Since yesterday was Mother’s Day I took it upon myself to perform no household duties, including planning the weekly dinner menu. Sadly Mother’s Day only lasts 24 hours and we still need dinner this week. Back to real life!

MONDAY:
– Chicken Tortilla Soup

TUESDAY:
– Red Beans and Rice (trying a new recipe, will let you know how it goes!)

WEDNESDAY:
– Hamburgers

THURSDAY:
– Leftovers

FRIDAY:
– Stir Fry

SATURDAY:
– Eat out night

SUNDAY:
– Steak
– Roasted Potatoes + Another Side Vegetable (whatever I find at the farmer’s market)

You know the drill – share your menus in the comments! They are a huge help to us all, thank you!

So. I’ve been making pot roast in a slow cooker for ages. The recipe is simple, reliable and delicious. I didn’t think anything could ever replace that recipe. And then, this week, I tried making pot roast in my Instant Pot, using the pressure cooker settings. Whoah, boy, pressure cooker pot roast just replaced slow cooker pot roast. Quite frankly I’m stunned by this upset. But I’m happy about it just the same.

I bought an Instant Pot I think three years ago and, until last month, had used it only once. I tried cooking basic chicken using the pressure cooker function and it worked, well, fine. It didn’t blow me out of the water, and so the Instant Pot got pushed to the back of the cabinet. And then my friend Christine mentioned a few weeks ago how she loves making brown rice in the pressure cooker. So I dug it out and started experimenting.

As of today I am so-so on brown rice (I just haven’t perfected that process yet) and in love with making beans in the pressure cooker (I’ll share that recipe another day, it took some tweaking but I finally have it where I like it). And then I decided to try pot roast. HUGE SUCCESS. It tasted the same as my slow cooker pot roast and, top to bottom, took about 2 hours instead of the usual 8-9 hours.

I will say this – I can totally see instances where cooking the pot roast for 8 hours will be more convenient based on my schedule for a particular day. But what is so glorious is now I have two options, 2 hours or 8 hours, with equally delicious results. Hooray for pressure cooker pot roast!

I took my inspiration for this pot roast from my friend Barbara from Pressure Cooking Today. She is my pressure cooker guru. You need to bookmark her site pronto if you have a pressure cooker or Instant Pot. You’re welcome. (Click here for Barbara’s pot roast recipe, which has a few more ingredients than my version below.)

Pressure Cooker Pot Roast

 

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Prep time

15 mins

Cook time

120 mins

Total time

2 hours 15 mins

 

Simple, easy and delicious! Instructions below are based on using an Instant Pot.

Author: Jane Maynard

Serves: 6-8

Ingredients

• 1 chuck, chuck-eye, or round roast (around 4 pounds)
• 1-2 tablespoons canola, vegetable or olive oil
• Salt and pepper
• ½ of an onion, chopped
• 2 cups beef broth or stock

Instructions

1. Sprinkle roast evenly with salt and pepper. Set aside.
2. Select the "Browning" setting on the Instant Pot. Add oil to Instant Pot and let heat up. Once hot, brown the roast on both sides, a few minutes per side until you start to get beautiful browned spots. Set roast aside.
3. Add onions to the Instant Pot and cook until softened and translucent. Stir regularly.
4. Add the chopped onions to the oil in the pot. Cook, stirring occasionally until softened, about 3 to 5 minutes. Stir in tomato paste and mushrooms and cook, stirring constantly, about 3 minutes. Stir in broth and simmer until slightly reduced, about 3 minutes. Scrape up all the browned bits stuck on the bottom of the pot while broth is simmering.
5. Add roast and change Instant Pot setting to High pressure. Make sure the pressure release handle is on "Sealing." Set the timer for 90 minutes. It will take about 15 minutes for the pot to build pressure and for the 90-minute countdown to begin.
6. When the 90 minutes is over, turn off the pressure cooker and let it sit for 15 minutes, letting pressure release naturally. At the 15-minute mark, using a hot pad and being careful not to touch the steam, turn the pressure release handle to "Venting" to release the rest of the pressure. Once it stops steaming, remove the lid.
7. Let roast rest for 10-15 minutes. Use juices for gravy, straining the juice first to remove the "stuff" left behind in the juices. Make gravy using white roux (click here for recipe and instructions). You can also use a slurry made from ½ cup flour whisked with 1 cup cold water to thicken the gravy if you forgot to make the roux.

