Cottage Cheese Dinner Bowls

Cottage cheese seems to be all the rage right now... but I have always liked it, so I am just excited to discover new and fun ways to enjoy it. Right now, one weight-loss/management tool is to use the protein in cottage cheese to help you feel fuller, so they have been using it as one of the main ingredients in a deconstructed dinner bowl. The one pictured here is my version of a deconstructed taco bowl, but you could do any other kind you can think of, including a pizza/spaghetti version. Maybe southern BBQ with corn and beans? Or breakfast with eggs, bacon, potatoes, etc. 

Enjoy!

 Cottage Cheese Dinner Bowls- Taco

Ingredients:

• 1 serving warmed taco meat (chicken, beef, pork, etc.) (approx. 100 calories worth)
• 1 portion cottage cheese (I take a hefty spoonful, maybe 1/4-1/2 cup) (approx. 100 calories worth)
• 1 serving chips or other crunchy scooping item (approx. 100 calories worth)
• healthy toppings

Directions:

• Place all your parts and pieces in a serving bowl and use your chips to scoop out the food and enjoy. 
• Depending on what chips you use will determine how many you can have and stay in your calorie goals. Some people use protein chips or other low-calorie options. I used sea salt Pop-Corners chips for about 140 calories for 16 chips.
• Your total calories is going to depend on all of your choices for the bowl. I used a healthy pile of lettuce with just a small sprinkling of cheese, one container of Pearls Olives To Go for another 40 calories, and just a touch of Taco Bells Chipotle sauce for maybe another 50 calories (I didn't use an entire serving). My cottage cheese and taco meat are probably about 100 calories each, making my bowls about 400-500 calories each for my dinner.

You can switch up any of the ingredients that you want. You can also do this same thing, but make it a pizza/spaghetti bowl with your favorite pizza toppings (for me, that would be pepperoni, olives, shredded cheese, but you can do any kind you like) and maybe some pizza sauce or really meaty spaghetti sauce. Scoop out with crusty bread or bagel chips. You can heat it up and stir it all together, or eat cold, if you like cold pizza.

Egg Bites (in the Dash Egg Bite Maker)

I am jotting down this recipe really quickly so it's super easy for me to find again. You can do these egg bites in a Dash Egg Bite Maker, or you could easily do them in a pan on the stove or in the oven. I have also heard good things about making egg bites in a pressure cooker, so I might try that next. But the process is really simple. This recipe is for egg bites made with a silicone egg bite mold.

All you need to do is:

1. Preheat your egg bite maker along with a small amount of water to create some steam (approximately one egg-bite-mold's worth of water) with the lid closed. Water does not have to come up the sides of the molds.
1. Oven: Pour a shallow amount of water into an oven-safe pan, preferably one with a lid or use foil to cover the pan and trap the steam.
2. Pot or Pan: Pour a shallow amount of water into a pot or pan and preheat to a gentle simmer with a lid on. (You need the lid to capture the steam.) 
2. Spray your molds with non-stick spray. Eggs can stick even with silicone molds (surprise, surprise!). 
3. Once preheated, carefully place your molds in your maker/pot/pan/oven safe dish.
4. Add your mix-ins (such as cheese, bacon, ham, veggies, etc.) to the molds. I like to prepare the molds directly in the pan/maker that I am cooking the bites in so I don't spill them by trying to move them once they are filled.
5. Pour beaten eggs into each cup until about 3/4 of the way full. 
1. I used Egg Beaters from a carton which are lower calorie, pour really easily, and you don't have to worry about having part of an egg that won't fit in the molds.
6. Cook covered for 10 minutes or until eggs are set in the middle and done. 
1. Oven: Bake at 350 for approximately 15-20 minutes, according to the Internet. (This suggested cooking time could be for larger egg bites made in a muffin pan. Smaller bite molds might require less time. Just keep an eye on them the first time you make them. I would check them at 10 minutes to be safe.)
2. Pot or Pan: Bring your shallow water to a gentle simmer and cook covered for about 10 minutes.

