In My Veg Kitchen: Instant Pot Spicy Carrot Soup & One Pot Mexican Quinoa

I embraced the bitterly cold day in Calgary. Snow had fallen over night and the temperatures were unforgiving. It was a perfect for a day of food prep and getting inside stuff done.

I knew it would warm up eventually so I got an early start on making my meals for the week. I was excited to put together the Mexican-inspired quinoa dish. It’s been a long time since I made it. It’s been so long that I realized that I no longer had a lid to cover my frying pan. Kitchen hack: Use a baking sheet to cover your pan when you are in a fix.

How to Make One Pot Mexican Quinoa

Ingredients

• 1 cup of quinoa
• 1 1/2 cup of cooked black beans
• 1 cup of corn
• 1 cup of veg broth
• 1 1/2 tomatoes
• 1 tablespoon of smoky chili
• 1 tablespoon of cumin
• 1 tablespoon of crushed jalapeno and garlic

Basic steps

1. Saute jalapeno and garlic
2. Add quinoa to frying pan
3. Add tomatoes, corn and black beans
4. Add veg broth and spices
5. Give the mixture a stir
6. Cook until it reaches a boil.
7. Turn down to a simmer, cover and cook for 20 minutes

Serve with avocado and lime juice. Also it’s fun to make it into a wrap, or put it in taco bowl. So versatile and tasty. It’s so easy that you will wonder why you’re not having it every night.

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Next up in my day in the kitchen – figuring out how to use my immersion blender. I finally broke down and bought the immersion blender a few weeks ago. I waited until I found a good sale.

I have been dying to make carrot soup in my Instant Pot. The basics are very easy so I added my own spicy twist with crushed jalapeños and ginger. My cousin makes carrot soup with coconut milk for more creaminess but I wanted just the carrots and ginger to shine through. (Also I didn’t have any coconut milk).

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How to make Instant Pot Ginger, Turmeric Carrot Soup

Ingredients

• Two cups of chopped carrots
• 1 good bit of ginger
• 1 jalapeno (I used my dehydrated jalapeno)
• 1 good bit of garlic
• 2 cups of veg broth
• I tablespoon of cumin
• 1 tablespoon of turmeric

Basic steps

1. Add garlic to instant pot & saute for a minute
2. Add carrots and give it a stir
3. Add broth
4. Turn off saute.
5. Add the rest of your spices: cumin, turmeric, ginger etc
6. Cook for 5 minutes on high pressure.
7. Natural release for 10 minutes
8. Use an immersion blender and blend until it reaches the consistency you enjoy

Serve hot in a bowl or pour over rice or noodles. This is so easy to make. (Hmmm I sound like a broken record but I like easy.)

Also on YouTube …

Between cooking and training today, I became hooked on a “Fuel” series that showcases the diets of athletes on YouTube. It’s about four years old but it’s pretty cool to see what these athletes are putting in their bodies. My favourite video was from the sumo wrestler. (I don’t agree with his diet obviously but I loved his personality.)

Since this is a mostly running blog, I have included the video on Tim Olson, an elite ultra runner.

Do you food prep on Sunday? What did you make this week? Do you find it actually helps you get ahead in the week?