Hello, friends! First, some deep thoughts from the weekend I want to share:

I was at a conference for my full time job in technology sales over the weekend, and we had a speaker for our Women in Technology group. She said the best advice she ever got was, “Don’t let your comfort zone become a dangerous anchor.”

Isn’t that so true? When you find still waters, it’s easy to just safely float there for the duration. The problem is you never go anywhere – not back, not forward, you just stay in the same spot forever. And while that may sound appealing to some, it is not sustainable. Aside from inevitable boredom alone, there are bound to be storms that come through. Sometimes it is dangerous not to move from the storm’s path.

If you are incapable of moving because you’re anchored to the status quo, that potentially leads to drowning. Be brave. Make yourself uncomfortable. Don’t give up on your passions even if they aren’t what’s paying your bills right now. Have hard conversations. Be the change. Pull up your anchor and sail somewhere new! THAT is how you grow.

Ok, now let’s get to this soup. Maybe it was just because I spent the weekend in blazing hot Florida, but it got all kinds of chilly in Tennessee yesterday. I know that due to our crazy weather pattern here I will be back to wearing tank tops and shorts by the weekend, but it was actually kind of nice to have a day that almost resembled Fall. We don’t get many of those! The crisp air immediately made me crave soup. Well, that, and I still haven’t gone to the grocery store since my return, so I had to get creative with dinner. I decided to experiment with making Minestrone in my Instant Pot, and it was a SUCCESS. My kids even liked it, although they would never openly admit that. They took more than two bites, so I’m calling it a win!

When you review this recipe, I’m anticipating one question on repeat. Why did you not cook the pasta on high pressure? Yes, I know that I can cook pasta in the Instant Pot, but I wanted to be very careful about making sure I kept a nice texture on all the various ingredients in this soup. I did not add the zucchini in the high pressure cycle either because I wanted to maintain the firmness. One thing about the Instant Pot – your vegetables and pasta can turn to mush in a heart beat. It’s better to spend a few extra minutes boiling the pasta and zucchini than have a bowl of mush, right?? If you decide to try cooking your pasta during the high pressure cycle, I recommend adding all six cups of water or broth at the beginning, and doing 4 minutes high pressure instead of five. I’d love to know how it turns out! Or, just follow the recipe as written and you can be sure you will have nice, firm ingredients and that all-day simmered taste.

Note: There is something going on with my recipe plug-in for WordPress, so my apologies for the different format on this recipe!

MODERN DAY FOX INSTANT POT MINESTRONE (VEGAN)

Serves 4-6

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 tablespoon minced garlic

1/2 diced onion

2 carrots, coined

3 diced celery stalks

1 tsp salt, plus more later if desired

1 tsp rosemary

1/2 tablespoon oregano

1 tsp Basil

1/4 tsp pepper

1 tablespoon garlic powder

Pinch crushed red pepper (optional)

1 28 oz can crushed tomato

6 cups water or broth

2 cups dry pasta (bowtie, rigatoni, penne)

1 diced zucchini, medium

1 can kidney beans, drained

1/2 tablespoon lemon juice

I/2 tablespoon red wine vinegar

3 cups chopped kale, stems removed

Instructions:

1. Set pot to saute and heat olive oil.
2. Add garlic, onion, carrots, and celery. Saute for 2-3 minutes until onions start to turn translucent.
3. Add salt, rosemary, oregano, basil, pepper, garlic powder, and crushed red pepper. Saute for one more minute. Keep stirring so your seasonings do not burn.
4. Turn pot off.
5. Add crushed tomatoes, 4 cups water or broth, and stir.
6. Replace lid on instant pot and set pot to 5 minutes high pressure. Be sure to turn the knob to Sealing so your pot comes to pressure.
7. When the timer goes off, use a quick release for the steam.
8. When the knob drops, remove lid and turn pot off.
9. Add the other two cups of water. Stir in dry pasta, zucchini, and kidney beans.
10. Set the pot to Saute and allow contents to boil and cook pasta thoroughly.
11. When pasta is finished cooking, turn pot off.
12. Add lemon juice, vinegar and kale. Kale will soften into the soup in a few minutes.
13. Do a taste-test and add additional salt, if desired. I like my soups to have a saltier flavor so I added two additional teaspoons. I also used water instead of broth so I needed to make up for the salt that would have been in the broth.
14. Serve, and enjoy!!