One advantage of the egg bite maker is that it has a metal underside to the lid, and so when the eggs rise up in the cups during the cooking process, they brown slightly on top from contact with the metal. You wouldn't get the same brown crust if you make these in the oven or a pan on the stove, but the cooking process should be very similar.

Breaded Chicken Patty (Air Fryer)

As with the other air fryer notes I have put here, this frozen breaded chicken patty was super easy to cook and turned out great! Simply place frozen into your air fryer basket or liner. Lightly spray with non-stick spray on both sides and air fry at 400 degrees for 8-9 minutes, turning halfway through the cooking process. When it reaches an internal temp of 160 degrees, you know it's done! Enjoy!

Protein Pudding

While trying to lose weight, I found a fun new way to enjoy a protein shake. If you add two or three tablespoons of zero-sugar instant pudding mix to your shake (different brands of shakes need more or less pudding mix to get the desired consistency, so just experiment with your favorites), blend it up for a minute or so, and then let chill in the fridge for a few hours, you can have a pudding dessert that is full of protein for not many calories or sugar. Enjoy!

Egg Frittata (Air Fryer)

 Fun breakfast in the air fryer! You can put whatever stuff you like in omelets into your frittata. This is just what I used today. Enjoy!

Using a nonstick silicone liner in your air fryer basket, spray your liner with nonstick spray and add your desired number of eggs, or in this case, I just used "egg beaters" liquid eggs until my liner had the entire bottom coated at about maybe a 1/2 inch thick. Then add your toppings. Mine were cheese, diced ham, chopped frozen broccoli, chopped shredded carrots, salt and pepper. Give it a stir. Air fry for at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes or until the middle is all cooked through. My top got really crispy brown using the "egg beaters" (not sure if this would happen with regular eggs) so I flipped it over for a prettier presentation, but it was delicious. I topped mine with some hot sauce.

Lettuce Wraps

When I got diagnosed as pre-diabetic, I wanted to find ways to cut carbs. One day, I tried a lettuce wrap and found that, if the lettuce is super fresh and crisp, that I REALLY like it. In some ways, I even PREFER it to bread when I am in the mood for something lighter, refreshing and hydrating, but I don't really just want a salad with tons of lettuce. To make the wraps, the key is to use the biggest leaves of the lettuce and it has to be fresh... at least for me. Enjoy!

Lettuce Wraps

Ingredients:

• 1 large leaf iceberg lettuce
• sandwich ingredients of your choice

Directions:

• Carefully remove and wash the top most healthy leaf on your lettuce head. (Once the head starts to get smaller, it becomes more difficult to make wraps, so I really try to use the absolute BIGGEST leaves and then just use the rest of the head for something else.)
• In the center, place your desired sandwich ingredients. (In the picture, I used shredded cheese, ripped up turkey, crumbled bacon, topped with Chick-fil-a sauce.) 
• Like wrapping a present, start by folding in the most bendable part of the leaf of lettuce around your filling. Not all leaves easily fold the same way without cracking and breaking, so you might end up with a different shape every time, but I tend to go for a square-ish package where I fold up last the end that was closest to were the leaf attached to the head, as this tends to be the most breakable part. 

Tips:

• If part of the leaf is too steamy/woody, I will also cut some of this area off. Only use the part of the leaf that you are willing to eat. 
• In many cases, once you wrap it up, you won't really be able to put it down without everything falling apart, so it is best to be committed to eating it when you begin. So have your other foods all ready to go on your plate and your drinks open and ready to consume... otherwise you might end up eating this with a knife and fork.
• I also like to have as much of the filling ripped up, shredded, or cut into small pieces as I can so when I am eating I don't bite into and pull out huge chunks of my sandwich, and then you are left eating an empty lettuce husk, which isn't nearly as delicious. That is why my turkey is ripped up, my cheese is shredded and my bacon is crumbled.

Avocado Toast

For anyone who wants to jump on the "now trendy" avocado toast bandwagon, here you go! I started making this, not sure if I would like it, and it turned out really good. Then I made it for the rest of the family, CONVINCED that my boys would be too picky to enjoy it, and was completely surprised with everyone... EVERYONE!!!... liked it. So, if you are like I was, and you aren't quite sure how to prepare avocado toast, here is a place to start. Enjoy!

