BBQ Chicken in the Instant Pot

I've been working from home full time since the middle of July, but starting this week, my coworkers and I have been assigned one day a week to be in the office.  My day is Wednesday.  Which means tomorrow morning, I'll have to get up a little earlier, and, more stressfully, pack a lunch!

Thanks to the rain dump that Hurricane Sally is causing over the region, I expect I'll be stuck inside the office building and that the day will be gloomy, kinda like it is today.  So while last fall and spring I was able to enjoy a picnic lunch midday, that won't be the case tomorrow.  What to do? What to do?

I've been reading about how to make chicken in the Instant Pot - there's even a Poultry button on the front of the model we have.  When Publix had a BOGO free sale on boneless, skinless chicken breasts a few weeks ago, I bought some and put it in the freezer.  The Internet says the Instant Pot doesn't really care if your chicken is fresh or frozen rock solid, the cooking will be the same.

Erin over at Meaningful Eats has an Instant Pot BBQ Chicken recipe that she posted a while ago, but there are still people discovering it and commenting on the success of this method.  Bonus, it's gluten-free as well!  I thought pulled BBQ chicken sounded like something that could form the basis of a few meals including an office lunch.

I didn't have exactly the same ingredients as her recipe, but the modifications worked.  And the technical parts of the recipe were key to the success of making this in the Instant Pot.  Here's what I did, in order of adding to the Instant Pot:

1 1/4 c. Progresso chicken broth
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, partially defrosted
1/2 tsp each of garlic powder, paprika, and salt
2 T dried minced onions
3 T brown sugar
2 tsp Worchestershire sauce
1 c. G. Hughes BBQ Sauce

Manual, high pressure, 15 minutes, 10 minutes natural release, then QR the remaining pressure.

Temp check of the chicken showed it was cooked through, so it was time to shred.  The chicken pulled apart easily but still maintained moisture and had flavor infused. The "sauce" left in the pot was pretty runny; it would be okay over rice if you were going to use serve it right away, but not for having a "saucy" sandwich.  Of course the recipe says add additional sauce after the chicken is done, so that wasn't surprising.  And I still have a half-bottle of the G. Hughes.

I intend to use some of the chicken on top of a salad for lunch tomorrow - a sort of BBQ Chicken and Salad.  I also think I'll put a serving's worth into the freezer to see how it keeps.

Beans and Taters

My brother-in-law is in charge of cooking the beans in his house, and with good reason.  He has mastered the Instant Pot for turning dried, hard, potentially gaseous beans into a hearty, flavorful meal.

All the Instant Pot books rave about how much better beans cook and taste when made in the pressure cooker, so it only makes sense that my next venture involved cooking beans.  Of course all the books say "it depends" for how much time, which beans to use, how much water, how to season, etc., but my sister-in-law wrote down the instructions for me.

For this first venture, I used pinto beans and northern beans, 1 c. dried of each.  The key is to cook them for a few minutes, drain the water, and then add new water along with whatever you have on hand for seasoning.  Pre-cooking the beans and rinsing helps eliminate (or at least greatly reduce)whatever chemistry creates the gassy-effect that beans have on the digestive system.  

For seasoning, I used about 1/2 c. finely diced celery (2 small stalks), 1.2 c. chopped baby carrots, 2 tsp. of dried minced onions, two generous shakes of Worchestershire sauce, 2 tsp of salt, and three shakes of black pepper.  I measured the amount of water necessary to cover the beans plus 1/2 inch (my 6 qt pot required 3 1/2 c. water to reach the desired level).

Since I hadn't cooked beans in the Instant Pot before, I started with 20 minutes on high pressure with natural release.  I checked them after the pressure released and they had been left in the pot for about 35 minutes after the pressure cooking stopped.  The pinto beans were still a bit crunchy (like a soft nut) so I restarted the pressure cooking for another 5 minutes which was just about right.  Next time I'll start with 23 minutes rather than 20 and see if that makes a difference. 

I didn't have any ham or bacon to add to the beans while cooking; as such, they needed more salt at the table. I'd recommend adding the ham for additional flavor rather than risking adding too much salt while cooking.

We like "taters" with beans, and these Simply Potatoes brand traditional mashed potatoes are both a convenient and delicious addition to an inexpensive meal.

An "Egg"cellent Lunch

One thing about working from home is that it's easier to have variety for lunch.  When I was working from the office, I would pack my lunch each day, and it usually consisted of a pb/j on frozen gluten free bread and a bowl of something salty/crunchy.  Or maybe leftovers from dinner two days ago.  Or the emergency can of soup from my desk drawer if I was running late.

