Blog

Instant Pot Breakfast Rice

February 5, 2019 by Holly Yzquierdo 9 Comments

Oatmeal is our typical quick and easy breakfast but when I’m in the mood for something a little different I choose Breakfast Rice.

I like my Breakfast Rice with the same type of flavors as my oatmeal, apples, cinnamon, chia seed and a bit of maple syrup.

Short grain brown rice is my favorite tasting rice. It’s got a slightly nutty flavor and stays bulkier than quick cooking rice. I feel like it’s more filling but you could switch it up and try your favorite type of rice, you will need to adjust the cooking time though.

Since short grain brown rice takes longer to cook than many other types of rice, I like to cook it in my Instant Pot. The best thing about the Instant Pot is being able to get everything started and walk away until its done. No need to stand and watch or stir throughout the cooking time. Just set it and come back when its ready.

This recipe does double duty though because I cook the rice plain, then add the other ingredients after the rice is cooked. I’ve made it the other way and cooked it all together but this way, I can have a batch of cooked brown rice for later, if I double the recipe. Also, when you add the apples and raisins before cooking, they get too soft for my preference. I like my apples and raisins uncooked.

This Breakfast Rice also tastes excellent the next day. I heat it up quickly in the microwave but you could reheat it in on the stove or in the Instant Pot. The only thing I do when I reheat it is add more liquid, usually rice milk but any plant-based milk would work. The rice will absorb any extra liquid when you store it.

My boys love their Breakfast Rice swimming in rice milk. They always add a lot of extra milk to their oatmeal too.

There are many other options besides apples and raisins. Dried cranberries, blueberries, ginger, nutmeg, pears, pretty much anything you can imagine.

Instant Pot Breakfast Rice

Ingredients

2 cups brown rice
4 cups water
2 cups rice milk
1 Tbsp. cinnamon
1 apple, diced
1/4 cup raisins or other dried fruit
maple syrup to taste
1 Tbsp. chia seeds, optional

Do

Pour brown rice and water into your Instant Pot. Press manual and adjust time to 22 minutes.
Once done, allow your pot to come to (NPR) natural pressure release for 10 minutes. Then release any remaining pressure.
If you doubled your recipe to have brown rice for dinner, take it out and set aside now. If not, skip this step.
Pour in your milk, cinnamon, diced apples, and raisins. Stir together.
Top with maple syrup to taste and chia seeds.

Serve

This breakfast is perfect for people who want a warm, hearty breakfast that will keep them full all morning. If you have more time you can try the Stove Top Version of Breakfast Rice! It’s even creamier!

Have you tried Breakfast Rice? What do you think? Share your favorite additions to this dish!

Family Update

February 2, 2019 by Holly Yzquierdo 43 Comments

It’s been over a year since I’ve been actively blogging or creating recipes. As you may know, my son was diagnosed with leukemia in February 2018 after months of unexplained medical issues that no one could diagnose.

Steven the Brave Dec 2018 after getting home from 11 day hospital stay.

Leukemia is not caused by lifestyle choices. It was not caused by anything we did and nothing could have been done to prevent it. There are different types of leukemia and the type our son has, has a 90% survival rate with traditional treatment.

Steven the Brave with Nurse Kate — Steven would help his nurses draw labs.

Cancer Treatment

Over the last year, he has handled his treatment really well. There have been ups and downs, with many complications. We’ve lost track of how many hospital stays he has had, almost always for over a week, sometimes almost a month.

He is in remission but has 3 years of chemo to go. Since leukemia is a blood cancer, treatment lasts for years. He takes daily oral chemo and monthly IV chemo.

Chemo is brutal. He still deals with nausea, fatigue, neuropathy, dizziness and pain. More than that, it takes a toll on the whole family. It’s the hardest thing we’ve ever faced and it’s not over.

We tried to keep everyone up to date at Steven the Brave’s Facebook page.

Steven the Brave with pup — Steven loved visiting with Therapy Dogs at the hospital. It was always a highlight.

New Normal

We are slowly trying to find a semblance of “normal” life. It’s a new normal, nothing like the life we lived before but we choose to move forward.

Our son is allowed to go back to school and is no longer confined to our home, doctors offices and the hospital. He can walk again! No need for a wheelchair or a walker. Our work schedules have mostly gone back to normal.

