Scrappy Blog

Red Beans and Rice (instant pot)

Recipe compiled from six or seven internet sources.

· 2 Tbsp bacon fat

· 1 1/2 cup chopped onion (frozen)

· 1 cup chopped celery (fresh)

· 3-4 tsp chopped garlic

· 2 or 3 bay leaf

· 1 tsp thyme

· 1 tsp oregano

· ½ tsp sage

· 1 tsp Paprika

· 1 tsp Red pepper flakes

· 1/2 tsp black pepper

· 1 tsp cayenne pepper

· 1 tsp salt

· Parsley flakes – 2 tbsp

· 1 lb small red beans

· 6 cups water

· 1 pkg andouille

Pot to saute mode. Brown andouille sausage and remove from pan.

Add bacon grease to pot and allowed to melt. Add onion and celery and garlic, cook until softened.

Add all seasonings and stir in for a couple of minutes.

Add water and beans, set pot to manual high for 40 minutes.

When finished, allowed pressure to release naturally

Used potato masher to mash a few beans to thicken sauce.

Stir sausage back in.

Serve over rice. (brown rice, 2 cups rice, 2 1/4 cups water, 23 minutes on grains setting)

Results: When I first tasted this out of the pot, I was afraid it would be too spicy. After mixing about 50:50 with the rice, the level of spiciness is perfect – just leaves your mouth warm without burning it.

The texture came out perfect – the beans are melt-in-the-mouth soft but are not paste.

The flavor is fine, but not oh-my-god-delicious. I felt like it was missing a slight punch – I think next time I make it, I will add a pinch more salt, and then after cooking I will stir in just a couple tablespoons of something tart like lemon juice or vinegar. Not enough to make it sour, just enough to make the umami pop. I wonder if it also could use a little more paprika… I guessed on the amount because all the recipes called for “cajun seasoning” which I didn’t have, and all the cajun seasoning recipes seemed to involve paprika.

This made six very generous servings with a little left over. It probably would make eight very reasonable sized servings without leaving us hungry.

I was going to take a picture of it but I snarfed it down before I remembered. Here’s one of the beans just after I opened the instant pot:

Honey Mustard Chicken for the Instant Pot

Ingredients:
splash of vegetable oil
1.5-2 lbs chicken (I used six boneless skinless thighs)
3 tbsp honey
1 tbsp soy sauce
3 tbsp mustard (I used plain yellow)
1 tbsp malt vinegar
2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 cup chicken broth (used Better than Broth bouillon)
2 tbsp corn starch + 2 tbsp water

Combine honey, soy sauce, mustard, malt vinegar, garlic powder, pepper, and broth to make a slurry, set aside.
Cut excess fat off of chicken.
In instant pot, add a little oil and turn to saute. When oil is hot, brown chicken both sides.
Remove cooked chicken from pot, remove any excess oil, then add a little water and scrape up any bits stuck to the pan.
Add liquid slurry and chicken to pot, turn chicken so it is fully covered in the slurry, then set pot on Manual high pressure for 10 minutes.
While it’s cooking, combine corn starch and water, stir until there’s no lumps.
When complete, quick release and remove chicken to a plate, leaving sauce in pot.
Turn pot back to Saute. Add corn starch + water combo, stir into broth. Stir for a few seconds until liquid is thickened.
On the plate, shred the chicken into bite-size pieces. Add back into sauce.

Serve on your preferred grain. I made a brown and wild rice combo to serve it on. Made four generous servings.

Conclusion: the flavors were nice, but not too strong. Could possibly use another tablespoon of honey for those who prefer things a bit sweeter, or another tablespoon of mustard for those who prefer the spicy. The chicken was nicely tender but not mushy.

I made up two full cups of (dry) rice and distributed it four ways. Next time I think I’m make the rice portions smaller – 1.5 cups divided four ways would be plenty as that would be 3/4 cups per serving.

Gotta remember to take some pictures as I cook!

Musing about meal planning

Every time I have a spell of culinary activity, I think maybe I could develop an approach to meal planning that would actually be sustainable. That is,

I could manage to complete all steps of the process (planning, shopping, cooking, storing, cleanup) in a small enough timespan that it would be feasible to do this in a normal work week
The result would be tasty enough and offer enough variety to keep us happy
I’d feel good about the diet we were eating for short and long-term health goals

Achieving all of that seems to be a project with a lot of complexity and moving parts. There are certainly lots of resources and tools I could use for each stage of the process.

