Category: One Pot Meals

Chicken Fajitas

Mexican food is one of my family’s favorites. We have a local Mexican restaurant that we love, but I’ve made a conscious decision to not eat out as much. But – today, I was craving Mexican. I decided to make chicken fajitas.

I started with 2 chicken breast, cut into thin strips – you know, just like the fajitas you get at your favorite restaurant.

I was only adding peppers and onions to my fajitas – I used one red bell pepper, one green bell pepper and one yellow bell pepper – along with one yellow onion. I sliced them all into thin strips.

I decided to use my cast iron wok to make the fajitas – but, you can use any large skillet. I started by spraying some avocado oil spray in the wok. I added my chicken and seasoned with 1/2 of the seasonings that the recipe calls for.

I cooked it just long enough to brown the chicken. I, then, removed it from the wok.

I sprayed a little more avocado oil in the pan and added in my vegetables, along with the remainder of the spices.

I stir fried them until they started to soften.

I added the chicken back in the wok to finish cooking.

Since I was using a cast iron wok, I used that to my advantage and spread the chicken and vegetables out – allowing the pan to give a good sear the chicken and vegetables.

After stir frying the chicken and vegetables for a bit, I used a lid from a large skillet to cover the pan – and allowed it to cook for another 15 minutes or so.

After removing the lid, the chicken fajitas were ready to go.

I ate mine on flour tortillas, topped with sour cream and salsa.

Chicken Fajitas

2 chicken breasts, cut into strips
1 red bell pepper, cut into strips
1 green bell pepper, cut into strips
1 yellow bell pepper, cut into srips
1 onion, halved and sliced into thin slices
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp chili powder
Avocado oil spray

Tortillas
Sour cream
Salsa

  • Prep chicken and vegetables
  • In hot pan (I used my cast iron wok), spray avocado oil
  • Add in chicken, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp cumin and 1/2 tsp chili powder and cook unitl browned (don’t cook all the way) – remove from wok
  • Add more avocado spray, if needed
  • Add in vegetables, and remaining spices cook for about 10 minutes
  • Add chicken back into the wok
  • Cover and cook for approx 15 minutes – stirring occassionally
  • Serve with tortillas and toppings of your choice
by Michelle

Breakfast Skillet (Wok)

I woke up this morning wanting something hearty for breakfast. I decided I would make a breakfast skillet – but, I decided to use my cast iron wok.

The dish consisted of russet potatoes, an onion, 1/2 rope of smoked sausage, parmesan cheese and seasonings. I used salt, pepper umami seasoning, Italian seasoning and fresh basil.

I started by dicing the potatoes and onions – obviously, the smaller you chop your vegetables, the quicker it will cook. I actually cut my potatoes a little larger – which allowed for a ‘bite’ to them when the dish was done. It was delicious!

Then I sliced up half of a rope of smoked sausage – feel free to add more if you like more protein in your meal. In hindsight, I almost wish I had used the whole thing – not for me, but I think my family would have enjoyed it more with a bit more protein.

I put the potatoes in the wok and added about 1/3 cup of water (I know that seems odd, but I thought I’d try to cook the potatoes a bit before adding everything else and it worked out well). Basically, I tossed the potatoes around until the water had evaporated. About half way through, I added 1 tbsp of butter and allowed it to melt through. I also added the salt, pepper and umami seasoning at this time.

After cooking the potatoes for about 10 minutes, I removed them from the pan. I then added in 1 tbsp of butter and let it melt.

I then added in the onions and cooked them until they started to soften.

The next thing to go in the wok were the sliced pieces of sausage. The sausage is done, so I just cooked enough to warm through.

I then added the potatoes back in the wok and cooked, stirring frequently, for another 15 minutes. I turned the flame off at this time.

Finally I topped the mixture with grated parmesan cheese and allowed the cheese to melt, as well as a little bit of fresh basil. Even though the flame is off, with my cast iron wok, it was more than warm enough for the cheese to melt.

Breakfast Skillet (Wok) – serves 4

4 russet potatoes, cubed
1 onion, chopped
1/2 rope smoked sausage
1/2 tbsp umami seasoning
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp Italian seasoning
2 tbsp butter
1/3 cup grated parmesan
1/3 cup water
fresh basil to garnish

  • Chop potatoes and onion
  • Slice sausage
  • In hot skillet, add water and then the potatoes – cook until potatoes are fork tender, at end add 1 tbsp butter, salt, pepper and umami seasoning and stir through
  • Remove potatoes from pan
  • Add remainging tbsp of butter and let melt
  • Add in onions and cook until they start to soften
  • Add in the sausages and warm through
  • Add the potatoes back into the wok
  • Season with the Italian seasoning and cook for about 15 mintues – stirring frequently
  • Turn off flame and then top the hash with parmesan cheese and allow to melt
  • Finish with fresh basil, if desired
by Michelle

Creamy Chicken and Cannellini Bean Soup (Instant Pot)

This is a super quick recipe for a busy weeknight. And, that is just what I needed after arriving home late from work!

The first step is to cook your chicken. I cook mine in the instant pot and shred it in the same pot. I detailed how to do this, in this post.

As the chicken was cooking, I prepped the poblano pepper, shallot and cilantro and set it aside.

