Several months ago I decided to buy an Instant Pot Pressure Cooker. I texted my best friend immediately to share the news that I was now the proud owner of a Baby Yoda Pressure Cooker to which she replied, “I have a great chicken tortilla soup recipe for you!” You see, the Baby Yoda print went with nothing in my French Countryside kitchen decor (nor in the clean, modern Farmhouse look I have in my upstate home) but the fact that my friend did not question the madness really made me realize that this is why this woman is my bestie.

Did I make use of of the Instant Pot?

Oddly, yes. I throw around oddly because I had a lot of misguided notions about slow cooking. I was thinking that mushy meats and potatoes would be the soup du jour when using it. But it’s actually pretty brilliant for pastas, soups, and a lot of other set it and forget it recipes.

2020 was the year I learned to cook better but it was also the year I learned to love to cook. I decided to upgrade my little Grogu Instant Cooker with the The Pioneer Woman Slow Cooker. Well, it isn’t really an upgrade more like an addition to my slow cooking family. This is probably ugly to some people but damn you, I like the shabby chic print. I may just go buy a gauzy muumuu blouse and float around the house saying that dinner is going to be flavorful a la Ree Drummond while dumping mustard, ketchup, pickle juice, and hot sauce into this slow cooker.

This is absolutely a basic slow cooker and my Instant Pot actually has way more options but I wanted something a little larger if I’m having dinner with friends or family. This just seems like it’ll fit bigger pieces of chicken and meat.

And yes, I WILL BE MAKING A WEIRD RECIPE OR TWO IN IT! I dare you to judge me right now. First on my list is that twisted, weird and likely high in sodium it’ll make you drink a gallon of water “Olive Garden Chicken Pasta” recipe everyone was making on Tiktok several months ago. I’m almost 100% sure the Surgeon General (and my best Italian friend, Val, would definitely put me in jail for it!) would not approve of this recipe but I’m slopping it together anyway.

So, here’s the game plan guys! Haul out your slow cooker (hopefully the one with the shabby chic print on it). Grab some boneless chicken breast and pour an entire 16 oz bottle of Olive Garden Italian Dressing over it (my heart is sobbing at the sodium here), now add in about a 1/4 of a cup of Parmesan cheese, just wait, it gets way more unhealthy…..A block of cream cheese is next.

I’m just sitting here shaking my head in horror. If my Italian mother ever seen me putting this together she’d go to church and prayer for my soul. No one is going to eat this but me (well, maybe not even me but my curiosity is getting the better of me and I need to see what this is all about for myself!) ! I just know my boyfriend won’t touch it but my other best friend, Jai, is coming over this weekend to chill with me and I think he’ll totally inhale it. So, I feel good about the energy I’m creating here with this fatty, sodium enriched, Italians will cry everywhere masterpiece.

You cook it for 5-6 hours on low or you can wack it up to high and leave it in for 4 hours.

Please, for the love of slow cooking, share recipes with me that aren’t as weird as this one.

What do you make in your slow cooker?

Where to buy

Walmart

The post I’ve Unlocked The Shabby Chic Slower Cooker Level And I’m Here to Make Weird Recipes With It appeared first on Musings of a Muse.

Hey guys!

What the story all my morning glories? Totally an Oasis moment whenever I type that sentence or say it out loud in greeting. I binged My Mad Fat Diary on Hulu a month or two ago and I was obsessed with all the Oasis references and mentions. Also, Nico Mirallegro is my boyfriend now after that binge he just doesn’t know it yet.

What’s been cooking this week? I mean literally, what’s been cooking? In your oven. I am proud to say I made the Tomato Feta Pasta that’s been going viral on Tiktok and I did it without burning the house down and people, it was delicious.

It was actually the pasta dish that almost didn’t happen. I ordered all the ingredients on Whole Foods and they had no solid feta cheese available. They texted me but I missed the text so they just substituted with crumbled feta. I googled furiously but nothing said, “Hey!! Use crumbled feta instead!” So, I got on Doordash and ordered a block of feta cheese from the local Mediterranean Market! It arrived and it was crumbled…! Ok, so, the gods hate me. I was starting to believe that the feta cheese shortage was real. Postmates came through and found me a solid block! Thank you Postmates!

Everyone knows how we make this right? Get a baking dish, a cup of extra virgin olive oil, and a bunch of cherry tomatoes. Slap all of it in a the baking dish and pop the entire feta cheese block in the middle of the tomatoes! Pour some more olive oil on top and stick the dish into the oven to bake for 30 to 40 minutes. You can boil the pasta of your choice as you wait. I went with bow ties!

Once the cheese begins to melt down take your dish out of the over and stir in fresh chopped basil and minced garlic. Mix it all together and break the tomatoes up with a spoon or a potato smasher. The cheese, tomato, basil, and garlic will all mix up into a delicious sauce. Now pour your pasta on top, mix, and enjoy!

It was really delicious but it is a bit salty so I don’t recommend putting salt into the mix even though some recipes say to do so. You can stir in other stuff too like crushed pepper flakes for some heat or even extra veggies like spinach or mushrooms! It’s a pretty basic recipe that you can add a variety of yummy things to!

I did all this wearing Urban Decay Gash Lipstick. I have no idea why but I’ve suddenly decided that Gash needs to come out and play again! Could be Valentine’s Day got me in a red lipstick kind of mood!

What’s your favorite red lipstick this month?

And have you tried the Baked Feta Tomato Pasta?

