Tag: glorious one pot meals recipe

Do Glorious One-Pot Meal Dinner Recipes Freeze Well?

October 1, 2012

Reader question: Do the recipes in your cookbook freeze well after cooking? I’d like to prepare double or triple recipes since I have a 6 quart dutch oven, but there are only 3 in our family. ~Molly S., Florida

Chicken Satay Glorious One-Pot Meal

Hi Molly! Thanks for checking out Glorious One-Pot Meals! There are a couple answers to your question, so permit me to ramble a little bit.

1. Any food that freezes well after being cooked should freeze well in the same fashion from a Glorious One-Pot Meal. For example, if you freeze cooked chicken breasts and you are happy with the outcome when you thaw them, then this will work for you.

2. Some GOPM recipes are more stew-like, with more liquid. Like any stew, these should freeze and thaw again without a problem.

3. Some ingredients don’t like to freeze after being cooked. Personally, I’m not a fan of the texture of frozen-and-then-thawed cooked squash. But if it floats your boat, then by all means, freeze away.

4. You don’t have to cook such large quantities. You can cook meals for three in a larger Dutch oven as long as you follow your nose to know when the meal is ready, rather than the time listed on the recipe. In other words, you don’t have to double or triple the recipe each time.

Fundamentally, GOPMs are not like soups, stews, casseroles, lasagnas, or other types of dishes that are great for making in large quantities and then freezing for later. Not only is there not enough liquid, but the layers are not congealed together into a solid mass, either.

However, because GOPMs are so much quicker and easier to assemble, you might find that you can put one together in the time it takes the oven to preheat to 450 F, making it almost as convenient as pulling a premade stew out of the freezer and thawing it.

One way I do use my freezer, though, is to keep it stocked with raw, frozen ingredients, because you can use any combination of fresh, frozen, raw, or canned ingredients in a GOPM without thawing! Check out the entire chapter in the cookbook about stocking your freezer and pantry for convenient cooking any time.

Avocado oil the olive oil of the Americas

April 29, 2012

Mexican researchers have recently proven that the nutrients in avocados fight free-radicals in the mitochondria. This is good news for anti-aging enthusiasts, but also for diabetics, hypertension sufferers, and others. Antioxidents from other produce are often unable to enter the mitochondria inside the cells, leaving free radicals continuing to do damage to the cell.

Christian Cortés-Rojo, a researcher at Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo in Morelia, Michoacán, México, emphasized that these findings reinforce the good reputation the avocado has when it comes to health maintenance. He points to pioneering research by Mario Alvizouri-Muñoz, a doctor at the Morelia General Hospital, who demonstrated that avocado lowers the blood concentration of cholesterol and certain fats that are increased in diabetic patients and that may lead to stroke or heart attack.

Sounds like it’s good for everyone, not just diabetics, et. al.

You certainly don’t have to tell me about the healthfulness of avocados! Avocados provide the good fats that those of us with degenerative nervous system diseases like multiple sclerosis need in abundance to help build and repair the nerves. Avocados were among the first foods I fed my babies because they are so good and good-for-you. As I’ve told many audiences in my speeches, you could live a long time on avocados alone. avocados health benefits

I often enjoy an avocado halved, sprinkled with sea salt, and scooped out with a spoon. My kids love it this way, too, though I’ll also dice it into salads or burritos. Mashed for guacamole, or blended for the base in a creamy salad dressing, are two more ways to use avocados. I even cook with avocados! Several Glorious One-Pot Meal recipe call for placing avocado slices inside the Dutch oven. As Amazon reviewer TacomaPat wrote:

“The California Chicken was wonderful. Who knew you could take a firm, ripe, sliced avocado and cook it at 450 degrees for 45 minutes and have it come out the same beautiful color and texture that it was when it went into the pot?”

Avocados are not only a delicious portable snack, but a true multi-use food with huge health benefits!

Can you prepare a Glorious One-Pot Meal ahead of time?

May 24, 2011

Reader question: Hi there! I heard you speak on Sunday at the library – great. I was wondering – can you fix the food in the pot and put in the fridge ahead of time and then put right in the oven when ready to cook? Or does it need time to warm up first before going in the hot oven? – Porter in Denver

Great question, Porter! In fact, the only thing that needs to warm up before you cook your Glorious One-Pot Meal is the oven. As you know, it is very important that your oven is fully preheated to 450 F before you put your Dutch oven inside, but the Dutch oven itself can easily move directly from your refrigerator into your oven without changing the amount of time the meal will need to cook.

