Spaghetti Squash - InstantPot Style!

*Hey hey, it's a repost but squash season is in full swing here so I figured I'd share this again!*

For Christmas this year, I bought myself an InstantPot Duo Pressure Cooker from Amazon during a big sale they were having. I think it was priced at $78 or so and I had a credit and a bunch of gift cards so I applied all and paid $16 and change.

Yeah. That was a deal.

Of course, Hubby was NOT thrilled with another bulky gadget coming in the kitchen and even though it was very inexpensive, he felt I could have done something different, besides buy another "gadget" ... ho hum .... blah, blah, blah.

So the box sat under the tree, unwrapped until AFTER New Years.  Then the tree was relocated outside and the box was moved to the other side of the room. 

That Saturday evening, Hubby brought the box over to the kitchen, opened it up, grabbed the instruction manual and started reading.

We made pork chops and cauliflower that evening in the InstantPot. It was good and pretty neat, although, we will both admit, a little scary ;-)  Hubby freaked when he released the pressure as he wasn't expecting THAT much pressure to be released. It actually made us both laugh out loud!

Since that night the PC has been hanging out in the main kitchen on the counter, all shiny and waiting for another adventure.  Sunday was the day!

You know that we have this Whole30 thing going on, right? Well, not WE but ME, I, MYSELF, am following Whole30 for the month ... and as a side note, it's freaking hard as hell to stay on course and not be distracted by all that yummy, non-compliant stuff out there ... so I had to get focused and make more arrangements to make sure I was able to eat with the family in a somewhat similar fashion ... and Aldi had the spaghetti squash for $2.19 so I said YES and pulled Nom Nom Paleo's recipe for guidance.

Here's what you need:

2 pounder spaghetti squash

1 cup of water

Cut the spaghetti squash in half through the center, NOT long ways. Be careful as this is the WORSE thing to cut. I used a non skid mat I have and a small paring knife.  I didn't push the knife all the way to the hilt and as you go around, you will hear the squash cracking open ... 

Once open, scoop out as much of the seeds and gunk that you can.  Add a cup of water to pressure cooker and set your trivet or steamer in the insert.  Place squash on the trivet, cut side up. 

Lock lid in place, make sure vent is closed and set pressure cooker on 9 minutes.  Remember, just because you say NINE MINUTES does not mean that this will be ready to eat in 9 minutes ;-) My pet peeve ;-)

After the pressure cooker comes to pressure (Hubby timed, it took 7 minutes) THEN the 9 minute countdown starts.

After timer goes off, release the pressure (quick release), using caution when you flip the vent open.

Using tongs and a large spoon, ladle, pour out any excess liquid from the squash and place on plate to cool for a few minutes. Once cool enough to handle, grab a fork and start scraping.

Beautiful!  And look, no need to turn the oven on and bake for 40 minutes! Always a bonus in steamy Paradise!  I ended up serving mine with the red sauce and meatballs for dinner while the rest of the gang had regular ole' spaghetti ... 

Looking forward to sharing with some of these GREAT Parties ... go check them out!

*This post contains affiliate links ... click here to read my disclosure :-)

Perfect Grilled Asparagus

For years, and years, like every other veggie out there, I wouldn't go near asparagus ... that's like, a tree stalk, right?  It's right up there with the green tree shrubs (broccoli) and that funky white stuff (cauliflower)!

And then, I tried these little skinny stalks with garlic and olive oil and since then, I've been addicted to asparagus ... I'm the one in the produce section tossing the fat things aside, looking for the wimpy, skinny things.

Yup. That's ME!! Hi! Sorry if I held you up!  If nothing else, Whole30 has made me branch out and try all kinds of different veggies ... that in itself is a NSV, you know?

So a few weeks ago, Aldi's had asparagus. Imagine that!? $2.99 for a one pound bag. Now, mind you've I've seen asparagus there before, but it was either, you guessed it, fat and woody OR the tips were all mush which is a no-no in the asparagus world.

So whenever, I see them model thin stalks, I scoop them up, run home and promptly start cooking ... I LOVE LOVE LOVE these things!