3.4.3177

OTHER RECIPES YOU MAY LIKE:

• White Roux / How to Make Perfect Gravy
• Mashed Potatoes
• Slow Cooker Pot Roast

EQUIPMENT I USED TO MAKE THIS RECIPE:

• Instant Pot 7-in-1
• OXO Silicone Spatula

Happy Sunday! This week I attended the Mom 2 Summit and it was, as usual, really wonderful. This year I came home with a list of things to do that are going to improve my {aging} blog. So get ready! Changes are in store and they are all for the better! (Although, honestly, some of those changes are pretty boring and you won’t even know they  happened…but I’m good with that because spring cleaning always feels good, even when no one sees inside your closets!)

MONDAY:
– Black Bean and Sweet Potato Burritos (I’ll be eating mine as a brown rice bowl :))

TUESDAY:
– Pesto Chicken Pasta

WEDNESDAY:
– Chicken Tortilla Soup

THURSDAY:
– Leftovers

FRIDAY:
– Red Beans and Rice (trying a new recipe, will let you know how it goes!)

SATURDAY:
– Eat out night

SUNDAY:
– Baked Salmon with Chimichurri
– Roasted potatoes and another side vegetable

Okey dokey, your turn! Please share your menus in the comments! Can’t wait to see what everyone has cooking! (That and I can’t wait for a list of dinner ideas that I can steal for next week!)

Oh my, this week is getting off to a busy start! Let’s see if I can pull off a weekly menu in 5 minutes or less. I’ll be heading to the Mom 2 Summit this week, so it’s a lot of the family fending for themselves.

MONDAY:
– Leftovers

TUESDAY:
– Taco night

WEDNESDAY:
– Spaghetti
– Salad

THURSDAY:
– English Muffin Pizzas

FRIDAY:
– Eat out night

SATURDAY:
– Eat out night

SUNDAY:
– Pot roast (because I’ll be needing a good old fashioned home-cooked meal by the end of this week!)
– Roasted potatoes and salad

We need your menus this week to provide a bit more inspiration than what I’ve got going on. Please post your weekly menus below in the comments! Thank you!

Happy Sunday! We’ve got a busy week ahead of us, but the dinner plan should help with the stress! Here we go…

MONDAY:
– Coconut Chicken Tenders (going to try experimenting with cornmeal instead of breadcrumbs)
– Salad

TUESDAY:
– Chili

WEDNESDAY:
– Chicken, Veggie, Rice & Lentil Bowls (going to copy something I had at Cava in Orange County, will share a recipe if what I create turns out well!)

THURSDAY:
– Leftovers

FRIDAY:
– Pesto Pasta
– Salad

SATURDAY:
– Eat out night! (The girls and I will be in Los Angeles attending the first-ever Maverick Summit for girls as well as the Get Lit Words Ignite Classic Slam…I can’t wait for this inspiring day with my daughters!)

SUNDAY:
– No clue because we have back-to-back music recitals in different towns. Will pack snacks and hope we don’t starve!

As you know this blog would be super duper boring without all of you. Please share your own weekly menu in the comments below! Thank you!

I have a lot of carry-overs from last week because, well, life. Gotta love those weeks! (Note: the menu graphic below has the wrong meal for Easter…when I planned my menu I forgot Sunday is Easter! I have updated Sunday’s plans in the list below, with links to a few recipes.)

MONDAY:
– Chicken Tikka Masala with Brown Rice and Vegetables
– Naan

TUESDAY:
– Ordering pizza for a get together with a visiting friend

WEDNESDAY:
– Salmon with Chimichurri Sauce, Brown Rice, Vegetable

THURSDAY:
– Out to dinner with friends

FRIDAY:
– Enchiladas

SATURDAY:
– Chicken Soup
– Prager Brothers Spelt Bread Toast[r

SUNDAY: 
– Ham, Roasted Rosemary Potatoes, Crescent Rolls, Salad, Dessert

Time for your dinner plans! Please share your menus in the comments below! Thank you!

Hey all! It’s time for some meal planning!

