The Weekday Kitchen

The Weekday Kitchen

Healthier Instant Pot Cream of Chicken Soup

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I *love love love* thickening soups with cauliflower. If you have not tried it yet, it’s such a great way to lighten up the calories in soups (AND hide veggies from the kids!)

I wanted a very simple creamy, chicken-y soup.

Very simple ingredients on this one: the meat cut off of a rotisserie chicken (use the rest of the carcass to make your stock cubes), a large head of cauliflower, a little bit of heavy whipping cream, black pepper, and some Minor’s chicken base. This can easily be made gluten free by using gluten free base.

Rough cut 1 large head of cauliflower. I personally use pretty much all of it but the leaves (and I’m guessing it wouldn’t make too much difference if you used those too). Add 2 cups water and 2 stock cubes. If you do not have stock cubes you can use low sodium chicken broth in place of the water.

I always start with a lower amount of water because cauliflower contains A LOT of water. After blending, I will then adjust the thickness to my desired consistency adding more water. It’s a lot harder getting rid of the water if you started with too much!

Cook in the Instant Pot on max pressure for 13 minutes, or high pressure for 15 minutes. Quick release. It should look like the above picture.

I am currently using the Instant Pot Max and I LOVE it. The max pressure feature, and the automated release feature are such a bonus.

After cooking, blend the cauliflower. You could do this with a standalone blendor or food processor, but moving hot soup from one place to the other does not appeal to me.

I use a Breville Immersion Blender to take care of this. If you’ve never used an immersion blender, they’re amazing. I use for SO many things. This is like the 5th one I’ve owned and it’s super powerful, and I haven’t managed to break it yet (unlike the others).

Adjust the thickness to your desired consistency by adding water.

Add 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream, and black pepper and chicken base to taste (how much you add is going to depend on whether you used chicken stock or the stock cubes. I typically start with a tablespoon).

Mix and add your chopped up rotisserie chicken.

This was so good my eight year old ate about 2 cups of it (and I even TOLD her it was made with veggies!). Actually the whole family really enjoyed it considerably, particularly given how simple it is.

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Healthier Instant Pot Cream of Chicken Soup

Prep Time35 mins
Course: Soup
Cuisine: American
Keyword: Instant Pot
Servings: 6

Equipment

  • Instant Pot

Ingredients

  • 1 rotisserie chicken meat removed and chopped
  • 2 stock cubes
  • 1 large head cauliflower rough chopped
  • 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
  • 1 tablespoon chicken base to taste

Instructions

  • Add cauliflower to Instant Pot with 2 cups water and 2 stock cubes. Cook on max pressure 13 minutes or high pressure for 15 minutes and quick release. If the cauliflower is cooked through, blend the water and cauliflower. Add water to adjust to your desired thickness. Add cream, pepper, chicken base and stir. Add chicken and heat through. Adjust seasoning.

Bloody Mary Mix

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We love Bloody Marys. And heck the kids just like to drink the Bloody Mary mix. But we were forever tweaking it to suit how we liked it, and that got old, because hey it’s expensive. I figured, why not just start from scratch. I found a recipes on Allrecipes for tomato juice cocktail and worked from there. Given the fact that a lot of juice makers start from concentrates, using tomato paste just made sense and is super cheap.

I used this KDD Tomato Paste that I buy in bulk (it’s good to have it around the house) as a base, along with a stick of celery, celery seed powder, Watkins Black Pepper, Better Than Bullion Beef Base (gives a nice salty and umami punch) and Tabasco sauce.

Add the tomato paste to a blender (I use my little Nutribullet) with a cup of water, stalk of celery, teaspoon celery seed powder, half teaspoon black pepper, teaspoon beef base and a few shakes of Tabasco.

And blend. After blending it’s going to be thick, but give it a taste and see if the seasonings need adjustment. If so, go for it. We like ours salty and spicy.

After you’ve adjusted your seasonings, mix with 2 more cups of water and determine if it is as thick or thin as you like, and adjust with water to your liking.

