OP: One pot holiday meals

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In: Life on the Bluffs, Opinions

4 December 2018

Travis Boren

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    The great thing about cooking one pot meals is that it makes it easy to study while cooking, because most of it is set a timer and wait, maybe stirring every once in a while. It also does not require more than a kitchen knife and a pot to make everything.

 

Split Pea Soup

Ingredients:

    • 2 cups of split peas
    • 4 medium potatoes, chopped into chunks
    • 3 carrots, chopped
    • 4 stalks of celery, diced
    • 3 cloves of garlic, peeled and minced
    • 1 medium yellow onion, chopped into small strips
    • 6 cups of a stock of your choice
    • Salt to taste
    • Pepper to taste

 

  • Optional — two teaspoons of coriander
  • Optional — two teaspoons of dill

 

  1. Wash the vegetables under warm water and clean them.
  2. Throw some salt, pepper and optional seasonings into your pot with the onions and garlic. Add about a one-fourth a cup of water or two tablespoons of any kind of oil.
  3. Cook the seasonings for about five minutes on medium heat.
  4. Throw in your stock and continue cooking for another five minutes on medium heat just to warm the stock all the way through.
  5. Add the potatoes, split peas, carrots and celery.
  6. Bring the heat up to high until the liquid starts to bubble, then bring it down to a medium-low heat.
  7. Cover, and put a timer on for 60 minutes and stir every 15 minutes to make sure the split peas do not burn on the bottom.

    This will give you a hearty meal that will serve about 5 to 6 people will little effort. The hardest part is preparing the vegetables beforehand. If you dip some crusty bread in this you will thank me later.

    The next dish is super flexible, because it’s more of a base and it is easy to add anything to it, but it requires a bit more attention.

 

One Pot “Risotto”

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups of dry rice
  • 4 cups of a stock of your choice
  • 2 cans of pinto beans, drained
  • 1 tablespoon of dill
  • 1 tablespoon of coriander
  • 1 tablespoon of butter or dairy free alternative
  • 1 bag of frozen spinach
  • Salt to taste
  • Pepper to taste
  • Optional — Ground meat of your choice
  1. Brown some ground meat in the pot with some salt and pepper. I preferred turkey because it is more lean. Transfer it to a bowl temporarily
  2. Put the stock and rice into the pot. Bring the stock to a boil and then reduce to a low heat.
  3. Cover and cook the rice for about 10 minutes.
  4. Add the beans, optional meat and the rest of your seasoning to the pot.
  5. When most of the moisture has been absorbed by the rice, add the spinach.
  6. When the rice breaks down a bit and is a bit mush, then the meal is ready.

    This risotto-esque meal works as a great base for meals, and there’s a lot that can be added to it, and there will be plenty of leftovers as well.