Name: Cheesy Chili Mac (Pressure Cooker/Instant Pot)
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 35 min
Yield: 6-8 servings
Ingredients: 1 tablespoon vegetable or canola oil; 1 medium onion, diced; 1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced; 3 garlic cloves, minced (I press mine through a garlic press); 1 jalapeño, finely diced; 2 tablespoons chili powder; 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional); 1 pound ground beef, 85 percent lean; 2 cups water; 14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes; 8 ounces (2 cups) elbow macaroni; 1 cup frozen corn; 2 tablespoon chopped cilantro; salt and pepper, to taste; 4 ounces cheddar or Monterey jack cheese, or a blend; sour cream and avocado, for garnish (optional)

Instant Pot Chili Mac + Video

November 5, 2017

This Instant Pot chili mac hardly requires any effort. It’s ready in 45 minutes, mostly hands-off! Super-cheesy but also packed full of vegetables! It’s definitely a crowd-pleaser, and it’s perfect for a chilly night, but I serve it year-round! It’s a great dish to help you learn how to use your Instant Pot. Scroll down for video.

Click here to save the recipe on Pinterest!

Instant Pot Love

I have recently discovered the joys of the Instant Pot (<–affiliate link). It’s seriously like the best thing ever, you guys. I’ve talked about it before, but I honestly just can’t say enough about how cool this little gadget is. It’s a slow cooker, pressure cooker, steamer, sauté pot, rice cooker…it’s the best. I have a feeling it’s going to get a lot of use over the summer, because it allows me to cook pretty much anything without heating up my kitchen. Love.It.

Pressure Cooker Perfection

I picked up a book at McKay’s recently called Pressure Cooker Perfection (<–affiliate link) from none other than my favorites at America’s Test Kitchen. Um, I had no idea that you could cook pasta right in the sauce in your pressure cooker. Yesssssssss. This book is a tiny little pressure cooker bible, and I’m in love.

Pasta in the Instant Pot

One of the recipes in Pressure Cooker Perfection is a recipe for Tex-Mex Chili Mac. Honestly, chili mac isn’t something that my mom ever made, so it really never caught my attention until I saw an episode of Cook’s Country (what else??) recently where Christopher Kimball was talking about Tex-Mex and he casually mentioned chili mac. Suddenly I was obsessed and had to make it. I was pretty happy when I saw this recipe in the pressure cooker book.

Instant Pot Chili Mac

Instant Pot chili mac is based on the recipe from the book, but I took some liberties to make it little fresher and more colorful. The important thing is that it is: quick, easy, and delicious. It takes about 15 minutes of hands-on work, including chopping the vegetables, sautéing everything in the pot, and grating the cheese. The pasta in this cheesy chili mac comes out perfectly cooked without any boiling or draining water. Perfection, indeed.

Give my cheesy chili mac a try for an easy, low-effort weeknight dinner!

Shared on the Weekend Potluck on Served Up with Love and Meal Plan Monday on Southern Bite!

Click here to save this recipe to your Instant Pot or pasta boards on Pinterest!

Mary

Yield: 6-8 servings

Cheesy Chili Mac (Pressure Cooker/Instant Pot)

This recipe was adapted from the book Pressure Cooker Perfection from America's Test Kitchen.

10 minPrep Time:

35 minCook Time:

45 minTotal Time:

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Ingredients

1 tablespoon vegetable or canola oil
1 medium onion, diced
1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced
3 garlic cloves, minced (I press mine through a garlic press)
1 jalapeño, finely diced
2 tablespoons chili powder
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)
1 pound ground beef, 85 percent lean
2 cups water
14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes
8 ounces (2 cups) elbow macaroni
1 cup frozen corn
2 tablespoon chopped cilantro
salt and pepper, to taste
4 ounces cheddar or Monterey jack cheese, or a blend
sour cream and avocado, for garnish (optional)