I am so excited to be teaming up on a couple recipes with a local business owner and chef, Kristie Holdren. Kristie is the owner of My Veggie Chef, a Nashville company which delivers prepped freezer bags of whole food plant based meals locally here in Middle Tennessee and also ships to 38 states.

Since switching to a whole food plant based diet back in December, my weekly meal prep began kicking my booty. Without meat, dairy, or eggs, I basically have had to teach myself to cook all over again! I needed to press the “easy” button. Enter My Veggie Chef. Each week, Kristie releases a menu of five entree choices and allows customers to customize their orders by choosing which meals they prefer for the week. Don’t care for tempeh (like me)? No problem. Double up on the Carribean Quinoa Burgers. The meals, which feed four, are delivered to my home every Sunday and left in a complimentary freezer satchel provided by My Veggie Chef. The meals arrive in Ziploc bags with a sticker containing the cooking instructions. I put them in the freezer and set one out each day. They take roughly 20 minutes to cook each night. The best part? There are many meals that I can put directly into my Instant Pot frozen, and you know I love that! The meals are healthy and delicious, and full of plants!

This is not a sponsored post. I just love small business owners with unique ideas, especially when they support healthy lifestyles. I’m a paying customer, and plan to continue to being one!

Kristie sent me this hearty split pea soup recipe to share with all of you. Of course I converted it to the Instant Pot! Did you expect any less? As we hammer through these frigid days at the cusp of Spring, this soup is sure to warm you up and make your belly happy!

Photography and Food Styling Credit: Sherry Mata

Check out a video tutorial here:

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.

This post contains Amazon affiliate links which help to directly support the life of this blog. When you use my links for purchases, you help keep Modern Day Fox alive! Thank you!

I’m just over one month eating a Whole Food Plant Based diet, and I’m loving it! I have lost six lbs already and I feel great. I’ve put aside counting calories and containers, and I’m just focused on eating unprocessed whole foods. After a year and a half of primarily eating a Paleo diet, I never thought I’d be able to cut meat out of my diet. Truthfully, I’m not missing it at all! On Jan 8th, my next fitness challenge begins and I’m pumped. I took it easy with exercise while I transitioned to this way of eating in December, just mostly doing Yoga and Pilates. But now, I’m ready to hit it hard with Autumn Calabrese’s new program 80 Day Obsession. Hit me up on Facebook if you want to join me!

On of the day I’m writing this blog entry, it is New Year’s Day 2018. I attended a New Year’s Eve party last night. Instead of worrying about what I was going to eat and setting myself up for failure, I decided to whip up a delicious three bean chili in my pressure cooker. I also made a huge container of brown rice and brought whole grain tortilla chips and salsa. I was happily noshing all evening, and everyone enjoyed what I brought as well. I found most people were amazed that it was “Vegan.” Many people automatically assumed “vegan” or “whole food plant based” means tasteless, and nothing could be further from the truth.

This Instant Pot recipe is adapted from one I found on Clean Food Dirty Girl. Check out the inspiration recipe here, but be beware that the blogger uses colorful language. If that bothers you, then just quickly scroll to the bottom of her post for the recipe. I hope you enjoy my version of this meatless chili. Feel free to add your own tweaks and spice it up with cayenne pepper or hot sauce! It’s sure to please all your meat-lovin’ friends!

This post contains affiliate links that help to directly support the life of this blog. When you use my links to purchase, you are supporting Modern Day Fox! All opinions are my own.

Never have I cooked a lentil until this past weekend. I did it in my Instant Pot of course! In my quest to find some more plant based recipes, I was watching a bunch of videos and reading recipes about Lentil Chili. But, listen folks. I am SO sick of Mexican dishes. It seems like every whole 30 or healthy recipe is seasoned with cumin and chili powder. I need a break from that. I threw caution to the wind and just winged this recipe.

It turned out so tasty! Lentils, though – they kind of look like mush so prepare yourself. And, they overcook quickly. I saw some recipes online that had red lentils cooking for like 20 minutes! I imagine they would completely dissolve. I chose a cooking time in my Instant Pot that left them just slightly firm. Try not to forget to do the quick release as you want these to stop cooking quickly.