Some other things that can be added (but we don’t): Worcestershire sauce, pickle juice, lemon juice (we just squeeze a lemon in it), clam flavoring (if you like that, I’d probably get some Better Than Bullion Clam Base), soy sauce, horseradish. I did add cucumber at first, but it quickly became overwhelming. You name it. It’s all about what you like.

Then, garnish to your liking…

Here, I used celery salt on the rim, Dilly Beans, Penrose Pickled Sausage Copycat, Marinated Mushrooms, olives, smoked cheddar from Renard’s Cheese, and a meat straw.

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Bloody Mary Mix

Prep Time20 mins
Course: Drinks
Cuisine: American
Servings: 6

Ingredients

  • 4.7 ounce container tomato paste
  • 1 stalk of celery
  • 1 teaspoon celery seed powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon Watkins Black Pepper
  • 1 teaspoon Better Than Bullion Beef Base
  • 3 dashes Tabasco sauce
  • 3-4 cups water

Instructions

  • Add tomato paste, 1 cup water, celery and seasonings to a blender. Blend. Taste and adjust seasonings to your liking and blend. Add water until the consistency is as desired.

Instant Pot Loaded Mashed Potatoes

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I absolutely love making mashed potatoes in the Instant Pot. I think that cooking them in their skins really helps prevent excess water from getting into them, and combining that with a potato ricer really makes a perfect mashed potato!

Start with about 5 medium sized Russet potatoes.

These will cook in the Instant pot on high pressure for 11-13 minutes with a quick release. The amount of time is going to be relative to the size of your potatoes. Poke them with a fork to make sure the center is soft.

I am currently using the Instant Pot Max and I love it. The max pressure and automated quick release are really amazing.

Meanwhile, fry up some bacon.

And melt a stick of butter in a bowl.

Then, rice your potatoes. I use a potato ricer similar to this one.

Once the potatoes are riced mix fully with the butter. You want the fat to surround all the starches to keep the potatoes smooth.

Add salt, dried chives, and bacon and mix.

And sour cream.

Cheddar cheese.

And add to bowl.

Broil for a few minutes to warm through. The Breville SmartAir oven is amazing. It has so many functions! I love the broil function.

After broiling…

The kids really loved these, and Aaron used the leftovers to make the most amazing potato pancakes!

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Instant Pot Loaded Mashed Potatoes

Prep Time20 mins
Cook Time14 mins
Course: Side Dish
Cuisine: American
Keyword: Instant Pot
Servings: 6

Ingredients

  • 5 medium Russet potatoes
  • 8 tablespoons butter
  • 1/2 cup cooked chopped bacon
  • 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
  • 1/2 cup sour cream
  • 3 tablespoons dried chives
  • 1 tsp salt to taste

Instructions

  • Cook potatoes in Instant pot on high pressure (on rack with 1 cup water on the bottom) for 11-14 minutes until fork tender. Melt butter in bowl, and rice potatoes into butter. Mix butter and potatoes. Add cheese, chives, bacon, and sour cream and mix. Adjust seasoning with salt. Place in 13X9 and broil lightly.

Honey Mustard Sous Vide Chicken

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This is similar to a dish served at a restaurant I used to work at. Sous vide really is amazing for chicken and the texture is just the bomb when you do it this way.

Start by making Honey Mustard.

I prep the chicken by slicing the chicken breasts in half horizonatally. Chicken breasts are ridiculously huge these days!

Add to your sous vide bag with about 1/2 cup of the Honey Mustard. I prepped this ahead of time so I could just pull it out in the morning one workday.

I use an Anova Sous Vide (they no longer make the model I use, I’ve had it so long. This one is similar).

And sous vide at 134. I did them for about 12 hours but I’d say at least 4. As you can see, they’re quite anemic looking. That’s par for the course with sous vide. Normally I’d torch or broil it to get some color but this time I’m going to *hide* it so I really don’t care.

Sliced ham and Gouda cheese.

Add your ham.

And your Gouda.

This is where the Breville Smart Air oven really comes in handy. It handles broiling very nicely.

And after broiling.