Instructions

Preheat the pressure cooker over medium heat (or use the sauté setting on the Instant Pot). Heat the oil until shimmering. Sauté the onion and red pepper until softened, then add the garlic and jalapeño and sauté until fragrant.
Add the meat and cook until browned, breaking it up with a wooden spoon while cooking. Stir in the chili powder and cayenne pepper (if using). Add the water, tomatoes, and pasta.
In a regular pressure cooker: bring to high pressure over medium-high heat then reduce heat to medium-low and cook for five minutes. Quick release the pressure.
In an Instant Pot, set to bean/chili and set time for five minutes. At the end of the cook time, turn the Instant Pot off and quick release the pressure.
Stir in the corn and the cilantro. The residual heat from the pot should thaw the corn. Salt and pepper to taste then stir in the cheese. Serve immediately, topped with sour cream and avocado if desired.

https://chattavore.com/cheesy-chili-mac-pressure-cookerinstant-pot/

This post contains affiliate links. This means that if you click through and make a purchase on Amazon, I will receive a small commission. This does not affect the cost to you. For more information, please see my disclosures. Thank you for supporting my blog!

Instant Pot Stick of Butter Rice and Steak Dinner + Video

October 2, 2017

Stick of butter rice is a Southern classic…Instant Pot stick of butter rice and steak dinner will have your family asking for seconds! Scroll down for video.

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Stick of Butter Rice

Stick of butter rice is a Southern classic…it’s pretty much exactly what it sounds like: some rice, an entire stick of butter, and some beef consommé (it has to be consommé, not just regular beef broth – though condensed French onion soup is pretty delicious too). My grandmother used to make it all the time when I was a kid, in her amber Pyrex baking dish, with Minute rice. We didn’t know it was called stick of butter rice; we just called it brown rice. No matter what the name, I could throw it down.

Instant Pot Stick of Butter Rice

As with pretty much everything in my cooking repertoire, I was determined to turn stick of butter rice into Instant Pot stick of butter rice. Turns out it was pretty simple…but I decided I wanted to turn it into a full meal. I originally imagined this as Philly cheesesteak rice but then decided that the cheese I added was kind of moot and really just served to make it a lot more difficult to clean the Instant Pot (<–affiliate link) when I was finished.

A few tips for making a perfect dinner:

1) Don’t be scared of the butter
There is a lot of butter in this dish. I promise it’s worth it (butter is always worth it to me). This recipe actually makes about half the rice of a regular stick of butter rice recipe, but I still use a whole stick of butter, and that’s because of the vegetables. If you’ve ever sautéed mushrooms, you know that they soak up their cooking fat like crazy. The finished product is rich and buttery but not overpowering or greasy.

2) Not just any steak will do
Confession: I bought the wrong steak for the video. I got top round instead of sirloin tip steak. It was so much harder to shred. Get sirloin tip steak. You’ll be glad you did.

3) Use the rice setting on the Instant Pot
Sometimes I use the manual setting, but here I go on full automation and use the rice setting. When you add things to your Instant Pot with the rice, sometimes it doesn’t do a very good job of adjusting for extras and the rice ends up extremely mushy and overcooked. It totally works here, though.

4) You can totally leave all the other stuff out of this
If you want to serve this as a side dish for something else, just leave out the steak and the vegetables. I will give you specific instructions in the notes of the recipe.

Shared on The Weekend Potluck on Served Up With Love!

Click here to save this recipe to your Pinterest Instant Pot board!

Mary

Yield: 4 servings

Instant Pot Stick of Butter Rice and Steak Dinner + Video

10 minPrep Time:

35 minCook Time:

45 minTotal Time:

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Ingredients

1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter
1 pound sirloin tip steak
salt and pepper
1 small onion, sliced
1 red bell pepper, seeded and sliced
8 ounces mushrooms (button or cremini), wiped clean and sliced
1 cup long grain white rice
1 can beef consommé

Instructions

Plug in the Instant Pot and press the "sauté" button. Place half of the butter in the Instant Pot and allow it to melt. While it is melting, cut the steak into 4 pieces and season both sides with salt and pepper.
Sauté the steak pieces in the butter for about 2 minutes per side. Remove from the Instant Pot and set aside. Add the onions and peppers to the Instant Pot and sauté until they begin to soften. Add the mushrooms and sauté until the mushrooms begin to soften.
Add the remaining butter to the Instant Pot and allow it to melt. Stir in the rice then the consommé. Lay the steak pieces on top of the rice.
Turn the Instant Pot off and cover with the lid. Make sure the vent is set to "sealing". Press the "rice" button. Make sure the time is set to 12 minutes.
When the Instant Pot is finished cooking, turn the Instant Pot off or unplug it. Quick release the pressure by turning the vent to "venting". Remove the lid.
Remove the steak and shred it. Add the shredded steak back to the Instant Pot and stir it in. Serve immediately.