Avocado Toast

Ingredients: (to make toast as pictured)

• 1 slice toast, any bread you like
• 1 slice cheese, any kind you like
• 1 serving breakfast meat (1 used 1-2 slices bacon, but you could totally use sausage or any other meat you like)
• 1 serving lunch meat (optional), I used sundried tomato turkey
• 1 fried egg, cooked to your liking
• 1/2 mashed avocado
• seasoning of your choice (I used "Everything But the Bagel")
• hot sauce (optional)

Directions:

• Toast your bread. 
• Fry your egg. 
• Mash and season your avocado. 
• Assemble your toast. I like to do toast, then cheese, bacon, avocado, lunch meat, egg, hot sauce, but you can do it anyway you like.

Tips:

• I found that you can just slice your avocado instead of mashing if you prefer that texture, but slices will move around while you are trying to eat your toast and can be messy and make it difficult to eat. 
• The mashed avocado seems to stay in place better for me, and it makes it easy to mix in your seasonings, like salt and pepper... or in my case, Everything But the Bagel. I used a sprinkling of seasoning, maybe 1/2 tsp. 
• I also like to use precooked bacon slices, which I just pop in the microwave for about ten seconds to crisp up. 
• While the toast is hot, I like to put my cheese slice down so it can get warm and a little melty, and then I put the hot bacon on top of the cheese to also help soften and warm the cheese. 
• You can totally put lunch meat on this for extra protein, but you don't have to. You can also add other toppings like veggies or sprouts. These are just the toppings I like that typically we have in our house.
• Avocados can vary in size, so you might find that 1/2 an avocado is too much or too little. Just use the amount you like. For me, if I am the only one eating this, I tend to have it two days in a row so I can just use half the avocado one day, and then the other half the next. I don't mash the second half initially. I just leave the avocado cut in half, still in the skin, and put in a baggie in the fridge. Then, the next day, I just carefully scrape away any brown, oxidized parts of the exposed avocado (like what happens to sliced apples) and then scoop it all out and mash it up.
• Depending on the bread you use, this can be a great low-carb recipe.

Marsha's Breakfast Toastie

You can make this regular or in a lower-calorie version if you use egg whites (or Egg Beaters- low-calorie egg substitute), low-calorie or low-carb bread, and low-fat/calorie cheese). The one pictured has low-calorie eggs with regular bread.

Breakfast Toastie

Ingredients:

• eggs
• bread, buttered on one side if desired
• toppings

Directions:

• Pour enough Egg Beaters/egg whites/scrambled eggs into the pan as desired. I do just enough Egg Beaters to thinly cover the bottom of a small frying pan.
• Place two pieces of bread touching each other on top of the eggs. If buttered, make sure the buttered-side is facing up in the pan.
• Cook until eggs are practically done and starting to brown on the surface touching the pan. Get under the eggs and bread with your spatula and flip everything over all at once. If it's been cooked long enough, with practice, the entire thing should still hold together.
• If possible, fold the "egg flaps" up onto the bread.
• Top with your fillings of choice. Could be cheese, meat, veggies, hot sauce, etc. Just whatever you want in the middle of your sandwich.
• Once your bread is toasted, close your sandwich and serve, optionally cutting in half for ease of eating.
• Hint: The lower and slower you cook your breaded side, the more time you have for your toppings to heat through just a bit and the cheese to melt. Your toppings won't really get hot or cook with this method, so top your sandwich accordingly. You can also cover the pan with a lid to help melt cheese and heat-up toppings.

About this much egg.

Bread touching... can be end-to-end like this, or side-to-side. Just as long as you can fold it up in the end into a sandwich.

Flip!

Add toppings. I used ham, cheese and bacon.

Done! This bread was NOT buttered.

