Meal Plan Monday- And my IP is here!

It's time to meal plan once again, but this week I get to plan a little differently! Why you ask? Because my Instant Pot is here! I'm already in love with it. So let's talk about IP before we meal plan shall we?

I received my IP on Wednesday. I admit I've always been intimidated by pressure cookers. I was nervous about using it. According to the manual the first thing to cook in it is water. Yep, just plain water. So I jumped in and boiled water in my IP. It wasn't as scary as I thought it would be. LOL After that I cooked some eggs in it. I hate peeling eggs. These eggs were the easiest eggs I've ever peeled. Win!

But I knew it was time to upgrade to actually cooking a meal. First up I did pork chops. I seasoned some boneless pork chops with Mrs Dash Lemon Pepper and sauteed them in the pot. Did I mention you can saute in the IP?! You can, and it's amazing. Then I made a gravy using water, cream of chicken soup (yea yea I know, canned cream soups. Don't hate me LOL), and a pack of onion soup mix. Cooked for 18 minutes on high pressure and did 15 minutes of NPR (natural pressure release). Served it with instant rice. The pork chops were so tender. Here's where I got the recipe, I added the onion soup mix. http://www.pressurecookingtoday.com/easy-pork-chops-in-mushroom-gravy/

Sunday's we usually order pizza delivery and watch Once Upon a Time. But I wanted to use my Instant Pot again so I made Salsa Chicken. I took 1# of chicken breasts and put them in the pot with a jar of chunky salsa. Hit the Poultry button, added 5 more minutes and let it go. I did NPR while I made some homemade guacamole and got all the taco stuff ready. Then I shredded the chicken and we ate it on tacos and nachos. It was so simple and saved us around $20. 

Now let's get down to meal planning for this week. I'll add IP to the end if I'm cooking it in the Instant Pot. 

Monday- Spaghetti (IP) 

Tuesday- Sloppy Joes, Mac N Cheese

Wednesday- Mississippi Chicken Thighs (IP), Mashed Potatoes

Thursday- take out or leftovers

Friday- Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

Saturday- Baked Potato Bar (IP)

Sunday- Roasted Whole Chicken, Potato Salad, some kind of other veggies LOL Chicken and potatoes will be cooked in the IP