Author: Cruz2Lose

I am witty, intelligent and still manage to keep my sense of humor no matter what life throws at me!
Humor, Low Sodium Cooking, Uncategorized, Weight Loss

Time to Catch Fly With Chopstick

Cruz2Lose

Tonight I made pork chops and rice in my Instant Pot. This truly has become a dinner time game changer in my household. I don’t think the cook time was any more than 20-25 IMG_1535minutes from start to finish.  In hindsight, the only thing I should have added to he meal was a salad or vegetable to make it a bit healthier and perhaps omitted the rice. Over the last several years I have really tried to commit to eating healthier in the hopes of getting back to my pre-pregnancy weight.  My little bundle of joy is almost 22 years old now, so I guess it is time. I thought the same thing when he was 15, but I tend to procrastinate.

So where does one start with a lifestyle change?  It is about more than just making healthier food choices, it is about changing a mindset.  Once you are able to change your way of thinking about food you become Miyagi catching flies in midair with chopsticks – then you “accomplish anything!”

 

 

Humor, Low Sodium Cooking, Weight Loss

Baby Steps

Cruz2Lose

As a survivor of motherhood, and that may be a little presumptuous of me to use the term “survivor” as I still have adult children living in my home, in which case there is still opportunity for me to crash and burn, but I would like to think I have a 60/40 shot at pulling through so I am going to go with the odds on that for now…As a survivor of motherhood, I have prepared more than a few meals for my family of six.  As I journey (what a beautiful word to use in place of kicking and screaming) toward my 50th birthday  this fall, I have made the decision to approach the next chapter of my life with a healthier lifestyle, including creating more “me” time. I have raised four children to adulthood, and I am ready for a few, uninterrupted, “Calgon take me away!” moments. Cue the Instant Pot. This little bucket of love is a time saver and I am certainly going to incorporate it into my lifestyle change.

One of the healthy changes I have made this year is reducing my sodium intake. I don’t know what happened when I hit my late 40’s but one day I am happily shoving down chips and salsa, before devouring my favorite enchiladas, and the next day I am wandering around with stiff joints and looking like the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man from water retention. This signaled the need for change.

One of the small changes I have made is by switching up the broth that I use in soups and any recipe that calls for broth.  Purchasing regular “low sodium” broth, that has 33% less sodium, doesn’t seem to help out a lot in my opinion.  The sodium in one cup is still around 570 mg or 24% of  your daily value.  Low sodium? Lies and fabrications! The solution?  Organic low sodium broth. This has only 70 mg of sodium per cup and that is 3% of your daily value. Big difference!  Of course you could opt for no sodium but I am just not ready to go there yet. fullsizeoutput_2061Last night I made Taco Soup in my Instant Pot using organic broth, it was wonderful!  What was even better was that my adult children were downstairs and were able to witness a quick release.  My 21-year-old son, who shares my humor, dramatically darted into the pantry ‘shielding’ himself with the pantry door leaving his girlfriend to fend for herself.  My 25-year-old son took several steps back saying, “This should be good.” Once again the IP did not disappoint, although this time, I was better prepared.  I still used my long-handled wooden spoon to turn the valve, but I didn’t settle into a Warrior 2 yoga pose 4 feet away! Baby steps!

Humor, Weight Loss

Whole Chicken – take two

Cruz2Lose

As I previously posted, my first whole chicken in the Instant Pot was full of flavor, however, it came out looking like one of Picasso’s paintings where everything on the face is reorganized, except it’s a chicken.  I decided that I wasn’t going to be defeated that easily and needed to try cooking a whole chicken once more. This time I decided not to sear the chicken in the IP, like the recipe called for, since a greased chicken stuck to the pot isn’t easy to pull out.  I had tried hoisting it out with a wooden spoon in its cavity and I tried a turkey lifter which pierced clean through the breast of the chicken. In the end I just had to reach in and grab it by the legs and broke a leg in the process.  This debacle happened in the searing process, I hadn’t even gotten to cooking the darn bird. I thought I deserved a second chance, this time with no searing involved, so I sent a text to my husband asking him to pick up another chicken.