Cross-section

One-Pan Ranch Chicken

 One the hunt for healthy, tasty recipes, I stumbled upon a website called "Hungry Girl." I modified her recipe for one-pan ranch chicken. To see the original recipe, go here: https://www.hungry-girl.com/weekly-recipes/easy-ranch-chicken-skillet

One-Pan Ranch Chicken

Ingredients-

• boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cooked and either shredded or cubed (Instant Pot chicken recipe)
• salt
• black pepper
• 2 pkg. frozen riced cauliflower
• 1 bag frozen mixed vegetables of your choice
• 1/2 cup light sour cream
• 1/2 brick light/reduced-fat cream cheese
• 1 envelope ranch dressing/dip seasoning mix

Directions-

• Heat frozen cauliflower and mixed veggies in a large non-stick pan with some water in the bottom of the pan to steam (maybe 1/2 cup). Mix well. 
• Cover and cook until veggies are tender. 
• When veggies are just about done, add in as much of your cooked chicken as desired (maybe 1/3 of an entire bag of frozen chicken cooked in the Instant Pot), sour cream, cream cheese and ranch seasoning. 
• Salt and pepper to taste.
• Top with additional cheese of your choice, if desired.

You could easily sub canned chicken, rotisserie chicken, or any other kind of meat you like. The Instant Pot is not required, but I currently like to cook big batches of chicken that way, and this is a good recipe to use it in.

Keto Chocolate Mousse

Krystal asked me to add this recipe to the blog. Done! The original recipe can be found here: https://jenniferbanz.com/keto-chocolate-mousse-ready-in-only-10-minutes

Keto Chocolate Mousse

• 1 Cup Heavy Whipping Cream
• ¼ Cup Unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted
• ¼ Cup Powdered Sweetener (Click here to see my favorite on Amazon)
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
• ¼ teaspoon kosher salt

Whisk the cream to stiff peaks using.  Add in the cocoa powder, sweetener, vanilla and salt and whisk until all ingredients are just combined.  Makes 4 servings

Keto Strawberry Shortcake in a Mug

Browsing TikTok for keto friendly recipes, I found this mug cake to make a low-carb version of strawberry shortcake. Krystal and I tried it and thought it was pretty good. To keep expectations in check, it was not as good as my favorite pound cake, but yummy just the same. Enjoy!

Keto Strawberry Shortcake in a Mug

• 2 Tbl butter
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
•  6 Tbl almond flour
• 2 Tbl stevia
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• Strawberries
• whipped cream

Melt butter in a large mug. Mix in the egg, vanilla, flour, stevia, and baking powder until smooth. Microwave for 90 seconds. Remove from mug, slice in half (or three layers) and top with whipped cream and berries between each layer and on top.

You can sometimes find low-carb/low-sugar whipped topping to make this extra keto-friendly.

Marsha's Low Carb Taco Chicken Zucchini Boats

The original recipe calls for buffalo wing sauce and blue cheese, but I wasn't sure my kiddos would eat that, so we did more of a taco chicken recipe instead and everyone liked it. I'm always excited to have a new way to get my kids to eat some veggies!

Ingredients-

• 4 medium zucchini
• 1 lb ground chicken, or two large cans
• 1/2 pkt ranch seasoning (about 2 Tbl)
• 1/2 pkt taco seasoning
• 2 cups shredded cheese or enough to cover the zucchini halves, whatever flavor you like

Instructions-

Wash zucchini and then cut length-wise. Find a baking dish large enough to hold all the halves placed side by side, flat-side up. Spray the dish with non-stick spray. Scoop out the middle of each half for filling and place in sprayed dish. For a milder flavor and more tender finish, peel zucchini, but don't peel until after you have scooped out the center because the peel helps make the halves more stable so they don't break while you scoop. Go slow and gentle.

*Raw Chicken: In a frying pan, cook the ground chicken. Our chicken gave off it's own liquid, which I took advantage of to help distribute the seasonings around. If you cook off all of the liquid before you add the seasoning, then you may need to add a little water back into the pan to get things stirred up evenly.

*Canned Chicken: If using precooked canned chicken, if the meat is moist enough once drained from the can, you can just toss with your seasonings to coat and then distribute among the zucchini.

Evenly distribute the filling between all the boats. Top with cheese. Cover with foil (sprayed with non-stick spray if you think the foil will touch the tops of the boats) to help steam the boats. Bake at 350 convection (400 standard) for 30 minutes. Remove foil and continuing cooking or broiling until cheese is golden and bubbly. Serve.