My hope is that I can pick up where I left off blogging; creating new recipes and helpful tips that new and established plant-based eaters will love. I had also been working on several projects that I hope to finish up soon.

What are your Plant-Based Needs

As I get started again, I really want to hear from you! What can I do to help you be more successful with plant-based eating? Do you need quick recipes, family-friendly recipes, meal plans, snacks, or something else entirely?

My Son Has Cancer

March 21, 2018 by Holly Yzquierdo 37 Comments

I was hoping to write this post after getting a good report next week but I feel like I can’t wait.

If you’ve been here for a while you may know that last summer my son started having pain in his feet. During fall, the pain got worse until he couldn’t stand or walk. Even after a hospital stay we didn’t know what caused it.

Last month we learned that he has leukemia. He was handling treatment well until this weekend. We had to rush him to the ER and he is still in ICU.

As you can imagine this is really hard. We are exhausted and spend every moment trying to take care of our son. We’ve had a lot of people reach out and help and we are forever grateful.

I don’t know when I’ll return to creating recipes. My weekly newsletter is on a bit of a break too. You are welcome to follow along on our journey on my sons Facebook page. I’ll get a website up soon so I can update there.

If you want to help you can pray! We need it! A friend set up a fundraising page too if you’d like to help with the finances. We’ve missed weeks of work and will appreciate anything you feel led to do.

Favorite Instant Pot Recipes

January 9, 2018 by Holly Yzquierdo 2 Comments

You know I love my Instant Pot! I do more cooking in my Instant Pot than my stove and oven combined. It’s such an easy way to cook because it’s mostly hands off. You get it going then walk away.

This page contains affiliate links.

I bought my Instant Pot 3 years ago when I went back to work full time after being a stay at home mom and blogger. I knew that our life was about to get crazy and I would not be able to prep foods throughout the day or simmer a pot of beans all afternoon.

I bought the 6 quart 7 in 1 Instant Pot because it was the only one (at the time) that made yogurt. Now there are a bunch of choices when it comes to choosing an Instant Pot but I’ll cover that a different day.

My Favorite Instant Pot Recipes

I like to cook single ingredients foods a lot, beans, rice, potatoes, are my top three. We have a lot of other favorites too!

Refried Beans

I’ve been making what I like to call unfried beans for years. Since no one knew what unfried beans were, I call my Instant Pot version Oil-Free Refried Beans. These are perfect on nachos, bean burritos or with your favorite taco recipe. I like Instant Pot Lentil Tacos.

Minestrone Soup

Minestrone Soup is my favorite soup but it’s also labor intensive. All that chopping! Well, being able to toss it all in my Instant Pot makes up for it. We love this soup and this version has some short cuts to make it easier. I think you’ll love this Instant Pot Minestrone Soup as much as I do!

Mexican Casserole

I’ve made this recipe for years! First in my oven, then I created a stove top version, then a Crock Pot version. Finally my Instant Pot Mexican Casserole was born. This easy recipe allows you to use uncooked rice and beans. Pay attention to the tips in the recipe, old beans can give you trouble. If you use something other than black beans you’ll need to adjust the cooking time.

Chickpea and Rice Soup

Even though this recipe provides stove top directions also, the Instant Pot Chickpea and Rice Soup is my favorite version! This recipe gives a nod back to the chicken and rice soup my husband used to love but cleans it up for a plant-based version.

Steel Cut Oats

Yes, you can cook delicious steel cut oats while you get ready in the morning. Make this easy Instant Pot Steel Cut Oats recipe then add your favoirite toppings. Mine are cinnamon and diced apples but fresh berries are amazing too. You can also try my Banana Nut version.

Pasta

Yes, I’ve successfully made pasta in the Instant Pot. It’s a bit trickier and I haven’t had success with gluten-free pasta, only wheat pasta. Short, sturdy noodle shapes are important for getting great pasta, I like spirals, riggitoni, or penne as favorites. Check out my recipe for Instant Pot Pasta.

Do you have a recipe you’d like to see made in the Instant Pot? Let me know and I’ll work on converting it. I’ve got more great Instant Pot recipes and I plan to add more favorite Instant Pot recipes soon!

One Day Only!

