Instant Pot Chicken and Wild Rice

Sometimes I throw things in the instant pot and it works. This was one of those times.


2 large boneless skinless chicken breasts (these were freakin giant chickens apparently, so it was really heavy on the chicken)
3 1/2 cups chicken stock (I just used water with the knorr brand powdered chicken bouillon)
1 block cream cheese
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream (or half and half. Or Milk. I'm not picky)
Carrots (I did 1/2 lb, but you could add more if you want)
1/2 cup peas (I cooked some for dinner last night and they were still in the fridge so I threw them in)
1/2 cup corn (I didn't use this, I'm just speculating that it would be good)
1/2 yellow onion diced
2 boxes rice-a-roni long grain wild rice - uncooked - we'll use the seasoning packet too
Drizzle of Olive Oil


As you can tell by all the notes on this ingredient list, I totally made this up.


Step 1 - Drizzle Olive Oil in bottom of Instant Pot. Using the SAUTE button, sauté the onions and carrots until the edges of the onions start to get translucent. Deglaze the bottom of the pot by pouring in the chicken stock.

Step 2 - add the chicken breasts to the pot and cook for 15 minutes at high pressure. Let it do a natural pressure release for an additional 15 minutes before manually releasing the pressure.

Step 3 - Pull the chicken out and shred it. (pro-tip: use your mixer. Kitchen-aid or hand mixer, it still shreds it 87 times faster than you can with a fork) add the chicken back into the pot. Add the two boxes of rice and the seasoning packets in. Mix it up. Put the lid back on and cook for 7 more minutes. Once it's done you can quick release.

Step 4 - Now you can add in the cream cheese, the whipping cream, the peas, and the corn. Switch it to Saute and mix it until that cream cheese melts.

Step 5 - Once that cream cheese has melted you're done. Garnish it with something if you're fancy and want to post it on instagram. If you're like me and you're just trying to get dinner done so you can work on your homework then just scoop that creamy goodness into a bowl and you're good to go.


The two of us ate this for dinner and then I packed it for lunches for us for the next few days, so I guess you could say it feeds 6 hungry people.

that's not my trailer

We had a bit of a funny happening the other day. 

We've been looking at houses. After we finished with our realtor, he left and we stood next to our car discussing options for a few minutes. A man across the street waved at us and smiled before crossing the street to talk to us. 

"Was that your trailer parked here?" he asked.

"No," we responded. We were a bit concerned at this point. We've had our fair share of cranky neighbors when it concerns parking, so we were hoping that we weren't about to get blamed for something that we didn't do, yet again. 

"Oh, well do you know who it belongs to?"

Long story short, the man didn't live in the neighborhood, but his Dad did. The man's poor elderly father had mistaken the trailer for his son's trailer and had filled it up with tree branches and other yard clippings. When the son arrived and asked him whose trailer he was filling up his father said, "Yours!"

The poor man had filled up some random person's trailer with trash. 

Creamy Garlic Chicken and Rice

I don't have a printer currently hooked up in my house. I know, it gives me anxiety too, don't worry. 

My biggest problem with this is that I don't ever end up printing out recipes and taking notes on them. I usually take a recipe I find, adapt it to fit our tastes, get a thumbs up or a thumbs down from the husband, and then move on with life. The biggest problem with this is that I end up forgetting all the things I did.

So I'm making it my goal to start turning on my dang laptop and typing up what I did. One day I'll have a printer and I'll be able to print out our recipes. 

- 2 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts, cut into slices

- 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil (Ha, who am I kidding--A Drizzle on the Bottom of the Pan)

-3/4 Cup Chicken Broth (One chicken Bouillon cube + 3/4 Cup Water)

-1 cup heavy cream

-1 tsp Garlic Powder

-1 tsp Italian Seasoning

-1 tsp minced garlic

-1/2 cup Parmesan Cheese (Or half Parmesan, Half Mozzarella)

-1 cup fresh spinach, chopped

-(optional -- meaning the original recipe called for it, but I didn't have it) 1/2 cup sun dried tomatoes.