If desired, serve with a drizzle of ranch or blue cheese dressing. For a richer filling, add 4 oz of cream cheese to the chicken mixture.

The Best Keto Cheesecake

 Krystal asked me to add this to the blog. It is a low-carb version of cheesecake, so when you are looking for something for dessert, but also want to watch your blood sugar levels. Enjoy! She sure did!

Find the original recipe here: https://jenniferbanz.com/the-best-keto-cheesecake

The Best Keto Cheesecake

INGREDIENTS

For the crust

• 1 ½ Cups almond flour
• ¼ Cup Powdered Sweetener (like Stevia)
• 1 teaspoon Cinnamon
• 6 Tablespoons Butter, melted

For the filling

• 6 Packages 8 ounces full fat cream cheese, room temperature
• 2 Cups Powdered Sweetener (like Stevia)
• 5 Large Eggs room temperature
• 8 Ounces Sour Cream room temperature
• 1 Tablespoon Vanilla extract

EQUIPMENT

• 10 inch Springform Pan

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Pre-heat oven to 325F.  Adjust the rack to the middle of the oven.  Combine the crust dry ingredients in a medium bowl.  Mix in the butter.  Pour the crust mixture into a 10 inch x 4 inch springform pan and press halfway up the sides using your fingers.  Use a flat bottomed cup to press the mixture into the bottom.  Refrigerate the crust for 20 minutes.
2. In a large mixing bowl, beat the room temperature cream cheese with a hand mixer until light and fluffy.  If you use a stand mixer use the paddle attachment.  
3. Add in the sweetener a little at a time (about ⅓) and beat with the hand mixer.  
4. Add in the room temperature eggs one at a time and beat until well incorporated.
5. Finally, add in the vanilla and room temperature sour cream and beat until just incorporated.
6. Pour the cheesecake mixture into the crust and even out the top.  Bake in the pre-heated oven.  Check after 50 minutes.  The top should no longer be glossy and the center should still be jiggly. 
7. Turn off the oven and crack the door.  Let the cheesecake sit in the oven for 30 minutes.  Remove the cheesecake from the oven run a sharp paring knife between the cheesecake and the pan (this is to ensure the cake doesn't stick.  Do not remove the springform).  Let sit on the counter for 1 hour.
8. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 8 hours.  
9. Remove the springform pan sides, decorate the top, and serve.  Makes 12 slices.

JENNIFER'S TIPS (from the website where we got the recipe)

NUT FREE VERSION: If you are intolerant to almonds, you can do a 1 for 1 swap with sunflower seed flour!  

PAN SIZE: This keto cheesecake recipe requires a large springform pan.  I have linked to one in the recipe carb above.  If you use one that is too small, you will have leftover filling.

CRUSTLESS LOW CARB CHEESECAKE: To make this without a crust, line the inside of the springform pan with parchment paper.  You can also butter the sides and bottom really well.  Then continue with the cheesecake as normal.

KETO PUMPKIN CHEESECAKE: Simply replace the sour cream with pumpkin puree and add in 1 teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice.

VERY IMPORTANT: The most important thing you should know when it comes to making cheesecake is that all of your ingredients should be at room temperature.  Anything that is refrigerated should be left out for at least 2 hours, preferably 4.  That means eggs, sour cream, and cream cheese.  Submerging your eggs in warm water will help speed up the process of bringing the ingredients to room temperature, as will unwrapping and chopping your cream cheese into smaller pieces.

FREEZING: This is a large keto cheesecake but good news, it freezes very well!  You can freeze individual slices or the whole cake...or half of the cake!

• This is a good reference for freezing a whole cheesecake
• To freeze individual slices, simply slice the pieces of cheesecake and place them on individual pieces of plastic wrap.  Wrap them tight, place in a freezer bag or bowl, and store them in the freezer for up to 2 weeks.  Any longer than 2 weeks and they will lose quality.

