The Cursing Gourmet Tip of the Day:
One pot meals!
Everyone who likes to cook knows that the main benefit of one pot meals is that you only have to clean one pot at the end of the day. But if you hate cooking, or are just beginning to learn, you might not know this YET.
It is a fairly popular concept. If you Google “one pot meals”, TONS of recipes will pop up! (But Haters beware: Just because a recipe is a one pot meal doesn’t automatically make the prep/active cooking time minimal as well… So READ the instructions to figure out what kind of time is really involved.)
Coincidentally, my girl Caryn just had us over last night and fed us one of my FAVE one pot meals of all time, Slow Cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup.
Besides the amazing taste, this one pot meal is a true winner for any cooking hater because there is almost zero prep/active cooking time.
http://www.mamalovesfood.com/2012/01/tortilla-soup-recipe-for-crock-pot-slow.html?m=1
The actual recipe says to include shredded chicken, implying that you have to cook and shred the chicken first, but you can simply throw raw chicken breasts into the pot at the beginning, and 6-7 hours later, pull them out, pull the chicken apart with a fork, and pop it right back in.
There is nothing to chop with this recipe. There is nothing to brown first, THEN throw into the slow cooker (like when I make my beef stew.)
It’s one of the easiest, tastiest, large meals you can make. Period.
Enjoy! ?
(Recipe notes: we don’t put tortillas in the soup… We just throw some tortilla strips on top of each bowl at the end, like in the picture. Also, there is no need for an immersion blender, unless you really want to blend for some reason.)