Meals on the Road: Pressure Cooker Quinoa Buddha Bowl

For tonight's dinner, I wanted to make something fast, simple, colorful, and filling. I settled on a Buddha bowl - a bowl full of colorful grains and greens of various textures and flavors. In this case, the primary grain is quinoa; it's accompanied by sides of broccoli, tomatoes, and mini sweet potatoes. We made it using a combination of our Instant Pot IP-LUX50 6-in-1 Programmable Pressure Cooker and the microwave.

Ingredients needed (serves 2-4 people):

*1.5 cups dry quinoa (I used the tri-color quinoa from Trader Joe's)

*1 large carrot, chopped into small pieces

*1 cup chopped spinach

*1/4 cup chopped mushrooms

*2 cloves garlic, chopped

*2.5 cups water

*1.5 cups broccoli florets

*Handful of grape tomatoes

*Six small sweet potatoes (TJs sells bags of mini ones that cook fast in the microwave)

Cooking Instructions:

1. Pour dry quinoa into your Instant Pot bowl.

2. To the same bowl, add the chopped carrots, mushrooms, spinach, and garlic. Season with 1-2 tsp seasoning (I like TJs Everyday Seasoning). Add the water.

3. Close the lid, press "Manual" button, set the time to 5 minutes, and make sure the valve is closed.

Note: I used 2.5 cups of water instead of 3 cups (for the typical 1:2 quinoa to water ratio) because the veggies themselves contain a lot of water.

4. While the quinoa is cooking, place the sweet potatoes in the microwave (yes, we use the microwave a lot in the RV). I microwaved all of these together on high for 5-6 minutes and they were good to go, but it depends on the size of the potatoes you use and the specs of your microwave oven. Be sure to pierce each potato 2-3 times before microwaving.

5. Place the broccoli and tomatoes in a microwave-safe bowl. Add a sprinkling of seasoning and 1 inch of water. Cover. Microwave on high for 3.5 - 4 minutes.

6. Now assemble your Buddha bowls, like so (or not like so... You can arrange however you like.)

7. Season with hot sauce or other dressing of your choice and enjoy.