Marsha's Salisbury Steak and Gravy

I got this recipe originally from Six Sister's Stuff, but with an entire fresh packet of French Onion Soup, it was a little too onion-y for William and I. A few days later, I made it again omitting the soup and it was much blander. So I think the sweet spot for our family is going to be 1/2 a packet. We also tried it with homemade gravy and jarred gravy and it was fine either way. So if all you have is the jar stuff, or if you want to whip up a dry packet mix of beef gravy, if you usually like that kind of gravy you will be just fine. See the original recipe here: 

https://www.sixsistersstuff.com/recipe/salisbury-steak

Marsha's Salisbury Steak and Gravy

1 pound ground beef

1/4 cup Italian bread crumbs

1/2 of 1.4 ounce dry French onion soup mix

1 egg beaten

2 Tablespoons water

1 12 ounce jar beef gravy, or one packet dry gravy mix prepared according to package directions

• Mix together the ground beef, bread crumbs, french onion mix, egg and water.
• Shape the mixture into 4 oval-shaped patties, about 1/2 inch thick.
• Spray a large skillet with cooking spray and warm up over medium heat.
• Add the patties to the skillet and cook for 10 minutes on each side or until no longer pink in the middle (unless you like pink...).
• Drain the grease from the skillet, and then add in the jar of gravy.
• Continue to cook in the gravy, covered, for 10 more minutes or until hot and bubbly, flipping halfway through.

Slow Cooker Maple and Brown Sugar Pork Tenderloin

I was looking for another good recipe for cooking pork tenderloin and came across this one for the slow cooker. We all really liked how the meat turned out. To see the original recipe, go here: https://www.sixsistersstuff.com/recipe/slow-cooker-maple-and-brown-sugar-pork/#wprm-recipe-container-98472

Slow Cooker Maple and Brown Sugar Pork Tenderloin

2 pounds pork tenderloin

salt and pepper to taste

¼ cup maple syrup  (cut in half if using pure maple syrup)

1 teaspoon minced garlic

4 Tablespoons Dijon Mustard

2 Tablespoons honey

2 Tablespoons brown sugar

1 Tablespoon cider vinegar

½ teaspoon dried thyme crumbled

For Gravy:

1 Tablespoon cornstarch

1 Tablespoon cold water

• Sprinkle tenderloins lightly with salt and pepper.
• Place pork in a slow cooker sprayed with non-stick cooking spray.
• Combine syrup, garlic, mustard, honey, brown sugar, vinegar, and thyme. Pour over the pork.
• Turn pork to coat thoroughly.
• Cover and cook on LOW for 7 to 8 hours, or on HIGH for 3 to 4 hours.

For Gravy:

• Remove pork to a plate and cover with foil to keep warm.
• Pour the juices into a saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat.
• Simmer for 5 minutes.
• Combine the cornstarch and cold water; whisk into the reduced juices and cook for 1 minute longer.
• Slice the pork and serve with the thickened juices.

Marsha's Notes:

It made some pretty yummy meat, but for some reason our juices were a bit heavy on the mustard/vinegar side so we didn't use the drippings to make the gravy as recommended in the original recipe. I was also expecting it to be sweeter with a name like "Maple and Brown Sugar" so I don't know if I needed to up those ingredients to get the results I was expecting. That said, no matter what happened when we tried this, we all liked the meat. So...

Country Dutch Oven Chicken

 During our camping trip this year, we decided to make some Dutch Oven and the recipe winner was this Country Dutch Oven Chicken. Our first attempt was okay, so we spiced this up a bit with a few tweaks and here is the recipe we landed on. Enjoy! Scott liked this chicken with some fresh cut-up pineapple and thought it would be good over potatoes or rice as well.

Country Dutch Oven Chicken

1 1/2 trays raw chicken cut into tenders (maybe 2-3 lbs) 

3 cans cream of chicken soup (or 1 can each cream of celery, mushroom and chicken)

1 bottle BBQ sauce

1 package bacon

1 small onion

salt and pepper

• Chop bacon and onion into small pieces. In a small sauce pan, cook bacon and onion until bacon is crispy and onion is tender and browed. 
• Cut raw chicken into bite-sized pieces. Place in Dutch Oven and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
• Scrape bacon and onions, drippings and all, over chicken in Dutch Oven. If there is a lot of browned bits stuck to the bottom of the pan, de-glaze pan by boiling a small amount of water in the pan until all the bits come off the bottom and then pour the liquid over the chicken as well.
• Mix together your cream soups with the bottle of BBQ and add it to your Dutch Oven. Stir everything to combine and then cook until chicken reaches 160 degrees internal temperature or is no longer pink.

