Life has continued to be busy around here. Paint is going up on the walls of the new house as well as the showers almost being finished. I’m also tackling an oil change with a very difficult to remove oil plug. I am a girl who works on her own cars. Granted, don’t ask me to rebuild an engine, but smaller jobs I do myself. I have this knowledge because my dad made it a requirement for driving my own car. He taught be all the basics and I had to be present AND helping whenever the car needed a repair. Today I’m very glad he made me do all that. The sad part is even thought I have all this knowledge, I still have to send Tony to the repair shop or to buy a car. As a woman, I am still treated like I have no clue. The only way around it is to game the system. As far as the oil change, I HATE when professionals change the oil. They wreck the fasteners by stripping them with power tools which also makes them too tight. To change the oil this time I had to buy extractor tools. I am not letting another “pro” touch this car again. A 30 minute job takes way too long with all of these issues.

So I’m keeping this recipe fairly simple. I am starting with a recipe from Cookilitous for Simple & Easy Instant Pot Quinoa & Chickpeas Khichadi. I am going to make my own spin on this because I can use the veggies I have on hand and add some meat. Khichadi is made all over India and can have as many variations as there are families. I love these kind of recipes. They are fun to play with.

Here are the original stats:

Here’s what I changed:

• I replaced the chickpeas with chicken to increase the protein.
• I replaced the vegetables listed in the recipe to ones that increase vitamin’s A and C.
• I increased the servings from 4 to 8 to lower the calories.

Here are the final stats:

Here is the final recipe:

Quinoa and Chicken Khichdi

Serves 8

• 1/2 cup Quinoa
• 1/2 cup red lentils
• 1 tbsp unsalted butter
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 1/2 inch ginger, peeled and minced
• 3-4 cloves garlic
• 1 onion
• 1 jalapeno
• 2 pounds chicken breast cut into 1 inch pieces
• 8 ounces baby spinach
• 4 red bell peppers, chopped
• 1 tsp turmeric powder
• 1 tsp roasted cumin powder
• 1/2 tbsp curry powder
• 1 tsp paprika
• salt as required
• 3 1/2 cups water
• cilantro for garnish
• 1 tbsp lemon juice

1. Turn on the Instant Pot in saute mode. Add the butter and once it melts fry the cumin seeds.
2. After 10 seconds, add minced ginger and garlic along with chopped jalapeno and onions. Saute till the onions turn translucent.
3. Then add the bell peppers and chicken. Cook until the chicken is browned.
4. Drain the quinoa and lentils, then transfer it to the instant pot.
5. Add turmeric powder, paprika, curry powder, and roasted cumin powder. Add water and stir it all together.
6. Close the pot. Select Manual mode and place the pressure valve in sealing position. Cook on high pressure for 6 minutes. Release pressure naturally for 7 minutes and then do a quick pressure release.
7. Open the lid, garnish with chopped cilantro and lemon juice.
8. Serve