I love lemon. It makes me happy. It makes me think of spring in the midst of these dreary February days. It’s fresh, zesty and blends wonderfully with sweet and savory ingredients!

I also love rice. I think rice was the main staple of my diet in college. I’ve come a long since my days of Minute Rice with butter and salt at the University of Maryland College Park. Now I whip up fancy rice salads like this one which combines two of my favorite things!

This salad has no oil so it stays low-fat and is perfect served on a bed of greens. I used Jasmine Rice for the nutty flavor that it offers, but you can sub other rice types. Just remember that the Instant Pot cooking times in the recipe below are specific to Jasmine Rice. If you change it, then you need to cook the rice you choose to the proper times in the Instant Pot.

Check out a video on how to make this rice salad here and don’t forget to subscribe!

Dressing for this salad adapted from Ordinary Vegan

I know why Northerners laugh at Southerners when it comes to weather. I know because I was a Northerner for the first 22 years of my life, but I’ve been a Southerner for the last 19. I remember opening the front door when I was in high school and seeing the snow over waist high. I believe it was the Blizzard of ’93 in Maryland. We were holed up in our house for days with good reason. But now, I live in Tennessee and we too are currently holed up in our home because of less than 1.5″ of snow. My kids haven’t been to school since last Thursday. They cancelled school on Friday because it was supposed to snow. It didn’t. Today is Tuesday and we did have a good snowfall today. School is already cancelled for tomorrow. My husband has bets that it will also be closed on Thursday.

I get it. Tennessee is not equipped with enough plows and salt trucks to quickly service entire counties, especially in rural areas. Safety comes first, and I totally agree with that. It’s just the hysteria that gets me. There was no national news shown on TV this morning, just live coverage of the snowfall and slush from every corner of the state. (Wait, maybe that wasn’t such a bad thing, after all.) The bread and milk shelves were emptied last Thursday. The kids refuse to go outside and play because it’s “too cold.”

What to do? For me, I cook. And cook, and cook, and cook. I whipped together a comforting chicken vegetable soup in my Instant Pot using what I had on hand – because you know I couldn’t get to the store. Best part was that both kids really loved it, and I loved seeing them actually eat their veggies!

One little note – you can definitely use fresh chicken. If you do, put the chicken in your soup in the IP for 10 minutes and then release. Remove chicken and chop. Add back to the pot and then cook for another 5 minutes high pressure with a quick release. If your chicken is frozen, then set the IP for 15 minutes instead of 10. Chop and return to the pot for another 5 min high pressure with a quick release.

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My Instant Pot is my newest obsession. It is a pressure cooker, a slow cooker, a yogurt maker and more. It cuts a lot of time off prepping meals. I put this post together for all you of you fellow dieters out there who meal prep (and need to balance out all those delicious Instant Pot cheesecakes)! Easy meal prep in the Instant Pot that actually tastes good! 
This makes four meals and when portioned out to the 21 Day Fix meal plan, each meal equals the following: 1 Red, 1 Yellow, 1 Green and one orange if you use the barbecue sauce.

Brown Basmati Rice – 1 cup brown basmati rice, 1 1/4 cup water, teaspoon butter, big pinch of sea salt

Manual, High Pressure, 22 min with QR

Chicken Breast – 2 cup chicken stock, three chicken breast with seasonings of your choice, put the chicken in the broth, Manual High Pressure 12 min with QR

Fresh Steamed Broccoli – Use chicken stock that’s in the pot from the chicken, 3 cups of fresh broccoli in your steam basket, Manual Low Pressure 0 min, QR

**I still haven’t completely mastered steaming fresh broccoli. My first batch overcooked so I made cream of broccoli soup with it. My second batch was better (user error first time around) but it was still a little more done than I’d prefer. Any suggestions welcome! ***

Here is a photo of my cream of broccoli soup that ended up being a happy mistake! I just used two cups milk, two cups chicken stock, a couple tablespoons flour and a tablespoon butter. Seasoned it up well and mixed it in my Vitamix. Added some cheddar cheese at my husband’s request! Not clean eating, but great for a winter’s evening!

Back to the meal prep:

Portion out into four containers, brush on some BBQ sauce if you want. There you go… four healthy meals in your fridge to help you stick to your diet goals!

I also made a video on my Modern Day Fox YouTube channel. Check it out here:

Happy prepping in your IP!

Have prepping ideas? Share them in the comments!

xo Jaime

Getting enough vegetables in my diet is a constant struggle for me. I just do not love the texture of cooked vegetables when I prepare them at home. I much prefer the crunch of raw vegetables so I steer more towards fresh green salads and chopped raw veggies. While the rest of my family loves steamed broccoli or canned green beans, I often will buy a packaged chopped salad kit and eat that instead. When I stumbled upon this recipe from the Ultimate Reset nutrition plan, I was excited to run right out to the store and get the ingredients.

Speaking of grocery stores, do you guys have a Sprouts? We just got one about four miles from my house and I am in love with it! For one thing the produce is mostly local and does not have all that icky vegetable grade wax all over it. They also have a nice selection of Paleo and gluten-free options that is similar to what you would find at Whole Foods. And, they sell nuts, beans, flours, and candy (!) in bulk. The prices are fairly reasonable and the staff is super friendly and helpful. Two thumbs up from this girl.

I left my local Sprouts armed with beautiful red cherry tomatoes and firm cucumbers. This recipe turned out beautifully and I only made a few adjustments based on my family’s preferences. We don’t do raw onions so I left those out. And, I only had dried herbs on hand so I used those. It still tasted flavorful and delicious! If you are trying to find tasty way to get fresh vegetables into your diet, this Cucumber and Tomato Salad might be a great addition to your menu.

Cucumber – Tomato Salad (courtesy of Ultimate Reset)

Ingredients

2 Tbsp . red wine vinegar

1 tsp . balsamic vinegar

1 Tbsp . fresh lemon juice

2 tsp . extra-virgin olive oil

1 medium cucumber partially peeled, halved lengthwise, sliced

1 cup cherry tomatoes halved

1 Tbsp . chopped red onion (optional, I did not use)

1 Tbsp . chopped fresh Italian parsley (or 1/2 Tbsp dried)

1 Tbsp . chopped fresh basil leaves (or 1/2 Tbsp dried)

Himalayan salt to taste; optional

Instructions

Combine red wine and balsamic vinegars, lemon juice, and oil in a small bowl; mix well. Set aside.

Combine cucumber, tomatoes, onion (if desired), parsley, basil, and salt (if desired), in a large bowl; mix well.

Enjoy!

–Jaime