Once the chicken is done, and you’ve safely released the pressure, you just need to dump the remaining ingredients into the instant pot. Replace the lid and set the instant pot to the soup/stew setting, low pressure and 5 minutes.

Shallot, poblano and green chilis
Fresh cilantro

After your 5 minutes are up, do quick release and remove lid. The final step was to add in the cream (you can totally skip this part if you don’t want a creamy soup).

Easy peasy – a quick and delicious weekday meal!

Creamy Chicken and Cannellini Soup

2 chicken breasts, shredded
8 cups of chicken stock (including stock used to cook the chicken)
3 cans cannellini beans
1 – 7 oz can green chilis, medium
1 poblano pepper, diced small
1 shallot, diced small
1 tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped
juice of 1 lime
1 tbsp cumin
1/2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp salt
1 cup heavy cream or half and half

  • Cook and shred chicken in the Instant Pot (use 1 cup of chicken broth to cook the chicken)
  • Chop poblano pepper, shallot and cilantro
  • Once chicken is cooked an shredded, add in the remaining ingredients, all except the cream, and put lid back on instant pot
  • Set instant pot to soup/stew setting, low pressure and 5 minutes
  • Once the timer goes off, release pressure and add in cream and stir through
  • You can add jalapenos, more lime juice, cheese or chips, if you like
by Michelle

Beef and Mushroom Stroganoff

I think we all know that I love a creamy, decadent comfort food. Stroganoff certainly fits that bill. It is pretty easy to cook and it makes a lot – so lots of leftovers (another thing I love). I suppose you could use whatever pasta you like, but I chose egg noodles.

I started by finely dicing 1 shallot. If you don’t have a shallot, you could substitute an onion – maybe 1/2 of a small onion.

Then I sauteed the shallot and garlic for about 5 minutes.

After sauteing the shallot and garlic, I added in the mushrooms and cook them until they were starting to get soft (these mushroom slices were pretty big, so it was about 10 minutes).

The next thing was to add in the beef. I just cooked the beef until it was browned on all sides and added in my seasonings.

Then I added in the liquids, starting with the beef stock (you could use chicken stock or vegetable stock, but the beef stock will give you a richer flavor). I love the stocks from Trader Joe’s.

After the beef stock, I added the heavy cream and worcestershire sauce and brought everything up to a boil. I allowed the mixture to cook for approximately 20-30 minutes. The sauce will reduce and thicken.

At the end, add in the sour cream and mix through well.

Toss in the egg noodles and mix through.

Beef and Mushroom Stroganoff

1 lb egg noodles
1 lb cubed beef
8 oz sliced baby bella mushrooms
1 shallot, diced finely
1 tbsp minced garlic
2 cups beef stock
2/3 cup heavy cream
1/8 cup worchestershire sauce
8 oz sour cream
1 tsp umami seasoning
1 tbsp butter
1 tsp olive oil
1 tsp salt

  • Boil egg noodles to al dente, set aside
  • In large skillet, melt butter over medium high heat
  • Add in shallots and garlic, cook for about 5 minutes
  • Add in mushrooms and olive oil, cook for another 5-10 minutes (until mushrooms start to get tender)
  • Add beef to pan and brown
  • Season with umami and salt and mix through
  • Add in beef stock, heavy cream and worchestershire sauce and bring up to a boil
  • Reduce heat and allow sauce to reduce, about 20-30 minutes – with about 10 minutes left, add in the sour cream
  • Toss in egg noodles and stir through
by Michelle

Spicy Asian Noodles with Mushrooms (for one)

As happens sometimes, I was alone and needing to cook just for myself. I decided that I wanted a vegetarian dish, and Asian seemed nice. That’s something that my family doesn’t tend to enjoy as much as I do. They like Asian food – but, I really like Asian food.

The key to this dish is the sauce. I like spicy – and this is definitely a bit spicy – so feel free to adjust to your tastes.

The sauce consists of soy sauce, sesame oil, sweet chili sauce, rice vinegar, green onion and for spice some red pepper flakes and sriracha. The pepper flakes and sriracha didn’t make it into this first picture, but they made it into the sauce at the end.

I started by cooking the noodles. While the noodles were cooking I heated my wok. You want a hot wok and I find it works best when I preheat it. My wok is a cast iron wok, but any wok (or even a pan that can handle a high temperature) will do.

To start the stir fun, I added the oil into the wok. I used grapeseed oil because it can handle high heat. Peanut oil would work well too. Once the oil was hot, I added in the garlic and cooked it for a minute.

After the garlic was cooked (this doesn’t take long – and you want to work fast, as with most stir fry recipes), I added in the mushrooms and cooked them for about 5 minutes. The wok is very hot – so keep stirring so that things don’t stick and don’t burn.

After the mushrooms were finished, I tossed in the noodles and the sauce. It only takes a minute or two to stir fry everything.

I topped the noodles with some sesame seeds and few more green onions. A perfect, very fast, and delicious vegetarian meal for one!

Spicy Asian Noodles with Mushrooms for One

Linguine (or similar) pasta – 1/4 of a box, give or take
1/2 cup sliced mushrooms
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tbsp grapeseed oil (you want an oil that can handle a high heat)

Sauce
1 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 tbsp sweet chili sauce
1/2 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tsp sesame oil
1/2 tbsp green onions
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp sriracha

Garnishments
Sesame seeds
Green Onions

by Michelle