When my husband and the bird arrived, I oiled that baby down (the bird that is), threw on a dash of salt and pepper, stuffed it with a 1/2 of an onion quartered, whole garlic and sprinkled Chicken Shit all over it. That’s right, I sprinkled Chicken Shit all over it, the flavor somewhat resembles poultry seasoning, only better in my opinion. B79967BA-14EF-40E7-91BB-87B7AEB5A360I found this wonderful shop in Leavenworth, WA called Cup and Kettle that carries all kinds of ‘Shit” products AND they ship! You can get “Shit” seasonings for just about anything” and they also carry amazing tea. You can also purchase Chicken Shit and other Shit seasonings directly from the manufacturer.  Back to the chicken…the first time I cooked my bird in the IP, I set it for 25 minutes as directed and it cooked perfectly.

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So once again, I placed it in the pot and set the cook time for 25 minutes.  Ah…so much easier the second time around.  When the time was up and the IP had finished its Natural Pressure Release, I opened the lid without fear and pulled that bird right out. It was perfect!  Since my husband was hovering over me like he hadn’t eaten in 3 days, I began to pull the chicken off of the bone for chicken tacos.  Oh my gosh it was so incredibly juicy!  As I got closer to the bone I suddenly realized that it was not fully cooked!  I turned to my husband and said, “Was this chicken the same size as the other one you bought?” “No, I bought you a bigger one this time.” Insert image here of Star Trek’s Captain Picard doing a facepalm. I had set the timer for a smaller chicken and now it wasn’t fully cooked. Ok, no biggy, I just had to put it back in the pot and set it for a few more minutes.  I set the timer and walked away.  As I was sitting in my home office I suddenly heard the now familiar, loud psssshhshhhh that the pot makes during a quick release…BUT WAIT…I wasn’t doing a quick release!  I yelled to my husband, who is in the kitchen ignoring the fact that the pot was screaching,, “OMG! I DIDN’T SEAL THE VALVE!” He quickly turned the valve to seal and I sat in silence from the other room waiting for some sort of apocalypse to occur. Nothing. I headed into the kitchen wondering how I could have screwed this up a second time.  When the timer was up and all of the steam had escaped, I opened the pot, pulled the remainder of the chicken out and checked to see if it was cooked.  It was!

 

*Note to self: Next time check how many pounds the chicken is before setting the timer.

Humor, Weight Loss

Woman vs Chicken – a newbie tale

Cruz2Lose

I have been pining for the Instant Pot for months and finally purchased one yesterday. After I got through the water test where I was convinced I would face certain death, I gawked at hundreds of recipes looking for something easy to start with. I chose to make a whole chicken. The recipe said to sauté both sides for about 4 minutes. Easy right? The first side was simple enough, however, when I tried to flip that bad boy over, there was little room in my 6 quart to maneuver it….and it was stuck to the pan. Imagine trying to grab an oiled down pig stuck deep in the mud. I finally grabbed it by both legs with my bare hands and hoisted that baby right out of there. It looked as though it had been in a cock fight….skin peeled off, broken leg, truly a sorry sight. I then sprinkled my spices on the bird while tossing down a few sips of red wine and uttering a bit of adult language. Now I wait…

And here it is. Not a pretty sight but full of flavor.fullsizeoutput_2059  After getting plenty of feedback from the IP community, I don’t believe that I would attempt searing the chicken in the pan again.  Even though the pot was hot, it took me too much time to fight that bird out of the pot to flip it.  Next time I will brown it in the oven if needed. My additional observation was that the more wine I drank, the better I felt about my chicken.

*Disclaimer:  No live chicken was harmed during the cooking process, however, the finished product wasn’t so fortunate.