Instant Pot Italian Soup (School Lunch Ideas)

It's Back To School crazy!

✅Lunches are packed🥪

✅Clothes are laid out👗

✅Kids are bathed🛀

✅Mom is P U M P E D! 💃🏻🙌🏻

If you’re needing some lunch inspiration I’ll be sharing 10 days of lunch ideas over on Instagram.

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I love making simple soups and sending them in a thermos for my kiddos. And they love it too. I have never met two kids who love soup like they do. They crack me up. This soup is pretty much a refrigerator clean out soup. Whatever produce you have in the fridge that needs to be eaten before it goes bad. I always cringe when I have to toss out produce. It breaks my little fruit and veggie lovin' heart. Not to mention, it's pretty much like tossing cash in the trash. #Yikes So before it's too far gone, bust it out and throw it in this soup. Don't be afraid to get crazy, ya'll. Go with the flow and taste as you go. It's pretty hard to mess up. The other exciting benefit of this dish? It's dinner tonight and lunch tomorrow! Boom! Two birds with one stone, my friends! Can I get an AMEN up in hurrrr? Okay, okay here are the deets below.

Ingredients
1 cup organic whole wheat elbow pasta

1 1/2 lbs grass fed ground beef or ground turkey (We use venison)

4 cups broth (chicken or beef)

1 15oz canned tomato sauce

1 15oz canned diced tomatoes

1 medium zucchini, cut and halved

1 medium yellow squash, cut and halved

3 medium carrots, peeled and sliced into coins

2 stalks of celery, sliced thinly 

1 yellow onion, diced

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 tablespoon oregano

1 tablespoon basil

Salt and pepper to taste

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Optional: Fresh Parsley, Cheese of your choice

Turn your Instant Pot on sauté and brown your ground meat on high. Once your meat is browned add your veggies and seasonings, and sauté all together for 3 minutes. Then add your broth, tomato sauce, and diced tomatoes. Turn off sauté setting. Turn Instant Pot on high pressure and set timer for 4 minutes. Place lid on and seal. It will take about 15 minutes to come up to pressure. And then the 4 minute timer will start. When the timer is done let it naturally release for 10 minutes. Once the 10 minutes is up, very carefully manually release the remaining pressure. Enjoy with chopped fresh parsley! Store leftovers in a airtight container in the fridge.

To heat up for tomorrow's lunch: Good Morning! Take left overs from the fridge and heat up in a small pot on the stove. If it seems a little dry, sometimes the noodles will soak up all the liquid, add a little water. Put warmed soup into thermos. And your kids will have a yummy lunch to warm their belly's!