Dinners Lately & Loving My New Instant Pot

I am very late to the Instant Pot game but have finally gotten one.  I didn't think I needed another kitchen appliance, especially after downsizing last year but I made an exception.  I found myself needing a second slow cooker and this beauty from Pioneer Woman was on clearance at Walmart and could do so much more than a slow cooker for about the same price.  It was a return but was still brand new in the box.

Isn't she pretty?  So what have I been making in the Instant Pot?

I started very basic with rice. It cooked up perfectly fluffy in a flash.

For Mr. Click's birthday party I used it as a second slow cooker for New England Clam Chowder along with a baked potato bar.

I also made a delicious batch of macaroni and cheese for another get together.

I made Red Lentil Chili in it and cooked up a batch of dried white beans.   I plan on doing that with all different dried beans. They are so easy in the Instant Pot.

As for dinners lately, I've been on a freezer and pantry clean out and here are some of the dinners we've had.

We had a lot of potatoes left over from Mr. Click's birthday party baked potato bar so I tried a new recipe that I saw on Tiktok (of course).  It was parmesan crusted baked potatoes. Yummy!

I also made a big batch of Potato Corn Chowder for another summer gathering. 

I dug into some of my old recipes to use up what we had for some other meals.

Vegan Egg Roll In a Bowl

Easy Peanut Noodles

Slow Cooker Taco Soup

One weekend when City Girl #2 was visiting we went to our favorite Thai restaurant.  

Last night I made the Cannellini Bean, Couscous & Spinach Soup
recipe that I got from Julie.  I added some veggie meatballs that needed to be used up.  

 

What have you been having for dinners lately?

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{Garden} Here Today/Gone TODAY!- The Sunflower Saga

 Here's the story of the sunflower that grew in our garden.  We didn't plant it but it looked different from a weed so we left it there and let it grow.

Finally, I saw a huge bud and then about a week later it bloomed.

It was so pretty! I thought about cutting it to bring it inside and put it in a vase but I didn't do it. Thankfully, I snapped this photo.

A few hours later, the sunflower plant looked like this (I took this photo the next day so it's a little brown but you get the idea).  The flower head was chopped clear off of the stem.  The culprits: a pack of little birds that were extra active and loud that day.  I couldn't get that mad at them because I think they were the ones who planted the seed in the first place so it was technically their sunflower! 🌻

Speaking of sunflowers, does anyone remember this sunflower photo shoot I did with my daughter in 2019?  It's still a favorite of mine.

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A Fun Summer Weekend

This was sort of a typical AND an atypical weekend for us this summer. 

It was slightly atypical because I was off to another Broadway show. I won the ticket lottery for Cabaret At The Kit Kat Club and the timing worked out well to go with City Girl #2.

On the train to NYC

We met up at Penn Station and stopped at Irish pub for a snack and an espresso martini (for me).

The show is so good!!    They cover up your phone's camera with a sticker but I snuck this quick shot before the show started.

Now we're in the more typical part of our weekend.  We like to take a morning walk along the beach. It was a hot, sunny day so the beach was already filling up.

We were hot and took a morning dip in the pool and I sat outside for awhile with my coffee.

We needed an outing so I got ready in this tennis dress (from here)

We did some thrifting (previous post), ran some errands and picked up dinner for later from a favorite spot.

I had some snuggle time with Willow while I read my book.  Mr Click had a gig so he was out and I had a chill night.

On Sunday morning we went to the farmer's market....

...and walked on a different boardwalk for a change.

My mother in law and her hubby came for a swim and an early dinner. We took them to a local place we thought they'd like (and they did). We got to watch the Phillies win and it was a nice night.

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Adding a Retractable Screen Door

 This is a little upgrade that we've been so happy about.

We added a retractable screen door to our laundry room door that leads out to the backyard pool area.   We didn't think a traditional storm door would work or fit and the door opens out so the screen door needed to be on the inside.

I found this one (No Drilling Retractable Sliding Screen Door) on Amazon and thought it might work for us.   We measured a few times just to be sure and ordered it.  They are made to order so prices vary depending on the size you need.

Installation was a little tricky and the directions were not helpful but customer service was good about getting back to us and sent us a link to a video demonstration which was helpful.  This is what it looks like when the screen door is closed and in use. We love having the extra ventilation!

When it's opened, it completely retracts into the side of the frame.

Here's how it looks with the door closed and the screen retracted. Have you ever seen one of these doors?

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{Thrifting} July Thrifting

I had a few thrifting trips in July and here's what I found.

I wouldn't normally get towels at the thrift store but these Martha Stewart brand towels were both new with tags and they match our bathmat almost exactly! I'd been looking for some crocheted doilies so this set of two was a good find.

I got this cute striped denim skirt at the consignment shop.

I had broken two of my favorite mugs so I was on the hunt for new mugs.  Sadly I also broke the Feline Cozy one before I even got use it (I was having bad mug karma!).

This was totally unexpected. We saw a thrift store on Kauai so I just had to check it out. Of course I couldn't bring home much (carry-on only) but I found a book about Kauai with beautiful photos and this little wooden trivet (not really sure what it is but I liked it).

On another thrifting trip I was back on the mug hunt.

Success!! I found some new mugs, a basket and a bracelet.

With an added kitty bonus! The thrift store is part of an animal rescue so there are usually kitties to visit.

I found this lavender top at the consignment shop.

At another thrift store I found these little signs.

And a new with tags bucket hat. I was looking for a bucket hat for the Oasis concert and now I'm set!

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Costco Hydrangeas & Holiday Birthday Party

 Did you know you can order bulk flowers from Costco?  I didn't know about them until I saw some Tiktoks about them.

We were hosting a birthday party for Mr. Click so I thought it was a good time to try them out.  You can pick your delivery date so I picked a date a few days before I needed them (just in case they weren't on time).  They arrived on that day looking like this-- a little smushed together but ok.

I followed the advice I also found on Tiktok for the biggest, longest lasting blooms. I immediately put them in a tub of cool water for an hour.  This helped them perk up a lot. 

I then shook off the excess water, cut the stems on a diagonal and dipped them in alum powder  (found it in the spice aisle at the supermarket) before putting them in a big bucket of water until I was ready to arrange them.

I got so many bouquets and arrangements out of 2 dozen stems.  I added some flags since we were celebrating the birthday over 4th of July weekend.

On the day of the party I had both indoor and outdoor arrangements.

I made my first balloon arch/swag from Dollar Tree balloons and balloon tape. I was pretty proud of it!

We set up the food inside. The menu was a baked potato bar with toppings, New England clam chowder and veggie chili.  City Girl #1 also made our  favorite Vegan Kale Caesar Salad.

Some shots of the pool area before the party.

My thrifted tray from this post held more hydrangeas and sparklers.

The calm before the party.

We set up some snacks outside on the tables and used our wedding cocktail napkins as basket liners.

My outfit for the pool party.  Thrifted shorts from here and swim suit from here.

City Girl #2 made the birthday boy's favorite White Chocolate Chip Fruit Tart.  He always asks for this instead of a birthday  cake.

The leftover summer fruit made a delicious fruit salad too.

We also made a batch of "slutty brownies" (chocolate chip cookie dough layered under Oreos and brownie mix).   So good!

The hydrangeas still looked great a few days later and I made one big bouquet of what was left and gave them to my neighbor because we were leaving for vacation.  She loved them!  

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