January 28, 2019 Garden Update

Instant Pot Chicken Chili

We all have days when we forget to take out the meat to thaw, or realize it is 3:30 and we haven't planned for dinner. Instead of spending way too much money eating out for dinner, try using your instant pot to make some quick and flavorful meals! As we try new recipes I want to share them with you to inspire your instant pot journey. It would only be fitting to start this series with our current family favorite.

This chili is the best! It's so easy and so so good. (This is not my original recipe, I found it here.) I love that the site the recipe is on gives several variations to how you can make your chili using any combination of canned and dried beans and fresh and frozen chicken. Our preferred method is frozen chicken with home canned beans. (I have tried it with frozen chicken and dried beans and didn't like it as much. I'll explain why in just a minute.) Overall, this is an amazing recipe and a great way to enjoy flavor packed chili in about an hour.

I think we foodies can agree that the key to a great chili, other than proper seasoning, is a slow simmering cook. The slow time gives the beans and meat time to release juices and soak up all the flavorful goodness. I enjoy a chili cooked this way just like anyone, but sometimes, you just don't have time. This recipe has saved a few nights of poor planning on my part and provided leftover lunches.

Really quick, before I forget, the thing with doing dried beans and frozen chicken. It wasn't bad at all, but I prefer to rinse my beans to get all the starchy goop off them. By pressure cooking them from their dried state, I wasn't able to do this and the chili came out a weird brownish blackish color. Not as pretty, but still tasted fine.

The thing I love most about this recipe is how easy it is. I don't have to thaw out the chicken. Just put it in frozen!! Then start adding your other ingredients. We use black beans that I pressure can myself. I also add frozen or home canned corn, a combination of taco and chili seasonings, a little bit of water, and salt and pepper. Then, stir everything together. Dump your diced tomatoes on top, do not mix them in. Put the lid on, select the desired setting and walk away. I usually cook my on high pressure for 25 ish minutes. It takes about 5-10 minutes for my Instant Pot to reach pressure, then the 25 minute timer starts. After it is finished cooking, I let the pressure naturally release for 10 minutes and then quick release to let the rest out. As soon as you can open the lid, it is ready to eat!! Top with shredded cheese, sour cream, red onions and a few pickled jalapenos. Heaven, I tell you, pure heaven.

Now that I've walked you through the basics of the recipe, I need to explain the Instant Pot terminology I put in bold. When I first started using my Instant Pot, I had no idea what these were, but it only took using the machine once to understand. This appliance is seriously the easiest thing to use. Please don't feel overwhelmed by the thought of one. It is such a time and energy saver, and does not take long at all to figure out.

High pressure - this is just one of the settings for pressure intensity on the Instant Pot. The others are Low Pressure and Normal. I have only ever used High Pressure that I can recall.

Reach Pressure - In order for your Instant Pot to function as a pressure cooker, pressure much be allowed to build up on the inside of the pot. When your machine has reach the appropriate pressure to cook your food, this is called reaching pressure. Fortunately, your appliance does all of this for you, there is no need to watch a gauge or overly monitor.

Natural Release - This simply means to allow the Instant Pot to slowly release steam after the cooking period is over. It does this on its own and doesn't require you to switch anything.

Quick Release - If your recipe calls for a quick release method, you will switch the steam release to venting manually and allow the steam to release at a much faster pace.

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When you first get your Instant pot, make sure to go through an initial test run. Your instruction manual will lay out specific directions for your model. This was extremely helpful to me in getting to safely play with the features and understand how to use everything.

I hope you try this recipe and enjoy it! if you do, head over to A Mind Full Mom and let her know you enjoyed it.

Stay tuned for more Instant Pot experiments, I mean recipes. Have a blessed day!

Here is a quick walk through for this recipe...

January 21, 2019 Garden Update

Another week of work and progress. It's coming along!