There are so many different ways you can eat these through the week. Eat them as a stew. Scoop them over some fresh steamed broccoli or over a baked potato for a carb-heavy meal. Put them as a side with your favorite meat. It is such a hearty dish that it will keep great through the week after you meal prep.

The big question I am anticipating:

I hate coconut. Can I sub the oil and coconut milk? Yes. Use olive oil or avocado oil instead of coconut oil. If you are subbing the canned coconut milk, use heavy cream. However, and this is important, add the heavy cream AFTER cooking is complete. Dairy products can sometimes curdle. These substitutions obviously change the overall flavor of this recipe, but it should still be tasty!

Check out a video on this prep here:

xo Jaime

My best friend, Chad, was dealt an unexpected blow this year. Out of the blue, he was diagnosed with Stage 4 Neuroendocrine Cancer and Type 2 Diabetes. To say we were shocked by this news is the understatement of the year! Chad and I have been singing partners for over 12 years, and he is like a brother to me.

Chad is handling this turn of events like a champion. It SUCKS, and there is no question about that. But, Chad has dedicated himself to trying to inspire others not to give up the fight. Touching others keeps his fight alive! As part of being a service to others, Chad asked if he could join me in some of my cooking videos to make some diabetic friendly recipes. He is hoping he can help inspire others to heal themselves with healthy eating as he does the same for himself.

Since he used to work on a Thai food truck, Chad and I decided to whip together an easy and flavorful Instant Pot Thai Soup! Check out our video here, and the recipe below!

By the way, if you are interested in helping Chad with his medical expenses, all of the proceeds of our band, The Desert Okies’ new CD go to support him. Check it out at www.desertokies.com!

This post may contain affiliate links for products I use and love. When you use these links to make purchases, you help keep Modern Day Fox alive! Thank you!

“Carrot soup? That sounds… um, not good.”

That’s what I said when my best friend, Kelley, suggested we throw together an Instant Pot soup for my blog. But, the more I thought about it, the more I liked the idea of disguising a serving of vegetables into a smooth soup. Make it tasty enough and no one in my family would know they were eating a full serving of veggies. Heck, I hardly noticed myself!

Both Kelley and I deal with food intolerances in our households, so we immediately knew we would make it gluten and dairy-free. We strive to create dishes that are easy, and that meet the needs of our loved ones too. Our end result was a rich, almost buttery-tasting soup that was a cinch to throw together. Even my six year old wolfed down a bowl, and that says something – trust me!

We hope you enjoy it too!

Check out the prep video here:

xo Jaime

Note: This post contains affiliate links that directly help support the life of this blog. When you use my links for purchase, you help keep Modern Day Fox going! I’m not sponsored by any company, and anything I recommend in this post I have actually purchased myself.

Wow! This recipe took off fast in the Instant Pot Community! So happy to see so many excited about how EASY using the Instant Pot can be. There is nothing to be scared of, folks! Not only is this soup easy though, it’s also healthy, gluten and grain-free, and fits perfectly with the 21 Day Fix nutrition plan.

A little warning – this soup has some kick. If you are sensitive to spice or have little ones who go crazy with the slightest hint of heat, sub the Rotel for another can of diced tomatoes. You may also consider cutting the chili powder to a half tablespoon and the pepper to a half teaspoon. As for me, I love a lot of flavor in my recipes so I love all the spices.

Check out my video on how to make this soup:

This post contains affiliate links that help support my blog. When you make purchases using my links, you help me keep it afloat! All opinions are my own and I only recommend products I actually use.

