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Gluten Free Queso Mac with BBQ Shredded Chicken and Green Onion
A while back my child went to Noodles & Co and got their pulled pork mac and cheese… and fell in love with it. Unfortunately there isn’t a Noodles & Co terribly close by, so this is a dish they can’t get as frequently as they would like.
Recently we decided that shredded meat agrees with both of us more than ground meat, so I’ve been cooking a lot of chicken in the Instant Pot because after cooking for 8 minutes from frozen and letting the pressure naturally release for about an hour, the chicken breasts are easily shred-able with 2 forks. So I decided to make a fowl version of their beloved pulled pork mac and cheese. Enter shredded BBQ chicken mac & cheese.
Equipment:
Large sauce pan (for noodles and then making the queso)
Strainer for the noodles
Instant Pot
2 forks.
Ingredients:
3-4 chicken breasts, frozen (trimmed of any bits that you wouldn’t want to eat)
1 Box Barilla Gluten Free Penne Noodles (or any type of GF noodle really, that’s just what I had)
1 Box Velveeta Cheese (The big brick)
1 Can Mild Rotel (Do NOT drain!)
Water or broth for adding to the instant pot (I use home made vegetable stock)
1 bottle of BBQ sauce (I used Sweet Baby Ray’s Sweet Vidalia Onion BBQ sauce)
(optional) 3 green onions roughly sliced.
Instructions:
Place your frozen chicken breasts in your instant pot with approximately a pint of liquid. Set your instant pot to pressure cook, temp to high, the time to 8 minutes, and press start.
While the instant pot is doing its thing, now is the time to cook your noodles. And honestly this can be done after the actual timed cooking is done, because the instant pot needs to be given time to naturally release the pressure so that the chicken cooks to the point that it shreds easily but is still juicy.
After your noodles are cooked and moved to the strainer, use the now empty pot from the noodles for the queso. Add the Rotel to the bottom of the pot with about a half full can of water. Then cut up the Velveeta block into approximately 1 inch cubes adding them to the pot then turn on the heat, stirring constantly until the cheese is completely melted.
Once the cheese is completely melted, remove the pot from the heat and add the noodles back to the pot with the queso, stirring thoroughly.
Once the pressure in the instant pot has completely released, remove the lid and put the chicken breasts on a plate shredding with the forks.
Once shredded, add the BBQ sauce to the chicken (the chicken should be warm enough to warm up the BBQ sauce), stir until the chicken is completely coated with the BBQ sauce.
Scoop some of the mac & cheese, top with a scoop or 2 of the shredded chicken and a sprinkling of green onion and ENJOY!
Makes approx. 4 - 5 servings (nutritional value uncalculated)
Its probably terrible for you, but the best tasting food usually is!
Qahwah House Dark Roast Turkish Coffee
My friend Koshi and I try to meet up at least once a month to catch up on whatever life has been slinging at each of us and to do something we both enjoy. This could look like touring several local greenhouses, shopping at a local bulk food store with a decent loose leaf tea and whole bean coffee selection, or like on this occasion, coffee at one of the MANY coffee houses that are local to me.
Koshi (left), Me (right)
This month we ended up at Qahwah House (among other places), which is a local Yemeni coffee house, and shared a large pot of Turkish Coffee. Even though the coffee grounds are placed into the strainer in the middle of the pot, they are so fine that they slip right through the steeping holes and you end up with a layer of mud at the bottom of your cup.
Sometimes it looks a little like you’re going to read tea leaves when you gaze into the bottom of your cup after a sip when you are getting to the bottom.
Sometimes it looks like there is chocolate pudding in the bottom of the coffee pot… because I don’t want to think about what else it looks like. LOL
Giphy
Green Monster Strawberry Shot - Zero Sugar
I did not have high hopes for this
Gif by LubsOfficial on Giphy
Looks like someone needs to improve their hydration routine!
Seriously though… why does it smell like it should be spicy?!?!?
It wasn’t actually spicy tasting, but it also wasn’t good. But that’s just my humble opinion, and I’ve not had any previous experience with the classic green Monster since it wasn’t one that you could find in sugar free when I had my first exposure to Monster energy drinks.
Makdous
For an entertaining video, click on the picture.
Trust me… click on the picture.
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