Instant Pot Coconut Rice

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This recipe really needs no introduction or preamble because its bomb. I had one of those moments where I was craving coconut rice and I thought I would experiment. It turned out amazing after the first try! That never happens…… So here you are, Instant Pot Coconut Rice.

Instant Pot Coconut Rice

  • Servings: 6
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Cook Time: about 25 minutes

Servings: 6

Ingredients:

2 cups of Sushi Rice or White Jasmine Rice

1 can of Coconut Milk (full fat)

2 TBSP Coconut Oil

1 cup of Water

Directions:

  1. Rinse the rice in a sieve to rinse off some of the extra starch.
  2. In the Instant Pot pour in the coconut oil, then the rice, then the coconut milk, then the water. Do not stir.
  3. Set the Instant Pot for 10 minutes and let it run its course (it can take up to 15 minutes to pressurize).
  4. When the timer beeps unplug the Instant Pot and let it natural release for 10 minutes.
  5. Open the Instant Pot and enjoy!

Notes: It’s important to pour the oil in first so that the rice does not stick to the bottom of the Instant Pot. Don’t stir the rice as you want to keep the oil on the bottom. This recipe is best made with sushi rice but will work with Jasmine Rice as well.

Roasted Pumpkin Seed Gremolata with Green Beans

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Gremolata is essentially an Italian chimichuri. It is used for a topping on meat, vegetables, and pastas. I personally love this recipe on top of veggies and sprinkled on top of pastas. It is super fresh and herb heavy. I currently have an abundance of parsley in my yard so I am using it in as many recipes as possibles. I may have to make some green chicken later this week to use some up. I really love Italian cooking, I briefly lived there for a summer in 2010 and gorged myself on pastas, pizzas, and pastries the whole time I was there. Now that I am gluten and dairy free I am always trying to recreate the recipes I love with healthier ingredients. This recipe is one I totally forgot about until my mom made a hazelnut version for my cousin and aunt who are on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet. This super simple recipe is delicious and easy to make.

Roasted Pumpkin Seed Gremolata with Green Beans

  • Servings: 4
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Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Servings: 4

Ingredients:

1 bag of Green Beans

1 cup washed Parsley

½ cup raw pumpkin seeds

Zest of 2 Lemons

1 clove of Garlic

1 TBSP Olive oil plus 1 TSP Olive oil for beans

Salt to taste

Directions:

  1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and line a pan with parchment paper.
  2. Spread ½ cup raw pumpkin seeds onto the pan in a thin layer.
  3. Roast pumpkin seeds for 10 minutes and let cool.
  4. Prep Green Beans my removing top and steaming for 8-10 minutes until desired softness.
  5. With a Chef’s knife or other sharp knife, mince the parsley until super fine.
  6. Place the super finely minced parsley in a bowl and zest both lemons into parsley.
  7. Mince garlic or use a garlic press, add garlic to bowl with parsley and mix.
  8. In a food processor or blender, pulse the roasted pumpkin seeds so that they are ground into small chunks. You want some texture so don’t grind them too fine.
  9. Pour Roasted Pumpkin seed crumbs into the parsley mixture.
  10. Next add 1 TBSP of olive oil and stir to combine.
  11. In a large bowl add the cooked green beans, 1 TSP olive oil and salt to taste (I use ½ tsp), spoon ½ to ¾ of the Roasted Pumpkin Seed Gremolata onto the beans and mix to combine.
  12. Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for 2-3 days

Miso Chicken Kabobs

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You guys! Miso slightly terrifies me. I love it and love that its a fermented food but I never know how to use it. When my sister and her boyfriend were visiting in July, we made up a good Miso marinade on the fly because we didn’t have a ton in the fridge. I had bought a container of Miso and wasn’t quite sure what to do with it. There are so many good salmon Miso recipes but since I am severely allergic to fish that wasn’t an option for me.

With this recipe I highly recommend making this in the morning or the night before. The first time we made these we marinated them for only 2 hours and they were good. The second time I made this I marinated the chicken for 6 hours and the chicken was perfection. The chicken really soaks up the marinade and is very tender when cooked.

When it comes to grilling the cooking time on this depends on what type of grill you have. We have an electric grill and it takes about 10-12 minutes to cook. Its important to preheat your grill so that it is warmed up. I like to cook for 6 minutes on one side, flip and then cook for another 5 minutes. Some times I need to leave the bigger pieces on the grill for 1-2 minutes more.

Miso Chicken Kabobs

  • Servings: 7-10 kabobs
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Miso Chicken Kabob Recipe

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Marinate: 4+ hours

Cook Time: 10-12 minutes

Servings: 7-10 kabobs

Ingredients:

2 Chicken breasts

2 TBSP Red Miso

2 TBSP Coconut Aminos

2 TBSP Water

2 TBSP Sesame oil

1 inch of Ginger minced

2 cloves of Garlic minced

2 TBSP Avocado oil (or light flavored EVO)

2 TBSP Lime juice

Directions:

  1. In a large bowl mix all the ingredients together.
  2. Cube the chicken into bite sized chunks and place in the marinade.
  3. Make sure the chicken is fully covered by the marinade, cover and put in the fridge for 4 plus hours.
  4. When ready to cook preheat grill to high heat.
  5. Skewer the chicken on kabob sticks. I love cooking these by themselves but they are also good combined with veggies.
  6. If cooking with veggies chop veggies into bite size pieces and toss with olive oil, salt, pepper, and 1 tsp of dried ginger.
  7. Cook kabobs in the grill for 5-6 minutes per side.
  8. Enjoy!

