Recipe: Chicken and Veggie Brown Rice Casserole for Instant Pot

This year, I got myself a Christmas Present. An Instant Pot. I've been hearing about them for a while now and the people who have them absolutely love them. To be honest, I was skeptical. Could an Instant Pot really be THAT great?

Turns out, it is. I've actually started calling it my Magic Pot. So far, I really have not had any major fails, and it is saving me a lot of time on both the cooking and the clean-up. It's actually helped us to cut down on ordering out because I can go work out and still get dinner ready in a reasonable amount of time. Mostly I have tried other people's recipes, but once I got comfortable I started trying to create some of my own, like this one.

This recipe came about because I was trying to find a good chicken, veggie, and brown rice casserole, and everything I found had white rice. The first time I made this, I loved how it came out! I couldn't believe it worked! I thought maybe it was a fluke, so I have now made it 3 more times and also had a friend make it with a different brand of pressure cooker. It turned out great for her, too!

The true test... will the rest of the family eat it? My kiddo loves it!

I love that she is getting a protein, a healthier carb, and three veggies (onion, carrots, and broccoli)! The rice in this casserole really has a great texture-- it's very creamy, almost like a risotto.

I've posted the recipe below, but I wanted to give a few notes.

First, I'm sure you could adapt this to use white rice. You'd probably need to really adjust the cook time since white rice cooks a lot faster. However, I use mostly brown, so I haven't tried white rice.
Second, I'm sure you could add the broccoli to the Instant Pot before starting the cooking. However, I think after 25 minutes, it would become mush. So I use this handy pot from Pampered Chef to steam mine in about 4 minutes in the microwave. I use frozen baby broccoli florets. I steam them the last 3 minutes of the cooking and after I release the steam, I add the broccoli. (Side note... that little steamer pot is a STAPLE in this house. I bought it on a whim and it is something I use at least 3-4 times a week.)

Hope you guys enjoy the recipe! Man, it's been a long since I posted a recipe, and I'm trying a new plug-in to add the recipe card here. Let me know what you think!

Yield: 6 ServingsAuthor: Liz @ Confessions of a Former Couch Potato

Chicken and Veggie Brown Rice Casserole for Instant Pot

prep time: 10 MINScook time: 25 MINStotal time: 35 mins

This super-easy casserole combines brown rice, veggies, chicken breasts, and cheddar cheese to create a meal that is both filling and healthy!

ingredients:

• 1 TBSP Olive Oil
• 1 TBSP butter
• 1 medium yellow onion, diced
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 cup of chopped carrots
• 2 2/3 cups chicken broth
• 2 cups brown rice
• 2 large chicken breasts (fresh or frozen)
• a few splashes of Worcestershire Sauce
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 2 cups broccoli florets, steamed
• handful (about 2/3 cup) of shredded cheddar cheese 

instructions:

1. Select the saute button on your Instant Pot.  When the pot is hot, add the oil and butter. Wait about 30 seconds for oil/butter to heat up.
2. Add diced onion to pot and cook for about 2 minutes.  
3. Add garlic and carrots and cook until garlic is fragrant.
4. Add chicken broth and stir to release any brown bits on the bottom of the pot. 
5. Add the rice and stir.  
6. Add the chicken breasts.
7. Add salt, pepper, and Worcestershire Sauce.
8. Press "Cancel" to end the saute feature.  Manually select the High Pressure button and set the timer for 25 minutes. Make sure to set the vent to "Sealing."
9. While the casserole is cooking, steam the rice in the microwave.
10. Once the time is up, Quick-Release the steam and then open the pot.  Stir to combine all the ingredients.  The chicken should fall apart easily, but you can use forks to shred.  
11. Add steamed broccoli and shredded cheese.  Stir once more to combine.
12. Enjoy!

Created using The Recipes Generator

-Liz

Let’s Talk Condiments: Slawsa

You know, what you put on your hot dog (or hamburger or veggie burger or veggie dog) is very personal.  People have a certain way they like their hot dogs and hamburgers, and very rarely do they waver. 

For me, a hot dog always needed chili, ketchup, and maybe diced onion.  I’m probably the only person in America who doesn’t prefer mustard.  I don’t usually deviate from this hot-dog-building method.  However, a few weeks ago, one of my sorority sisters posted something on Facebook about a product called Slawsa.  I was intrigued.  The first thing I did was go to the website and check it out.