Notes

1) Cook time includes inactive time when the pot is coming to pressure. 2) To make this without the vegetables and steak, omit 4 tablespoons of the butter. Melt the butter in the Instant Pot using the sauté function then add the rice and the consommé. Turn the Instant Pot off, cover with the steam release set to sealing, and manually set the Instant Pot to low pressure for 3 minutes. Quick release the steam when the rice is finished cooking. Fluff with a fork and serve.

https://chattavore.com/instant-pot-stick-of-butter-rice-steak-dinner/

This post contains affiliate links. This means that if you click a link and make a purchase, I will receive a small commission. This does not affect the cost to you. For more information, please read my disclosures. Thank you for supporting my blog!

Instant Pot Refried Beans

August 7, 2017

Instant Pot refried beans are super-simple, delicious, and quick enough to make from start to finish for a weeknight dinner!

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Raise Your Hand if You Love Your Instant Pot!

School will be back in session Thursday, and I’m back to looking for the easiest ways to get weeknight dinners on the table. My Instant Pot, of course, is my biggest ally to get dinner on the table. My favorite thing about the Instant Pot is that I can get something on the table quickly that would otherwise take hours.

Not Really “Instant”

In this case, that item is Instant Pot refried beans from start to finish in about an hour and a half. Now, I realize that when I say “hour and a half” and “quick weeknight dinner” in the same breath it seems like I might be a little bit out of touch.

Instant Pot = Hands Off Pot

You have to consider, though, that the vast majority of that time is hands-off, so while your Instant Pot refried beans cook you can do a little cleaning, get a workout in, prep other items for dinner, shower, help with homework, or even relax on the sofa with a glass of wine (relaxation? on a weeknight? It is possible.).

Instant Pot Refried Beans

Instant Pot refried beans are great on their own, with cheese, avocado, and sour cream and maybe a green salad and some tortilla chips on the side. They’re also the perfect accompaniment for a Mexican dinner. Personally, I made them to spread on breakfast tacos. They are simple, easy, and delicious.

Shared on The Weekend Potluck on The Country Cook and Meal Plan Monday on Southern Bite!

Click here to save this recipe to your Pinterest Instant Pot board!

Mary

Yield: 8-10 servings

Instant Pot Refried Beans

10 minPrep Time:

1 hr, 30 Cook Time:

1 hr, 40 Total Time:

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Ingredients

1 pound pinto beans, sorted and rinsed
2 onions - 1 halved and the other chopped
7 cloves garlic bacon drippings or lard (use vegetable or canola oil to make this vegetarian)
salt and pepper
for topping: sour cream, cheese, avocado, chopped cilantro (optional)

Instructions

Place the beans, the halved onion, the five peeled garlic cloves, and a tablespoon of salt into the Instant Pot. Cover with four cups of water. Place the lid on the Instant Pot and make sure that the vent is set to "sealing". Press the "manual" button and set the time to 45 minutes.
When the time is up, turn off the Instant Pot and let it depressurize naturally. Reserve one cup of cooking liquid and drain the rest.
Press the "sauté" button and add the bacon fat or lard to the pot. When the oil is shimmering, add the onion and cook until translucent. Add the minced garlic and cook for about 30 seconds, then add the beans. Stir to combine then mash with a potato masher or puree with an immersion blender. Season to taste then serve. Refrigerate or freeze leftovers (I like to freeze them in individual portions to take to work for lunch).

Notes

Cook time includes time for the Instant Pot to come to pressure and depressurize. Most of the cook time is hands off.

https://chattavore.com/instant-pot-refried-beans/

Instant Pot refried beans are super-simple, delicious, and quick enough to make from start to finish for a weeknight dinner! | Recipe from Chattavore.com

Sweet Tea Brined Grilled Pork Tenderloin

July 24, 2017

This grilled, sweet tea brined pork tenderloin is an amazingly simple and delicious weeknight dinner! It only takes about 15 minutes of active prep/cooking! Scroll down for video.

Click here to save this recipe on Pinterest!

Pork Tenderloin…FTW?