I used to make them this easy way: asparagus, chopped garlic, diced onion, olive oil, salt & pepper mixture ... but then ... I discovered this:

Trader Joe's Lemon Infused Olive Oil  ... uhm ... HELLO!!??

So now, I just skip all that happy chop chop chop stuff and get straight down to this technique:

Snap and rinse your asparagus, toss the tops in a large bowl.

Drizzle with generous pour of that there Lemon Infused Garlic Oil

Liberally season with your salt & pepper mixture (ours is salt, black pepper, garlic powder and onion powder poured in to an OLD Badia spice bottle ... we live by this stuff)

With clean hands, fluff and mix to coat all the asparagus.

Fire up your grill and allow to heat on high. Reduce the heat to medium (make sure no flames are hitting the grates) and clean. Put a grill mat down (if you don't have one, you NEED one ... this is what they look like and I really need to do a review on these! I picked this up at Bed Bath & Beyond for like $10 or so but like the link better as there's 3 and they seem to be larger than what I have)

Toss on your asparagus (I did two batches as I made 2 pounds), spread them out a little and close the lid. After a few minutes, check on them, giving them a little toss with your tongs ... keep an eye on them as they will get charry really fast ...

I love, love, love these little things and this is such an easy recipe to make! Go ahead, give it a try!

Enjoy!

Looking forward to sharing with some of these GREAT Parties ... go check them out!

*This post may contain affiliate links ... click here to read my disclosure :-)

Just Veggies

A little while ago, I was really, really in to fresh veggies: cucumbers, red peppers, green peppers, red onions, tomatoes, all tossed together with a light dressing.

I would eat that stuff daily.

DAILY

And then, I guess I just got over veggied out. It happens, you know?

But ... it's summertime and the peppers, the cucumbers, the tomatoes, everything looks so dang appealing in the produce stores that I just have to scoop them up ... to hell with the Freezer / Pantry / No Spend Challenge!

I could justify the purchases, honestly.

It is, afterall, Summertime! And that's the time when the full fledge BBQ/Pool/Outdoor parties are kicking in ... and psst ... it's also Whole30/Paleo approved but don't tell no one THAT!

Sunday morning rolled around and Princess and the Boyfriend texted us to say they wanted to maybe come over later in the day to hang out.  Not quite lunch time, not quite dinner time ... 

and because Princess is currently in AA (long story, but for her, alcohol does NOT improve her personal being) I (me, myself AND I) try to eliminate the alcohol factor when she's around, and really stay focused on healthy, happy foods. Well, just because, that's what a mom does to encourage their child, adult or not, to stay focused and on track (right?) ... 

Hence, Veggies.

Good, ripe, in season vegetables.

Lets get to it, shall we?

2 cucumbers (mine were seedless and picked up from ALDI for $1.29 each)

1 red pepper (picked up from Trader Joes, 79 cents a piece)

1/2 red onion (ALDI, 99 cents for 2 pounds)

3 roma tomatoes (picked up from ALDI, like 8 per bag for 99 cents)

3 tbs olive oil (Trader Joes)

2 tbs red wine vinegar (ALDI)

a generous sprinkling of oregano (Costco)

dash of salt and black pepper

Peel them cucumbers, slice in half and half again so you have 4 long spears. Chop up into bite size pieces.  If you have seeds in them and they are really seedy (not in THAT way), scrap the seeds out before cutting up. Toss in a large bowl (which I always, always pick too small of a bowl!)

Cut the red pepper in to bite size pieces and toss in the bowl.

Grab your tomatoes and cut in to 4 wedges. If really juicy, pull out the seeds and juicy stuff and then cut in to bite size pieces.

Dice the red onion in to small pieces. Not, like, tiny pieces, but certainly smaller than bite size ;-) Toss those in the bowl, as well.

Grab a small little bowl and mix up the oil, vinegar, oregano and salt and pepper and then pour that over them fresh veggies. Give it a quick stir to distribute the dressing, put a lid on it, and ideally, let it chill in the fridge for an hour or so. Not necessary, but it does taste even better chilled.

Me? I didn't have time. I was close to lobbing off a finger or two from those secret snatches of the fresh chopped veggies.