Notes- Cooking in a Dutch Oven with coals or briquettes can be tricky. If you are a pro, you can cook the bacon and onion first in the Dutch Oven and then add the chicken and sauce over the top. Scott and I had some difficulty getting the pot hot enough to really get the bacon crispy, so the second time we made this, I just cooked it over a camp stove while Scott got the Dutch Oven ready for the chicken. To keep from losing too much heat from lifting the lid and checking everything over and over, we used a remote temperature probe so we could know when the chicken was done (160 degrees or so) without lifting the lid.

Slow Cooker Ritz Chicken

We had this chicken over mashed potatoes with some corn on the side (or, in my case, I mixed the corn right in with the chicken and potatoes with a sprinkling of cheese and it was super yummy!) and everyone loved it.

To see the original recipe, go here:https://www.sixsistersstuff.com/recipe/slow-cooker-ritz-chicken/#wprm-recipe-container-91033

Slow Cooker Ritz Chicken

10.5 ounce can cream of chicken soup

2 cups sour cream

1 1/2 cups crushed Ritz Crackers

1/2 cup butter melted

6 boneless skinless chicken breasts

1 Tablespoon parsley for garnish

• Combine the soup and sour cream in a bowl and set aside.
• In another bowl mix together cracker crumbs and melted butter.
• Place chicken in slow cooker that has been sprayed lightly with non stick cooking spray.
• Spoon the soup mixture over the chicken and sprinkle cracker crumbs on top.
• Cover and cook on low for 6-7 hours or high for 4-5 hours.
• Garnish with parsley before serving.

Marsha's Notes:

 I used one package/tray of chicken tenders from the meat department at our grocery store. They were frozen at the time, but I could thaw them enough under some running water to break the stuck-together tray of tenders in half so they would fit into my crock pot. I sprinkled the meat with some salt and pepper. Then I put the sauce ingredients on top and left everything to cook on high for a couple of hours until I could stir the entire thing and get it in an even layer in the pot. At that point (maybe around noon) I added the Ritz mixture to the top and left it to cook for the rest of the day. Seems like once I noticed the edges of the pot bubbling, I turned things down to low until dinner time. 

Hard Boiled Eggs in the Instant Pot

When my mother gave me my Instant Pot, one of the things she said she loved using it for the most was hard boiled eggs. Well, today I tried it for the first time and it turned out great! I did another post on how to make hard boiled eggs on the stove with some extra tips. You can check that out here:  https://1brother2sisters.blogspot.com/2019/11/hard-boiled-egg.html

Instant Pot Hard Boiled Eggs

6 raw eggs

1 cup water

Place your egg rack in the bottom of your Instant Pot. Pour in one cup of water. Place eggs in the holder (mine holds seven), replace the lid to the pot, turn the valve to seal, and pressure cook for 5 minutes on high pressure. Let the pot sit after cooking for an additional 3 minutes before doing a quick-release for the rest of the pressure. Place eggs in cold water/ice bath until cooled and ready to peel.

Notes: The recipe I referenced to do my eggs said you could use the steam rack that comes with most pots, but I had an actual egg rack, so that is what I used. My egg rack limits me to seven eggs at a time, where with the steam rack, the recipe suggested that you could put as many as a dozen eggs in your post to cook at a time. I imagine that I could "over stack" eggs with my egg rack as well and cook a dozen, but so far, I have only tried doing the seven that would fit.

Update:

I made a batch of 18 eggs to take to Easter for decorating this year (2024) and the eggs ended up with that grey ring around the yolks when cut. I read online that the grey is caused by overcooking the eggs slightly, or not cooling them off fast enough. While I did use an ice bath immediately after taking the eggs out of the cooker, I think next time I will cook them a little less and leave them in the ice for like 30 minutes to make sure they are really cold, and hopefully return and report what happens. I cooked them at high pressure for 5 minutes, then slow release for 5 minutes, then quick release and immediately in the ice bath. Next time, I think will try the slow release for only 3 minutes. I will make the change in the above recipe.