I loved reading the story about how Slawsa started as a family recipe. And the description made me want to taste it.  A cross between slaw and salsa sounded interesting.  I don’t particularly love slaw… but I love salsa, and I love cabbage.  And I love any vegetable pickled.  I really wanted to try it out!  Unfortunately, the grocery stores in my area don’t sell it, BUT I was headed to Greenville, SC and one of the grocery stores there DOES sell it!  So I bought a jar to try.  (And a perfect coincidence—my parents were planning to cook hot dogs and hamburgers the night before Easter!)

First, I tasted the Slawsa on a chip.  It has a little bit of a kick to it, which I really liked.  If you like pickles, you’ll like this.  It’s actually a little bit like relish… but a slightly different texture.  Then I put it on my hot dog—and I loved it!  Everyone in my family tried it out and everyone liked it, which doesn’t always happen. 

Another great thing—you will be able to read the entire ingredient list and know what all the items are. 

So… where can you get Slawsa?  You can click here to see all the retailers who currently carry Slawsa… and they are adding more!  Publix, for example, will carry it starting in June!

So, the question remains… would I be willing to change my hot-dog-eating habits?  Actually… yes!  I would!  I will definitely buy this next time we have a cookout.  Luckily, we have a Publix coming soon to our area!  :)

Great job on the Slawsa, Julie and partners!

Packing Breakfasts and Lunches, Earth Fare Win

I know I have been away for a few days.  To be perfectly honest, I just haven’t had much blog-worthy activity.  It’s been pretty ho-hum here at the Confessions house.  So I thought I would just show you a couple of pics, just to show you what I’ve been up to.

Made an excellent batch of Easy Chili on Saturday which led to several lunches and snacks this week…

I like to serve chili over noodles—whole wheat noodles.  But I also like to eat my chili with baked tortilla chips, like a salsa.  Either way… yum. 

So. On to the breakfast and lunch packing.  I have to be at work pretty early.  I also drop off my little girl on the way.  That means that I have to be out the door in the morning pretty early.  That means that I don’t have time to make breakfast and eat at home.  So I pack it and take it with me.  I like to take items like:

• oatmeal
• fruit (see fruit find below!)
• ham and cheese slices
• grits (instant individual packets)

I made an awesome breakfast discovery that I want to share with you: Del Monte Fruit Naturals!

(click for source)

I bought the red grapefruit cups the other day just on a whim and I LOVE them.  It is seriously like biting into the juiciest, freshest grapefruit ever.  These are a lifesaver for breakfast.  I just throw them in my lunch bag and I have a healthy breakfast without all of the mess and cutting that grapefruit sometimes involves.  They also make cups of blueberries (hello cereal topping!), peaches, mixed berries, and mixed fruit!  I plan to try them all.

On to lunch…

I’ve been enjoying Potpourri Platters for lunches lately. 

These are the best kinds of lunches.  A little bit of everything.  Some of the things I like to throw in are (the goodies vary from day to day):

• hummus (topped with tomatoes and/or feta cheese and/or cucumber)
• pita rounds or pita chips
• olives
• turkey slices
• clementine oranges (gotta enjoy them while they are in season!)
• string cheese
• almonds (I make my own mini packs of these.  I buy them in the bulk bins at Earth Fare and then count them out into small portions.  I just grab one of my premeasured portions and throw it in my lunch bag!)

Having ingredients like these on hand really has helped me to get through Eat-In Month.  It has helped me avoid spending extra money on lunches this month, and of course I can eat healthier when I am prepared.

Now, on another note, check out this haul of groceries from Earth Fare that I got for just $15!

I got an awesome coupon via text this morning (Click here to find out how to get coupons texted to you from EF) and I couldn’t wait to use it!  (If you get this coupon, hurry—it expires on Friday!)

I got:

• veggie burgers
• bananas
• cheese puffs (like cheetos but a little healthier)
• pesto
• grapefruit
• 2 Chobani yogurts
• 3 healthy Ramen Noodle packs
• tri-color quinoa (from the bulk bin)
• almonds (bulk bin)
• banana chips (bulk bin)

I love shopping the bulk bins.  It’s fun to pick out something new to try each time.  And I love being able to decide how much I want to buy of a product.

Wow.  What a boring post.  Listing my lunch ingredients?  My grocery list? Oh my goodness.  I better cook something fast so I have a better post next time!

Apps for Techies and Leftovers Reinvented!

Today was a hard day, friends.  Since December 13, I have been sleeping in until 8:00 or later.  It’s been nice.  Sleep, get up, drink coffee, catch up on the DVR episodes… but today it was back to reality!  Yes, school started back again and it was hard to drag myself out of bed at 5:45 a.m.  Did any of you start back to work today after a holiday vacation?  How was your day?

One thing that kept me going was knowing that I had leftovers and a way to reinvent them tonight, PLUS a free afternoon/evening to do whatever I wanted!

