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Another pretty open week at work. Our original project is on hold for this week to focus on a separate training aspect of our project. We had the first session yesterday and I think it went really well! There was a lot of engagement and positive feedback, and we had some constructive feedback that will help us for the next few training sessions. After these sessions are done we’ll be transitioning back into the main project.

I’m not contributing too heavily to any main content right now, but I’m pulled in when we need to make any updates to the presentations and I get to participate in all of the meetings with the senior teams. In my downtime I finished up some online Green Belt courses and have been taking some LinkedIn Learning courses to both help my project and to develop skills. Long-term (for now) my interests lie in business development and strategy, or something that couples those two aspects. Some of the LinkedIn Learning videos I watched (and took notes on!) dove into this a bit more and gave more insight into the business aspects that I’m not directly interacting with currently. Even though I’ve got a bit more free time at work, my project is still a main focus and I don’t have the bandwidth to completely dive into a business-based project to get more hands-on experience. The LinkedIn Learning gives a good opportunity to learn some of those skills so I can refer to them in the future.

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This weekend I’m spending some time with my family. We bought matching glow-in-the-dark skeleton costumes for Halloween and are going to do some trick-or-treating. I haven’t gone trick-or-treating since middle school, maybe high school. I think it’s going to be a lot of fun and I’m really looking forward to it!

Other than that, there hasn’t been anything too exciting this week. I did a mini online shopping spree but ended up returning more than half of the items I ordered. The few pieces I kept though I really like. Since I moved, my wardrobe has been in need of some updating due to the change in weather. I’m trying to do this progression slowly so I don’t break the bank 🙂

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Now onto the food!

This week I made an Instant Pot Pumpkin Chili from the blog Noble Veggies. I’ve made chili a few times and I always love the variations I find. Most of the chilis I’ve made have been veggie based, but still filling and delicious. The Instant Pot Pumpkin Chili of course featured a special ingredient: pumpkin!

Pumpkin, like other types of winter squash, is high in fiber which supports digestive health.

Adapted from Dr. Axe

Having just driven 4 hours back to my apartment, I was most definitely not in the mood to cook or prepare food. Finding this recipe was great because it uses the Instant Pot! My prep work included cutting the zucchini, onion, and bell pepper, and mincing the garlic (with my garlic press). Other than a few minor initial steps, once these ingredients were in the Instant Pot, they were ready to go! Check out the post on The Noble Veggies blog to find the instructions!

As I said in my last post, pumpkin is not an ingredient that I regularly cook with. In fact, I think prior to my previous post, I had never cooked a recipe using pumpkin puree. I really wanted to try this recipe in the spirit of Halloween and fall, but have to admit I was a little nervous. In last week’s recipe, the taste of pumpkin was very subtle and added a small sweetness to the pasta. I was nervous that in a broth form the pumpkin puree would have a more powerful taste, and I’m not sure if that’s a flavor I like. It turns out that I had nothing to be worried about. Similar to last time, the pumpkin was subtle. I did taste it a bit more in this recipe, but it was a good taste and a great mixture of the different flavors.

This recipe cooked very, very quickly which makes it great for a busy night. I didn’t eat right away, but I kept the Instant Pot on the “Keep Warm” setting and the chili kept nicely. This recipe lasted me about 5 servings with a mix between small and generous portion sizing.

Another added benefit of this recipe is that the clean-up process is super quick. The prep work easily took me the longest amount of time. That can be cut down by purchasing pre-cut veggies at the supermarket.

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This was so easy to make, so incredibly delicious and a filling dinner. Best part was the minimal prep work and the minimal hands-on requirement. Please, please try this. It was so good! Some notes and things I learned:

• Add some extra goodies to each serving like avocado and shredded cheese

That’s my only note and lesson learned. Honestly this recipe was perfect. It’s a bit heavy so I can’t make this every week, but I would love to make this a part of my regular meal cycle.

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