The 21-Day Whole-Food Plant-Based Vegan Challenge: DINNERS SECOND WEEK: “The Week that The Instant Pot Made”
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Please be sure to read the singerstickynotes MEDICAL DISCLAIMER before following the advice presented in this post.
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This is the week of making soups and stews which are whole-food plant-based vegan. Soups are wonderful foods! In every culture, soups tend more likely to be vegetarian than the main dish, so they’re really worth exploring.
Soups are easy as anything to make; it’s hard to wreck a soup (unless you forget to stir it and it burns!). All these recipes have been simplified: no sautéing or adding vegetable broth, for instance, though you will be chopping a lot of veggies. I’ve included cooking times for everything–both for on the stovetop and for the Instant Pot. If time is limited, and especially if you don’t have an Instant Pot, cook up several different soups or stews in big pots on the weekend and freeze portions in the freezer to microwave during the week. It’s worth the effort to eat well. Or, consider another option . . .
In case you’ve been on a desert island and haven’t noticed, The Instant Pot is taking the culinary world by storm, especially for anyone eating a lot of beans and grains (like whole-food plant-based vegans). It’s an all-in-one pressure cooker and slow cooker that cooks your dinner for you in record time while you do something else. No more slaving over a hot stove! I bought the cheapest & smallest one, the 3 quart Mini Lux for about $60 at Walmart, and I have never looked back. I use it absolutely every single day, no lie. No, they are not sponsoring me: it’s simply the truth and for me it’s what makes this lifestyle possible with my hectic schedule.
This week you’ll make a soup or stew every single day. Anything you don’t eat, you just throw into portion-sized microwaveable plastic containers (I use the quart sized ziplock containers) and put them in the freezer. It’s called “batch cooking“ and these portions will be your go-to foods for future weeks. I always fill The Instant Pot up to the fill line, using its full cooking volume capacity, and store what I don’t use. I’ve found it the best way to maximize time efficiency while eating well.
Tip: There’s a fill line towards the top of the inside of instant pot liner above which there should be no liquid. Observe that restriction to avoid having a spillover and a mess to clean up! (been there, done that…)
Before you begin using the instant pot, make yourself completely familiar with its components and proper function of this tool. The video below may help:
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- Dinner #1: Lentil Soup
- Dinner #2: Vegan chili
- Dinner #3: Butternut squash soup & brown rice pasta with vegetables and walnuts
- Dinner #4: Split pea soup
- Dinner #5: Potato-cauliflower soup & kale salad with sun dried tomatoes and blackberries
- Dinner #6: Ratatouille & vegan macaroni and cheese
- Dinner #7: Beyond Meat or Impossible Burger & salad
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Dinner #1:
Lentil Soup
INGREDIENTS
1 small onion, chopped
1 large carrot, diced
1 potato, diced
1 Tablespoon Italian seasoning
1 Bay leaf
2 Tablespoons tomato paste
Splash of apple cider vinegar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup dried lentils
Water to cover ingredients
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Add all the above ingredients to the instant pot and stir well. Cover the ingredients with water to the fill line. Close the top and set the vent to the closed position. Set pressure to 10 minutes on high pressure. Use the natural release (that means wait till the pin drops). Open and eat. (Yes, it’s really that simple . . .) Serve with a small side salad garnished with balsamic vinegar. You might want to toast up some whole-grain bread (I recommend Ezekiel bread) and slather some vegan butter on it (best is Miyokos from Trader Joe’s). I recommend red grapes for dessert. Yum.
Cooking on the stove? Lentil soup takes about 45 minutes at a low simmer. Stir frequently.
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Dinner #2:
Vegan chili
INGREDIENTS
1 small onion, chopped
2 Tablespoons tomato paste
1 can tomatoes (28 oz.)
1 package vegan “ground beef”
1 can kidney beans
1 Tablespoon Italian seasoning
1 Bay leaf
1/4 cup chili powder
2 Tablespoons ground cumin
Pepper to taste
Water to cover ingredients
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Add all the above ingredients to the instant pot and stir well. Cover the ingredients with water to the fill line. Set pressure for 5 minutes on high. Use the natural release (that means wait till the pin drops). Open and serve. Serve with a side salad and some organic corn tortilla chips or whole grain bread. Have some fruit for desert.
Cooking on the stove? You’re in luck! There are no raw ingredients in this dish except the onion. So simmer it about 10 minutes and serve.
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Dinner #3:
Butternut squash soup & brown rice pasta with vegetables and walnuts
INGREDIENTS
One large butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cubed–or 1 or 2 packages Trader Joe’s pre-cut butternut squash
2 Tablespoons ground cumin
Dash of ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
Pepper to taste
1 cup of water
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Brown rice pasta (fusilli)
Fresh mushrooms (portobello)
Fresh spinach
@ 1/3 cup walnuts
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Place the steamer trivet accessory in the bottom of the instant pot. Add the chunks of butternut squash. Add one cup of water to the pot. Close the top and set the vent to the closed position. Set pressure to 5 minutes on high pressure. Steam release and mash the cooked squash either by hand with a potato masher or puréed in a blender or food processor. Add the spices and more water as needed to get a nice soup consistency.