Marsha's Easy Teriyaki

This recipe is only low-carb if you used riced cauliflower instead of regular rice.

If you are looking for an easy, yummy, and versatile teriyaki recipe, look no further! You can make this over rice, or if you are watching carbs, you can used riced cauliflower. You can use chicken, or diced ham, or no meat at all.

Marsha's Easy Teriyaki

For rice: Either use this recipe to make a huge pot of rice super easy in the Instant Pot (freeze any extra for another recipe) or cook a freezer bag of riced cauliflower according to package directions. I don't always like riced cauliflower as a substitute, but I thought it worked out really well for this recipe. I have never made homemade riced cauliflower, but if I do with success, I'll post a link here (if I remember) so you don't have to use store-bought freezer riced cauliflower.

For chicken: Either use this recipe to make a huge pot of cooked chicken super easy in the Instant Pot (freeze any extra for another recipe) or use any other form of protein that you like (canned chicken, diced ham, grilled meat, etc.). You can use whole pieces, shredded, diced or chunked meat. Whatever you like.

For veggies: Steam any veggies that you like, fresh or frozen. The easiest is getting a bag of frozen mixed veggies and prepare according to package directions.

For sauce: Use any of your favorite teriyaki sauces. I used this Kikkoman sauce, and at only 15 calories a serving, it was tasty and low-calorie.

Assemble your bowl and enjoy!

Loaded Cauliflower Casserole

We tried this tonight and it's like loaded cheesy potatoes and cauliflower had a baby. So good! If I am not worried about carbs, using potatoes instead would still be my favorite side dish. But if I am trying to lower my carbs, or get my kids to eat/like more veggies, then this is a great place to start. Enjoy!

To see the original recipe, go here: https://www.smalltownwoman.com/loaded-cauliflower-casserole/#tasty-recipes-21653-jump-target

Loaded Cauliflower Casserole

• 2 lbs cauliflower florets cut in bite size pieces
• 1 box (8 ounces) cream cheese softened
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 1/2 cups sharp cheddar finely shredded
• 1 1/2 cups Monterey Jack cheese finely shredded
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 6 slices crispy cooked bacon coarsely chopped
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh chives (reserve one tablespoon for the top)
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Instructions:

1. Steam cauliflower until fork tender; approximately 10 minutes. Drain well in colander.
2. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Grease 9 x 13 inch baking dish.
3. In a large bowl combine cream cheese, sour cream, cheddar cheese, Monterey Jack, garlic powder and onion powder. Mix until creamy and smooth. Gently stir in cauliflower, 1/2 of the bacon and chives. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
4. Spoon into casserole dish and top with remaining bacon. Bake uncovered for 20-25 minutes or until the cheese is melted. Top with remaining chives and serve.

Notes:

• The cauliflower should be steamed until it is fork tender.
• Spray the casserole dish with nonstick spray as it makes for easier clean up.
• I recommend the full fat sour cream, cream cheese and cheese for this recipe.  It just tastes better with it.
• Fresh chives really make this casserole pop!  They are worth the added expense and trouble.
• Season to taste with salt and pepper.  I love lots of pepper on this dish.

Notes from Marsha:

• I skipped the chives because we were out, and it was fine.
• I used a bag of mixed cheese blend that we always have on hand, and it was fine.
• I use the lower-fat cream cheese and it was fine.
• I added the cauliflower back to the warm pan that I steamed it in, put it back on the warm burner with the heat turned OFF, and then added the cheese mixture so it would warm up, melt a touch, and be easier for me to toss the cauliflower in to get it all mixed well before added to the sprayed dish to bake.
• I cut my cauliflower into bite-sized pieces. It kinda crumbles but I just scooped up all of the crumbs and bigger pieces and put it all in my pan to steam. It all gets mixed with the cheese anyway, so it didn't matter that some of the pieces were really small. You could also cut the pieces bigger (like florets) if you want that kind of look and texture to the end result. As long as you steam until fork-tender, you can do what you want.