot and make sure the release valve is set to Sealing. Make sure Keep Warm is OFF.
7. Once the timer goes off, do a quick release by turning the valve to Venting. Once it is finished releasing steam, using a pot holder remove the egg mold on the trivet. Open the lid and let cool for a few minutes before inverting on a plate. You may have to tap the bottoms to give them a little help coming out.                                                               

My Clam Chowder Recipe

 

I'm not going to bore you with the story of how this recipe came about or how to pick the right potatoes for this because first of all, there is no big story and second of all, I like for people to experiment and come up with what suits their taste buds. Enjoy, y'all!

Ingredients:

• Half stick of butter (real butter, please)
• 2 medium potatoes (washed, peeled and diced)
• 3 - 10 oz cans of whole baby clams (I used Bumble Bee)
• Half gallon of half & half (I used Great Value from Walmart)
• Salt & Pepper (optional)

The method:

1. In a medium sauce pan, add the butter and melt over low heat while you prep the potatoes. Once the butter is melted, add the potatoes. You're going to let these slowly cook over low heat until you can easily stab them with a fork. This is a good time to season.
2. While you're waiting on your potatoes to cook (and don't forget about them because you don't want them mushy) open your cans of  clams and let them drain.
3. Once the potatoes are fork stab-able, add 3/4 of the carton of half and half and let it slowly warm up, still over low heat.
4. Add the clams and let simmer for about 5 minutes. Enjoy!