Looking forward to sharing with some of these GREAT Parties ... go check them out!

*This post may contain affiliate links ... click here to read my disclosure :-)

Pressure Cooked Spaghetti Squash

For Christmas this year, I bought myself an InstantPot Duo Pressure Cooker from Amazon during a big sale they were having. I think it was priced at $78 or so and I had a credit and a bunch of gift cards so I applied all and paid $16 and change.

Yeah. That was a deal.

Of course, Hubby was NOT thrilled with another bulky gadget coming in the kitchen and even though it was very inexpensive, he felt I could have done something different, besides buy another "gadget" ... ho hum .... blah, blah, blah.

So the box sat under the tree, unwrapped until AFTER New Years.  Then the tree was relocated outside and the box was moved to the other side of the room.  That Saturday evening, Hubby brought the box over to the kitchen, opened it up, grabbed the instruction manual and started reading.

We made pork chops and cauliflower that evening in the InstantPot. It was good and pretty neat, although, we will both admit, a little scary ;-)  Hubby freaked when he released the pressure as he wasn't expecting THAT much pressure to be released. It actually made us both laugh out loud!

Since that night the PC has been hanging out in the main kitchen on the counter, all shiny and waiting for another adventure.  Sunday was the day!

You know that we have this Whole30 thing going on, right? Well, not WE but ME, I, MYSELF, am following Whole30 for the month ... and as a side note, it's freaking hard as hell to stay on course and not be distracted by all that yummy, non-compliant stuff out there ... so I had to get focused and make more arrangements to make sure I was able to eat with the family in a somewhat similar fashion ... and Aldi had the spaghetti squash for $2.19 so I said YES and pulled Nom Nom Paleo's recipe for guidance.

Here's what you need:

2 pounder spaghetti squash

1 cup of water

Cut the spaghetti squash in half through the center, NOT long ways. Be careful as this is the WORSE thing to cut. I used a non skid mat I have and a small paring knife.  I didn't push the knife all the way to the hilt and as you go around, you will hear the squash cracking open ... 

Once open, scoop out as much of the seeds and gunk that you can.  Add a cup of water to pressure cooker and set your trivet or steamer in the insert.  Place squash on the trivet, cut side up. 

Lock lid in place, make sure vent is closed and set pressure cooker on 9 minutes.  Remember, just because you say NINE MINUTES does not mean that this will be ready to eat in 9 minutes ;-) My pet peeve ;-)

After the pressure cooker comes to pressure (Hubby timed, it took 7 minutes) THEN the 9 minute countdown starts.

After timer goes off, release the pressure (quick release), using caution when you flip the vent open.

Using tongs and a large spoon, ladle, pour out any excess liquid from the squash and place on plate to cool for a few minutes. Once cool enough to handle, grab a fork and start scraping.

Beautiful!  And look, no need to turn the oven on and bake for 40 minutes! Always a bonus in steamy Paradise!  I ended up serving mine with the red sauce and meatballs for dinner while the rest of the gang had regular ole' spaghetti ... 

Looking forward to sharing with some of these GREAT Parties ... go check them out!

*This post contains affiliate links ... click here to read my disclosure :-)

Straight Up Veggies

I find that when I buy my produce at Whole Foods, sometimes that costs way more than Publix, I use up the veggies instead of letting them linger and go soft on me. You should note though, that there ARE times when Whole Foods is less expensive than the local grocery store chain. For instance, red peppers were $2.99 a pound this past week at Whole Foods, Publix had them at $3.49 a pound ... and the Whole Foods peppers looked a heck of a lot better!

Anyway. All you gotta do is just chop up some red peppers, sweet onions, green peppers, tomatoes (if you like) and cucumbers in to bite size pieces, toss all in a non-reactive bowl ... then mix up the following in a small bowl:

3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
generous dash of dried oregano
dash of salt
dash of pepper

Dump this all over the veggies, and IF you have on hand, finely slice fresh basil and garnish.

Mix all well, let it chill (if you can wait!) and serve alongside what ever protein you have on hand!

I couldn't wait for it to chill so I grabbed a small ramekin and served up a mini serving to sample ...yup, it was good!

Enjoy!