The post I Did Make the Viral Baked Feta Tomato Pasta and I Didn’t Burn the House Down While Doing It and I Wore Red Lipstick While Cooking It appeared first on Musings of a Muse.

Cauliflower rice can be a bit bland without some proper seasoning so here’s a little something that can make yours a little yummier! Full disclosure this isn’t the healthiest recipe around as it does contain a good deal of sodium but if you’re ok with that read on.

Chipotle has been advertising the Shawn Mendes Bowl for the last two or three weeks on social media and I just want it to be known that 1. You can’t convince me a Chipotle burrito or bowl is better with cauliflower rice and 2. my cauliflower is better than the one Shawn Mendes is eating in his Chipotle! Maybe, kind of, sort of, not really, I’m just tooting my own horn here.

First off, I’m all about fast! I don’t have enough hours in the day to do everything I wanna do sometimes! As much as I like to make cauliflower rice from scratch sometimes I say screw it and buy a big old bag from Trader Joe’s. I think it’s $2 bucks for a nice decent sized bag and you go from freezer to frying pan with it. I typically saute it with a little olive oil and season it with a variety of different things. Sometimes I do lemon pepper, sometimes garlic, sometimes lime and cilantro because I’m feeling all Shawn Mendes and sometimes I toss one of the yummier season blends I’ve found in it.

That’d be the Tasty Hearty Seasoning Mix. When the pandemic started last year in March getting grocery deliveries at home was challenging! I couldn’t get any Amazon Fresh spots, Instacart was just breaking left and right, and my local fresh market was booked solid. The evil empire came through though! I managed to place an order from Walmart and secured a slot easily enough for home delivery. One thing I ordered at the time was a bunch of these Tasty seasoning packets. They cost me a buck and some change. I didn’t know what to expect from them but being a fan of Tasty I thought why not? Turns out the Hearty Tasty Seasoning Mix is actually really yummy in Stuffed Peppers. I season my plant-based meat and rice with it and stuff my peppers. Delicious! They also have a basil, lemon, and thyme seasoning packet too!

Another thing it’s good for? Sprinkling on Cauliflower Rice as I saute! It’s a mix of garlic, onion, and red pepper. I barely taste the red pepper to be honest but the garlic and onion give a nice bold taste and compliment cauliflower very nicely. Just be careful when using it as it does contain a lot of sodium and it can make food salty. A tiny bit goes a long way! You can always sprinkle a bit in and use more as needed.

How do you flavor your cauliflower rice?

Where to buy

Walmart

The post How to Make Your Cauliflower Rice Yummier than the one Shawn Mendes’ is Eating in His Chipotle Bowl appeared first on Musings of a Muse.

If nothing else 2020 was the year I learned to cook better. I really committed to it too! I did some online Jamie Oliver Cookery classes and even did a Gordon Ramsey MasterClass which disappointed me because some small part of me expected him to yell while I cowered behind a frying pan in fear. Why doesn’t Nick Stellino have a Masterclass? I’d pay big money for him to teach me to cook as he told me stories about his family. Which reminds me wouldn’t you drop major cash to watch Julia and Jacques cook together? What a hysterical duo! It always felt like Jacques was correcting what Julia did.

Anyway…non makeup ramblings ahead!

It was a long weekend! Like 25 years long! Between being safe due to COVID cases rising and the snow storm I had the worst cabin fever this weekend. I’ve re-arranged both the pantry and the butler’s pantry about 1500 times between 2020 and 2021. I’m one of those people that you can eat a full meal off my wood floors because I’m constantly polishing and cleaning everything. That’s why I got so bored this weekend because aside from decorating for Valentine’s Day and doing some laundry I didn’t have any other chores to keep me busy. Thanks to everyone who amused me endlessly on Instagram! I adore talking to you all. Everything here at home is absolutely clean and organized to the max and I found some relief from my boredom in speaking to all of you on Instagram. Some of the stuff you sling at me is wildly funny.

When you’re bored in the house you’re bound to make some dumb purchase online. Mine was the Star Wars The Child Little Bounty Instant Pot Duo Pressure Cooker. I texted my friend a few weeks ago saying I wanted to buy a slow cooker and I had my eye on the the Hearth & Hand with Magnolia Slow Cooker from Target ($39) and the The Pioneer Woman Vintage Floral 7-Quart Programmable Slow Cooker ($45). The Hearth & Hand doesn’t really go with my French Country Kitchen downstate but does go with my Modern Farmhouse decor upstate but I don’t cook as much upstate. Still that was the one I had my eye on because I’m a complete Magnolia h0r. The Pioneer Woman one was just pretty and that had my eye too. You know picking kitchen appliances is sadly not like makeup. I mean, if I see two blushes and they both look pretty I just buy both! I really had to sit back and adult this one out because I’m so weird I’d go and buy two slow cookers because they are pretty to look at!

Last night though….! Last night was the night I purchased an Instant Pot and it wasn’t because I wanted to learn to cook in it. It was because it had Baby Yoda on it! I regret nothing. I have no idea how to use an Instant Pot but Grogu will show me the way! This is why lock down and snowstorms are dangerous! You got people like me running around bored buying kitchen appliances they don’t know how to use.

As a long time Star Wars geek I needed this in my life.

Throw your Instant Pot recipes my way and also, can you tell me how to use this thing?

Where to buy

William Sonoma

The post I Finally Purchased An Instant Pot But I Don’t Know How To Use One appeared first on Musings of a Muse.