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Kristen Helmstetter

(Brisa Starr)

Search Results for: instant pot

Words To Live By

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I picked up a copy of Tim Ferriss’ latest book Tools of Titans, at the library, and I really enjoyed reading through it… learning about the “tactics, routines, and habits of billionaires, icons, and world-class performers.”

I’m always up for new tips and tricks to navigate life. I was a Tony Robbins fan twenty years ago, if that says anything. In fact, I still have my (really) old Get The Edge journal. That’s one I’ve kept. Tony Robbins helped me through some dark times in my life. ❤️ his work.

Anyway. Tools of Titans by Tim Ferriss.

One of the people featured in Tools of Titans is Jane McGonigal. She is a research affiliate at the Institute for the Future and the author of the New York Times bestseller Reality is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World.

Tim Ferriss asked her “What is something you believe that other people think is crazy?”

Her response moved me…

“That you should never publicly criticize anyone or anything unless it is a matter of morals or ethics. Anything negative you say could at the very least ruin someone’s day, or worse, break someone’s heart, or simply change someone from being a future ally of yours to someone who will never forget that you were unkind or unfairly critical. It’s so common today to complain or criticize others’ work on social media, or dogpile on someone for a perceived offense. I won’t do it. It’s not my job to be the world’s critic, and I’d rather not rule out any future allies.”

Those are some words to live by.

I highly recommend Tools of Titans. I have many pages bookmarked and I have taken lots of notes in my journal. You know, the journal I talked about in the last post? It’s a perfect example… I’m reading a book and there are things I want to remember. Things like awesome health tips, inspiration to live my best life, recommendations for other popular and potentially life-changing books to read.

If you want to get the book from the library, then be prepared to wait because there’s probably a wait-list. I could have bought the book, but that wouldn’t have been very frugal or minimalist given my current passion for both of those. And let’s not forget we are moving abroad next year. I’d rather make room for my Instant Pot in my luggage (oh I’m gonna try) then for a giant book like Tools of Titans.

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Recipe: Cream Cheese Radish Spread

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I would say that I like radishes quite a bit but I don’t love them. Though I try to get them in my diet when I can, because they’re pretty and supposed to be beauty foods.

I found three ways to increase my consumption of radishes. One way is in this (grass-fed) cream cheese spread. Yum.

Anther way is roasting them! And, one more way… throwing them in for Instant Pot recipes like pasta or soup. Seriously, just halve them and toss them into the Instant Pot when cooking other things. Cooked radishes are really great. The flavor mellows way down.

So back to this cream cheese recipe. It’s easy, pretty, and bright. Creamy with a bite to it. Best enjoyed on quality true-levain sourdough toast.

Thick sourdough. Yum.

Recipe: Cream Cheese Radish Spread

  • 1 cup diced radishes
  • 8 ounces (grass-fed) cream cheese (buy it or make your own like I showed you yesterday!)
  • 1 tablespoon lemon or lime juice
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
  • freshly ground black pepper, to taste (that’s my favorite pepper mill)

Combine everything in a bowl and mix well. Chill for a few hours before serving. Serve with raw vegetables or TOAST(!).

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Here’s How I Added Protein Without Meat to Dinner

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No meat, but has still protein. 
I usually like making pasta with grass-fed ground beef but there was none to be had tonight.

I wanted a protein boost in our dinner though. 

Here’s what I did.

I made pasta (gluten-free) with marinara (organic, from a jar) using my Instant Pot (as always – see how this 15-minute meal works here).

In my Instant Pot I also added spinach (some protein) plus Dr. Cowan’s Veggie Powders (1 tablespoon mixed) and butter to the noodles and sauce. (Don’t forget 1 to 1.5 cups water.)

I cooked it on LOW for five minutes. 

Once I quick released it, I added 6 to 8 tablespoons hemp seeds (protein) and raw mozzarella cheese (protein).

Pasta… come to mama.
Awesome.

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5 Breakfasts I’m Eating This Week

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Coffee. Of course. With everything.
Here are five breakfasts I’m eating this week. They’re easy, nutritious and help me feel great.

 

Chia Pudding.

