There was a sweet potato eyeing me from my produce basket for the past few weeks, so last night I decided to put it to good use and build a meal around the delightful orange flesh.
Luckily, with the Glorious One-Pot Meal patented cooking technique, it’s easy to throw together whatever you have around and come out with something lip-licking good. Last night was no exception.
I started with Organic Coconut Oil, one of my current obsessions. After receiving a bad rap for decades, it’s finally been recognized that coconut oil has remarkable health-giving properties. It has a low smoke-point, too, so if you’re concerned about carcinogens created by smoking oil, switch to coconut oil for peace of mind. Of course, smoking oil is never a problem with GOPMs because you need oxygen along with high heat to cause this reaction, and GOPMs are cooked in a closed vessel.
So I slathered the sides and lid liberally with coconut oil. Besides offering non-stick properties, I love the subtle flavor it imparts to food. Especially to sweet potatoes, which came next in the pot. I scrubbed them well, removed the eyes, and sliced them into thin julienne sticks before scattering them in a thick layer across the base of the pot.
On top of the sweet potatoes, I placed individual frozen boneless, skinless chicken breasts. I covered them with a 6-oz can of chopped green chiles and a bit of sea salt, then threw in the rest of my vegetables: an undrained can of chopped tomatoes (ok, I know tomatoes are a fruit rather than a vegetable, but bear with me), florets of purple cauliflower that I saw at the store and couldn’t resist, and trimmed and halved Brussels sprouts.
I set a couple sprigs of fresh thyme and sage on top, just because I happened to have them around and I thought they’d lend a nice touch. I was right: the whole thing was scrumptious. I have to confess, I licked my plate clean of the coconutty juices that I spooned over the food from the bottom of the pot while serving. The sage, especially, was a nice touch.
My kids did pretty well with it, too, both loving the chicken and purple cauliflower. My daughter liked the sweet potatoes, but not the Brussels, while my son must have eaten at least 8 whole Brussels sprouts but only the required bite of sweet potatoes “to taste.”