Serve with more honey mustard on top and a side salad. Great dinner and the kids really loved it! The chicken stays amazingly tender.

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Sous Vide Honey Mustard Chicken

Ingredients

  • 2 chicken breasts, sliced horizontally to make 4 pieces
  • 1/2 cup honey mustard dressing
  • 4 slices ham
  • 8 ounces Gouda cheese, sliced

Instructions

  • Add chicken and honey mustard to vacuum bag and seal.
    Sous vide at 134 for at least 4 hours. Remove from bag and add chicken breasts to dish. Place a piece of ham over the top of each piece, and sliced Gouda over that. Broil on low until cheese is bubbly. Serve with additional honey mustard.

Honey Mustard Salad Dressing

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When I made this dressing I was attempting to mimic the honey mustard dressing made at a restaurant I used to work at (The Chop House). It was so sweet, and zippy and tangy. I really think I nailed it!

Their version was made with yellow mustard, that much I know. I used Kewpie mayonnaise because I love it SO much.

Onion powder, smoked paprika and MSG (Accent), along with dried onions for a little bit of texture. I know some people get the squicks about MSG but you’d be shocked at how much stuff it’s actually in (and names it’s hidden under). Google it.

Stir it all up with some honey, mayonnaise, apple cider vinegar.

Add it to a jar. I find the canning funnel is indispensable if you don’t want to make a mess! And these resusable lids are so handy for things that don’t have to be water bath canned. Leave it in the fridge for a couple of hours to let the flavors meld and the onions to soften.

And serve over a salad or with chicken! It’s really great to dip chicken tenders and onion rings in, too!

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Honey Mustard Dressing

Course: Salad
Cuisine: American
Servings: 12

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup Kewpie Mayonnaise
  • 1/3 cup Yellow Mustard
  • 1/4 cup Honey
  • 3 tablespoons Cider Vinegar
  • 2 tablespoons dried onions
  • 1 teaspoon onion powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
  • 1/4 teaspoon MSG (Accent)

Instructions

  • Mix all ingredients and place in jar. Let set for a couple of hours and serve on salad or as a dipping sauce.

Zippy Marinated mushrooms

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There are a lot of recipes for marinated mushrooms out there. This one’s simple and zippy (which is what I was going for). I actually used my chamber vacuum sealer to quick marinate them, but keeping them in the marinade for a week in a jar should also do the trick.

Using a good vinegar is key here.

teaspoon each of salt, red pepper flakes, and Italian seasoning.

1/3 cup good vinegar, 1/4 cup olive oil, 1 tablespoon lemon juice and your spices, and mix.

And bag or jar them up for a week. SO good!

And garnish your Bloody Marys with them!!!

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Zippy Marinated Mushrooms

Prep Time20 mins
Marinate time7 d
Course: Appetizer
Cuisine: American
Servings: 4

Ingredients

  • 16 ounces mushrooms I used Baby Bellas
  • 1/3 cup good white wine vinegar
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon Italian seasonings
  • 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice

Instructions

  • Combine ingredients and store in jar in refrigerator for one week.

Sushi Bazooka!

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I have always wanted to make sushi by hand but I was scared. I decided to try this Sushi Bazooka. Here’s how it went!! Much easier than I thought it would be.

I use this brown rice sushi for my sushi. I really love the added texture and flavor of the brown rice, my husband Aaron definitely prefers the whit rice. Nagai Deluxe Sushi Nori are very easy to work with.

Pack the bottom with rice, making a trough for ingredients. Then pack ingredients, then the top, as above.

Put the bazooka together, and push out the rice roll onto an oiled plate. Then, wrap in your nori. You’ll want to wet the ends so that the nori sticks to itself. You’ll probably need to trim the nori also.

I made this one with Shikran Smoked Salmon Caviar Pearls. It was my favorite! The kids, not so much.

Mix some Kewpie Mayo, seasoned rice wine vinegar and Sriracha sauce. About 1/4 cup each of the mayo and hot sauce, and 2 T of the seasoned rice wine vinegar.