Regarding the whole clean eating thing I’ve been doing, I’m going to write a separate post about it instead of updating here in the weekly menu. As I talk to people in real life, I’m finding that even the most reluctant want to give some variation of this a try by the time we are done with our conversation. So, I’ll write a post explaining how I have adjusted my diet and why, along with tons of ideas for food you can actually eat when it feels like everything is off limits. Stay tuned!

Until then, here is my menu for the week, with modifications for my current way of eating in parentheses.

MONDAY:
– Thai Beef Basil with Brown Rice

TUESDAY:
– Roasted Chicken and Vegetables

WEDNESDAY:
– Chicken Stir Fry, Brown Rice and Potstickers (no potstickers for me)

THURSDAY:
– Leftovers

FRIDAY:
– Taco Night (Carnitas and Chicken; I will be having a fajita bowl with brown rice)

SATURDAY:
– Eat out night

SUNDAY:
– Breakfast for Dinner: Pancakes and Smoothies (Going to try these for myself and adjust to make them flourless and dairy-free)

You all know the drill! Share your menus in the comments! Love that we are all back on this meal planning train together!

Hello! I hope everyone had a fantastic Thanksgiving filled with the best food! We did…and we’re still swimming in leftovers. My family has informed me they are done with Thanksgiving food, but I beg to differ. We shall see…

Today’s guest menu is fun and different than anything we’ve ever had on the blog. It comes from my friend Rachel Faucett, the founder of the blog and company Handmade Charlotte. Rachel and I initially bonded as roommates on the ONE-Heifer trip to Malawi I took a few years ago (here’s proof). My connection with Rachel is something for which I will be forever grateful. There is seriously no one on this planet like Rachel. She has boundless energy and creativity and is hysterical to boot. When I was asking friends if they wanted to write a guest menu for my blog, she was the first to jump in, immediately responding with ideas and inspiration for dinners, crafts and music. I told her to run with it and now here we are. Grab yourself a cup of coffee, sit down, and enjoy a trip through Rachel’s meal planning brain, which is unlike any meal planning trip you will ever take.  Thank you, Rachel, for creating a menu that is just so you.

MONDAY

EAT:

This ricotta ravioli looks so beautiful and so deliciously inviting!

SURF:

I adore this Sailing Ship Kite! I think I may try to sail away to Neverland on it. Will you join me?

GROOVE:

Chill out to Yo La Tengo – My Little Corner Of The World while you enjoy your delicious dinner.

MAKE:

This is such a great fall crafting project.

FLIP:

Flip through this cool magazine.

VIBE:

All good vibes here! http://butdoesitfloat.com/

TUESDAY

EAT:

Soup meets glorious bread bowl in this brilliant combo!

STYLE:

WOW! I’m in love with everything from this shop!

MAKE:

How fun and adorable! Let’s make these hair ties with Lunch Lady magazine!

WEDNESDAY

EAT:

Dinner is a walk in the garden with these gorgeous pizzas!

MAKE:

J’adore everything about these DIY Parisian Dolls!

DIG IT:

We love everything about Winter Water Factory and painted our studio a pattern from their fall collection!

GROOVE:

Listen to Come On, Come Over by Jaco Pastorius

THURSDAY

EAT:

Order in from your fave take out place!

MAKE:

Sew Patches All Over Your Clothes! Check out these Etsy finds:

• Fruits
• Carousel Horse
• Sequin Owl

FRIDAY

EAT:

Mix it up and eat breakfast for dinner under your table! Try these awesome Fried Eggs and Garlic Toast and this Potato Skillet Bake! And for dessert? This Blackberry Slab Pie will be gone in seconds.

WATCH:

Watch silly home videos, or make some new ones!

MAKE:

Draw silly pictures. Can you sketch a silly portrait of your siblings or parents?

SATURDAY

EAT:

Nosh on these melt in your mouth grilled pimento cheese sammys!

MAKE:

Rock out with these DIY Rock Candy Magnets!

GROOVE:

Get your groove on with this cool Putumayo jam!

SUNDAY

EAT:

Make some Stuffed Butternut Squash for dinner!

MAKE:

Marbled Mugs! One for each person in the family! Fill them with Hot Cocoa afterwards!

GET COZY;

Fill your crafted mugs with the most amazing Hot Chocolate ever!

AS USUAL…please share your dinner plans in the comments! And, in honor of Rachel, share something that inspires you in addition to food!