I have two apps to tell you about today that I think are awesome.  If you are currently exercising or trying to lose weight, I thought these might be helpful to you!

Now, I am an iPhone user, after many years of owning a Blackberry.  As a BB user, I would always get frustrated when the cool apps weren’t available to me.  So I am going to apologize in advance to any of you who can’t access these apps.  I don’t know if they are available on the Android or Blackberry (or other) Markets.  These are definitely available to you iPhone users, though!

1. iMapMyFITNESS

I am absolutely loving this app!  This is great to have if you are a runner or a walker.  My favorite thing is the “record workout” feature.  When I go out for a walk, I tell it to record my workout.  It finds my location via GPS and then tracks my walk.  I can see a map of the streets and it records my route, how fast I am going, how much time has elapsed, and more!

At the end, you can view a summary of your workout and save it for another time.  This is helpful when you are walking different routes in your neighborhood and you get home and you think, “Wonder how far I went?”

By the way, it also allows you to pause and resume a workout.  Today, I walked about 1 1/4 miles, and then needed to make a stop at the grocery store.  I paused my workout when I entered the store and resumed it when I left!

It was a little awkward to walk with this bag, but it was a great afternoon for a walk/run!

2.  Weight Watchers Bar Code Scanner

This is for any of you out there who are WW members.  If you are a paying member of WW (pay for monthly pass, online membership, or e-tools) then you can download this app and use it for free.  You can scan the bar codes of the foods you have at home (or while you are grocery shopping).  Within seconds, you get the product information with the points values! 

Plus, everything you scan is saved in your history, so if you need to record that food option more than once, you’ve got it!  Almost everything in my pantry (with the exception of private brands—such as Harris Teeter brands) was in the database!  So cool and convenient!

Now, on to the leftovers. (If you are just joining me, I am participating in Eat-In Month during January, so you’ll be seeing a lot more cooking and cost-effective meals this month!)

You may remember my pork shoulder roast from yesterday that I slow-cooked all day.  Well, seeing as how we are only a family of 3, we didn’t finish all of it yesterday!  But… I have found that we (i.e. the husband) are not great at eating our leftovers.  So I started thinking about a way to reinvent the leftover pork into a new meal.  Suddenly, it came to me: barbecue on rolls! 

The only problem?  We had no BBQ sauce in the house.  I started wondering… I bet it wouldn’t be difficult to make my own BBQ Sauce.  After a little searching, I came across this recipe on www.allrecipes.com.  It had great reviews, and we had almost all the ingredients on hand, so I gave it a whirl.

The verdict?  Delicious!  Hubby and I both agree completely that this was better than any store-bought sauce we could have bought!  I threw the leftover pork+sauce in the crock pot, turned it to HIGH, and in just a few hours, we had sweet and tangy BBQ Pork!

We served it up on hot dog buns.  Somehow we always have extra because Sadie always opts to have hers sans bun, so this was an easy way to use up the buns and not spend extra money.

I ate mine open-faced with peas and leftover collards.  :)

YUM!  If you’ve never made your own BBQ Sauce, you should give this one a try!

I like to think about cost effectiveness.  This pork roast cost $9 (on sale—score!).  We still have leftovers, so I figure there were 3 meals from that meat.  That’s $3 a meal.  The steamed peas were under $1 (also on sale) and the BBQ Sauce cost about $0.75 for the amount I made.  The buns and collards were leftover, so I count them as free.  That’s a meal for a family of 3 for under $5.  Sweet!

If you want to read more about how I grocery shop, click here to view my post on how to spend less on groceries.

Back to School Kit

As a Featured Publisher for DailyBuzz Moms  and a member of their Tastemaker Program, I was able to receive a Back-to-School Kit with a few product samples from Clorox, Glad, and Brita.  I was so excited to receive this box!  This little kit was actually make available from a partnership between DailyBuzz Moms and Clorox.

Of course the Clorox Wipes always come in handy.  I really like that they smell nice—just clean.  Not overpowering.  These are great to use when you have been dealing with meat on the kitchen counter—or for wiping off toys when they need it.

I love these Glad Food Storage containers.  They are perfect for packing salads for lunch. 

They have a tiny little cup perfect for dressing that snaps right into the lid.  I am always looking for little containers for the salad dressing and either I can find the cup or the lid… but never both!  Voila!  Now I don’t have to spend time looking for the lids.  I also think these will be perfect for pita bread and hummus or veggies and dip, which are items we frequently pack for family outings.

The item I was most excited about was this Brita water bottle.  It filters the water as you drink! 

