Instant pot whole chicken:

Saute breast side down for a few minutes in avocado oil and spices- salt, pepper, cardamom
Saute other side for a few.
Add 1-2 cups water, high pressure for 32 min, natural release
Fall off the bone awesome!

The stunning return(ish) of the blog, Instant Pot addition:

Frozen chicken thighs (from Trader Joe's).  Still frozen.
A big blob of bbq sauce, and then another cup of water, just in case in needed more liquid.

18 min. pressure
NPR for 15 min, then QR

Removed chicken from pan, added a pile of zucchini/squash that had been spiralized, and the sweet potato strips from TJ's.

6 min. pressure
QR

Both worked pretty well.

Scoot

Braised Short Ribs

Cobbled together from various recipes:

Ingredients:

Some beef short ribs

Salt/Pepper

Bacon or Pancetta

Olive Oil

1 Onion, diced

3 carrots, diced

2 shallots, diced small

2 sprigs thyme

2 sprigs rosemary

2 cups broth

can of tomato paste

balsamic vinegar, ~ 1 cup (Blackberry flavored)

Sprinkle salt and pepper on ribs.  Set aside.

Heat oven to 350.

In a dutch oven, on top of stove, cook pancetta or bacon.  You're after the fat, not necessarily the bacon, so feel free to snack on the bacon while doing the rest of the cooking!

Add olive oil, sear ribs in grease.  Remove ribs.

Add carrots, onions, shallots, cook for a couple minutes.  Add broth, scrape bottom of pan to get the little browned bits off.

Add tomato paste, vinegar to just about cover ribs, more salt and pepper, and the rosemary and thyme.  Put the lid on and put in the oven for 2 hours.  Reduce heat and cook for 30-45 more minutes.

Pull out and let sit for 20 minutes with the lid on before serving.

Yummy!

Smoky Crockpot Chicken Soup

This recipe is based off of The Freckled Foodie

Into a crockpot, put:
~ 3 lbs. chicken thighs (I shredded them after they were done cooking - they fall apart)
2 small onions, chopped
3 stalks celery, chopped
2 small sweet potatoes, chopped
spoonful of garlic paste
1 T dried basil
2 T tomato paste
2 T South African Smoke Seasoning from Trader Joe's.  (It's Paprika, basil, salt, and garlic.  And it's amazing.)
28 oz. can diced tomatoes (fire roasted)
Can of coconut milk

Cook for 8 hours.

It's delicious, but I didn't do well with the veggies/meat ratio.  I'll add more veggies to the leftovers.

Scooter

Sweet Potato Flatbreads

This recipe is from 21 Day Sugar Detox Cookbook by Diane Sanfilippo.

Mix together:
2 medium sweet potatoes
4 eggs
2 T gelatin (the kind that gels)
1/4 cup coconut oil
shake of salt
enough coconut flour to make it seem the right sticky-dough consistency

Divide into 16 little patties on parchment-lined sheets, cook at 400 F for 20 minutes, flipping them a little over half way through.

Really good with honey, which I'm pretty sure is not allowed if you're actually doing the sugar detox.

Scooter

Paleo Meatballs with Chia seeds

This recipe came from: Bare Root Girl

I'll give the measurements she gave, but I always just wing it:

1 lb. beef (I used bison)
2 T tomato paste
2 cloves garlic (I used dried.  Horrors, I know.)
2 t italian herbs.  (I used more like 2 T, on accident)
1 t sea salt
1 t ground pepper
2 T chia seeds

Combine all ingredients and mush together.  Let rest for a few minutes so the chia seeds can start to absorb moisture.

(The recipe cooked the meatballs on a skillet, but I did it in the oven.)

Form into meatballs, put on a cookie sheet covered with foil.  Bake at 400 F for 25 ish minutes.

They're really good!
Scoot

Sweet Potato Sausage Hash

I asked my sister how she made this after having it several times, courtesy of her.  Every time: "It's super easy, you do blah, blah, blah, and by the way, it's in that cookbook we both have."

Cookbook: Paleo Slow Cooking by Chrissy Gower

I think I overlooked it every time b/c the fist word in the title was jalapeno.

My method:

Thinly slice about 3 sweet potatoes, chop up several bell peppers and 1 onion.  Slice up 8 links of pre-cooked sausage from Costco - some kind of turkey Italian something or other.

Layer everything into the crockpot, add a dash of smashed garlic, cook on low overnight.

Breakfast for days!  And lunch.

Scoot