Another super delicious one that I'll be saving to make again real soon! Just like the Pineapple Ginger Chicken I recently posted, this one is a really simple homemade sauce that can easily be used with any meat and grilling combo. Note that the chicken does have to marinade for at least 30 minutes. If you have the time, make the sauce the day before or the morning of to allow the chicken to marinade. This also makes for an even simpler and quicker cooking time later. Anyways, I especially loved the hint of curry, and the extra sauce to mix in with the cauliflower rice also made for an extra tasty meal. Similar to the instructions below, I first grilled the chicken on an indoor grilling pan, then moved all the chicken over to bake for the remaining time. I would have used the skillet to finish cooking the chicken, but I doubled the recipe and had too much chicken to put into one skillet. Other then that I made the recipe as-is below. Not much to this one at all and it seriously turned out tasting so good. I definitely recommend giving this one a try! 

Whole30 Thai Chicken Cauliflower Rice
Ingredients:
Sauce

• 2/3 cup dates pitted
• 4 garlic cloves
• 4 tablespoon red curry paste (Thai Kitchen Red Curry Paste is a compliant one!)
• 1 cup chicken stock
• 1 cup coconut aminos
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• lime juice from 1 lime

Other Ingredients

• 4 large chicken breasts
• 32 oz cauliflower rice
• 16 oz broccoli rabe

Directions:

1. Puree ingredients for sauce in a blender until smooth.
2. Marinate chicken breast in 1/3 the sauce and put in the fridge for 30 minutes.
3. Cook chicken on either a grill pan or skillet (I did both!). Place chicken on a well greased pan, cover with a lid, and cook for 5-6 minutes on each side until cooked through (there should be no pink on inside when cut open).
4. Once the chicken is cooked, remove, and add broccoli to cast iron skillet and cook in leftover juices until it's soft, but not mushy.
5. In the cast iron skillet, pour the rest of the sauce over the cauliflower rice and cook for about 10 minutes until soft (stirring on occasion to prevent sticking to the pan). Then serve with chicken and broccoli.

​Original recipe found here

This one is a must try! It seriously turned out so delicious and will definitely be thrown into the meal rotation in our house. I ended up tripling this recipe to get enough meals, so I bought a couple containers of pre-diced onions, carrots, and celery to make prep even easier. I used cayenne pepper instead of a red chili, which must have been the reason this beef ragu had a slight kick to it. I also opted for using a cup of beef broth instead of the cubes since I couldn't find any that did not have added sugars. Not much to the recipe at all. Just saute the onions, carrots, celery, and chili, then throw the rest of the ingredients in and set the Instant Pot to cook on manual for 30 minutes. The final step revealed a new cooking hack to me as well! Using a potato masher to shred or mash the beef into smaller pieces was a game changer. Pair with pasta, vegetable noodles, or rice and you've got yourself a seriously tasty and nutritious meal. 

Instant Pot Beef Ragu
Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 medium onion, finely diced
• 1 large carrot, diced into small cubes
• 1 celery stick, diced into small cubes
• 1/2 long red chili, diced (or 1/2 teaspoon chili flakes or cayenne pepper)
• 1 + 1/2 teaspoons sea salt
• 3 large cloves of garlic, finely diced
• 1 1/2 lb diced beef steak (stewing steak, chuck steak, rib eye)
• 1 teaspoon black or white pepper
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 teaspoon paprika powder (mild or sweet)
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano, thyme or basil
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon powder (optional, but adds warmth and depth)
• 1 star anise (optional)
• 1 x can chopped tinned tomatoes (400 g/ 1 + 1/2 cups)
• 1 tablespoon coconut aminos 
• 1 cube of beef stock including water (I ended up using 1 Cup Beef Broth instead)

Directions:
In the Instant Pot

1. Turn on the Instant Pot and press the Sauté function key. Add the olive oil, onions, carrots, celery, chili and salt and cook for about 5 minutes, stirring a few times, until softened.
2. Add the beef and the rest of the ingredients and stir through. Press Keep Warm/Cancel.
3. Place the lid and lock. Set to Manual, High pressure, and set for 30 minutes. After three beeps the Instant Pot will begin to build up pressure and start cooking. Once the cooking finishes, release the pressure naturally for 10 minutes before using quick release to let off the rest of the steam.
4. Then open the lid and press the Sauté function again. Use a potato masher (that’s the easiest way) to shred or mash the beef into smaller pieces. You will get something like shredded beef consistency. Cook for 10-15 minutes to thicken the sauce, stirring every 2-3 minutes. Serve with pasta, vegetable noodles or rice.

On the Stove Top

1. Repeat the first two steps as above using a saucepan over medium heat. Once the beef and tomatoes are in, bring to a boil and then reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer, covered with a lid for 2 hours. After 2 hours, shred the beef, and cook uncovered for 5-10 minutes to thicken the sauce if needed (you might not have as much liquid when cooking on the stove).