Chia pudding with honey and nutmilk
I put a big scoop of nut butter in the blender. I added 2 to 3 cups of warm water, a pinch of sea salt, and big spoonful of raw honey (the warm water helps the honey blend). I blended it. In a mason jar, I had about a quarter cup of Chia seeds waiting. I poured the nut milk liquid in with the chia seeds (in the Mason jar). I put the lid on and shook it. I let it sit for a few minutes and shook again. Repeat shaking a couple more times. Then, I like to get it chilled in the refrigerator before eating (a few hours does the trick). This made about a quart of Chia pudding and it was delicious!

 

Hard-boiled eggs and an apple. 

Gorgeous rich-colored yolks.
I have hard-boiled eggs in my refrigerator at all times. Ever since I learned to cook them in my instant pot (pressure cooker) it is way too easy to not have these handy snacks on hand at all times. 

The best thing about making hard-boiled eggs in the instant pot is how easy the shells peel off and how consistently they cook perfectly.  

Sometimes I have them with hot sauce and a dollop of Greek yogurt, and sometimes I sprinkle on some horseradish powder from Dr. Cowan’s vegetable powders and sea salt.

 

Pressure cooked carrots with sea salt and butter.

Easy Instant Pot Carrots
Another favorite food for me to cook in the pressure cooker: simply carrots. I break the carrots in half if they are too long and I put them in the instant pot with a cup of water, and cook them for 3 to 4 minutes under high-pressure. 

As I’ve written before, the instant pot helps my family get way more veggies in our diet. Instead of having veggies one time a day at dinner, for example, we are eating them many times a day –> breakfast lunch snack and dinner! 

Once these carrots are done cooking, I take them out and put them in a bowl with grass-fed butter and sea salt. If I’m wanting protein with it, I grab hard-boiled eggs from the fridge, chop’m up, toss’m on top. 

 

Sourdough toast with smashed avocado and homemade pickled red onions.

F – this is good.
I have a serious love affair with sourdough bread. If someone were to offer me a slice of chocolate cake or a slice of sourdough bread with butter and sea salt… I would take the toast every time. 

I’ve grown very fond of this combination, where I toast a piece of sourdough bread, I take an avocado and smash it up with some sea salt, and top it with homemade pickled onions. Pickled onions are fabulous to have in the refrigerator to put on top of almost anything you’re eating, except maybe chocolate cake.

 

Kefir and cucumber smoothie.

Cooling and refreshing Kefir + Cucumber
This is an easy smoothie filled with probiotics. I simply take some grass-fed, whole-fat kefir that I buy from the store (or make myself), and I blend a cucumber with it. I also add a pinch of sea salt. 

It’s refreshing, light, and delicious. Perfect for these hot temperatures that will be coming with summer.

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Apocalypse Bean Soup Recipe

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Apocalypse Bean Soup

I’d written recently how we are finding ways to save money because we are headed toward the bliss of financial independence! Whoohoo!

One way to support our goal is being mindful when buying groceries. In my former days I had a habit of stocking up on things, food especially. In fact there was a time we had two refrigerator/freezer combos PLUS a huge stand alone freezer. Ya sure would think we were some hard-core preppers although we weren’t really. I don’t think?

These are new days though! And my passion for minimalism stretches to the pantry. It’s probably how I lost a couple pounds so easily. 

Well, we were running low on food yesterday and I wanted to hold off on shopping for a couple days. 

Challenge was that Mr. Pantry and Ms. Refrigerator looked like the apocalypse. 

Ok bean soup it is. I had a couple stalks of celery left, half a bell pepper, half a bulb of fennel, one red onion (a whole one! Yay!), plus…. 

drumroll please…. Dr. Cowan’s veggie powder. (That’s an affiliate code which doesn’t cost you anything extra but supports my writing. Thanks!) I’m so happy I have these veggie powders in my pantry for the times I run out of fresh veggies. Just add a tablespoon to amp up the nutrition and flavor of pretty much anything (including desserts!). 

I LOVE these Veggie Powders.

Plus, I added cumin, paprika, turmeric, salt, and black pepper. 

Oh. And butter! Gotta add grass-fed butter. 

