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So this probably belongs in the soup category, but seriously took me so little time to throw together that I felt it was more valuable in the quick dinners arena.

Yikes, friends! It’s been a while since I’ve posted. Work’s been crazy, and then I took off for a very much-needed vacation. Of course, post-vacation re-entry is never, EVER, easy, and I do believe the level of difficulty is definitely proportionate to the level of relaxation achieved on said vacation. After 13 days of beautiful beach time and Spring Break bar-hopping in Key West with the hubs, I touched down in Manchester at 11:50 Monday night. Then awaiting baggage and parking shuttle, and the 45 minute drive home put me in bed at roughly 1:20 am. With a 5 am wake up for work. Yes, you read that correctly. Five. A. M. And I knew before I even left for my trip that my return home day menu would entail my typical breakfast shake, but I would have to resort to purchasing something at work for lunch and I’d just need a quick snack before and after zumba. I ended up having an 11+ hour work day, and did not make it home in time for zumba. Jet-lagged and exhausted, I could have very easily just decided to buy lunch for one more day because “tomorrow will be better”. Nope. Because I decided when I embraced this clean-eating lifestyle that it’s so easy to make up all kinds of excuses to wander off the path, and as valid as they may be, none of them are acceptable to me anymore. I whipped myself up some scrambled eggs for dinner and then got to work on this soup from stuff that I had at home. Nope, I definitely didn’t have the energy to go to the grocery store. But I knew that I could get away with a small batch of soup, since I only had 3 days of lunches to prepare for. And once again, words cannot express how happy I am with my Instant Pot. It has saved me from myself and bad choices more times than I can count already and I’ve only had it for about 5 months.

So here’s the recipe, friends. Only about 15 minutes hands-on, and a home-style soup with the flavor of all-day cooking was ready in 30 minutes. This made enough for four 2 cup servings.

• 1 pound ground turkey
• 3 tablespoons dried minced onions
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 1 can diced tomatoes with juice
• 1 can fire-roasted diced tomatoes with juice
• 2 cups carrot shreds
• 3 cups chopped spinach
• 1 can French-style green beans, drained
• 8 ounces water

In the Instant Pot, add both cans of tomatoes, carrot shreds, spinach, green beans and water. Cook on pressure cook setting 15 minutes. Brown ground turkey with olive oil, onions and garlic. Add to vegetable mixture in Instant Pot once cycle has finished and steam has released. Allow to stand 5-10 minutes for flavors to blend and develop.

As always, sky’s the limit with something like this. Your taste buds and what you have on hand is pretty much the guiding light here. I used my seasoned salt blend when I browned the ground turkey, but if you’d rather use some Italian seasonings or maybe kick up the heat with some chili powder or cumin, go for it. Got some other frozen veggies on hand? Throw ’em in. Unless it’s peas and I’m invited for dinner. We’ve been through this. You could also throw in some cooked brown rice or brown rice pasta if you have some leftovers to use up, to add some good carbs to the mix, make it a bit more filling and stretch the number of servings.

Try it out, and let me know what you think!