January 1, 2018 by Holly Yzquierdo Leave a Comment

I’m so excited about this deal I’m sending you a bonus email! Whether you are new to plant-based eating or not, the biggest obstacles are planning and actually preparing healthy food. That is why I have to share this deal!

This page contains affiliate links.

Today only, you can get the New Year’s Day Detox Bundle from Meal Mentor!

Meal Mentor is the meal planning membership by Happy Herbivore founder Lindsay S. Nixon. She helps you by planning all your vegan meals for the week. Each week, we give you 16 recipes and a shopping list. Most recipes each week can be made in 15 minutes or less. They always use simple and affordable ingredients.

You choose which recipes you want to eat. The shopping list makes getting groceries easy. That way you can skip a recipe if it you aren’t a fan. I know! I really need to learn to like kale.

You don’t have to spend your nights and weekends figuring out what’s for dinner. Take advantage of the Meal Mentor’s bundle and make 2018 the healthiest year yet!

What’s in Meal Mentor’s bundle?

2018 Detox Plan
1-year Annual Membership to Meal Mentor
Best of 2017 cookbook
Weight-loss Booklet

When you take advantage of the Meal Mentor’s Annual Meal Plan Membership Sale you get a year’s worth of meal plans 75% off! That’s 52 weeks, 52 meal plans, new recipes each week for only $179! (retail $728!)

Got Questions?

Every recipe is vegan (no eggs, no dairy)!

Every recipe is oil-free, gluten-free, soy-free, and nut-free! (And no hard-to-find ingredients. Ultra easy and fuss-free!)

Worried you won’t enjoy it? Get a 30 day money back guarantee if you are disappointed!

TODAY ONLY! Join now and get this deal before it’s gone!

My son is in a wheelchair

December 18, 2017 by Holly Yzquierdo 26 Comments

Life has been crazy! You may have noticed that I haven’t been updating this website much over the last few months. I’ve been diligent to keep the weekly newsletter and Facebook going but it’s been pretty quiet here.

Photo from this summer.

I’ve written about my youngest son before. He is the one who had a bunch of food intolerances and a peanut allergy. Thankfully, a few years ago when we went for his annual allergy visit we were amazed to discover he was no long allergic to peanuts. His food intolerances were better too.

Now that same cute kid is in a wheelchair.

We still don’t know what exactly is wrong. He started having foot and ankle pain this summer. Sometimes he would limp and other times he was fine. We figured it was growing pains.

After school started this fall it got worse. He got to where he hobbled around. I got calls from the school nurse almost every day.

We saw specialists and got a lot of testing, no one could figure it out. Of course, all of that took weeks. Wait a couple of weeks for an appointment, then a week for the test, then a week for the reslults. Then one week he couldn’t put weight on one of his feet. Then next week, the other foot followed.

He is a seemingly healthy 6 year old who can’t stand. After hearing our referral to a neurologist would take months we went to the ER. They were wonderful and ran every test they could imagine. After 3 days they sent us home because they couldn’t figure it out.

That was a month and a half ago.

Before we got foot rests for the wheelchair.

We are thankful to have a great family friend and chiropractor who is helping us work with our family doctor to get answers. They are kind and patient and want to help our son and us deal with this crazy situation.

We are hopeful that the next few weeks will reveal some answers. I won’t share indepth medical information about my son online because he isn’t old enough to consent to that but I wanted you all to know why I’ve been absent.

My son has missed a lot of school, and continues to do so because of multiple appointments for physical therapy, doctor visits and tests. My husband and I have missed a lot of work too.

We are so thankful for all of you who come to this blog looking for recipes and meal plans. Every time you visit it helps my family because of the ads on this site that generate revenue. Even though you didn’t know it, your visit helped meet a need. Thank you!

Some of you saw my posts on Instagram and offered to pray. We thank you! We know that are thousands of people praying for him, many are people we’ve never met.

Friends and family have asked how our son is doing. Most of the time he is doing really well. He instinctively took to his wheelchair immediately and that made things easier. Other times he struggles, as we do, to deal with this. Just imagine how you would feel if you couldn’t stand or walk and didn’t know why or how to fix it. It’s a lot to deal with.

It may be a while before I’m back consistently. Follow me on Facebook and Instagram and I’ll continue to share recipes, tips and updates. You can get plant-based tips every Saturday morning by signing up for my weekly email.

« Previous Page

Instant Pot Breakfast Rice