Those of you who know me well know that this blog is chicken thighs and pork shoulder, not chicken breasts and pork tenderloin. I am a firm believer in a couple of principles: (1) fat is flavor; and (2) moderation is the key to eating whatever you want. I decided a long time ago that I was willing to eat a little bit less of something if I thought it tasted better or had a better texture than the thing that I could eat more of.

Did that even make sense? I feel like I was ramblinnnnng. Sorry about that. It happens sometimes.

Great Cut for Grilling!

The thing is, another principle that I live by is never say never. I actually don’t have anything against chicken breasts and pork tenderloin, I just happen to like thighs and shoulder a little bit more. Here’s the thing about pork shoulder, though: as much as I love it, it is a bit of a pain to cook. I mean, it’s easy enough. Low and slow, you know, or you can do it in the Instant Pot and that goes pretty quickly. However, this is the summer of grilling for me, and I was certainly not going to be tending a pork shoulder for hours on the grill or in my smoker. Sooooo…if I was going to grill some pork, tenderloin or chops seemed to be the way to go.
Sweet Tea Brine!

I am sure that most of you have heard of sweet tea brined fried chicken. One of my favorite places to eat fried chicken here in town, Public House, brines their fried chicken in sweet tea and it is ?????. I like to let other people fry chicken for me, though, so I knew that I wasn’t going to go there. A sweet tea brine, though, seemed like the perfect way to season a grilled pork tenderloin and keep it good and juicy. And you know what?

IT WAS. Another way to keep your grilled pork tenderloin from drying out is to not cook it to death. DID YOU READ THAT? You don’t have to turn your pork into shoe leather to safely eat it, regardless of the rumors that you may have heard. You want to cook it to an internal temperature of about 140˚ and then let it rest to redistribute the juices and allow just a little bit of residual cooking. Listen to me and your pork will be just a little pink, but totally safe to eat, and so tender you won’t believe your taste buds.

Click here to save this recipe on your Pinterest pork or grilling boards!

This sweet tea brined grilled pork tenderloin deserves a spot on your dinner table. Trust me. The brining takes 5 minutes of active work, then 10 minutes of grilling, and quick rest, and dinner is on the table. I even threw some broccoli on the grill for a perfect side dish. Try it!

Shared on The Weekend Potluck on Served Up With Love!

Mary

Yield: 4 servings

Sweet Tea Brined Grilled Pork Tenderloin

5 minPrep Time:

10 minCook Time:

15 minTotal Time:

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Ingredients

1 pork tenderloin, trimmed
4 cups sweet tea (see notes for recipe, or use store-bought)
1/2 cup kosher salt
BBQ sauce, for serving (optional)

Instructions

In a container large enough for the pork tenderloin, whisk together the sweet tea and the salt. Place the tenderloin in the container, cover, and refrigerate for 12-24 hours, turning once.
When you are ready to grill, remove the tenderloin from the brine. Pat dry with paper towels and let stand at room temperature while you prepare the grill.
Preheat the grill to high. Generously brush the grates with oil. Grill the tenderloin for 10-12 minutes, turning every 2 minutes, until the tenderloin reaches an internal temperature of 140?.
Remove the tenderloin from the grill and wrap tightly in aluminum foil. Rest wrapped in foil for 10 minutes. Slice and serve with BBQ sauce if desired.

Notes

Prep/cook time does not include inactive time to brine or rest the tenderloin. To make sweet tea, boil 1 cup water and steep a family size tea bag in the water for 5 minutes. Add 1/2 cup sugar and stir until dissolved. Add 3 cups cold water and refrigerate until cold.

https://chattavore.com/grilled-sweet-tea-brined-pork-tenderloin/

a close up picture of grilled sweet tea brined pork tenderloin on a plate with sauce and broccoli

Southern Street Corn

July 21, 2017

This post has been sponsored by The Chef and His Wife as part of a direct partnership with Chattavore. As always, all opinions are my own! Scroll down for video!

Southern street corn is loaded up with all kinds of good stuff – The Chef and His Wife pimento cheese, mayo, and bacon – for a delicious side dish!

Click here to save this recipe on Pinterest!

Pimento Cheese + Grilling

I’ve had two obsessions this summer: pimento cheese and grilling. I hope that you guys aren’t sick of either, because I’m sure not and this is probably not going to be the last post you see on here this summer featuring one or the other (or both).