Many GOPM cooks will layer the ingredients into the pot in the morning and then put it in the fridge until that evening when the oven is hot and ready to go. Just remember that if you are using any dry goods (i.e., pasta, rice, quinoa, barley, etc.), reserve the liquid needed to hydrate them and add it to the pot right before cooking.

Salmon-quinoa — Glorious One-Pot Meal with salmon, quinoa, sweet potato, zucchini, and mushrooms

Once I performed a cooking demonstration and afterward gave a full pot of raw food to my mother to cook as we had other dinner plans. She ended up waiting to cook the pot until the following evening. The recipe was Sesame-Soy Salmon with jasmine rice (it’s in my cookbook!). When I asked her how she liked the recipe, she answered, “It was delicious!”

And when I asked her how the rice turned out, she said,” Well… it was more of a rice patty than individual grains, but it was still delicious!”

So, if you’re preparing a GOPM in advance that contains a dry good, reserve the liquid to add at the last minute before cooking.

Oh, and one other thing: while your cast iron Dutch oven can go from fridge directly into the oven, it cannot go the other direction from being hot to being cold. Putting a hot cast iron pan into cold water is a good way to crack and ruin your pot, so be sure to always let your pot cool before cleaning it.

Glorious One-Pot Meals cooking demonstration video: Farmhouse Pasta

December 14, 2009September 6, 2019

Feeling weighted down by holiday cheer already? I feel like I’ve been eating chocolate non-stop since Halloween, I don’t know about you! Not to mention all the heavy, hearty meals we’ve been eating during our recent sub-zero weather.

Take a break from rich and heavy foods with this quick, easy, and delicious vegetarian one-pot meal: Farmhouse Pasta.

Mmmmm…. Creamy chevre goat cheese, lightly coating al dente noodles complimented by crisp-tender vegetables to make a colorful and addictive meal.

Make it a meat-lover’s dish by adding 1/2 lb. chorizo or other ground beef or turkey over the pasta when you load the pot.

Happy cooking!

PS: You’ll find this recipe in the current edition of Glorious One-Pot Meals. Get your autographed copy for that hard-to-shop-for person on your list!

Glorious One-Pot Lobster Tail Recipe

February 23, 2009

Our local grocery chain had a special for Valentine’s Day: 4-oz lobster tails for $4.99 each. I jumped on them and decided to toss them into a Glorious One-Pot Meal. It was so delicious, I decided to call the recipe Downeaster Lobster Tails, because it reminded me of the campus-wide lobsterbakes of my college days up in Maine. Mmmmm…. Good times and good food!

Shellfish like lobster, shrimp, and crab, turn out best in Glorious One-Pot Meals when they are raw and frozen going into the pot. This makes it easy to do what I’m best at: not thinking ahead to remember to thaw anything!

Even though this recipe is not in the new cookbook, my Twitter friends thought it sounded intriguing, so I’m sharing it here. Look for it to turn up in the next cookbook, whenever that may be!

Downeaster Lobster Tails (serves 2)

3-6 cloves garlic, minced
10-12 fingerling potatoes, scrubbed and diced (I used a mix of purple, yellow, and white potatoes)
2 4-oz lobster tails
1/2 lemon
sea salt and pepper, to taste
12-15 Brussels sprouts, halved from pole to pole
2 carrots, scrubbed and sliced into coins
8 oz. frozen corn kernels
1 stalk celery
2 3″-sprigs fresh rosemary

1. Preheat oven to 450F.
2. Spray inside of cast iron Dutch oven and lid with olive oil.
3. Scatter garlic across the base, followed by the potatoes. Set the lobster tails on top and lightly season with salt and pepper. Squeeze some lemon over all.
4. Load up the rest of the pot with Brussels sprouts, carrots, and corn. Set the celery stick on top along with the rosemary. Cover and bake for about 43 minutes, or until 3 minutes after the aroma of a fully-cooked meal escapes the oven.

Note: Although I included a celery stalk in the pot for the amazing flavor it imparts, I personally am not a big fan of eating celery and removed it before serving and eating. However, if you like to eat celery, then by all means gobble it up! I just thought I should explain why the celery is not in the photo here. 🙂