Bean and Legume

You can control the amount of heat in this meal with the types and amounts of chile peppers. I like the spectrum of flavors that results from mixing roasted with fresh chiles. To roast a chile pepper, you can treat it as you would a marshmallow when camping, using tongs or a long fork to rotate it over a low flame on a gas burner. However, a safer chile-roasting method is to place the chile on a baking sheet and slide it under the broiler for just a few minutes. When charred on all sides, place the chile in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. The steaming will loosen the skin, making it easy to remove. Peel, stem, and seed roasted peppers before using. See page 168 for a discussion on preparing tofu.

This is a complete and hearty vegetarian meal. To make this meal vegan, just omit the feta cheese or use a soy or rice cheese substitute. Try this dish with mozzarella cheese for a different flavor combination.

A vegetarian dish brimming with Indian flavors, this recipe reminds me of a meal I ate in a London restaurant after enjoying a rip-roaring rock musical in Soho. I hope you have as much fun eating this one as I did that night! For an even healthier meal, use parboiled and precooked brown rice (labeled “instant”) with the same amount of liquid.

Eggplant with garlic sauce is one of my favorite dishes at Chinese restaurants. This version tastes slightly different because it is not wok-fried; it is much less oily than the traditional version but has a similar sweet/spicy/salty sauce. I like to use sushi rice in this recipe, but any kind of white rice or even parboiled precooked brown rice will work. Use this recipe to make almost anything with garlic sauce—broccoli, tofu, chicken, or whatever you like. Edamame are soybeans. The Japanese traditionally like to munch on these, boiled and salted, as a healthy source of protein. If you aren’t familiar with jicama, try it—it is a light, crunchy, slightly starchy root vegetable. It peels easily with a vegetable peeler and is wonderful raw in salads or as a crudité. If not using jicama, substitute carrots or celery in thin strips or a four-ounce can of sliced bamboo shoots, drained.

This Glorious One-Pot Meal is a take on a traditional Indian dish. Consider changing it up with chicken, sweet potatoes, and broccoli in place of chickpeas, white potato, and cauliflower. Turmeric has anti-inflammatory properties and may be helpful for people suffering from internal swelling of joints or nerves, as with fibromyalgia, arthritis, and multiple sclerosis.

Sometimes I like to enhance the Thai flavor of this recipe by adding a few sprigs of mint to the pot. If you can find Thai basil, that would add even more authenticity To make this even spicier, increase the amount of sweet chili sauce by 1/2 teaspoon. Find sweet chili sauce along with fish sauce in the Asian section of the grocery store or at an Asian market.

This recipe reminds me of lightly cooked and dressed salads shared under the endless skies above the Greek isles. I spent one summer during college working in a restaurant on the island of Rhodes and found many opportunities to savor the Greek flavors. To truly get into the spirit, you’d have to serve dinner with candlelight, plenty of retsina, and lots of laughter! For firmer, more al dente lentils, use 1/2 cup dry lentils and 1 cup of liquid instead of canned.

Try this recipe with steak or tempeh or even veal. Spoon any residual broth over the chicken before serving and remember to remove the rosemary sprig.

I became a green chile addict when I lived in New Mexico. Home in Colorado, I buy them by the freshly roasted bushel in the fall and freeze them in one-quart plastic bags so I can always get that green chile fix when I need it. This is a great meal to make when you don’t have any fresh vegetables in the house. Stock up on the canned or frozen ingredients and you’ll be able to whip up this Southwestern staple in a jiffy. You can use bone-in or boneless, skin-on or skinless, fresh or frozen chicken pieces; they will still take the same amount of time to cook. You can control the amount of spiciness by the type and amount of chile peppers or salsa you decide to use. My personal favorites are Hatch green chiles, but any chile works. Or use your favorite salsa.

With its basic mix of flavors, this recipe is great for kids and other picky eaters. This could easily work as a quick, last-minute dinner of frozen ingredients: a bottom layer of frozen hash browns, then boneless chicken pieces frozen individually, and half a bag of frozen peas and carrots. From the pantry, add dried mushrooms presoaked for about ten minutes in boiling water, then drained. No advance planning needed! For a bit more flavor, drop in a few halved garlic cloves underneath and around the chicken. Consider drizzling about two tablespoons of your favorite Italian vinaigrette over the chicken instead of salt and pepper for a totally different and inviting flavor combination.

I like to think of this recipe as comfort food without all the pots and pans. In the Western tradition, rosemary has traditionally been a symbol of friendship, love, and remembrance. In Chinese medicine, the evergreen herb is used as a warming remedy. Either way, this meal is guaranteed to bring a sense of warmth and security to all who partake. To prepare acorn squash, cut off the top and bottom ends and cut in half. Then scoop out the seeds and strings with a spoon. Cut into wedges and peel. Or cook with the peel on, as it will easily come off once cooked. The deep orange of this squash boosts your intake of vitamins A and C. If using very large potatoes, cut into one-inch cubes to be sure they cook through. The smaller the cubes, the more thoroughly they will cook.