Notes: Cook time depends on your grill. On my electric grill these cook in about 10-12 minutes.

BBQ Chicken Sandwich

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Lets be real, we all love BBQ chicken. Its my favorite summer time food and I could eat it on anything. My husband and I bought an electric grill this summer and had a huge learning curve. We are both used to cooking on gas and charcoal grills and had to adjust cook times on almost all our BBQ recipes. One thing we discovered with this new grill is that using dry rubs made way less of a mess and didn’t burn. Using a dry rub still gives the meat a great flavor and you can always use barbecue sauce at the end if you like your meat a little more saucy.

I originally made this rub thinking it would be great for grilled chicken tacos. When I tried it for the first time all I could think about was how amazing it would be with bacon and avocado. So I decided to use this rub for BBQ chicken sandwiches..which I originally called burgers but my horrified husband corrected me that a burger is made from ground meat.

BBQ Chicken Sandwich

  • Servings: 4
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Chicken BBQ Dry Rub

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Servings: makes ¾ cup 

Ingredients:

3 TBSP chili powder

1 TBSP Italian seasoning

1 tsp coconut sugar

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp onion powder

1 tsp salt

1 tsp paprika

Directions:

Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl. Store in a jar with a tight lid.

BBQ Chicken Sandwiches

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time:  20 minutes

Servings: 4 servings

Ingredients:

4 Chicken Thighs

4 TBSP BBQ seasoning

4 pieces of bacon cooked

Mayo

Lettuce

Avocado slices

Gluten Free Bun (I like Ener-G, Canyon Buns or Bread Srsly’s sourdough rolls)

Directions:

  1. Preheat the grill for 10 minutes.
  2. Coat the chicken thighs in the BBQ seasoning, cook chicken on the grill 5 minutes per side.
  3. When you flip the chicken add the buns to the grill to toast them.
  4. Assemble sandwiches (mayo on buns, avocado, lettuce, grilled chicken, bacon)

Notes: Depending on your grill the chicken thighs take 5-10 minutes per side, for example a gas grill will be quicker than a charcoal grill.

Walnut Pesto

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Anyone else a huge fan of pesto? Honestly I would put it on everything if allowed to. Being lactose intolerant means that store bought pesto or even restaurant pesto is a no go for me, unless its vegan. There are lots of ways to make pesto cheese free and cow dairy free. I actually really love to use hard sheep cheeses in my pesto such as Pecorino Romano. This way you still get the saltiness and the flavor from the cheese but not the terrible belly ache from the cow dairy.

I made this recipe to put on green beans but really it can be used on pastas, pizzas, salads, potatoes, you name it. When making it with green beans, I recommend steaming and then chilling the green beans before you add the pesto. The pesto sticks easier when it is cold.

Walnut Pesto

  • Servings: 1 1/2 cups
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Prep Time: 10 minutes

Servings: Makes about 1 ½ cups

Ingredients

3 oz basil

½ cup walnut pieces

1/3 cup finely grated Pecorino Romano

1/3 cup olive oil

2-3 small garlic cloves

2/3 teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon pepper

Juice from half a lemon

Directions:

  1. Put half the basil, all the cheese, walnuts, olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper into blender or food processor and blend.
  2. Scrape down the sides of the blender/food processor and then add the rest of the basil and the lemon juice.
  3. Blend until a creamy consistency with very minuscule chunks of nuts.
  4. Store in a sealed jar in the fridge for up to a week or in the freezer for up to 2 months.

Pesto Green Beans

Steam fresh green beans and then place in a colander and run cold water over them. Once slightly chilled place in a bowl and coat in ¼ cup pesto.

Rosemary Potatoes

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Everyone loves a good potato….unless your on one of those low carb diets. As you will learn on this blog I am pretty anti-diet. I truly believe that if you want to change your weight and your health you have to change your lifestyle. I won’t go on a rant about that here because this post is about potatoes.

I am a big fan of all things potatoes. Fried, mashed, slivered, diced, I will eat them any way they are cooked. My all time favorite way though is to bake them with olive oil, fresh rosemary, and salt. Honestly, if you have not planted rosemary in your garden yet go and do it right now. This is the best herb to have fresh and on hand. Dried rosemary doesn’t give the same flavor to things as the fresh stuff does. I live in an apartment and I have some growing on my small back deck. Its worth it.

This roasted potato recipe is super easy and I highly recommend making them ASAP.

Rosemary Potatoes

  • Servings: 4 servings
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Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time:  20-24 minutes

 Servings: 4 servings

Ingredients:

1 bag of multicolored small potatoes or red potatoes

2 TBSP olive oil

3 sprigs of Rosemary (leaves diced)

½-1 tsp salt (depends on how salty you like potatoes)

Directions:

  1. Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
  2. Cut up the potatoes into ¼ inch pieces and put them in a bowl.
  3. Coat them in olive oil, sprinkle in rosemary leaves, add salt and toss together.
  4. Spread out on the pan and roast for 30 minutes.