The "Show Us What You Got" One Pot Cooking Challenge (NOT a Contest!)

Here's a crock pot one: two 15 oz cans of Van Camps pork and beans (I think 15oz), two packages of beef hot dogs (about 2 pounds cut up), some ketchup or tomato sauce, onions, garlic, maybe a little liquid smoke and if not that, then some Worcestershire sauce, some BBQ sauce if I have any, a little mustard, and brown sugar to taste. Maybe some smoked paprika and a little touch of salt, and whatever other spices appeal to me at the time.

Turn the crock pot on low and let it cook for 6 to 8 hours.

This doesn't really seem like cooking to me, though.

American goulash. I forgot the diced tomatoes but whatever. Anyway, it made 5 large helpings and I put four away in freezer bags to be saved for later.

Beanie weenies. Quick, easy, and one pot.

Place in pot: one can of favorite brand/variety of baked beans, 4 hot dogs sliced into coins.
Add to pot - all to taste: mustard, ketchup, brown sugar and/or molasses (I like black strap), and liquid smoke (hickory or mesquite).
Mix well and heat.

(Not a great picture)

Cafeteria Noodles! For this go-around - Easy Chicken and Noodles

In a large pot, put in 1 10.5-ounce can of Cream of (whatever) soup. Don't dilute it! For this dish, I used 1 can of Cream of Chicken and Mushroom. (Yes, this is a single can of mixed flavors. However, I have added all kinds of soup, including beef consume and added a 1/2 cup of cream in place of 1/2 cup of liquid. You can make this whatever flavor you want.)

Next add 6 cups of liquid. I typically use water with enough Better-than-Bouillon to equal 6 cups of stock. I like adding some vegetable BTB and some chicken BTB when making chicken and noodles this time. (Bouillon cubes work as does regular stock, but I will use 1/2 the number of bouillon cubes (example 3 cubes for 6 cups of water).) Mix well until the soup clumps are gone.

Add 16 ounces of egg noodles. Stir. (It does not matter if the noodles are not all covered at this point.) Bring to a boil and simmer for 3 minutes while stirring several times. Cover the pot and turn off the heat. Let the covered pot simply rest for 10 minutes stirring once after 5 minutes or so.

When the liquid is mostly absorbed, stir in 1 stick of butter (4 ounces) until melted, and add whatever else you plan to add such as leftover rotisserie chicken or cooked broccoli, fresh herbs or fresh cracked pepper...anything.

Cover and let rest another 5 minutes. Serve. This reheats well in the microwave.

One pot. Store that pot in the fridge with leftovers. Scoop on paper plate to reheat and you still have only one pot used!

@Kathleen, how many servings or cups does that recipe make?

@taxlady 16 ounces of dried pasta generally equals about 8 servings. I would guess it would yield a cup to a cup and 1/2 of noodles - depending how packed they are and how fluffy the noodles you get. Mind you, I can easily eat 2 cups of these noodles - especially if I have nothing else with them!

You can also adjust down by using 12 ounces of dry noodles and reducing the water/stock by 1.5 cups, and keep every thing else the same.

Kathleen said:

Cafeteria Noodles! For this go-around - Easy Chicken and Noodles...

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Sounds like a winner! Oh wait, this isn't a contest.

Not a low calorie... low fat, low carb, low sodium dish. I think it is what is referred to as "stick to your ribs food." That's the kind of food I craved after a day of skiing, before I got old to ski.

CD

@caseydog And done in 20 minutes with minimal babysitting.

@Kathleen

Kathleen said:

However, I have added all kinds of soup, including beef consume and added a 1/2 cup of cream in place of 1/2 cup of liquid.

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Did I understand correctly that this was a substitute for a can of "cream-of..." soup? Did you have to make any other adjustments?

taxlady said:

@Kathleen


Did I understand correctly that this was a substitute for a can of "cream-of..." soup? Did you have to make any other adjustments?

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I typically make it with a cream of something soup. I made a beef noodle dish once and used beef consume and then I substituted a bit of cream (1/2 cup) and only added 5 1/2 cups of liquid added to give it some thickness...and creamy feel. It's a pretty forgiving recipe, but some combinations did not work for me. Like Cream of Celery, which I generally like, did not make my noodles what I had hoped they would be. Of course, I was much younger then....maybe I would like it now!

