Chicken

Lately

Posted by Lisa Eirene

Last Thursday Logan turned 2 officially! We took donut holes to daycare so the kids could all celebrate together and everyone told Logan Happy Birthday. After daycare, he had his 2 year checkup with the doctor and he’s doing great. The doctor was really impressed at how well Logan is doing. Logan showed off and pointed to all the body parts he knows (his eyes, ears, mouth, elbow, hair, etc). Logan is 36.5 inches and grew almost 3 inches since his 18 month appointment! Holy cow! He’s 96% for height.

After the doctor appointment we went out to dinner to Mike’s Drive In in Oregon City. Michael and I got burgers. Logan got a corndog! And he loved it. 😀 He did so great. He had a great day.

In other Logan news, he might be ready for a big boy bed. Which is both exciting and scary for this mama! He’s starting to try and climb out of his crib. And he’s tall, so it’s easy for him. OY.

On Saturday (after the gym), we met some friends at Sokol Blosser for the spring pick-up party for members. It was so much fun and we were really glad we were able to hang out with our friends. We hadn’t seen them in awhile and it was nice to catch up.

The Sokol Blosser party is very nice. We were there in October with some other friends. When you first get there, you get a glass of their sparkling white. Love it!

The place was packed. There was a bunch of food–yummy smokey steak with chimichurri sauce, polenta, roasted veggies, toasted chickpeas, salad, salami, cheese, crackers, olives. All of the food was really tasty and it was enough for a light lunch while we did our tasting.

After the party, we decided to stop at one other place none of us have ever been to: Stoller. The venue was gorgeous! It was huge. I guess in one section they were having THEIR spring pick up party for members. We went to the tasting room. It was a huge, cool venue with lots of room. The place was packed so we walked to the back tent. The tent area was huge and had nice tables set up and it was heated and comfortable. The wine tasting was at your table, so that was nice.

It was a really nice Saturday!

On Sunday I decided to give my pressure cooker a test run in the “slow cooker” setting. I was hoping that I could get rid of my crockpot if this worked well. After my swim, I got all the stuff ready and put it in the pressure cooker. I had a packet for the “country rice” and used frozen chicken tenderloins.

I used the slow cooker setting on my cooker. Then I ran some errands and stuff and when I got back I checked it and realized that it was already cooked! It was like 2pm and I had thought I set it on “low” for 7 hours but at the 4 hour mark, everything was all cooked. BUMMER. I was kinda irritated because then I had to just put the food in the fridge and reheat it for dinner. Which is fine, but not ideal and not like my crockpot. So….I guess I can’t get rid of my crockpot yet.

The dinner doesn’t look pretty, but it was really flavorful. We had salad with it. Yum!

Anyways, any ideas on the slow cooker setting for the instant pot?

A Run and a Recipe

Posted by Lisa Eirene

This post is about a run and a recipe. First, the recipe.

I used my pressure cooker again over the weekend. First I made hard boiled eggs in it. Then I made this shredded chicken recipe:

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Honey Teriyaki Chicken

Yield: 4-6 servings

Ingredients

  • ? c. La Choy Teriyaki sauce
  • 1 Tbsp. honey
  • ¼ c. chicken broth
  • 2 lb chicken breasts
  • Green onions, chopped

Instructions

  1. Electric Pressure Cooker - Add the Teriyaki sauce and honey to the Instant Pot and whisk until well combined. Add the chicken broth and chicken. Cook thawed chicken on high pressure for 12 minutes. (Cook frozen chicken on high pressure for 20 minutes.) Turn the pressure valve to “Vent” to release all of the pressure.
  2. Remove the chicken breasts from the pot and place on a plate or cutting board. Shred the chicken using two forks.
  3. Remove ½ cup of liquid from the pot. (Reserve the liquid for cooking rice.) Return the shredded chicken to pot and stir until well combined. Top chicken with green onions.
  4. Crock Pot - Add the chicken breasts to a sprayed or lined Crock Pot. Top with the Teriyaki sauce, honey and chicken broth. Add an additional ½ c. chicken broth.
  5. Cook on low for 4-5 hours. With 30 minutes of cooking time left, shred the chicken using two forks.
  6. (If using frozen chicken in the Crock Pot, cook on low for 5-6 hours.)
  7. Serving Suggestions:
  8. Make egg rolls with Honey Teriyaki Chicken, shredded carrots and shredded cabbage or broccoli slaw.
  9. Serve on a bed of rice or pasta.
  10. Make a salad by topping a bed of lettuce with Honey Teriyaki Chicken, shredded carrots, green onions and slivered almonds. Whisk some of the reserved juices with some olive oil for a quick vinaigrette.

Notes

From: http://www.thecreativebite.com/10-healthy-chicken-recipes-in-a-pressure-cooker-or-crock-pot/

http://www.110pounds.com/?p=54390

While the chicken was cooking, I did food prep for the week for lunches. I sauteed up a bag of cauliflower rice from Trader Joe’s and put them in individual containers for each lunch.

(Snacks, hard boiled egg and plain Greek yogurt with strawberries):

The chicken turned out great again! It shredded really easily. I put it back in the pressure cooker to soak up some of the teriyaki sauce and then put the chicken in containers with the rice. I topped it with chopped green onion and toasted sesame seeds.

Now, the run!

It’s been YEARS since I ran on the waterfront during my lunch hour. Part of that was because my lunch hour was 30 minutes for many years. And the other part was that I wasn’t doing a lot of outdoors running. But after having Logan, I started taking him for walks when I was home. Then the walks got kind of slow and boring and I started jogging a bit. Then I started running. I got up to running a loop around our neighborhood, doing about 4-4.5 miles total.

My schedule changed a little while ago and I now have hour long lunches. So when I saw that Monday was going to be a sunny, warm day, I decided to give it a try! The idea of being stuck on the treadmill during my lunch hour sounded deflating.

I’m so glad I ran outside! It was SO NICE OUT! It just felt good to be outside with the sun on my skin, the fresh air, the waterfront…

Since it’s been a few months since I’ve been running outside (due to winter), I took it easy. Treadmill running and outdoor running is just way different. My body tends to get sore in weird places when I run outside. So I didn’t run too hard or too fast and I took some short walk breaks.

I ran down to the waterfront, crossed the Steel Bridge, and then decided to cross over the Morrison Bridge back to downtown. In the past, I usually ran the whole loop–Steel Bridge to the Hawthorne Bridge and then back to the office. It’s been a long time but I think I remember that loop being about 3.5 or 4 miles totals.

Since this was my first time out, I cut it short and didn’t push it. If the weather holds up later this week, I might try to go back out. I’m going to work my way up to running the whole loop again.

Here are my stats:

So when I run on the treadmill during lunch, I usually do between 3 and 3.25 miles in 48 minutes (so I have enough time to stretch, foam roll and then shower). I’m slightly disappointed I only made it 2.8 miles on the waterfront but I am reminded myself I was going to take it easy for the first time out!

I got back to work and ate my cauliflower rice with teriyaki chicken for lunch and felt SO amazing after my run!