Serve with soy sauce, pickled ginger and Wasabi.

Pickled Green Beans: Dilly Beans

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I had never seen these before moving to Wisconsin, but a lot of bars here will use them as a Bloody Mary garnish, and they are PERFECT for that! Crispy, salty, spicy. SO good.

The essence of this recipe is 2 quarts of water, 1 1/2 C. apple cider vinegar, and 1/2 C. canning salt. I have found this can be any kind of non-iodized salt, and have used Kosher and Himalayan sea salt many times.

To that I will add a handful of peppercorns, a bunch of dill, 4-6 large cloves of garlic (smashed with the side of a knife and the skins removed), a medium-sized onion peeled and sliced. You can add your jalapenos here or later, and if you’d like to add red pepper flakes. I wanted these to be spicy so I added A LOT of red pepper flakes.

Then you bring the brine all to a boil…

I’ve started making this in double batches and freezing it. It stays perfect, then I just need to bring it back to a boil.

For pickles, I will allow it to cool but green beans are heartier so I add it hot. This allows the brine to sink in faster, and softens the green beans just a bit. I also do try to get at least one garlic clove in the jar.

A canning funnel is SO helpful when it comes to this operation.

I love using these reusable lids for things that I’m just storing and not water-bath canning. They’ve paid for themselves times over at this point.

I leave overnight then store in a refrigerator for 3-5 days to let the flavor sink in. They are SO good!

They also make a FANTASTIC garnish for a Bloody Mary!

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Pickled Green Beans: Dilly Beans

Prep Time30 mins
Course: Condiment
Cuisine: American
Servings: 4

Ingredients

  • 2 quarts of water
  • 1 1/2 C. apple cider vinegar
  • 1/2 C. canning salt Kosher and Himalayan work. It just needs to be non-iodized
  • 1 T peppercorns
  • 1 t dried dill
  • 4-6 large cloves of garlic smashed with the side of a knife and the skins removed
  • 1 medium-sized onion peeled and sliced.
  • 1-5 teaspoons dried red pepper to taste
  • 1 sliced Jalapeno pepper optional
  • 1 pound green beans washed

Instructions

  • Bring all ingredients except the green beans to a boil. Add green beans to jar and add hot liquid. Be sure to add a clove of garlic into each jar. You can freeze the remaining brine and re-use it. Keep green beans at room temperature overnight, then refrigerate 3-5 days for best flavor.

Instant Pot Lemon Layered Cheesecake

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This is one of those things you do…just to see if you can? I wanted a layered cake with a layer of cheesecake in the middle of 2 layers of lemon cake. And I wanted it all cooked in the Instant Pot. Having made cheesecake in the Instant Pot before, I can tell you it turns out FABULOUS.

But I started with a normal boxed cake (this was Duncan Hines Lemon Supreme) which I made according to the box directions, with the exception that I did add a teaspoon of baking powder. I had read online that cakes made in the Instant Pot are very dense, and I wanted to add a little rise power.

To make cake or cheesecake in the Instant Pot, you’re going to need one (or several) of the Fat Daddio’s pans. They fit perfectly in the Instant Pot, and I was juuuussst able to squeeze two in (barely) my Instant Pot Max.

THESE PANS!!

Once the cake batter is made, add 1/2 cup water to the bottom of the Instant Pot, and place the pans on the rack. I did wrap them completely in foil so they didn’t get wet on top.

Cook on high pressure for 35 minutes and quick release. Allow to cool on racks and start your cheesecake!

For this application I wanted to make a cheesecake without the crust, but I wasn’t sure it would work. You’re going to want to follow this recipe. Amy & Jacky are the authority on this, I’m not even going to try!

For these cheesecakes, I don’t normally wrap the bottom, and they don’t usually have any problems with leaking through the bottom of the pan. This one, I did wrap the bottom in foil because I wasn’t sure if it would leak without the crust. It did leak just a bit so I’m glad I did.

There’s a piece of parchment in the bottom and one around the outside. I sprayed everything because without the crust I was very concerned about sticking to the bottom.

