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One Pot Meals
What’s for Dinner? Quick & Healthy One-Pot Meals
By
Elizabeth Yarnell
www.GloriousOnePotMeals.com
Stephanie, a vice president for a venture capital firm in Denver, makes
it a priority to get home in time to have a family meal with her husband
and 1-year old son.
“I put a lot of energy into my job and then I get into my car at 5pm and
realize that I have no idea what I’m going to feed three people for
dinner in an hour,” she says. “That’s when a one-pot meal is just
perfect.”
One-pot meals can be the solution to quick and easy cooking when no one
really has the time to cook. While one-pot meals come in various forms,
they all have the common concept of putting a variety of ingredients
into a single vessel and cooking them all together. There’s no fretting
about getting the timing right so that your broccoli is perfectly
steamed at the same time as the pot roast comes out of the oven
medium-rare and the rice is ready to fluff, which is a boon for all
those who aren’t wizards at culinary planning. And, perhaps best of all,
rather than a sink full of dirty pots and pans to scrub after dinner,
there is only one pot to clean.
One-pot meals include everything from light stir-fries to hearty skillet
meals to heavy casseroles made with cans condensed cream-of soup.
Typically each forkful contains a little of each ingredient in the meal,
whether it’s in a slab form or bite-sized pieces. Crock-pot cooking,
where all the ingredients are placed in a crock-pot along with some
liquid and then simmered at a very low heat for 6-8 hours until
everything has disintegrated into a stew, is another popular method of
creating of one-pot meals.
The only downside to each of these methods is that they are usually not
a complete and balanced meal in and of themselves. Since the definition
of a complete, healthy meal includes protein, carbohydrates and
vegetables, stir-fries are typically served with rice, skillet meals
with pasta, casseroles with a salad, and crock-pot stews with bread.
Infuse it
To have a truly complete and balanced one-pot meal consider “infusion”
cooking. Infused one-pot meals are made by layering whole foods into a
closed container– either a foil or parchment pouch or a cast iron Dutch
oven—and then baking the container in the oven at a very high heat for
under an hour. These dinners can contain everything needed for a full
and balanced one-pot meal without having to prepare rice or a salad
separately.
Low in fat and high in nutrition, almost any ingredients can be added to
an infused one-pot meal to meet personal dietary preferences. Infused
one-pot meals prepared in a Dutch oven can even accept frozen elements
without any change in cooking time or flavor.
“I love that I can make my infused one-pot meal up in advance,” enthuses
Stephanie. “I put it all together in the morning, keep it in the fridge,
and then pop it directly into the pre-heated oven when I get home from
work. Instead of fussing over a hot stove, I get to play with my kid
while our dinner cooks. And they’re so healthy and tasty that my husband
loves them too!”
For the answer to the age-old question of “What’s for dinner?” consider
an infused one-pot meal for a healthy, quick and easy way to feed your
busy family. Here is a great recipe to get you started!
California Chicken
Servings: 2
Ingredients
1/2 cup couscous, dry
2-3 pieces chicken
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. lemon pepper
1 avocado, firm-ripe
2 tomatoes, cored, wedges
1/2 green bell pepper, seeded, cut in wedges
1/2 cup olives, small, ripe, pitted, sliced
1/2 onion, chopped
1 tsp. celery salt
1/4 tsp. basil, dried
1/4 tsp. marjoram, dried
1 Tbsp. dry sherry
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
Instructions
Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Spray the inside of a 2-quart cast iron
Dutch oven and the lid with olive oil.
Pour dry couscous into pot. Add 1/2 cup water and evenly distribute
grains across bottom. Arrange the chicken atop the couscous. Season
lightly with salt and lemon pepper.
Add layers of green peppers, tomatoes and olives. Again, season lightly
with salt and lemon pepper.
Halve, pit and peel the avocado. Then, layer it in slices or cubes on
top of everything. In a small bowl, combine the onion, celery salt,
basil, marjoram, sherry, and lemon juice and pour into pot over
everything.
Cover and bake for 45 minutes.
Tips
Be certain that your oven temperature is accurate and your oven is fully
pre-heated before putting the pot inside it. An oven thermometer can
help ensure your oven is on target.
For light and fluffy couscous, fluff it with a fork when serving and let
sit for a few minutes before eating.
Per serving:
Cal 566
Pro 36g
Carb 54g
Fat 24g
Chol 75 mg
Sod 1465 mg*
Fiber 11g
*More
than half of the sodium in this recipe comes from the celery salt. To
reduce the sodium, omit the celery salt and add one sliced rib of celery
at the same time as the green pepper. This will bring the sodium down to
683 mg.
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About the author:
Elizabeth Yarnell is a Certified Nutritional Consultant and the
author of
Glorious One-Pot Meals: A new quick & healthy approach to Dutch oven
cooking, a guide to a guide to preparing quick, healthy and balanced
one-pot meals. Visit Elizabeth online at
www.GloriousOnePotMeals.com to subscribe to her free newsletter. The
Glorious One-Pot Meal cooking method is unique and holds US patent
6,846,504.
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