But working from home means I have not only time, but access to the kitchen, so I don't have to necessarily plan ahead nor have to make my midday meal portable.  A fresh salad, a grilled cheese sandwich, a grilled hot dog or burger.  And today, I had Egg Salad.

I love egg salad, and I just about got the egg boiling process to near perfection.  And then I gave my egg pot to my older son when he moved into his own apartment.  But cue the arrival of the Instant Pot.  After my successful water cook of yesterday, I was ready to try hard-cooked eggs.  So during my mid-morning break, I set up the Instant Pot and re-read the instructions I found online for eggs.  I got an accessory kit to go with the Instant Pot so I would have an egg stand for it. I preloaded the inner pot with the egg stand, added 1 cup of water and gently placed 7 eggs, one in each circle.  Lid on, secured and locked, seal checked, vent checked, plugged in, set the time for 6 minutes, and waited.  About 15 minutes, the beeper sounded, time to QR the pressure, and move the eggs to an ice bath for a minute.

I don't know if it's about how well cooked the eggs were, or maybe the ice bath was just the right temperature, but I have never had hard-cooked eggs peel so easily.  And the whites and yolks were exactly how I like them, each evenly cooked, none over-done.

I put the eggs in a new Pyrex covered bowl I recently bought to replace some of the other things that found their way to apartment(s), used my Pampered Chef pastry blender to chop the eggs, and then dressed them with a dollop of Kraft mayo, a few squeezes of Publix yellow mustard, and several heaping spoonfuls of Vlasic dill relish.  Then let it rest in the frig until lunch; so fresh and delicious!

Meal tracking while gluten free and prediabetic

I am thrilled to post that my ttg-ita levels are in the normal range (0-3 is normal; mine is 3) after starting at over 100 just over a year ago. I feel confident in my ability to eat gluten-free and to avoid cross-contamination.

However I am not thrilled that as a direct result of my body healing inside and now absorbing calories and nutrients it had previously given me a "free pass" on, I gained weight (which is very common among people with celiac disease if they are not given proper counseling) and my body is now pre-diabetic.  In addition, my cholesterol is now considered high.

So I asked my doctor for help in getting this all under control and corrected before it becomes problematic.  She went to bat for me with our insurance company and secured services for me with a registered dietitian who is knowledgeable about celiac disease, diabetes, and high cholesterol.  I met with the doctor and the dietitian this week and am armed with a notebook, a food log, and some specific targets for my daily nutritional composition.

I'm taking pictures of some of my meals to supplement the documentation of my food log in case we need to troubleshoot anything along the way.  I don't want to get into a rut of if it's Monday, it must be chicken night - so maybe you all could offer suggestions for foods to try to change things up along the way.

So here we go.

Wednesday's lunch was at Sonny's BBQ. I ordered the Lunch Special which was sliced pork, plain baked potato, and a side garden salad with their fat free honey mustard dressing.  I looked up calories, carbs, and protein before going. The dietitian told me that potatoes are not my friend so when I have one at a restaurant, cut it in half to have the right amount of carbs for the meal.  My husband was with me so he ordered a side salad and a side of baked beans for his lunch since I was giving him half of my potato.  Here's what else I learned - sauces will use up your carbs allotment in no time, so use them sparingly!

Wednesday evening dinner needed to be something quick because we attend Bible classes. I had not had time to go shopping during the day, so I had to use what we had in the house, plus make something that the family might eat as well.  For dinner, I put a homemade BBQ sauce over some cooked ground beef I had in the freezer to make a pseudo-sloppy-Joe.  Frozen broccoli florets in the steam bag filled out my plate.  Again, the sauce added additional carbs to the meal besides those that were in the broccoli. I used a smaller plate and you can see that half is filled with vegetables.

Thursday was my younger son's 18th birthday, so I wanted to bake him a cake and make him dinner while he was at band rehearsal.  I can't eat the cake because of the gluten, so no worries about having to figure out how to balance the calorie and carb-load that would bring.  Dinner was grilled chicken cutlets (on the George Foreman grill, super easy and fast), boiled carrots, and the leftover steamed broccoli from Wednesday.

Friday night lights - yep, I spend many a Friday night at the local high school football stadium in support of my son's marching band (he's one of the drum majors), so that meant dinner had to be early and quick.  So salad and some of the leftover BBQ ground beef from Wednesday made a good-enough dinner to get me out the door.  I used Ken's Lite Honey Mustard dressing on the iceberg lettuce with grape tomatoes.  Normally I get the romaine lettuce in the pre-torn bags but the iceberg was on sale and cheaper by the head.  This tided me over until we got home at nearly 11 PM.

