Category: Dinner

Instant Pot Chicken Thighs

1-2 Pounds Chicken – I used frozen chicken thighs (boneless).
Add 1 cup water or broth to Instant Pot. Cook on high pressure for 20 minutes (use trivet).  Remove chicken and trivet, dump out broth/water and make one of the following:

Creamy Chicken – Basic

Add 4 ounces cream cheese, 1 chicken bullion cube, and white wine or water (about 1/4-1/2 cup) to instant pot and saute. Can also add mushrooms, onions, sundried tomatoes, spinach, artichokes, parmesan cheese, etc.

Cream Cheese Italian Chicken

Add 4-8 oz. of cream cheese and 1/2 – 1 packet of dry italian seasoning. Heat through on Saute. I like this one with mushrooms.

BBQ Bacon

Place chicken back  in bottom. Pour BBQ sauce over. Add cooked bacon, chopped scallions, and cheddar or monterey jack cheese. Heat on slow cooker for later or higher setting until cheese melts.

Piccatta style

Add chicken bullion, garlic, white wine, capers, italian seasoning, and lemon juice to pan. Add zoodles. Cook on saute for a few. Add chicken back in until heated through.

Buffalo Style
Put chicken back in. Pour buffalo sauce over and crumbles of blue cheese.

Mediterranean

Add white wine, chicken broth, olives, and tomatoes.

 

 

Salisbury Steak

Awesome low carb dinner. These freeze well as long as you make new gravy to have with it!

Ingredients for Salisbury Steak (serves 2-4)

  • 1 lb ground turkey or chicken – thawed. Okay to use more expensive ground beef.
  • 1/2 chopped onion
  • 1 tablespoon chopped garlic – fresh or from jar.
  • 2 tablespoons Worchestershire Sauce
  • 1 beef bouillon cube – or a 1/4 cup of beef stock.
  • 1 tablespoon of oil
  • Pepper to taste – a bouillon cube has plenty of salt.

Directions for Salisbury Steak
Over a medium heat, saute onions for about 5 minutes until soft. Add garlic during the last 2 minutes. While onions are cooking add Worchestershire Sauce to a small bowl. Mash in a beef bouillon cube with a fork until dissolved (if using ground beef then skip bouillon cube addition.)

In a large bowl, add ground turkey, draining off any liquid. Pour in Worchestershire sauce/beef bouillon mix. Add cooked onion and garlic, mixing well.

Add oil to a large saute pan over a medium heat. Chub turkey is quite mushy, so with a large spoon I just scoop out enough to form a hamburger sized patty. I got four burgers out of a one pound package.
Over medium heat, saute burgers on one side about 7 – 10 minutes, or until the sweating juices are dark brown around each patty. That is the time to turn it. You can peek underneath to make sure. Since you will be finishing the cooking in a Mushroom Gravy, you only need to cook the other side for a minute to finish firming up the patties.

Remove the turkey patties and set aside. Next you will make the Mushroom Gravyusing the caramelized flavors on the bottom of the saute pan, so don’t clean it out!

Mushroom Gravy Ingredients

  • 1 package of mushrooms – any type. I used button mushrooms and chopped them in half.
  • 1/2 chopped onion
  • 1 tablespoon chopped garlic – fresh or from jar
  • 1 beef bouillon cube – okay to substitute with beef stock, about 2 cups.
  • 2 tablespoons of Worchestershire Sauce
  • 2 cups of water (leave out if you are using beef stock)
  • 2 tablespoons of flour
  • 1 tablespoon of oil
  • Pepper to taste – bouillon cubes have enough salt for my taste.


Directions for Mushroom Gravy
Add oil to the saute pan you fried turkey patties in. Over a medium heat add chopped onions, garlic and chopped mushrooms. Saute for about 5 – 10 minutes until onion and mushrooms are soft. As you saute scrape the bottom of the pan to loosen the tasty caramelized brown bits. *Add 2 tablespoons of flour to the saute pan and mix it into the cooked veggies. Allow a couple of minutes to heat up. I like to cook the flour to take out its raw taste.

Mix in 2 tablespoons of Worchestershire and 1 beef bouillon cube into 2 cups of water. Crush bouillon cube with a fork (if you are using beef stock, then skip water and bouillon cube part, just add Worchestershire sauce to 2 cups of beef stock.)Finally add water to sauteed veggies and flour. Stir water in pan as you add it, so flour mixes well to prevent lumps.

*If you are worried about lumpy gravy, skip the “sauteing flour” part. Just add flour to the water and mix with a spoon. Then add the white flour liquid to the sauteing veggies.

Final Directions
Once flour and water is incorporated, turn up heat and continue stirring and until gravy starts to simmer, then reduce heat. Gravy should thicken in about 5 minutes.

Now add the turkey patties. Cook patties about 5 minutes each side. Turn once so gravy coats both sides.

From:

http://the99centchef.blogspot.com/2011/05/salisbury-steak-with-mushroom-gravy.html

Pork Medallions in Marsala

  • 2 lb. pork tenderloin (about 2 tenderloins)
  • Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 3 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil
  • 3 Tbs. unsalted butter
  • 2 medium shallots, finely diced
  • 12 oz. cremini mushrooms, thinly sliced
  • 1 Tbs. all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup dry Marsala
  • 1 cup homemade or low-salt chicken broth
  • 3 Tbs. heavy cream
  • 1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Preparation

  • Trim the tenderloins of silverskin and any excess fat. Cut the tenderloins into 2-inch-thick medallions. Flip each medallion onto a cut side and press down with the palm of your hand to flatten slightly. Season the meat with 3/4 tsp. salt and 1/4 tsp. black pepper.
  • Heat the olive oil and 1 Tbs. of the butter in a large sauté pan over high heat. When the butter is melted and foaming, add half of the meat and sear until nicely browned, 2 to 3 min. Flip and cook the other side until the meat is well browned and slightly firm to the touch, about another 2 min. Transfer to a plate and repeat with the remaining pork.
  • Melt the remaining 2 Tbs. butter in the pan. Add the shallots and a pinch of salt and sauté for about 30 seconds, using a wooden spoon to scrape up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Add the mushrooms and sauté until all of the mushroom liquid has evaporated and the mushrooms are golden, about 3 min. Season with 1/2 tsp. salt, sprinkle with the flour, and add the Marsala. Once the Marsala has almost completely evaporated, add the chicken broth and reduce by half, about 3 min. Stir in the cream and parsley, return the pork and any accumulated juices to the pan, and cook, flipping the pork once, until it’s firm to the touch and still a little pink in the middle (cut into a piece to check), 2 to 4 min. Taste for salt and pepper and serve.
  • From: Fine Cooking

Pork Medallions in Mushroom Marsala Sauce