Last week our meals included a bunch of blog recipes I’ve shared in the past (hey, we love ’em!), a lot of meals in bowls and a handful of Instant Pot dishes (three)! That little appliance clearly gets a lot of love in our house, especially this time of year when the weather starts to get a little chillier. For anyone intimidated by the Instant Pot, I GET IT. I had one for a full year before I tried making anything in it, but now that I’ve embraced Instant Pot life, I use it over the crock pot the vast majority of the time. You just cannot beat the convenience of fast pressure cooking. See below for a bunch of Instant Pot meals and a peek into all of the other weeknight meals our family enjoyed last week!
Week of Weeknight Meals: September 2022
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Monday: Instant Pot Chicken and Rice Soup
It’s soup season and I am a soup-lover through and through for a myriad of reasons. I love one-pot meals for the ease of clean up and adore cramming as many veggies as I can into soups so they pack a decent nutritional punch, too. To make Monday night’s soup, I sautéed garlic, carrots, onions and celery in avocado oil in the Instant Pot and then added chicken thighs, chicken broth, turmeric, salt, pepper, oregano, thyme and rosemary before pressure-cooking the soup for 18 minutes. I then shredded the chicken and added frozen edamame and frozen corn to the soup before stirring in cooked sprouted brown rice. I topped the soup with fresh parsley and we absolutely loved this comforting meal! An added bonus: It was great for leftovers for lunch throughout the week!
On the boys’ plates: Applegate Farms organic chicken nuggets, carrots, edamame and pineapple.
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Tuesday: Barbacoa Bowls
Ryan had a work dinner on Tuesday night so I was riding solo and opted to keep dinner extra simple. I heated up a package of pre-made organic grass-fed barbacoa-style beef I bought from ALDI in a skillet with avocado oil before adding frozen corn, fresh steamed green beans and a pouch of 90-second mixed grains from ALDI. It was delicious and I had enough leftover in the skillet for lunch the next day, too!
On the boys’ plates: Leftover burgers with green beans, corn and apple slices.
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Wednesday: Instant Pot Teriyaki Chicken with Ginger Sesame Broccoli and Quinoa
This recipe had a lot of moving pieces but was actually quite easy! In the morning, I made a batch of quinoa on the stovetop and also cooked up some teriyaki chicken in the Instant Pot by combining chicken thighs with teriyaki sauce (I used Kevin’s teriyaki sauce I bought through Thrive Market) and chicken broth. Then, when it was time for dinner, I made a double batch of my ginger sesame broccoli and added the shredded teriyaki chicken to the broccoli once it was done before adding in the cooked quinoa. This meal was a big-time winner and even Ryan liked it despite his lack of love for quinoa.
On the boys’ plates: Quesadillas with ginger sesame broccoli and strawberries.
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Thursday: Instant Pot Butternut Squash Beef Stew
I was tempted to save this recipe to make over the weekend when it was cold and rainy but I had all of the ingredients on hand and no other plan for dinner so it happened on Thursday night instead. No complaints over here because we love this Instant Pot Butternut Squash Beef Stew so much! I used grass-fed beef stew meat I ordered from Thrive Market along with a package of frozen cubed organic butternut squash to keep the prep work involved in this recipe to a minimum (under 10 minutes!). The butternut squash in this soup gives it the most perfectly comforting velvety texture with the added nutritional benefits of butternut squash. Love this recipe so much!!
On the boys’ plates: Grilled cheese with a small helping of the stew and pear slices.
I think I need to change the name of this recipe to “No Chop Chili” because the best thing about this blog recipe (other than the flavor, of course) is the fact that you simple dump a bunch of ingredients in a crockpot and nooo chopping is involved. It’s one of the easiest in the world and also one of our family’s all-time favorite. We’ve made it so many times I no longer have to measure anything and it always turns out fantastic! This one is also a big-time crowd pleaser we love making when we have guests in town, so keep it on your radar if you’ll be hosting anyone in your home in the next few weeks and want and easy but delicious meal to serve!
On the boys’ plates: Chicken chili for Rhett/quesadilla for the big kids along with cucumber slices, corn and a clementine.
Question of the Day
What was the best meal you ate last week? Recipe links welcome!
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I have an appliance question for you. We have a slow cooker and basically end up using it only for pulled pork. I don’t really love most slow cooker recipes I’ve tried. I’ve debated the idea of an instant pot, but it feels annoying/excessive to have both. What are your thoughts on the differences between the two? Does one get more love in your house? Does the slow cooker seem a bit unnecessary now that you have the instant pot?
On another note…thank you for all your posts about life with three kids. I have two boys, just-turned-3 and just-turned-1. I never thought I would say it, but my heart wants a third. My husband is not convinced because my depression is awful during pregnancy and while breastfeeding (I basically hate my husband during these periods. That is not an exaggeration). I’m not sure our marriage would survive it. I also want to make sure we can really give our kids the financial leg up we were lucky enough to get from our parents. If we had a third, I’m not sure that would be able to happen. All that to say, thank you for some real insights. It’s hard when all you see online is perfect, happy families and I really appreciate when you talk about the harder aspects of having three young kids.
If I had to only have one appliance, I would opt for the Instant Pot because it can do BOTH! You can use it as a slow cooker and a pressure cooker (and even more!) and it gets a lot of use in our house. I LOVE that you can sauté or brown veggies/meat in the Instant Pot before pressure/slow cooking (saves on dishes and helps with flavor — loveee sauteeing veggies for soups before slow cooking). I’m not sure if that helps but I really do love our Instant Pot way more than I thought I would!!
And thank you for sharing more about your thoughts about growing your family. It’s a HARD decision and not nearly as black and white as so many people seem to make it out to be. It’s a LOT of serious conversations (at least it has been for me and Ryan) and goes way beyond just “wanting” a baby. Thinking of you. <3
Love these posts! Last night I made Pinch of Yum’s Slow Cooker Chicken Wild Rice Soup and it was perfect for a rainy Sunday!
You cannot go wrong with POY recipes!
Just curious, do you usually eat dinner as a family or do you feed your boys before Ryan gets home and eat with him later?
Thank you for sharing the dinners you make for your kids, they are helpful ideas for simple balanced meals kids might actually eat!