The spouse group at Twentynine Palms had its first potluck since the pandemic started. Outdoors, evening (because daytime outdoor gatherings in the desert are a health risk), with the specific relief of people who have been isolated for over a year and are finally allowed to eat together again.
I brought Mom's pulled pork. Tamara brought her pasta salad. Beth brought a dish she learned from the blog — MY blog — a crockpot salsa chicken that she's been making weekly since the pandemic started. She served it in a casserole dish with a label that said 'Rachel's Crockpot Chicken' and I nearly wept.
Rachel's crockpot chicken. It's not my recipe — it's a recipe I adapted from a base I can't remember, which was adapted from someone else, which was adapted from someone before that. But Beth calls it mine. Because she found it on my blog. Because my name was attached to it.
Recipes travel. Names attach. The chain grows.
A new wife joined the group — a woman named Maria, early twenties, just PCSed to Twentynine Palms with her husband and a six-month-old baby. She looked the way I looked when I arrived at Lejeune: scared, overwhelmed, holding a baby like it was the only solid thing in a liquid world.
I went to her. I brought her a plate of food. I said, 'I'm Rachel. This is terrible. You're going to be fine. Eat.'
The Jen speech. The words Jen said to me in Jacksonville, now spoken by me to Maria in the desert. The chain of women who arrive and are met and are fed and are told: you're going to be fine.
Maria ate. She cried a little. She said, 'How do you survive here?'
'You cook,' I said. 'You cook every night at 1800. You fill the crockpot. You call your mom. And you make friends who bring pulled pork to potlucks.'
The advice I received, now the advice I give. The inheritance of military wifehood, passed from Donna to me to Maria.
Made Mom's white chicken chili tonight. The deployment recipe. The Pearl Harbor recipe. The recipe that travels.
Maria texted me after the potluck: 'Thank you for the food and the words. Both helped.'
Both helped. The food and the words. The two things I do. The two things that are the same thing.
The white chicken chili I made that night after the potluck is a deployment staple — it’s not fancy, it doesn’t need to be. But what I kept thinking about as I stirred it was Beth’s casserole dish, the handwritten label, and Maria’s face when someone handed her a plate and told her she was going to be fine. The recipe below is the kind of thing I bring when the point isn’t the food itself — it’s the showing up. Instant Pot Buffalo Chicken Dip comes together fast, feeds a crowd, and travels exactly the way a good recipe should: from one kitchen to the next, with a name attached.
Instant Pot Buffalo Chicken Dip
Prep Time: 5 minutes | Cook Time: 20 minutes | Total Time: 25 minutes | Servings: 10
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 1/2 cup water or low-sodium chicken broth
- 8 oz cream cheese, cut into cubes
- 1/2 cup buffalo hot sauce (such as Frank’s RedHot)
- 1/2 cup ranch dressing
- 1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese, divided
- 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
- 2 green onions, sliced (for garnish)
- Tortilla chips, celery sticks, or crackers for serving
Instructions
- Pressure cook the chicken. Place chicken breasts and water (or broth) in the Instant Pot. Seal the lid and set to Manual/Pressure Cook on High for 12 minutes. Allow a natural pressure release for 5 minutes, then quick-release any remaining pressure.
- Shred the chicken. Remove chicken breasts and shred with two forks directly in a large bowl or on a cutting board. Drain any excess liquid from the pot, leaving just a thin layer.
- Build the dip. Set the Instant Pot to Sauté. Add cream cheese cubes to the pot and stir until melted, about 2 minutes. Add buffalo sauce and ranch dressing, stirring to combine fully.
- Combine. Return shredded chicken to the pot. Stir in 3/4 cup of the cheddar cheese and all of the mozzarella until melted and well incorporated.
- Top and serve. Transfer dip to a serving dish or keep warm in the Instant Pot on the Keep Warm setting. Top with remaining cheddar and sliced green onions. Serve immediately with tortilla chips, celery, or crackers.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 280 | Protein: 22g | Fat: 19g | Carbs: 3g | Fiber: 0g | Sodium: 620mg
About the cook who shared this
Rachel Abernathy
Week 268 of Rachel’s 30-year story
· San Diego, California
Rachel is a twenty-eight-year-old Marine wife and mom of two who has moved five times in six years and learned to cook a Thanksgiving dinner with half her cookware still in boxes. She married young, survived postpartum depression, and feeds her family of four on a junior Marine's salary with a freezer full of pre-made meals and a crockpot that has never let her down. She writes for the military spouses who are cooking dinner alone in base housing and wondering if they're enough. You are.