Drizzle bottom of Cast Iron Skillet with olive oil and brown chicken (I used garlic powder, onion salt, pepper, and a little bit of Italian seasoning). 

Remove chicken from pan and set aside. 

Combine Chicken Broth, Heavy Cream, Garlic Powder, Italian Seasoning, minced garlic, and Cheese. Whisk over Medium heat until sauce thickens.Add Spinach and Chicken and continue stirring until spinach has mixed in well. Season to taste with Salt and Pepper

Serve over Rice or Pasta

(worked great on white rice. I'm sure it would be even better on a rice pilaf or a long grain wild rice mix)

(If Serving over Pasta, Double Sauce Recipe)


Adapted from this recipe. 

Creamy Garlic Chicken and Rice

I don't have a printer currently hooked up in my house. I know, it gives me anxiety too, don't worry. 

My biggest problem with this is that I don't ever end up printing out recipes and taking notes on them. I usually take a recipe I find, adapt it to fit our tastes, get a thumbs up or a thumbs down from the husband, and then move on with life. The biggest problem with this is that I end up forgetting all the things I did.

So I'm making it my goal to start turning on my dang laptop and typing up what I did. One day I'll have a printer and I'll be able to print out our recipes. 

- 2 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts, cut into slices

- 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil (Ha, who am I kidding--A Drizzle on the Bottom of the Pan)

-3/4 Cup Chicken Broth (One chicken Bouillon cube + 3/4 Cup Water)

-1 cup heavy cream

-1 tsp Garlic Powder

-1 tsp Italian Seasoning

-1 tsp minced garlic

-1/2 cup Parmesan Cheese (Or half Parmesan, Half Mozzarella)

-1 cup fresh spinach, chopped

-(optional -- meaning the original recipe called for it, but I didn't have it) 1/2 cup sun dried tomatoes.

Drizzle bottom of Cast Iron Skillet with olive oil and brown chicken (I used garlic powder, onion salt, pepper, and a little bit of Italian seasoning). 

Remove chicken from pan and set aside. 

Combine Chicken Broth, Heavy Cream, Garlic Powder, Italian Seasoning, minced garlic, and Cheese. Whisk over Medium heat until sauce thickens.Add Spinach and Chicken and continue stirring until spinach has mixed in well. Season to taste with Salt and Pepper

Serve over Rice or Pasta

(worked great on white rice. I'm sure it would be even better on a rice pilaf or a long grain wild rice mix)

(If Serving over Pasta, Double Sauce Recipe)


Adapted from this recipe. 

Prom

I got the opportunity to take some prom pictures for these two adorable kids. 

Aren't they cute?

Details.

I have a thing for details.

They are the reason that you love a book, but are disappointed by the movie.
They're the bits that make something stand out.
They're the little pieces that compose a whole thing, changing it from something basic, to something magical.

When you're putting together a jigsaw puzzle, you start by seeing the big picture. You dump out the pieces and you try to group the edges together to get your basic shape (Or at least that's the way I do it). Once you get that put together, you start taking the little pieces to see where they fit, eventually bringing the whole picture into view. Sometimes you're surprised as you look closely at the pieces. Sometimes as you're grouping things together, you put things in the wrong place.

When you're getting to know someone, you're filling in the little details piece by piece. As you learn things about them, you find out what puzzle pieces are part of them, and sometimes you're surprised to find out as you piece them together that the part that you thought was murky blue water was actually a part of the sunny blue sky. It's always interesting to see what the details reveal to us as we piece them together.

I think too often we (myself very much included) look too much at the big picture and don't bother ourselves with the details. We need to realize that everyone is a complex, detailed, and beautiful person.

And I also think we should take more time to stop and see the complex, detailed, and beautiful world that we all live in.

I think we'll all be surprised about the wonderful things we find.