Easy One-Pot Meals

Easy One-Pot Meals

Meals that make it easy to cook at home–whether for yourself or a crowd

Tips for Starting to Cook at Home

If you’re trying to eat healthier this year, congrats! Learning to cook new recipes is a great first step. Cooking at home doesn’t have to be hard–in fact, the easier you can make it, the more likely you are to follow through in doing it. How do you make it easier? Here’s a few tips:

1. Plan ahead. Make 10 minutes each week to sit in front of recipes and pick out a few things for the week. Then, look around your kitchen and locate what you already have so you can make a list of what you need. Make this list accessible somewhere so you don’t have to remember it and can add to it easily. You might make several lists if you go to the store daily.

2. Know your energy levels. When planning meals, try to account for nights during the week when you might have less time or energy, and plan easier meals or leftovers for those nights. Use nights when you have more time or weekends to try new recipes or experiment with old ones.

3. Use your space and time wisely. Some things like leafy greens, peppers, and herbs have to be used quickly or they go bad. When deciding whether to get fresh vegetables or frozen, remember that frozen vegetables can keep up to 6 months in the freezer and are actually picked at the peak of ripeness than fresh because at farms like Stahlbush, they are processed onsite and don’t need to account for travel and warehousing time. Using frozen veggies also allows you to be more flexible–if you end up eating out one night or have additional leftovers, you can easily bump a meal to the next week without anything going bad.

4. Keep track of the recipes you love. Whether you go old school and print recipes out, pin them, or add them to an app, having a collection of recipes that work great for your tastes, budget and skill level is super helpful. You can refer to this list as you plan for the week ahead and know that you’re drawing from recipes you like, you’re comfortable making, and may already have some of the ingredients for, which makes shopping and cook so much easier, and makes for one less decision in your week! Over time, you’ll build up a bigger repertoire and can introduce new recipes as you’re comfortable.

Creamy Corn Pasta

Stahlbush Super Sweet Corn adds crunch and zing to this midweek staple! This Creamy Corn Pasta is an easy dish to always have on hand for a last-minute meal, or if you want to put off going to the store one more day. It’s also vegan, but can easily be made conventional with two easy swaps. Use any kind of pasta you have on hand, or have fun using a fresh new shape.

Greek Orzo Chickpea Skillet

This Greek Orzo Chickpea Skillet is a fun recipe with so many different flavors that work really well together, and it’s ready in less than 30 minutes! There are quite a few ingredients, but since most are canned/frozen, like garbanzo beans, olives and sun-dried tomatoes, it’s one you can easily bump from week to week. Stahlbush Island Farms Spinach really shines here, adding some crunch and color.

Jalapeño Cheddar Cream Corn

This Jalapeño Cheddar Cream Corn skillet is a great side for taco Tuesday, makes a great game day dip paired with chips, or you can eat it on its own without needing anything else. Even if you don’t love spicy food, jalapeños are easy to customize to your heat preference. Canned jalapeños are often labeled by heat levels, but you can also use fresh and make them milder or spicier by either removing the veins and seeds or including them. Use Stahlbush Super Sweet Corn or substitute in half Stahlbush Crazy Corn for a little extra color and crunch!

Spinach Artichoke Pasta

Our Spinach Artichoke Pasta is a favorite because it’s so quick, easy, and healthy. It’s also endlessly customizable! Throw in chicken one week, cherry tomatoes and olives the next week; mozzarella and capers the next week. You can plan this meal for any busy weeknight and know dinner will get done because it’s so quick to make. Since the ingredients are either canned or frozen, it’s flexible and can be pushed from week to week as needed. It’s also done in less than 30 minutes–what more can you ask for!

Skillet Chicken Fried Rice

This Skillet Chicken Fried Rice is such a classic, and you can customize it to the veggies you love, whether it’s Stahlbush Green Peas or Classic Mixed Vegetables. You can also swap out the protein for whatever you have on hand, or make it vegetarian!

What are Your Favorite One-pot Dishes?

Do you have a favorite one-pot recipe? Wish we would create an easy version of an old favorite? Let us know in the comments!