Original recipe found here

Finally found a non-Instant Pot chicken meal that was simple and easy for meal prep. I've made similar recipes before, but this one is definitely the easiest and turned out so flavorful and delicious. While you cook the chicken, put all the pineapple ginger sauce ingredients in your blender, and that is really all the work you need to do. Big note on those medjool dates is to make sure you get them pitted! I did not and totally forgot to take the pits out before blending, and that ruined my first batch of sauce. Since I had to start over I was also left without any extra pineapple for topping, which was a bummer too. Other then that mishap, everything was smooth sailing with this recipe. I heated up some frozen plain cauliflower rice to pair with it since there was plenty of delicious sauce to top with at the end. I also opted for baking the chicken breast in the oven since I quadrupled everything below to get enough meals for the week. I thought that option worked out just as great if you'd rather do the same. I tend to shy away from a lot of "sauce" recipes because they usually involve so many ingredients, but this one literally has 5 ingredients! Even if you don't make the chicken part, I definitely recommend saving the sauce recipe for some grilling recipes this summer.

Pineapple Ginger Chicken
Ingredients:
Chicken

• 2 tbsp olive oil, extra virgin
• 4 chicken breasts
• 1 tbsp dried parsley
• salt & pepper

Pineapple Ginger Sauce

• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup coconut aminos
• 1 cup fresh pineapple, diced
• 5 medjool dates, pitted
• 1 to 1 1/4 inch knob of ginger

To Finish

• 1 cup fresh pineapple, diced
• fresh parsley for topping, chopped

Directions:
Chicken

1. Add olive oil to saute pan or cast iron skillet. Heat pan to medium high heat.
2. Add chicken to hot pan. Sprinkle salt, pepper, and dried parsley on top of each breast. Cook until browned, about 5 minutes. Flip. Cook other side until browned, about 5 minutes. Turn chicken over so your herbed side is facing up. Turn off heat.

Pineapple Ginger Sauce

1. Peel your ginger knob. (You don't need to dice it as it will blend just fine once peeled.) It should be between 1 and 1 1/4 inches in length.
2. Add all sauce ingredients to blender. Blend until smooth.

To Finish

1. Pour blended sauce into the pan with your chicken. Add cup of chopped pineapple around chicken. Reduce heat to medium low or low. Cover and simmer for 5 minutes. Sauce will reduce a bit.
2. Top with fresh chopped parsley and serve!

Notes:
Why medjool dates versus other kinds of dates? Medjool dates are picked early which means they tend to be very soft. This makes them awesome for blending and creating sauces. Yes, it does matter what kind of date you use!

Original recipe found here

I hope everyone is staying home and healthy, and also considering trying some new recipes or meal prep with this extra time at home we all have! I am finally going through a list of recipes I had saved to try for quite some time now, including this one that turned out absolutely delicious! This recipe is Instant Pot and Slow Cooker friendly, and did not have much prep to it whatsoever. Although I bought frozen cubed sweet potatoes and pre-cut onions and peppers, which left me with only having to cut the chicken. Either way, this recipe is definitely one of the simpler ones that I have tried. I also loved that there were peppers, green beans, sweet potato, and cauliflower rice with this meal. ALL the colors and nutrients! I had to almost quadruple the ingredients below to get enough meals for our house, so I also increased the cooking time in the Instant Pot to around 30 minutes. This was definitely over kill and my sweet potatoes paid the price, unfortunately. Just pointing this out in case you enjoy eating those chunks of potatoes instead of it getting cooked into the sauce. I would also suggest removing the potatoes and chicken while you saute the sauce at the end. Paired with some cauliflower rice and topped with raw cashews and this meal was a hit all week long. Let me know if you give it a try! 

Sweet Potato Chicken Curry (​Instant Pot or Slow Cooker)
Ingredients:

• 2 tsp. ghee or coconut oil
• 1/2 medium yellow onion, diced
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 ½ lbs. chicken breast, cubed
• 1 medium-large sweet potato, cubed (~2 cups)
• 1 red pepper, sliced or diced
• 2/3 cup chicken broth
• 3 Tbsp. curry powder
• 1 tsp. cumin
• 1 tsp. ground turmeric
• ½ tsp. cayenne
• 1/2 tsp. sea salt
• 1 can (14 oz.) full fat coconut milk
• 2 cups frozen green beans
• Cashews, cilantro & cauliflower rice for serving

Directions:
For Instant Pot

1. Set your Instant pot to the saute setting. Add the ghee, onion, and garlic and saute until onions are translucent.
2. Then turn to manual setting and set temp to high. Add the chicken, sweet potatoes, red pepper, broth, curry, cumin, turmeric, cayenne and sea salt. Seal the instant pot and set time for 12 minutes.
3. Once time is up, release the pressure by switching from seal to vent. Once pressure is released, remove lid and turn Instant Pot to saute setting. Stir in the coconut milk and frozen green beans and let cook for an additional 2-3 minute or until the green beans are heated through.
4. Meanwhile, saute cauliflower rice in a skillet on medium heat with 1-2 tsp. of ghee. Saute until warm and cooked through. Length of time to saute cauliflower rice will depend on if it is in a fresh or frozen state.
5. Serve over cauliflower rice and top with cashews and fresh cilantro.

For Slow Cooker:

1. In a slow cooker, add the sautéed onions and garlic, chicken, sweet potatoes, red pepper, green beans, chicken broth (1¼ cups), spices, salt, and pepper. Cook on high for 3-4 hours. Add coconut milk and cook on low for an additional 30-60 minutes or until hot.

Notes:
For a thicker curry – mix together 2 Tbsp. of water with 1 Tbsp. tapioca starch. While instant pot is on the saute setting, stir into curry after the coconut milk is heated through and let set for a few minutes to thicken.

Original recipe found here