One of the things that I have been grilling incessantly this summer is corn. Honestly, corn on the cob is not something that I typically cook often. I’m more of an “open a bag of frozen corn” type of chick. However, when you put some fresh summer corn on the grill, well, magic happens.

Everything is Better with Bacon and Cheese!

Of course, if you want to amp up the magic in just about any dish, all you have to do is add some cheese and some bacon. Am I right or am I right? Yeah, that’s what I thought. The idea for Southern street corn came to me one day while I was driving, and after a little brainstorming with Philip and then later my brother I arrived at exactly what I wanted it to be.

Mexican street corn is mayonnaise, Cotija cheese, paprika, cilantro, and a little lime…maybe a couple of other things. Naturally, Southern street corn would have to have pimento cheese (because what cheese is more Southern than that) and bacon. Duh.

The Chef and His Wife

Not only have I been obsessed with pimento cheese lately, specifically I have been obsessed with the pimento cheese from The Chef and His Wife. Basically just down the street from my house, The Chef and His Wife offers lots of ready-made meals (entrees, soups, pizzas) and desserts as well as five varieties of pimento cheese (regular, smoked Gouda, jalapeño, chipotle, and blue cheese). You can order ahead online or by calling, or just come in the shop and check out their selection (they also offer space for banquets and parties). They even deliver – when you place your order you can see several options for having your order delivered to your home or for pickup at a local farmers market.

I got obsessed with The Chef and His Wife’s pimento cheese after some work friends told me to pick some up at Food City – the regular, smoked Gouda, and jalapeño are available in all Chattanooga-area Food City stores (including in the Cleveland area). I love that I can support a local business when I am packing my lunch for work, and I love Chef Tim Mulderink’s story – he started The Chef and His Wife while working full-time at another job, making meals for friends on the weekends so that they wouldn’t have to cook when they got home from work at night. Six years later, he and his staff have built a great business that is thriving with the help of Chattanooga-area patrons, and they are hoping to open a second location in the not-too-far-away future. I got in touch with Chef Tim to see if he would be interested in working together, and here we are.

Southern Street Corn Tips

Of course, if you don’t live around these parts, you can make your Southern street corn with whatever your favorite pimento cheese is – store-bought or homemade. I’m not going to lie, this Southern street corn is a messy prospect to make and to eat, but it’s totally worth it. A few tips to keep the mess to a minimum:

1) Use corn cob holders to hold the corn while you’re adding the toppings as well as when you are eating it.
2) Let the corn cool to room temperature before adding the toppings.
3) Allow the pimento cheese to warm up a little bit before attempting to spread it.
4) Lay the corn on a plate, tray, or cutting board to add the toppings, turning to get to the opposite side
5) Keep napkins handy!

I hope that you will make this Southern street corn, and if you live in the Chattanooga area, stop by to see Chef Tim in the shop or at a local farmers market (Memorial Hospital or Volkswagen on Wednesdays, Erlanger on Fridays, and The Chattanooga Market on Sundays), or pick up some The Chef and His Wife pimento cheese in the refrigerated section of your nearest Food City. The Chef and His Wife is located at 6849 Prestige Lane, Hixson, Tennessee 37343. They are open Monday – Thursday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Friday, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. You can call them at 423.508.5823. For more information, you can check out The Chef and His Wife website or find them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Click here to save this recipe to your grilling and side dishes boards on Pinterest!

Shared on Meal Plan Monday on Southern Bite!

Mary

Yield: 4 ears of corn

Southern Street Corn

10 minPrep Time:

10 minCook Time:

20 minTotal Time:

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Ingredients

4 ears corn
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup pimento cheese (I used The Chef and His Wife smoked Gouda pimento cheese)
4 strips bacon, cooked and finely chopped

Instructions

Preheat a grill to high.
While the grill is heating, take the pimento cheese out of the refrigerator and allow it to come to room temperature.
Shuck the corn and brush lightly with olive oil.
Grill the corn for 10 minutes, turning every 2-3 minutes.
Allow the corn to cool slightly. Spread each ear of corn with mayonnaise then with pimento cheese. Sprinkle the chopped bacon all over the corn. Serve immediately.

Notes

Prep/cook time does not include time to cook bacon or allow the corn to cool.

https://chattavore.com/southern-street-corn/

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