While the squash is cooking, boil the brown rice fusilli pasta along with mushrooms and spinach, following the boiling times written on the pasta package. Drain and garnish pasta with pepper and a handful of walnuts.
Cooking on the stove? Butternut squash can be steamed in a pot in 1 inch of water, ideally inside a metal steamer inserted in the pot.
Eat soup as a side to the pasta dish. Recommend some dried dates and figs for dessert. Enjoy!
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Dinner #4:
Split pea soup
INGREDIENTS
1 small onion, chopped
1 large carrot, diced
2 stalks of celery, chopped
1 potato, diced
1 Tablespoon Italian seasoning
1 Bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup dry split peas
Water to cover ingredients
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Add all the above ingredients to the instant pot and stir well. Cover the ingredients with water to the fill line. Close the top and set the vent to the closed position. Set pressure to 10 minutes on high pressure. Use the natural release. Serve with some nice toasted Ezekiel bread and a small side salad garnished with balsamic vinegar. Eat a fruit of your choice for dessert. Mmmmmmm.
Cooking on the stove? You’ll need to plan ahead and soak the split peas overnight first. Unsoaked peas take from 1 to 2 hours of simmering; soaked peas take about 40 minutes. Stir frequently.
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Dinner #5:
Potato-cauliflower soup & kale salad with sun dried tomatoes and blackberries
SOUP INGREDIENTS
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 medium onion, chopped
2 medium potatoes, diced
2 stalks of celery, diced
1 large cauliflower, chopped
1 Tablespoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt
pepper to taste
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SALAD INGREDIENTS
1 large serving bowl of fresh kale
1/2 cup sun dried tomatoes
Small package of blackberries
Sesame tahini
2 Tablespoons Balsamic vinegar
1 Tablespoon sesame tahini
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Place the steamer trivet accessory in the bottom of the instant pot. Add vegetable ingredients to the pot. Add one cup of water to the pot. Close the top and set the vent to the closed position. Set pressure to 10 minutes on high pressure. Steam release and mash the cooked vegetables either by hand with a potato masher, or puréed in a blender or food processor. Add spices and stir. Add more water as needed to get a nice soup consistency.
Cooking on the stove? Simmer soup vegetables about 15 to 20 minutes on the stove until fork-tender.
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Now for the salad…
Fill a large bowl with kale. Strip the kale from its stems and massage the kale in your hands until it reduces to less than half its bulk. Add the sun dried tomatoes and blackberries. Combine balsamic vinegar with the tahini and toss salad with this dressing.
Eat the soup as a side to your kale salad with some whole grain bread. No need for fruit for dessert, because of the blackberries. Recommend organic dark chocolate, instead. YUM!
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Dinner #6:
Ratatouille & vegan macaroni and cheese
INGREDIENTS
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 onion, chopped
1 large carrot, chopped
1 eggplant, chopped
1 zucchini, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
2 Tablespoons tomato paste
1 can unsalted tomatoes, 28 oz.
1 Tablespoons Italian seasoning
1/2 teaspoon salt
Pepper to taste
Splash of apple cider vinegar
Water to cover ingredients
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1 box Amy’s vegan macaroni and cheese
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Add all the above ingredients to the instant pot and stir well. Cover the ingredients with water to the fill line. Close the top and set the vent to the closed position. Set pressure to 10 minutes on high pressure. Use the natural release function. Open and it’s ready to eat.
Cooking on the stove? Simmer soup vegetables about 15 to 20 minutes on the stove until fork-tender. But, ratatouille tastes great the longer you simmer it (up to an hour or more if you like). It makes a terrific leftover.
As soon as the soup is ready, microwave a package of vegan Macaroni and cheese (recommend Amy’s). No need for a salad; you’re getting your veggies already. Recommend a pear for dessert.
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Dinner #7
Beyond Meat or Impossible Burger & salad
INGREDIENTS
1 Beyond Meat or an Impossible Burger
Sliced onion
Sliced tomato
Iceberg lettuce
Sliced pickles
Organic ketchup
Whole grain bun
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Leftover soup?
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Let’s give the instant pot a break, shall we? Besides, by now you probably have some frozen portions of soups or stews you made earlier in the week. Feel free to grab one of those, microwave it (on high for a few minutes) for a side dish for your burger. Follow the directions on the beyond meat or impossible burger package, put it between the bun with some burger fixings, and enjoy. Try an apple for dessert.
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BONUS
“How do I prepare a kale salad?”
Kale is arguably the most nutrient-dense vegetable to eat, so it makes sense to learn how to prepare it so that you will be motivated to eat it more often as a salad, or cooked. It needs to be stripped from its stems and ideally should be massaged to soften it up and shrink it down (so you’ll eat more!). Here is a terrifically informative video on kale from “Simnett Nutrition” which can help. (Though the whole presentation is interesting, the kale preparation begins at 8 minutes and 6 seconds [8:06], if you’d rather skip ahead)
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Please be sure to read the singerstickynotes MEDICAL DISCLAIMER before following the advice presented in this post.
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