Print Recipe

Modern Day Fox Instant Pot Tortilla "Dump" Soup

Course

Soup

Prep Time

5 min

Cook Time

15 min

Passive Time

8 min (time to pressure)

Servings

servings

Ingredients

• 1 lb fresh chicken breast
• 1 can black bean drained and rinsed
• 1 can diced tomatoes
• 1 can Rotel (Mild) (Rotel is diced tomatoes w green chile peppers
• 1 TBSP Cumin
• 1 TBSP Salt
• 1 TBSP Chili powder reduce to 1/2 TBSP if sensitive to spice
• 1 teaspoon Black Pepper reduce to 1/2 teaspoon if sensitive to spice
• 1 TBSP minced garlic heaping
• 6 cups Chicken broth

Course Soup Prep Time 5 min Cook Time 15 min Passive Time 8 min (time to pressure) Servings servings Ingredients 1 lb fresh chicken breast 1 can black bean drained and rinsed 1 can diced tomatoes 1 can Rotel (Mild) (Rotel is diced tomatoes w green chile peppers 1 TBSP Cumin 1 TBSP Salt 1 TBSP Chili powder reduce to 1/2 TBSP if sensitive to spice 1 teaspoon Black Pepper reduce to 1/2 teaspoon if sensitive to spice 1 TBSP minced garlic heaping 6 cups Chicken broth

Instructions

1. Dump in all ingredients and stir.
2. Set pot to manual HP for 15 min. You can either do a quick release or let steam release naturally. I find the chicken is a bit more tender with a natural release.
3. Remove chicken and shred well.
4. Return to broth and stir.
5. Serve with tortilla chips! Or, save the calories and just sprinkle on cilantro, a little cheese, and a slice of avocado!

Recipe Notes

If you use frozen chicken, I would do 20 min HP to be safe (although 15 min has worked for me in the past. I've found it depends on whether I laid my chicken flat to freeze.) Note that if your chicken is frozen in a big ball, it may not cook thoroughly in the center. If you find your chicken is not cooked through, my quick trick is break it apart and set pot to Sauté. Chicken will finish cooking in the boiling broth.

Share this Recipe

I was inspired to try the ever popular Zuppa Toscana soup in my Instant Pot, but trying to find sausage without added sugar and additives proved to be a tough feat. Just take a look at the sausage in the meat department of your local grocery store and you will find all kinds of unsettling things in the ingredients list. For this reason, I decided to change up the traditional recipe using sausage and instead use reduced fat ground pork and seasonings. The result was absolutely delicious, completely sugar-free, and got six thumbs up from my crew!

Although I don’t follow a whole 30 or Paleo diet exclusively, my husband does in an effort to help with his Ulcerative Colitis struggles. It’s hard trying to keep things interesting but this recipe hits the spot!

This is a tough one to calculate on 21 Day Fix, but here’s what I came up with: 1/2 red, 1 yellow, 1 blue (for coconut cream) and 1 green IF you make sure to get a lot of kale in your serving. If you think the container counts should be different, I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments!

Hope you enjoy this soup as much as we did!

xo Jaime

This post contains affiliate links which directly help support this blog. I only post links for products I’ve purchased and recommend, and my opinions are my own.

It’s hard to get vegetables into this body of mine. I do my best, but a disguised vegetable is my favorite vegetable. That’s why I drink Shakeology religiously, and that’s also why I was super intrigued by this recipe from my favorite blogger, Juli Bauer at PaleOMG. The recipe for Juli’s PaleOMG’s Instant Pot Buffalo Chicken Soup  caught my attention because I love any and everything “buffalo,” but the soup base consisted of nearly all vegetables pureed into a smooth, velvety soup. To make it even better, it came with Instant Pot directions.  After a long drive back from a very short trip to Charleston this weekend, this easy soup fit the bill. Stay tuned for a post on what to do with one day in Charleston. I was in foodie heaven in that gorgeous town!

Check out the ingredients below direct from Juli’s recipe and head over to her blog for the full recipe and instructions. Juli also has three incredible cookbooks with tasty Paleo recipes.

• 2 tablespoons ghee (I used butter)
• 1 cup diced carrots
• 1 cup diced celery
• ½ white onion, minced
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 4 cups cauliflower florets
• 32 ounces chicken bone broth
• ⅔ cup Frank’s Red Hot Sauce (or less, to taste)
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 1 rotisserie chicken, pulled and shredded
• fresh cilantro, for garnish
• chopped green onions, for garnish
• Primal Kitchen Avocado Oil Ranch, for garnish

I counted this as 1.5 green and 1/2 red per serving. Great way to get those green containers in!

Happy food prepping!

xo Jaime

This post may contain affiliate links which directly support this blog. Thank you for supporting Modern Day Fox!