Still though… pretty boring. It needed more heartiness. Hmmmmmm. 

I headed back to dive the depths of my apocalyptic pantry and refrigerator shelves. They were so empty I could practically crawl in them. (Tee-hee)

What’d ya know? 

I found a few things. 

I came out with sunflower seeds, raisins, mustard, and half a jar of pineapple salsa. I added them to the soup. 

Whoohoo!

My Apocalypse Bean Soup, actually, was hearty and damn tasty. I’m going to remember this recipe for future use. 

This recipe’s a keeper.

Oh… and OF COURSE I USED MY AWESOME INSTANT POT to make this (that’s an affiliate link too… same drill as above. Thank you!). 

I use my Instant Pot every day. It helps my family eat WAY more veggies. 

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More Things To Do Before Traveling Abroad (Digital Nomad, Expat)

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A few things I’m organizing before we move abroad that are still on my “to-do” list.
Travel Insurance:
We will definitely get travel insurance while we are abroad and I need to research the following companies. The first one, World Nomads, is very popular. Reading other digital nomads and expats I see that many get travel insurance but rarely use it as many places around the world have such inexpensive (and excellent) health care that they just pay for it out of pocket.

UPDATE: It’s December of 2019 and I’m updating this post which is almost two years old. We chose this insurance company and we’ve been very happy so far. Easy to sign up, good rates, and friendly agent.

Credit Cards
It’s smart to have a proper credit card for traveling outside of the US. I’ll be looking for one that has no international fees on purchases for starters. Also, though, if we find ourselves traveling to more places in a more frequent fashion (not our original plan because we envision Slow Travel), it could mean more air travel so a card that has nice travel benefits will be a good fit. I hear a lot about the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card for racking up miles and such. I think they also offer free Global Entry credit.
Organize flight options
After deciding where to land first… is it Playa or Tulum in Mexico? Or maybe central Mexico in the mountains? Guanajuato perhaps? I will look at flights and keep my eye on them to find the best prices.
There’s a lot written on ways to smartly buy airplane tickets that can save a lot of money. I have a whole research file on just that.
Furniture and Donations
Sell and donate remaining furniture over the next 14 months. Once our lease ends, store anything else at our moms’ houses.
Sell Mercedes now. Sell Prius May 2018.
Cell Phones and Technology
We need to figure out the best cell plan for the area. As of right now, we left expensive AT&T for Ting which has been awesome so far. Now that I pay for only what I use, I’m waaaaaaaaay more mindful of my cell phone use when not on wifi. It’s a benefit for many reasons: less screen time, safer driving, and more mindfulness overall. Once we move, I’m not sure if Ting will be the plan as I hear a lot about T-Mobile being a good choice (Ting might even use T-mobile towers?). We’ll see because anything can happen over the next year.
Passports / Visas / Global Entry
  1. Get Global Entry? I hear this can be useful. I need more research on it.
  2. Update Kamea’s passport later this year.
  3. Renew my passport? Greg’s?
  4. Make “Copies” and have “Originals” of marriage certificate, passports, air tickets, insurance, list of emergency contacts, driver’s licenses, bank cards and credit cards.
  5. Research visa options for where we want to go to plan how long we can stay. Mexico allows six months at a time.
Health
  1. Take a self-defense class, for peace of mind I suppose. Just seems like a smart thing to do.
  2. Learn advanced first aid.
  3. Check in with our naturopath before we leave to discuss our travel and get any possible medications or advice.
  4. Research area of travel for preventative health. For example, avoiding areas with tropical diseases or other potential issues as of now.
Language
Start learning some basic words in the language of our future destination. For us, that’s Spanish because we’re thinking Mexico is our first stop. I’m using Duolingo on my iPhone for now and I like it a lot.
Once we land there we will hire a tutor and go to a Spanish immersion school, but it’ll be helpful to know a few things before going.
Packing
I have an enormous list for packing which includes things for various destinations. I will whittle it down once I know for sure where we’re going. But for now, every time I think of something I just add it to my list.
My goal is to continue Minimalism as a guiding principle, but dammit I want to bring my Instant Pot. And chef’s knife (and sharpener and hone). And vitamins. And technology. And And And.

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