Sunday Southern Days

Well, talk about easy. This makes a great side dish for so many entrees, especially butter chicken or the Asian spare ribs. Ingredients: 1 c dry jasmine rice 1 can coconut milk 1 pinch salt 1 c water or broth  Instructions: Mix all ingredients into the Instant Pot.  Lock the lid and set to “Rice” for 12 minutes.  At the end of cooking, turn off/unplug the device and allow to natural pressure release for 10 minutes.  Manually release any residual pressure after 10 minutes.  Remove the lid and fluff with a fork.  Tip: If you are reheating rice in the microwave, cover the rice with a damp paper towel while it cooks so it doesn’t harden.

Bread. Bread, y’all. In the Instant Pot. And I couldn’t have figure out a greeker lineup of ingredients, like olive oil and Greek yogurt, among others. Note: This is not a rising bread. This recipe will yield a dense, tender, moist bread. Ingredients: 2 c all-purpose flour 2 t olive oil, divided  1/2 t salt 1/2 t baking soda (NOT baking powder) 1.5 c plain Greek yogurt (any fat content is fine) -- CLICK HERE for my Instant Pot Thick Greek Yogurt Recipe Water  Other stuff you’ll need: Electric pressure cooker Wire rack insert  29 ounce aluminum can, clean and no wrapper (I used a leftover diced tomatoes can)  Piece of aluminum foil  Instructions: Rub 1 t of the olive oil inside the can In a glass bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda and salt with a fork Stir in the Greek yogurt. It should be a sticky ball. If not, add in a splash of water at a time, kneading for a minute after each soash until a sticky ball is formed....

As I prep for the 80 Day Obsession, I wanted to find a tracker to log my food that would make my life a bit easier and still let me pre-plan my meals and workouts. Coming up with a few printables online that never had enough room to write or type in my meals, I decided to create my own that would work better for my purposes. I created this for Excel/Google Sheets. You can save it and type right into it, logging your numbers of containers, details on the food, and at the bottom, you can edit the color container numbers to work with your bracket. Happy Planning! Click here for a FREE 21 Day Fix Planning Calendar Click here for PDF Download

Raise your hand if you LOVE washing dishes? Yes? Then this recipe isn't for you. Because dinner is done in one pot. Set it and forget it while you change into something more comfortable after a long day. Ingredients: 1 lb. ground beef 1/2 onion, diced 2 c broth or water 3 c (24 ounces) pasta sauce (marinara or tomato sauce recommended) 1 lb. any pasta (I used whole wheat high protein spaghetti) 2 T Italian Seasoning 1 t Onion Powder 1 t Garlic Powder 1/2 t salt 1/4 t black pepper Instructions: Set your pot to "Saute" and cook the ground beef, breaking up with a wooden spoon as it cooks. Add the onion to the ground beef and they will cook together. Once it is cooked through (about 4-5 min), do not drain out the fat. **If you prefer to use frozen meatballs, skip the above steps, start with the meatballs in the bottom of your pot, then go from here:  Mix in all seasoning (Italian seasoning, onion powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper) Layer in ...

Another fun discovery today — 6 minute eggs in the Instant Pot/Crock-Pot Express!! If you are like me and “resolutioning” to better health this new year, eggs are likely part of that new eating plan, whether it’s Weight Watchers, 21 Day Fix, or a plethora of others. And I just can’t do scrambled eggs every day. I do, however, love hard-boiled eggs — plain, in egg salad, on a lettuce salad, and the list goes on. Yet somehow in adulthood, I’d become an egg-peeling failure, often losing half the egg white stick into the shell as I attempt to peel the egg. With the addition of the Crock-Pot Express to our home this Christmas, I knew it was time to pressure cook some eggs. Ingredients: 1 c water Eggs (I used 4, but I think you could fit 8-9 in the pot in a single layer of you want to) Instructions: Pour 1 cup of water in your pot Add the wire rack Place the raw eggs on the wire rack Close the lid and the rotate the steam valve to the closed position Set the device to ...

We are Greek, yet I have never attempted to make my own Greek yogurt (I know, *gasp*). We are Fage faithful purchasers, since this is what my husband and I both grew up and deem "the real stuff." But since our Crock-Pot Express joined out family at Christmas, I decided it was time to try it out. Worst case, I was out a half gallon of milk. This recipe was a huge (good) surprise though! Perfect tart taste and thick, creamy consistency. Ingredients: 1 half gallon of milk (use can use any fat level, I used 2%) 3 T of Fage Plain Greek Yogurt (be sure it says "Live Cultures" on the container) Instant Pot or Crock-Pot Express Cheesecloth Mesh Strainer or Colander Digital Thermometer Large Bowl Hel pful Tip: O nce you start making your own yogurt, save 3T of your last batch to add to the new one as your “starter”.  I like to freeze it as a yogurt cube, then I never have to worry about saving some. Instructions: Starting with a...

If you're like me and the holidays delivered a few (hundred) too many delicious goodies, we're getting back on the healthy-living train in the new year (and whoa, how many years have we been off that train?) After looking at many options for a structured program for both nutrition and exercise, I was about to jump back on a successful old standby, the 21 Day Fix, when I came to learn about the new 80 Day Obsession, the new program from Beachbody trainer Autumn Calabrese that launches on January 15. With the addition of the Crock-Pot Express instant pot to our family, meal planning and preparations have begun to maximize success. If you aren't familiar with the 80 Day Obsession (or Beachbody/21 Day Fix in general), I’ve added a link at the bottom of this post. I'm not a coach, nor do I profit off the promotion of this program. Just sharing some great info. If you are interested in one of these programs, I am happy to put you in touch with my own amazing coach, ...