Not everyone wants to cook for an army on the holidays, but there is something about having a traditional holiday meal that evokes a feeling of celebration. This is a great solution to getting the dinner with all the trimmings, yet without spending hours and hours in the kitchen or facing a week of leftovers. Make this any time of year you feel like re-creating these favorite holiday tastes. The turkey, cranberries, and green beans can all be used fresh or frozen (without thawing) with no change in cooking time. Dried cranberries work, too. In a pinch, substitute pulpy orange juice for the orange marmalade. You’ll just end up with more sauce at the bottom of the pot.

Paella is a traditional Spanish dish of saffron-infused rice cooked with a variety of meats and vegetables. It varies from season to season and from region to region in Spain. A good paella often contains some crunchy, toasted rice on the bottom of the pot as a counterpoint to the smooth grains. Typical paellas include a mix of proteins such as chorizo sausage, shrimp, and mussels along with chicken. Feel free to mix and match, using a total of 1/2 to 3/4 pound. This version takes advantage of the springtime arrival of fresh peas and morel mushrooms. To add a bright note to this recipe, include the grated zest of half a lemon sprinkled on the mushroom layer. Consider substituting white wine for some or all of the liquid.

Convert this recipe to vegetarian by replacing the chicken with cubes of extra-firm tofu or a 15-ounce can of drained lentils or other beans. Try substituting sweet potatoes for the rice and include eggplant cubes for a truly Indian flair. Notice this recipe does not use water to hydrate the rice because the coconut milk in the curry sauce is enough liquid. I find very little difference between regular and light coconut milk in Glorious One-Pot Meals, so use whichever you prefer. You can find red curry paste in the Asian section of your supermarket along with fish sauce and coconut milk.

Moroccan food has a distinct earthy flavor from the combination of cumin and turmeric. Cinnamon also is a characteristic element here, and raisins add a touch of sweetness. This recipe also works well using lamb or turkey.

My husband declares this dish “insanely good,” and he’s right. While satay is traditionally broiled or grilled, this Glorious One-Pot Meal version retains all the flavor and skips the hassle of threading skewers, basting, and hovering over a grill. I sometimes use bouillon cubes to make stock just because they store well and allow you to make any amount you need. Look for low-sodium bouillon cubes in the health food store. Of course, you can use prepared vegetable or chicken broth instead. Make this recipe hot and spicy by adding a teaspoon of Asian chili sauce or minced hot pepper. Or make it vegetarian by substituting tofu for the chicken. (Be sure to weight the tofu and then blot it with paper towels to remove excess liquid.)

An exceptionally speedy method of producing a healthy and nutritious meal from frozen ingredients, this baseline recipe can be used with a variety of frozen foods. Be sure to keep all ingredients frozen until ready to add to the pot. Try it with frozen fish fillets instead of chicken breasts and Cajun seasoning or salsa instead of teriyaki sauce. In fact, almost any sauce you would use when grilling, such as a barbecue-type sauce or oil-and-vinegar-based salad dressing or marinade, also works well as a flavoring in a Glorious One-Pot Meal. I keep bags of frozen vegetables in my freezer for convenient Glorious One-Pot Meals. I often mix and match frozen corn, peas and carrots, broccoli, and green beans. Frozen hash browns become similar to chunky mashed potatoes when cooked this way. To make your potatoes smoother and creamier, add 1/4 cup of liquid, such as water, wine, broth, or even milk.

For rarer meat, chop the potatoes, carrots, and cauliflower into smaller pieces, as they will cook more quickly that way and become tender before the meat is cooked through. Try this recipe with steak tenderloin or a turkey tenderloin if you don’t want lamb. Use boneless lamb fillets in this meal as bones just take up precious real estate in your pot. Trim the meat well of fat. Sun-dried tomatoes come either packed in oil or dry. Either is fine to use here.

This is a variation of a traditional Indian curried lamb dish called roghan josh. Typically this dish calls for mixing heavy whipping cream into the tomato sauce, but this version retains all the taste without the extra saturated fat. If you want, add two tablespoons of heavy whipping cream or milk to the tomato sauce and cook as directed. Turkey tenderloin or beef stew chunks make wonderful substitutions for the lamb in this recipe. The lentils can be omitted entirely, or you can use couscous instead (see the chart on page 8 for recommended couscous and liquid amounts). The lentils in this recipe will emerge al dente; for softer lentils, use canned and omit the half cup of water.

My kids love the sweet and spicy flavors of this meal. The pork together with the potatoes, carrots, and green beans offers a kid-friendly, well-rounded dinner loaded with nutrients and low in fat. Look for boneless center-cut pork loin, 1/2 inch thick. Or substitute a turkey tenderloin, a salmon fillet, or even chicken for the pork.