Resolution-Friendly Recipe for Your New Instant-Pot
Prefer to listen to the audio version?
Podcast 105 | Healthy Vegan Cooking in your Instant Pot by Simple Eats w/ Chef T
Don’t be intimidated by your instant pot any more. Here’s a great idea for your next intant pot meal prep. Lets keep it simple. Tune in!
Welcome to a brand new year! For most of us, that means a renewed commitment to healthier choices. Ironically, clean eating can be especially hard during the winter months. The cold weather, paired with the discomfort cold and flu season brings, can sometimes drive people to seek out their favorite comfort foods. Those comfort foods aren’t always the healthiest options. They can easily derail your healthy lifestyle resolutions before you even get started.
Fortunately, you might have gotten the answer to this dilemma under the Christmas tree. Multi-use slow cookers, like the Instant Pot, have been on several must-have holiday gift lists this year. If you’re not familiar with them, these powerhouse kitchen tools function as a crock pot, pressure cooker, rice cooker, steamer and yogurt maker.
If you got an Instant Pot this year, congratulations! It might just offer the combination of rich flavors and hearty wholesomeness to keep you on track with your New Year’s healthy eating plans. If you’re a little intimidated by that shiny new appliance, you can always start off with something simple. Try a winter lentil stew for a warm, hearty dish my clients love.
This recipe from Kitchen Treaty includes turmeric, a spice-packed with antioxidants to help boost your immune system.
Instant Pot Golden Lentil & Spinach Soup
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Servings: 4
Ingredients
2 teaspoons olive oil
1/2 medium yellow onion, diced (about 1 cup)
2 medium carrots, peeled and diced (about 1 cup)
1 medium stalk celery, diced (about 1/2 cup)
4 medium cloves garlic, minced (about 2 tablespoons)
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon kosher salt + more to taste
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper + more to taste
1 cup dry brown lentils, rinsed well in cold water
4 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
8 ounces (about 6 cups) baby spinach
Instructions
- Hit “Saute” button on Instant Pot. Add oil. When hot, add the onions, carrots, and celery. Saute, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic, cumin, turmeric, thyme, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper and cook, stirring constantly, for one minute.
- Add the lentils and pour in the broth. Stir.
- Place the lid on the Instant Pot and make sure the release valve is in the “sealing” position. Press the “Manual” button and set the timer at 12 minutes.
- The Instant Pot will warm up for about 10 minutes and then start cooking. After the 12 minutes is up, quick-release by flipping the release valve to “venting” (a little bit at a time at first).
- Once venting is complete, remove the lid of the Instant Pot. Stir in the spinach. Taste and add additional salt and pepper if desired. Serve.
The official Instant Pot Cookbook offers some great healthy recipes. And if you didn’t get an Instant Pot from your cousin this Christmas, maybe consider trading in a few ugly sweaters to pick one up for yourself. You can find them on Amazon here: http://amzn.to/2BAJv9c.
