Boneless chicken thighs or mixed pieces cooked with simple seasonings, a mixed peppers blend and rice in the Instant Pot, makes for an easy meal. Just add a green vegetable or side salad!

Instant Pot Chicken and Rice

This is one of those quick, easy, tasty meals that you can make when you aren't highly motivated to cook.

Yes! Believe it or not, that happens to me too sometimes.

That's one thing that I love about the Instant Pot - or any other branded electronic pressure cooker for that matter. That one appliance can make a quick and easy job of making a meal, unlike its cousin the slow cooker, which I rarely use because of the advance planning, early start and length of time required.

Bone-in chicken thighs and legs, rub marinated, then grilled over indirect heat or smoke cooked, brushed with Alabama white sauce and served with additional sauce on the side.

Smoked Chicken with Alabama White Sauce

I have to admit, I don't cook outside as much these days. The heat is just too hard on me as I've gotten older, and it gets hot as a match in the summertime here! I mean, I was filling bird feeders yesterday and just in that short time I thought I was gonna die!

Though I haven't let go of my stack smoker, Weber, Lodge Sportsman, or my gas grill, of all of the cookout tools I have, I still love my Traeger pellet cooker {affil link} the most.

A hearty, one-pot Italian-style meal, made with bone-in chicken thighs, Cajun andouille, potatoes, tomatoes and white beans.

One Pot Italian-Style Chicken Stew

This is a good and hearty, one-pot, Italian style stew, though "stew" is really a loose interpretation here. It's hearty, but not thick and rich as we think of stews to be, but rather a bit lighter, making it fully appropriate any time of the year.

I based my recipe on a bit of a combination of MarkCharles Misilli's One Pot Italian Chicken from the cookbook Easy Everyday Favorites and Jacques Pépin's Chicken Bouillabaisse in his cookbook Fast Food My Way {affil links}, since I find them to be strikingly similar.

Chicken drumsticks, cooked in an enhanced sauce in the Instant Pot or other electronic pressure cooker, then brushed with reserved sauce and passed under the broiler or over a hot grill to finish.

Instant Pot Barbecue Drumsticks

Well, I tell you what... it's been a very hot summer. And it's nowhere near over.

The expression, it's not the heat, it's the humidity has seriously applied for me, because even when it's overcast and cloudy, that humidity just sucks the life out of me and I find it difficult to breathe outside. Five minutes outside right now translates to about an hour inside for recovery, so I have just not had that much of an appetite for standing over a stove to cook much this summer.

A stew made of chicken thighs, or a whole cut-up chicken, browned in butter and oil, and cooked in a tomato-based Creole sauce with the trinity of veggies and a mix of curry, herbs and spices and rice.

Country Captain Chicken

There are a lot of theories about the origins of this dish, none of which is set in stone, although both Georgia and South Carolina have definitely laid claims to it. Legend has it that it's a dish that a ship's captain carried to America as a result of the spice trade, perhaps through the ports of Charleston or Savannah.

It's a one-pot, butter-browned, curried chicken dish, appearing to be Indian in origin, typically made with bone-in, skin-on, whole cut-up chicken, or most often, only chicken thighs. If you want to cut back on fat, you could get away with boneless, skinless thighs, with the understanding that the loss of bone and fat is also loss of flavor, and you'll need to compensate with cooking time and seasonings.

A flavorful grilled chicken, marinated in a bold and zesty blend of oil, citrus, garlic and fiery seasonings. Traditionally served with white rice, shown here with a mild, Spanish rice and skillet fried green beans.

Mojo Chicken - Pollo Asado

Literally translated, polo asado means barbecued or grilled (and sometimes even roasted) chicken, though it appears that it most often refers to chicken that is soaked in a mojo-style marinade and cooked on a grill. It's another one of those roadside/food truck favorites, in the same camp with the vinegar chicken I shared recently.

In this case I'm using a homemade mojo marinade in place of a commonly used commercial sour orange product {affil link} which not only is next to impossible to find here on the Mississippi coast, but also tends to contain additional sugars and preservatives you may not want.

Bone-in, skin-on, chicken thighs and legs, or a whole chicken, cut up, seasoned and baked with cream soup and rice for a flavorful, tender baked chicken.

Old School Baked Chicken and Rice

With the usual errands and chores of life, it can sure make for busy days and I'm happy to turn to the old school dishes like this chicken and rice when days are super active. It's simple - throw it all together and throw it in the oven. This truly is old school y'all, as it's been around as long as I have, but it's delicious too!

Sometimes called "no-peek" chicken, I like to uncover it toward the end of cooking to brown the top of the otherwise pale chicken.

Chicken drumsticks, marinated in a spicy combination of chili powder, curry and ginger, then grilled, broiled or baked.

Grilled Chili Lime Drumsticks

This is a wonderfully flavorful chicken marinade that could be used for wings, thighs, drumsticks, a spatchcocked or a whole cut up chicken and will work either for the grill or the oven.

I have to say that I was highly impressed with my new grill for my first skin-on chicken - no major flare ups! Gotta work a bit on temperature regulation, but that'll come in time and learning the exact hot spots on the grill. This is a way bigger grill than my previous ones so I'm like a kid in a candy store, though I am no grill aficionado y'all. Rather I look at a grill as an extension of my oven and stovetop, that just happens to live outside! I'll leave the real grillin' to the experts.