Spanish Rice (Instant Pot Version)

I love Spanish rice. I love tamales. I love Mexican food. I hate freezing rain. I love it when the ice covered roads melt and the sun shines and I get to go to Costco where I can buy tamales.

How's that for an opening line? Today was our 7th snow day and in a month, plus six two-hour delays and those don't count the days it snowed during Christmas break and we stayed at home. We had some nice freezing rain last night and the night before which turned our town into a skating rink. Luckily it melted this afternoon and hopefully the kiddos can go to school tomorrow...since it's Friday AND it's already January 19th. My kids have hardly gone to school at all this month.

Anyway...back to Spanish rice. I bought some tamales at Costco today and we had some for dinner. After living in New Mexico for almost 9 years I love Mexican food. We eat it several times a week, but we don't have tamales for dinner. Probably because I didn't realize that they sell them at Costco.

I made some Spanish rice and some quick pinto beans to go with our tamales. I feel like using the Instant Pot is a big experiment and I should be documenting what and how I'm making in it. The Spanish rice was a success, so here's how I made it (so I can make it again, soon).

You can make it with either brown or white rice. I only had jasmine rice, so that's what I used, but I'll include cooking times for both.

Spanish Rice

makes about 6 1/2 c. servings

printable recipe

2 T. diced onion
2 T. (or more) diced bell pepper (any color)
1/2 T. olive oil

1 c. rice (I used white, see notes below for cooking time for brown rice)

1/2 c. salsa (I used my favorite quick recipe)

3/4 c. water

1. Set Instant Pot to Saute. Cook onion and bell pepper in olive oil for 3-4 minutes. Add rice and cook for 1 minute. Add salsa and water and a little salt. Put lid on Instant Pot.

2. Use Manual function on LOW PRESSURE for 8 minutes. Let naturally release for 10 minutes after and then manually release any leftover pressure.

**If using brown rice, increase cooking time to 22 minutes, then natural release for 10 minutes.

Recipe source: adapted from Attainable Sustainable

One Hour Rolls

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Week 394 Menu

Hi there! This week is flying by! So excited that we've been having blue skies and warmer weather. Our snow is almost all melted and little bulbs are sprouting in the flower beds. However, we had our 10th snow/ice day last week!!! Hopefully it was the last one. Life has been busy, busy and I need to plan out the rest of our week's menus, even though it's already Thursday. Here's what we've eaten so far and what I'm planning: Monday: chicken stirfry, rice/quinoa Tuesday: breakfast for dinner Wednesday: flatbread pizzas Thursday: roasted butternut squash, pasta, chicken sausage Friday: tacos Saturday: leftovers Sunday: pot roast, mashed potatoes, one hour rolls Alrighty, that's what we're eating this week. How about you? What's on your menu this week? Feel free to share. I love it when you do! More from Jenny:

Don't like your house to smell like food? I've got a kitchen tip for that!

I have a smallish, one story house and if I cook food that is kind of smelly, like onions, the smell tends to linger in every room. This is a pet peeve of mine and (also my husband's). Over the years I've found a few ways to cook smelly food without smelling up the kitchen. Use your garage! I use my garage quite often to cook things in. I open the window and it airs out, especially when you open the garage door. I'm sure my neighbors wonder what I'm cooking. I've used two different kitchen appliances in the garage: my crockpot and my food dehydrator. Crockpot - I did this very thing today since I'm simmering chicken, onions, carrots and celery to make chicken noodle soup tonight. I don't want my house to smell like onions all day, so I plugged it in on my husband's workbench. Food dehydrator - when I make jerky, I plug the food dehydrator in in the garage. I don't really want my house to smell like meat for hours

What is on your menu this week?

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