Today I wanted to try to be a bit more prepared for the week. We have finals at the High School level, wrestling, basketball, dance, reading club and regular ol' life, so sometimes, or all the time, dinner creations feels hectic. Therefore with a new year upon us, and trying to tackle some organization, I thought I'd attempt make a week's worth of meals and/or maybe have a couple for the freezer. If you haven't tried an InstaPot yet...I love mine! It took me a while of operator errors and there's been a couple failures at epic proportions, but once I figured out the best uses for our family with this, it has been a very useful tool in our kitchen. I use it a lot for meal prep, too. Need five pounds of burger cooked? Cook away with this very hand resource. I pre-cook a giant batch of taco meat or just plain burger then divvy it up into freezer bags to make spaghetti, chili, shepherds pie and any other recipe that drums across my thoughts. What's hiding beneath the lids includes a pork roast with potatoes and carrots, a small beef roast to shred for enchiladas, and a chicken stuffing casserole along with a potato dish. Here's the recipes on how I make this over easy to get a couple meals prepped for the upcoming week.
For the Pork roast, slice potatoes, carrots, onion, and layer these on the bottom of the slow cooker. Dash roast with Montreal Steak seasoning, about 1 teaspoon of garlic, 1 heaping tablespoon of beef bouillon and a light beer (I regularly cook my roasts with a beer. It helps keep them tender and adds a little flavor, but the alcohol will cook out). Turn slow-cooker on low and let it cook all day.
For the Beef Roast for enchiladas, just place the roast in the slow-cooker, dash with Montreal Steak Seasoning, 1 heaping tablespoon of beef bouillon and yet again, a beer. This time I used a little darker beer. Turn slow-cooker on low and let it cook all day, then shred the roast for enchiladas or you could make shredded beef tacos or sandwiches too.
For the chicken stuffing casserole, I mix a can of cream of chicken and cream of mushroom soup together. Lay the chicken breasts on the bottom of the slow cooker pot, poor over a box of chicken stuffing, then pour on the soup and mix it slightly into the stuffing. Set the slow-cooker on low and cook all day.
For the potato dish, I sliced red potatoes, and dropped them in the slow cooker, salt and peppered the potatoes. I mix a can of cheddar cheese soup and about 1 cup of sour cream together then lay it on top of the potatoes, set the slow cooker and let it cook all day, or you can do it in the InstaPot, and add a splash of water into it and set the InstaPot to manual and cook for about 30 minutes. The potatoes turn out just like au gratin potatoes and our family loves them.
Just a few fun ideas for the week...enjoy!