First try with it, I recommend using cream of chicken or cream of mushroom. You don't even have to add any kind of protein and make it as a side dish.

No pics, but last night I was lazy and made myself sunny side up eggs with bacon and tomato.
I always do that in just 1 skillet.
Fry bacon, add sliced tomato, 2 eggs just on top of that.
And to make it worse, I eat straight out of the pan

Badjak, that's NOT bad, it's very efficient! You saw that can of beans? Only thing to wash there was the spoon. OK, I do rinse cans before throwing them out.

msmofet said:

(Not a great picture)

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Helluva lot better than mine. If I hadn't known what I cooked, I wouldn't have known what I cooked. And I don't think my pic looks appetizing at all. Whereas, your beanie weenies, now, I could (and almost did) lick the monitor.

rodentraiser said:

Helluva lot better than mine. If I hadn't known what I cooked, I wouldn't have known what I cooked. And I don't think my pic looks appetizing at all. Whereas, your beanie weenies, now, I could (and almost did) lick the monitor.

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Thank you. That makes 2-3 servings. I have half left.

Shrimp and veggie stir fry.

I found a good deal on wild caught USA shrimp. They were on the small side, but good. Bite size. The veggies were sweet onion (Texas 1015*), bell peppers and mushrooms. Seasoned with salt, pepper and diced garlic. Stir fried in avocado oil.



CD

* Texas 1015 onions are a lot like Georgia's Vidalia onions. Developed by Dr. Leonard Pike at Texas A&M University in the 1960s.

Wellllllllllllll... I don't have a pic yet, but for Sunday dinner this weekend I'm making Johnny Marzetti. It's traditionally made with macaroni. But I don't have enough macaroni, so I'm making it with penne pasta.

I will try to take a pic, if my feeble brain doesn't forget.

Another favorite dish in our house is one-pot spaghetti. My son loves it, so I make it at least once a month. I don't make it more often than that because we both agree that we don't want to burn ourselves out on it to where we won't want it anymore.

Well, okay... my Johnny Marzetti recipe isn't the traditional type (at least I didn't know that until recently) that's baked in the oven with cheese. My mom always made it in a big pot on the stovetop. It was basically macaroni (or some other type of pasta) combined with a sauce made of ground beef, lots of onions, green bell pepper, a can of diced tomatoes, etc, to make a tomato sauce. Then you mix the cooked pasta into that, stir it all together and voila!

Anyway, I made mine with penne pasta (as I mentioned above) and it was super delicious. And my feeble brain remembered to take a pic.

I forgot to take a picture....
I threw yoghurt in a baking dish, added tamarind, chili paste, extra garlic, pickling spice, onion and onion leek.
Mixed it all up.
Then 2 chicken breast pushed into the mix, with the skin sticking out.
Sliced tomato on top (but not covering the chicken).
In the oven for 45 minutes or so.
I ate it with bread.
It turned out very nice.

I've been wracking my brain, knowing I have an excellent recipe for here. Finally remembered!

This is from America's Test Kitchen, Cooking for Two 2012. I've been making it since about 2013.
Partial cook your potatoes, then add your fish and finish.
Truly a one pot/pan/dish meal and delicious.
In these pictures I've added brussels that were not in the original recipe. Brussels I added with the potatoes. Another time I did with broccoli but only with the finishing time with the fish. The denser the vegie the earlier you add, etc.
I've only ever made it for me, so of course 2 is easily done. I imagine the recipe can be increased to 3 or 4 without too many adjustments. Actually coud just do it in 2 pans. Easy peasy.

Made this last night. Very tasty, was a huge tenderloin, I'll get 3 meals from this. The zucchini was also a monster from which I'll also get 3 meals. Just did a partial on the pan. One russet potato. Scored the tenderloin and brushed with a Balsamic Glaze. Quartered potato, rubbed with a tiny bit of oil. 350 F for 10 minutes.

Becasuse the zucchini was so heavy I gave it more cooking time.
All back in for another 10 minutes.
Finally added the apples and cranberries for another 10 miutes.

Actually after 5 minutes I removed the meat to rest and put the pan back in to finish up.

Middle third cut of the tenderloin, almost over cooked!

aaaand Plated !
Not only one pan but cooked in 30 minutes - on the table in another 5. Yeah, maybe 10 minutes to get started, took me almost 10 minutes to find the ruddy Balsamic Glaze hiding in the pantry.