In the pan…

After cooking and cooling. I was concerned about not having a crust but it turned out PERFECT for what I was trying to make.

Then comes the fun part…

Set the bottom layer and add a nice thick layer of lemon curd.

Then your cheesecake layer and more lemon curd.

Then the top layer. You’ll notice that the cheesecake layer is just a bit bigger than the cake layers due to shrinkage during cooking. I’m not really sure how you would fix that, but in all honesty after the cake is frosted it wasn’t TOO obvious.

After adding a generous layer of cream cheese frosting.

The flavor and texture on this was absolutely amazing. Guests raved, and were totally shocked when I told them it was made entirely in the Instant Pot!

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Instant Pot Layered Cheesecake

Prep Time1 hr
Cook Time4 hrs 20 mins
Chilling time8 hrs
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Keyword: Cheesecake
Servings: 8

Equipment

  • Instant Pot

Ingredients

  • 1 box Duncan Hines mix prepared
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 full recipe Amy & Jacky's cheesecake number 17
  • 1/2 cup lemon curd
  • cream cheese frosting

Instructions

  • Prepare one boxed cake mix as directed, but add 1 teaspoon baking powder. Split the batter between 2 seven inch pans and wrap pans with foil. Add 1/2 cup water to bottom of Instant Pot, and set rack in pot. Add cake pans and lid. Cook on high pressure for 35 minutes and quick release. Allow cake to cool on rack. Prepare cheesecake as per Amy & Jacky's cheesecake number 17, but omit the crust. Add parchment to bottom and sides of pan, and spray well with oil. Cook in Instant Pot, and allow to cool overnight. Layer one layer of cake, and top with lemon curd. Place cheesecake on top of lemon curd and add top layer. Frost with cream cheese frosting. Chill and serve.

Hot Crab Dip

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It is possible that dip is one of my favorite food groups, and this one is so flavorful! This is similar to the makeup of a lot of recipes you will see online, but the spices and capers do make it quite unique. We had it a party, and also served it over tenderloin (kind of a steak Oscar thing going on).

The cream cheese, Kewpie mayonnaise (if you have not tried this, you must. I’m addicted), capers and crab go so well together.

This frozen Blue Lump crab meat works very well with this recipe, and can be found in the freezer section at the grocery store. Spices used were onion powder, garlic powder, dried chives, cayenne pepper, celery powder, and smoked paprika. I added capers for some extra POW. They are so good.

Whip the cream cheese, mayonnaise, and sour cream together with the spices and some lemon juice.

Until smooth and creamy.

Add the capers, crab and 3/4 cup cheddar cheese.

Mix and add to a baking dish. Large and flat is pretty ideal for this application.

Top with another 3/4 cup cheese until brown, about 25 minutes (mine was cold because I did prepare it the day before, so it took a little longer. This keeps well overnight).

This has a nice kick of flavor. If you prefer things less spicy, omit the cayenne pepper.

It was delicious on bread, and topping tenderloin.

We served this with slices of King Arthur Flour’s Easy Baguettes.

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Hot Crab Dip

Prep Time15 mins
Cook Time25 mins
Course: Appetizer
Cuisine: American
Servings: 12

Ingredients

  • 8 ounces cream cheese
  • ¼ cup Kewpie Mayonnaise
  • ¼ cup sour cream
  • 3 tablespoons lemon juice
  • 1 ½ cups shredded cheddar cheese divided
  • 3 tablespoon capers drained
  • 1 teaspoon onion powder
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 2 tablespoons dried chives
  • 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
  • 1/2 teaspoon celery powder
  • 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
  • 1 pound blue lump crab drained

Instructions

  • Combine cream cheese, sour cream and Kewpie mayonnaise with spices and lemon juice and whip until smooth. Add capers, crab, and ¾ cheese and mix by hand. Place in shallow baking dish, top with remaining ¾ cup cheese, and bake in 350 degree Fahrenheit oven for 25 minutes or until warm and bubbly. Serve with baguette slices, crackers, on top of steak, or just eat by the spoonful.
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