Saturdays are typically the one day a week that we go out for a meal as a family, but the younger boy's day was filled with volunteer work. So instead of going out, we ate at home.  For lunch I made a chef's salad with iceberg lettuce, grape tomatoes, sliced ham, and honey mustard dressing. I added some sunflower seeds for crunch since no croutons are allowed!

Saturday evening dinner: baked chicken, Uncle Ben's Ready Rice, and broccoli florets. It might look plain, but it tasted delicious!

I have a couple of books checked out from the library with recipes and meal suggestions that I hope will offer some variety. But in the meanwhile, I'll keep working at this to improve my health.

Gluten Free at Paradiso 37, Downtown Disney

Before leaving Walt Disney World, my friend and I spent a few hours at Downtown Disney. While there, we stopped in to Paridiso 37 for lunch. Paradiso 37 has a menu spanning North American, Central American, and South American cuisine. As usual, our server ask if we had any food allergies, and when I mentioned my gluten allergy, he went to get the chef. While waiting for the chef, I looked over the menu and decided that the grilled chicken tortilla salad looked like it would be safe minus the tortilla chips. Mixed greens, salsa, roasted corn, grilled chicken, and a citrus vinaigrette. It was delicious!

http://www.paradiso37.com/

Gluten Free at Liberty Tree Tavern and Saratoga Springs Resort, Walt Disney World

Another trip to Walt Disney World means another chance to experience dining gluten-free Disney-style. For this trip, we had plans to eat at the Liberty Tree Tavern in the Magic Kingdom. This has been a favorite dining location for us for many years. They serve a variety of foods including turkey, dressing, and vegetables, salads, burgers, and various pasta dishes. My favorite has been the Colony Salad which is a bed of fresh lettuce topped with Craisins, nuts, apples, and grilled chicken. Because we marked our reservation with a gluten allergy, the chef came out to check with us about that. I told him that pre-Celiac's, I liked the colony salad. He confirmed for me that the colony salad is, indeed, a gluten-free option. I thought it probably was, but it does not hurt to confirm. It was as delicious as always.

The next afternoon, we did not have lunch plans but were just hanging out at the Saratoga Springs resort. We had stopped at a nearby grocery store to get food for the rest of the family but I did not know what I wanted. So when we returned to the resort, I checked out the offerings at the Artist's Palate which is the food court at Saratoga Springs. I knew they serve soups, flatbreads, and salads. I had not eaten there before, so I checked the menu carefully and made my selection before entering the line. Because of my gluten allergy, they asked me to consult with the chef. I told him that I thought the Saratoga salad with chicken sounded like it might be a good option without the croutons. He confirmed that for me. It is very similar to the Colony salad I had at the Liberty Tree Tavern. The Saratoga salad with lettuce, Craisins, dried blueberries, and walnuts with a lemon poppy dressing. I have included a picture of the Saratoga salad. It was delicious and plentiful. In fact, I think I like it better and it costs about five dollars less. There is enough that two of us could have shared this.

Gluten Free at Disney World - Be Our Guest for Lunch

This week was my first out of town trip since becoming gluten free, and of all things to do, I went to Walt Disney World with three friends specifically for the Food and Wine Festival.  While we were there, we also had the opportunity to enjoy lunch at the Be Our Guest restaurant in the Magic Kingdom and Afternoon Tea at the Grand Floridian.

I had read online that Walt Disney World was accommodating for food allergies when you let them know of your dietary restrictions.  We had planned this trip several months before my celiac’s diagnosis, so I was curious to see how accommodating they would be in reality.  My analysis? They go out of their way to meet your needs and by letting them know ahead of time, that makes things a little easier when it’s time to order.

Many of the menus are available online and have a gluten free designation by those items which are safe for me to eat. I had read reviews on other blogs about the food options at Be Our Guest so I knew what I thought I wanted to order, but as always, it’s best to check with the restaurant in case something has changed in the way the food is prepared.  At Be Our Guest at lunch, you order from a kiosk, and the kiosk has an option to indicate your food allergy. The Cast Members are great at helping you know how to put the filter on for the foods that are gluten free, so having just those options appear limited my choices.  I ordered the gluten free version of braised pork with mashed potatoes and green beans while one of my friends ordered the same thing without restriction.  My food came out first with an allergy flag in it and they double checked with me before leaving the food on the table.  My friend’s order came after mine and the only difference appeared to be the sauce that was on her meat.  Mine was delicious, the pork so tender, the potatoes flavorful, and the green beans were crunchy.  I also ordered the gluten free dessert option which was a lemon raspberry creation that was just ok for the price.