Meal planning

Capture ideas
Individual recipes: try things out and track what works (the lab journal)

First time for a recipe
Further experiments
Final plan would include shopping list, portion size, notes for storage, etc

Develop a template for quickly pulling together a week’s cooking

The planned recipes – a template could help ensure that each week’s cooking has a balance of

Flavors – sweet dishes, tangy dishes, savory/rich dishes, spicy dishes, etc
Ingredients

At least one thing a week of certain desirable foods like legumes
At least one or two veggie recipes a week

The related grocery lists
The plan for using resources efficiently (eg start something in crockpot and then cook things in oven, pressure cooker, etc, while crock is perking along)

Shopping and food inventory

Shopping would be easier if had standard inventory of basics, with straightforward approach to re-stocking as I use things.
Organizing my panty would help, as it would be easier to see if an ingredient was running low.
Explore using tools like online shopping and/or grocery store curbside pickup

Storing food

Ideally would put up food in ready-to-serve format whenever possible, so can just heat up without further effort.

o Explore what’s the best sort of container for that sort of thing. Should be able to tolerate freezer and microwave conditions.

o How to label things in a way that would survive the freezer but not last forever?

Broccoli balls

Composed long ago and never posted. Who knows where the source recipe is? But since I apparently completely changed the recipe, maybe it doesn’t matter?

I used prechopped stuff and finished chopping in the food processor because I am lazy.

How handy that the cheese comes in 2-cup size. Wish the broccoli had.

And yes, I am still lazy so it is pre-grated. And health-ish lower fat cheese.

OK, to sub in egg whites we have this conversion:

But I want the volume of the whole egg not just the whites so I tried 2/3 cup.

And I substituted oats for the bread crumbs. Which are not sticky like bread is so I was left with something that showed little or no interest in sticking together into balls.

So experimentation time.

Experiment 1 is just to make small heaps on the cookie sheet.

Experiment 2 is to fill little silicone muffin holders with the stuff.

At ten minutes the recipe says to flip them. There is a little visible meltage – maybe this will work?

The piles broke apart a bit. The ones in cups stayed more intact but had more of their cheese pooled at the bottom (now the top).

The ones in the molds turned out much more solid:

Taste test:

Broccoli is a bit undercooked. Cheese fully done; would be burnt if left longer. Oats barely noticable.

For the next batch the main variable was letting the ingredients sit for a half-hour before baking. The hope was that the oats would soak in some of the egg liquid and become sticky. The mixture did seem a bit stickier when I did this batch.

Also I realized I could use the muffin molds to shape nicer piles.

These definitely came out more solid:

The next two experiments involved adding a bit of milk to the mix and letting the mix sit for a half-hour. To account for the extra moisture I increased the bake time to 30 minutes, with the first 15 inside a muffin cup and the second 15 with the cup removed.

These were really tasty on the taste test. Of course by now it was practically a quiche. Which gives me ideas for my next bout of making quiche.

TP rolls for seed starting?

Follow up: Composed this long ago and never posted it. Posting now because it might be useful for someone someday.

This was a qualified success. Used to plant things that sprout quickly and go into the ground relatively soon after sprouting, these were great. But when I tried using them for seeds that take longer to germinate and grow to having second leaves, the cardboard from the rolls started to have problems – it got moldy and attracted fungus gnats and then started to fall apart.

Since the quick-sprouting, quick-maturing seeds tend to do relatively well in the ground anyway, I’m not sure this approach really has a lot of long-term merit.

+ + +
Saw this on Pinterest and it seemed worth a try. Seed pods are not much good for deep rooted or larger plants. I have a few more nubs of ginger I want to sprout indoors as insurance in case the main stuff doesn’t sprout. I also will want to get some beans started and they are notoriously hard to transplant. These seem like the cheap alternative to peat pots.

Start with a pile of TP rolls

Flatten a role twice to square it off

The depth of your cut should be about the width of a side

Cut all four corners

Then cut a triangle out of each starting at opposite corner

Fold edges down overlapping on the flat side. You may have to deepen the triangles a bit to fold the last one under the first.

Ready to fill with soil and plant

Bonus: actually labeling the things I planted. I am bad about that

Taking a gamble

I apparently created this post as a draft a couple years ago and never followed up. Funny to release it now since I no longer have a garden (at least until I get the balcony going), but I think it might turn out useful.

Conclusion from this experiment – pretty much all of the plants I divided out survived and thrived just fine. So I conclude that buying seedlings with more than one plant per pot can be a sneaky way to save a few bucks.

The seedlings at the local garden store were all multiple seedlings per pot:

I know they won’t do well that way so for basil, tomato, and cucumber I decided to run an experiment and try separating them. Basil and tomato stems will root in water so I figure they can survive. Cucumber, I am not so sure.

So here are separated plants:

(Note a few separated beets around the edge; they sprout in clumps and I gently dig them up and transplant to individual spots)

It’s all one big experiment, this gardening thing, isn’t it? Either I just killed my seedlings or got an amazing bargain on seedlings because I for two or three plants per pot.

Made a yummy bean soup yesterday using home grown green onion, chive, celery, and parsley, so that was rather validating.