Do you ever notice that sometimes water from water fountains tastes funky?  Well, with this bottle, you can make water taste better and filter out impurities!  So excited about this.  You can buy new filters for the water bottle, too.

I love having new products and gadgets to try!  What are your favorite gadgets and convenience items? 

P4: Periwinkle, Park, Pool, and Potatoes

Happy Saturday!  Today has been a fabulous Saturday here at the Confessions house.  We decided to start with a trip to Old Town Rock Hill.  (FYI, for those of you who aren’t local, Old Town is our downtown area!)  We couldn’t decide what we wanted for breakfast, but we ended up at the Periwinkle Cafe and Bakery.  I’ve been wanting to try it out for a while.  I’ve been here before when it was Rock Hill Roasting Company, but haven’t been inside since it changed to Periwinkle. 

It ended up being a great choice!  I started with coffee—Autumn Spice!  DELICIOUS!  Loved this flavor.  It didn’t even need creamer, it was that flavorful!

I decided on a yogurt parfait.  Ryan opted for a breakfast sandwich.  Sadie wasn’t very hungry and just enjoyed her juice. 

  

Afterwards, we hit up a nearby park that has been redone and is fabulous! 

I cannot believe that it is already Labor Day weekend.  That means that most pools are getting their last weekend of use!  So sad.  We decided we wanted to head to the pool today to enjoy the sunny weather and relax. 

It was such a great day.  We thought about eating out, but decided to continue with our outdoorsy day and grilled out instead.  I had salmon in the freezer, but I couldn’t decide on a side dish.  I had potatoes, and I thought about making oven-fried potatoes, but then I thought… why not grill them?  I’ve never grilled potatoes, so I Googled it and got this recipe from Paula Deen.

This recipe was super-simple and pretty quick!  I only made one change—I didn’t use the House Seasoning.  I used this blend that I’ve been meaning to try.

It was on sale for 50 cents a few weeks ago and I thought, “What the heck?  I’ll try it.”  It was perfect on these potatoes!  VERY flavorful!  I think it would be great on all sorts of meat!  So glad I have this in my pantry!

The potatoes really were the star of this meal—maybe it was the butter… maybe it was just the flavor from grilling.  But we’ll definitely do this again!

Hope you all are having a wonderful holiday weekend!

Gatorade Fit, Power Bar Pure and Simple, and Dancing

Tonight, when I came home from Zumba, I turned on the TV to this scene:

You see?  Dancing just makes you feel good.  I guess that’s how I got addicted to Zumba.

The past few days have been busy as usual.  Monday-Wednesday seem to be my busiest days.

I’ve been doing some experimenting on hydration and pre-workout snacks.  I’ve been trying out low-cal granola-type bars to see which taste the best and keep you going through a workout.

 

This week I tried Power Bar’s Pure and Simple Energy Bars.

I tried both flavors: Cranberry Oatmeal Cookie and Roasted Peanut Butter.  I like these bars, and at 120-140 calories, they are one of the lower-calorie options with a good source of protein (5 grams). 

I think these bars really did help!  I felt like I had energy all the way through the workout!  They also taste good—not too dry.  I think I like the Cranberry Oatmeal flavor the best.

I also tried out the new products from Gatorade—the new FIT series. 

If you haven’t seen them, they are designed to help you “get the most out of your workout”, from the warm up to the cool down.  I did not try the step 1, the “Primer.”  These are fruit/nut combinations.  But I didn’t try these because I had already bought the Power Bars.  I did try the Step 2 Hydration drink and the Post Workout “Smoothie.”  I thought these were… eh… just ok.  I like that they aren’t so high in calories (20 calories for the Hydration/Step 2).  But I really did not like the flavors.  The choices are Mango-Passionfruit, Acai-Blueberry, and Melon-Pear.  So far I tried Mango and melon and did not like the flavor of either one.  I wish they had an orange flavor.  I LOVE Orange G2.  But I don’t like these flavors.  Oh well.  I’ll just stick with my infused water for now with an occasional G2.

Today, when I got home from work, I had a little surprise… a package from ZUMBA!  Check out my new shirt! 

I headed out to assist with a super-fun, energy-filled class with another fellow trainee and one of our head instructors.  Then I came home to a delicious dinner prepared by the husband:

Lemon-Pepper Pork Chop, mashed potatoes, and green beans!  Yum!

And I got to sit and listen to some great stories before the munchkin went to sleep. 

Yep, in case you are wondering… she officially IS the cutest child in the universe.  She’s very excited that tomorrow is Friday because Friday is “Doughnut Day!”

Hope you all are having a great week!