Wonderpots or One-Pot Meals

[Kathleen]

In searching for meals that could be frozen or made ahead, I stumbled on "Wonderpots." These are basically one-pot meals where the grains, protein, and veggies/everything else are tossed in and it cooks until done with very little extra care needed on behalf of the cook. I love that all of these only use one pot. Period.

In the past week, I've made three different Wonderpots. The first was an excellent blend of greens, artichokes, mushrooms, and pasta,and had a really nice sauce. The second was a mix of sausage, mushrooms and pasta with a tomato sauce. Also delicious.

Last night, I made a One-Pot Enchilada pasta dish. Always one for making changes, I doubled the amount of pasta, used penne pasta instead of rotini, used very lean ground beef, and doubled the amount of broth. Like the others, it was really good! In fact, it was so good, we only had two bags of leftovers to freeze instead of three. My only hit on this recipe was that someone said it was "Homemade Hamburger Helper, except better." I believe that hamburger NEVER needs help.

With my work schedule, I'm definitely going to keep looking for more recipes like these. I've found a promising recipe that has rice rather than pasta that I hope to try in the next few weeks.

Honestly, add a salad and a small bit of bread and it's a pretty good meal.

I'd love to hear of other one-pot meal ideas.

[Sharptastic]

Looks delicious I need to try this!

[Kathleen]

It's sooo easy! I found tons of ideas on Pinterest. Also, I recently made a 1 pot rice dish that is baked. Not nearly as fast, but clean-up was a snap.

[FrankZ]

Originally Posted by Kathleen

but clean-up was a snap.

You say that cause I scrubbed the casserole dish...

[Kathleen]

[CWS4322]

There are a number of German recipes for "one-pot" meals.


Green Bean Stew - Bohnen Eintopf - Recipe for a Hearty German Bean Stew
Soups and Stews


BTW, every time I see the word "one pot" I think "eintopf." When I was an exchange student in Germany, I learned how to make a number of "one-pot" meals.

[Kathleen]

Thanks, CSW. I love soups and stews. The colors in the picture of the recipe to which you linked are beautiful!

Most of the "wonderpots" I've found are neither soupy nor stewy. With winter almost hear, both are most welcome though!!!

[CWS4322]

Kathleen--not all were soups or stews. The French country cooking also involves a lot of one-pot meals (sauerkraut-sausage-juniper berries) in the oven was one of the dishes my roommate from Rouen, France used to make quite often. My FAVORITE German one-pot meal is: Grünkohl mit Pinkel.

The difficulty is definitely finding a recipe to make Pinkel. There are several on the 'Net. I just haven't gotten around to making Pinkel yet in my sausage-making adventures. This dish was often served in a shallow bowl on top of a slice of dark farmer's bread. I can check my German cookbooks for one pot meals. I know we made a chicken one with potatoes, carrots, and peas. We also made another one with fish, rice, carrots, leeks, and green beans.

[PrincessFiona60]

Originally Posted by FrankZ

You say that cause I scrubbed the casserole dish...

She snaps her fingers and you come running? Niiiiice!

[Kathleen]

CSW, I'd love more one-pot recipes! The link you gave only had soups/stews for me, but had soups I had not considered before. I love ideas.

PF, my finger-clicker doesn't work. Hmmm.