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Teresa Bennett

Help in the Kitchen for Caregivers



Let me start this article by saying I am not a cook, I don’t like to cook, Paul used to do most of the cooking. Now? You guessed it, I am doing it all and I don’t like it, so anything that can make it easier, I’m all for.


I came home from work yesterday, later than expected, and was trying to figure out what to do for dinner. Actually, I was trying to figure out how to get out of cooking dinner!


We don’t have a lot of delivery options – pizza, Chinese, one Italian restaurant, that’s about it. While they are all good, they are not necessarily healthy choices so I decided not to order anything, not because I always make the right choices, but because we had pizza 4 nights ago and I didn’t want to do that twice in one week.


I had some fresh chicken tenders in the fridge. You know, the chicken breasts that are already cut into smaller pieces. Since I have to cut Paul’s meat for him, I have been trying to buy cuts of meat that make that easier.


Here’s how I made dinner that was ready in 20 minutes  – that only took 1 minute of prep time:

• Open the package of chicken

• Put half of it in a freezer baggy (there’s only 2 of us to cook for)

• Put the other half in the Instant Pot

• Pour in a jar of Tostito’s brand mild salsa (I’m a wimp when it comes to spicy food)

• Sprinkle with a little taco seasoning

• Stir everything up

• Set the Instant Pot to 10 minutes on pressure cook

• Let the steam release naturally afterward (that took about 7 or 8 minutes)

• Heat up leftover brown rice in the microwave (made earlier in the week with the Instant Pot and took half the time it takes to cook on the stove)

• Take chicken out of the pot and cut it up – it’s so tender it was falling apart and I could have cut it with a spoon.

• Pour chicken and a little of the salsa from the pot over the rice and that’s it!


Clean up? One pot, one knife, one fork, one spoon. Can’t get easier than that! OK, if you use one of those take-out menus it may be slightly easier…but not as healthy!


Ladies, this was a real game-changer for me. You may have been hearing a lot recently about the Instant Pot. I had been hearing about it, seeing recipes on Pinterest, but wasn’t sure what it was.


Just another fad, I thought…but I was wrong.


I purchased my Instant Pot a few weeks ago for our anniversary present (29 years) and I have been using it several times a week.


Sunday night I used a package of beef bites. It’s like beef tips but cut up even smaller. When I saw this at the grocery store, I knew it would be perfect because I wouldn’t have to cut it up in order for Paul to eat it.


Sunday morning I threw it in a gallon size baggy with some marinade. Sunday evening I cooked brown rice in the Instant Pot in 20 minutes instead of 40 minutes on the stove. Then I cooked the marinated beef bites up in a couple of minutes in a pan on the stove. While that was cooking, I heated up a bag of mixed veggies (Italian blend) and I basically just put the beef bites and veggies over the brown rice and that was dinner. Super easy!


I also used it to make a chicken and rice “burrito bowl” casserole that was so good and so easy to freeze!


I made enough that we had leftovers for one day that week and then put some in freezer containers I got on Amazon and then I just had to throw it in the microwave and heat it up for dinner on a night when I didn’t want to cook.


There are a few different versions out there of the Instant Pot, but this is the one my sister and I both purchased and we’re both very happy with it:



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