food

Super Easy Chicken & Dumplings in the Instant Pot

Jen

I had been craving a rich and comforting soup so when this idea popped into my head, I knew I had to make it. My original plan was to make it in the crock pot but of course I forgot to make dinner this morning, so it was my Instant Pot to the rescue! As per usual hahaha

•2 lbs chicken thighs
•3 Carrots, cut into bite size pieces
•3 Ribs celery, cut into bite size pieces
•1-1/2 boxes chicken stock (I actually used Turkey stock because that is what I have on hand this close to Thanksgiving)
•Olive oil (for sautéing the chicken)
•Seasonings (I used salt, pepper, garlic powder, dried minced onion, sage, and parsley, but anything you like to use in your chicken soup would be great, including curry seasonings!)
•Cheddar Bay Biscuit mix (or your favorite drop biscuit dough)
•About 1/2 cup of cheese (I used Asiago) for the biscuits

Into the bottom of your Instant Pot put a bit of olive oil and set to sauté. Cut up your chicken thighs into chunks and brown them up while you are cutting up your carrots and celery.  Pour in the stock and add your veggies and seasonings. Mix up the biscuits and grate some cheese into them. Drop them by spoonfuls (I used my size 60 cookie disher) into the soup. Put the top on your pot and manually set it to 15 minutes at high pressure.

Y’all this was SO freaking delicious. My boys, who are NOTORIOUS soup haters, clamored over themselves to get 2nd and 3rd helpings, and super picky T ate, if not a sizable portion, at least SOME of the broth (into which I surreptitiously mashed some carrots).

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free patterns · Uncategorized

2 Stitch Check Dishcloth

Jen

IMG_0971

This is an easy, mindless stitch pattern, once you get going on it!

CO 34

Knit 4 rows

Row 1: Knit 3, *P2, K2*, repeat to last 3, Knit 3

Row 2: Knit 3, *K2, P2*, repeat to last 3, Knit 3

Row 3: same as row 2

Row 4: same as row 1

Repeat these 4 rows until you have a square or for as long as you like then,

Knit 4 rows plain.

BO

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food · Uncategorized

Tex-Mex Chowder

Jen

This is a riff on a recipe that bubbled up on my FB timeline. It was a video tutorial that made me watch a god damn 2 minute ad so I’m posting my version of the recipe here so I don’t have to go back there again 😂

Tex-Mex Chowder

1 can refried beans

1 can Ro-Tel

1 can black beans

1 can corn

1 box chicken stock

optional: leftover taco meat from last night

Put everything into the Instant Pot and set it for 5 minutes. Serve with corn chips, sour cream, avocado, cheese. SO YUMMY. All the menfolk had 2 servings, which is a ding-dang miracle since the boys aren’t usually soup eaters.

food

Chicken Thighs, Many Ways

Jen

I’ve been using Witty in the City’s Man-Pleasing Chicken thighs as the basis for a few different chicken dishes and they always turn out so yummy! Here are some possible combinations:

Mustard + Honey

Mustard + Maple Syrup

Sriacha + Honey

Any BBQ sauce

Honey Garlic Sauce

Sweet and Sour Sauce

Mix up your sauce in the bottom of your baking dish, coat the chicken thighs and bake at 450° for 40 minutes.

holiday cheer · Knitting

Day 1: 2014 Project Round up

Jen

Happy New Year! I wish I could say that 2014 was a stellar year for my knitting, but honestly for much of the year my heart just wasn’t in it. I did do a little bit, however, and I am feeling much better about knitting in general after Christmas knitting and finishing a few things. All of the information for the pictured finished objects can be found on my Ravelry page, of course.

IMG_4373 IMG_4374

Not pictured is the stack of dish towels I started back in June as a kind of motivation to keep me knitting (and also to use up a bunch of scraps) which actually worked haha! I made 4 since I created the project on Ravelry and I’m probably just going to keep the project going to see how many I can make. It’s a fun pattern, quick to knit up and very portable, but my favorite part is since you are knitting in wedges, it has a lot of stopping points along the way so you can put it down any time, or decide, like often I did, to knit just one more section.

Also not pictured is the Teeny Tiny Santa I made for T’s tree this year, for which I somehow completely neglected to create a Ravelry page or even take a picture! You’ll have to rest assured it is exactly as cute as the one I made back in 2011.

So that was my knitting year. Not too horrible, I think, and I definitely got more done in 2014 than in 2013. Well. If you count the stuff that I’m not counting for this post haha. Oh well. Here’s to a great 2015!

Knitting

Day 320: At last, some knitting

Jen

Check it out, I made a sweater! Maybe I am getting my groove back?

It’s a winter coat for my toddler! She might even get to wear it if the temps ever drop below 75° (which is the point at which I start to feel cold. Yes, I am a tender-footed Floridian now, apparently). I’m so happy with the way it turned out, even though it felt like the damn sleeves were cursed. I had more trouble with garter stitch in the round than I thought I would. Silly.

I really like how the flower turned out:

The details are Raveled.

yarn

Day 218: Still available

Jen

I said goodbye to 3 more beautiful yarns today but there are lots of lovelies still available:

Stillavailable2

 

If you’re interested, please check out my Instagram for details and read the info under the photo with the text “Sale Terms”.