Lentils with chili seasoning, instant pot

The source recipe called this lentil chili but we decided his was a misnomer.

Splash olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
4 tsp chopped garlic
1 cup chopped baby carrots
1/2 cup chopped celery
1 Tbsp chili powder
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp coriander

1 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp dry mustard
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 can crushed tomatoes
1 bag (about 2.5 cups) lentils
3 cups veggie broth (used better than bouillon vegetable)

Turned instant pot on sauté, added splash of oil. Sautéed onions, garlic, carrot, celery until softened. Added spices and stirred in for a minute or so. Added broth, deglazed bottom of pan. Added tomatoes and lentils, switched to “beans/chili” mode and pressure cooked for 14 minutes. Allowed 10 minute natural release and then vented.

Result – tasty. Beans are fully soft to the point of being creamy, and very little extra liquid. I had thought they’d need to go over rice but I think they’re fine as is.

Instant pot Italian noodle casserole

Splash olive oil
4 boneless skinless chicken thighs, fat cut off and cut into bite size pieces
8 oz sliced baby Bella mushrooms
1 tsp minced garlic
1/2 cup diced onion
1 tsp (at least – one good shake) basil
24 oz bottle spaghetti sauce – Classico tomato basil
2 c water
2 c rotini noodles
3/4 cup grated cheese – combination of Parmesan and grated Mexican blend

Turned instant pot to sauté and added a splash of olive oil. When hot, browned chicken pieces a couple minutes, added onion and garlic for a few more minutes, then mushrooms and cooked until volume reduced about half. Then added spaghetti sauce and basil and water, stirred well, added pasta and made sure all pasta was fully submerged. Turned pot to manual high pressure mode for 10 minutes. Quick release and then stir in cheese.

Result – noodles cooked and not too much extra liquid. Taste was fine but a bit bland. Think the cheese sort of kills the tanginess. Will have to think about how to get the thickness added by the cheese and also get more punch. But, was easy and would do again.

Instant pot mushroom risotto (with fake chicken)

First try on this recipe.

2 tsp olive oil
1 cup frozen chopped onion
24 oz sliced baby Bella mushrooms
1/2 tsp dried thyme
4 1/2 cup chicken stock (used better then broth bouillon)
2 cup arborio rice
1 cup shaved Parmesan
1 tbsp butter
9 oz Beyond Meat chicken grilled strips, chopped into pieces

Turned the pot to sauté and added oil. Cooked onion until brown, added in mushrooms and thyme, cooked until reduced to about half the original volume. Added fake chicken bits and stirred in for a few seconds. Poured in the broth and scraped bottom of pan well. Added rice, stored, switched pot to manual high pressure for 7 minutes. Quick released the pressure and stirred in butter and cheese.

Result is creamy and thick and yummy. Made four very large portions.

Notes – recipe called for 1/2 cup wine (red or white) and 4 cups broth. Didn’t have wine on hand
Recipe said to toast rice then add liquid. I did the liquid first because I was focused on deglazing the pot and forgot the toasting bit.
The chicken was not in the recipe. I just had it on hand so I used it.

This was a winner. Will make again.

How I want to live part 2

In July of 2017, I posted my thoughts on how I want to live.

A month later, a hurricane flooded my home, forcing us to evacuate and spend the next half-year dealing with insurance, property sales and purchases and moving.

Because I’d invested that recent time into considering my goals for day-to-day life, I quickly came to see the forced move as an opportunity to make some conscious, active choices about my new home. Those thoughts, plus many more in the following weeks and months, really helped when we were viewing possible new homes and trying to picture our lives there.

Some insights and decisions I made:

I love to garden and learn about gardening, but don’t feel the need to own the garden I work in. And when I’m the only one tending the garden, I get overwhelmed and frustrated at never managing to do enough. I decided to forego a large personal garden and instead joined a crew of volunteer gardeners maintaining a large public garden. So I’m still loving the gardening, and have the opportunity to learn from master gardeners and socialize with other volunteers as well. So far, very happy with this.

The new place is much closer to public transportation, which means I can eliminate a lot of driving time from my life. If someone else is doing the driving, I can spend that time paying attention to something else. Right now, I’m using a phone app to learn a bit of basic Italian, in anticipation of some upcoming travel.

The new place has a bigger kitchen area, similar dining area, and actually a bit less space given over to the social living area (living/family room). In the past, we had a big living room, dining room, and family room, composing over half the home’s square footage. This was great for throwing big parties, but… we didn’t actually enjoy throwing big parties. We are far more likely to enjoy entertaining a few people at a time. So, less public entertaining space. Instead, we have more square footage for closets (so there’s less clutter out in the rooms), and for the activities we like to do at home – like exercising, and crafts, and office space.

We’ll see how it goes. And in the future, I suppose I’ll be more careful when I muse aloud to the universe about wanting sweeping changes in my home and life!