One-Pot Meals

This hearty dinner in a bowl is a great comfort after a hectic day, especially since you don’t need to chop anything to prepare it.

For dinner in a flash, start with the very thin slices of lean beef known as minute steaks. It does take more than a minute to cook them—but not much!

While the steak is simmering, prepare instant brown rice to serve with the sweet and spicy sauce. Round out the meal with tossed salad or your favorite green vegetable.

Cubes of beef are browned and simmered with colorful vegetables and thin noodles in this tasty, soupy Asian stew.

This recipe boasts a Japanese marinade and a slightly sweet glaze. Like many other Asian stir-fries, it goes well over steamed brown rice.

An almost-effortless dish, this stew requires no peeling and little or no cutting!

This simple dish is as pleasing to the eyes as it is to the palate. Savor it as is or over whole-grain toast or rice.

Although this dish is delicious if served immediately, the chicken and noodles absorb even more flavors if the mixture has time to stand for a while.

A quick sauce of beef broth, balsamic vinegar, and caramelized brown bits left from cooking the tenderloin tops a stack of baby greens, garlic toast, and sliced beef—an elegant presentation.

This basic stir-fry recipe gives you many options. You can choose between the Asian and Italian flavorings (see Italian Stir-Fry on page 147), and you can vary the meat by replacing the chicken with round steak, pork chops or tenderloin, firm-fleshed fish, bay scallops, or tofu. Save even more time by using precut vegetables or frozen mixed vegetables (no need to thaw before cooking). Even if you make only half this recipe, you’ll probably want to make the entire amount of sauce.

Rich-tasting, thick, and so flavorful—no one will miss the meat in this stew.

If you want to, you can stretch this hearty southwestern stew by serving it over brown rice. Put about a half-cup of cooked rice in each bowl, then top with the stew.

This eclectic pilaf is a real time-saver. You need to spend only about five minutes to get it going, then you can leave it alone to cook while you do other things—and you’ll have just one pan to wash.

Probably one of the easiest soups you will ever make, this smooth, creamy delight is perfect whether you’re entertaining or curling up in front of the fire.

Fresh herbs add a lively taste to this refreshing, light soup.

I love using tiny potatoes and baby carrots, which makes this recipe insanely easy. That said, sometimes tiny potatoes cost a minor fortune. If that’s the case, save money by using larger boiling potatoes. You’ll have to spend time cutting them into cubes, but it might make sense. You don’t have to use the nonstick foil here if you have a really good nonstick roasting pan, but it makes cleanup almost nonexistent, so I swear by it.

Gina: Every once in a while, my girls and I get on a little veggie kick, and they convince me to take a break from meat (amazing what a cheerleader uniform—theirs, not mine, hon—can do to you). This hearty, spicy chili is so satisfying that even Pat—my steak-and-potatoes man—loves it. The secret ingredient, bulgur (also called cracked wheat), thickens the stew when cooked and helps create a “meaty” texture. The addition of canned fire-roasted tomatoes and an unusual mix of spices gives this chili an exotic aroma and plenty of depth. More often than not, this chili is a family affair—Spenser and Shelbi help me cut up all the colorful vegetables and tell me about their respective days, while Pat makes the cornbread that goes so well with the stew, sets the table, and privately mourns the meat that he will not be having for dinner!

Pat: Creamy, smoky white beans, simmered with some kind of pork fat, are a Southern staple, especially when served with a wedge of warm cornbread. This white-bean soup is finished with kale, a nourishing green that’s packed with vitamins A and C (the leaves are so pretty that Gina uses the green and purple varieties to decorate her party trays). Smoked sausage makes a great addition to this soup, and what we do then is leave out the bacon and add 1/2 pound of sliced smoked sausage instead. (You’ve heard the expression “an eye for an eye” in Memphis we say “a pig for a pig.”)

Goulash is a Hungarian stew made from cuts of beef that contain lots of collagen, which melts during cooking and thickens the liquid in which it’s cooked. That’s why this recipe calls for beef shank: it’s rich and meaty but doesn’t have the fat content of other cuts of beef, such as chuck. Paprika and onions are the other ingredients that give this dish its signature taste. A little yogurt to finish (instead of the traditional sour cream) provides additional richness without driving up the calorie count.