The photos are from the Be Our Guest lunch.

Gluten Free restaurant menus are no guarantee

Today was Day 4 in this gluten-free life I am living. I know at some point I will stop counting days, but this is not the day. This is the day I faced my first challenge to avoid gluten in spite of my planning.

On Sundays, I typically bake some frozen biscuits or canned cinnamon rolls for the family.  It's been a tradition for over 15 years. I get up about 30 minutes before the children awaken, get the food ready, then let them know breakfast is ready. It's the only day of the week I make breakfast for them.  We eat, then get ready for a morning of Bible study and worship, and then we go out for Sunday lunch.  As the kids became teenagers, they preferred to not join us for lunch, so we took advantage of the time to meet friends or just enjoy a meal on our own.  Usually at a local Mexican restaurant.

Little did I know that as I munched on chips and salsa and ate chicken fajitas last Sunday, those would be my last flour tortillas, my last "chips and salsa" from places I can't guarantee don't use the chip oil for other, flour based crisping.  I have yet to make a safe plan for Mexican restaurants besides chains like Moe's which I don't really count as "Mexican" because everyone who works at Moe's is a fresh scrubbed high school or college student, while the folks at our preferred Mexican restaurants are actually from Mexico. But I will get there, just not today.

Since today was Customer Appreciation Day at our local Beef O'Brady's, I checked the internet and found their gluten free menu items. Cool, the pub chips that I like were included on the menu along with the burgers sans buns and grilled chicken. I decided on a grilled chicken basket with the pub chips because they were listed on the corporate site's gluten free menu.  Before ordering, I asked the server if they had a gluten free menu I could look at as the one on my phone was really small.  She said they didn't have anything gluten free that she knew of, so I showed her what was on the website, and I ordered my food.  The manager, who we talk with every time we are there, came by to visit.  I told him I was told this week I have to eat gluten free and showed him the website, too. It was news to him. Then I asked my most important question: is anything else fried in the same oil vat as the pub chips. Thank goodness he told me that while they are not supposed to, if the kitchen gets backed up, they may very well drop a basket of breaded chicken tenders in the same fryer.  Cross contamination alert!  This was exactly what the doctor cautioned us about when he gave us my diagnosis.

Because the food had not yet come out, I was able to change the pub chips to carrot and celery sticks, definitely better for me even though they were not what I wanted. So gluten avoided!

Breakfast: Van's waffles with Mrs. Butterworth's syrup and fresh cherries and a banana. The waffles were already sweet but dry, so the syrup helped. Of course there isn't much that Mrs. Butterworth can't fix.

Lunch: Grilled chicken, plain, with carrot and celery sticks.

Snacks: Trader Joe's cranberry and maple nut granola, raspberry/vanilla ice cream bar

Dinner: Homemade BBQ ground beef on Udi's white bread, Lay's potato chips

Weekend day 1

Weekends have always been a dietary challenge for me when trying to lose weight, so I was curious about how things might go today as it's Saturday. Our family typically goes out for an early lunch, so I knew I needed to be prepared for the outing.

A friend invited me to walk this morning, so I went 2 1/2 miles around the neighborhood pond. Later in the day, the same friend took me to both Whole Foods and Trader Joe's to see what gluten free products they offered. I bought a few to try which you will see referenced in my food logs over the next few days, and I was able to find the gluten free graham crackers I wanted to have before making a S'Mores dip recipe with chocolate chips and marshmallows.

Breakfast: Banana, two slices of Rudi's gluten free cinnamon raisin bread, toasted.

Lunch: Red Elephant's Southwestern Chicken Salad without the tortilla strips. This is what I usually order only I usually have the tortilla strips.

Snacks: fresh cherries, handful of Trader Joe's GF Cranberries and Maple Nut Granola, and a Raspberry Vanilla Ice Cream treat, also from Trader Joe's

Dinner: leftover gf spaghetti with Classico sauce. I wondered how the pasta would reheat and found it to be ok, but it needed more sauce than when freshly cooked.

I would say overall that today was a good day in taking care of myself and getting some things ready for the work week ahead. Planning is key so I won't be caught with nothing safe to eat.

Do you have a favorite gluten-free product from Whole a Foods or Trader Joe's? Share them with me in the comments.