"My husband and I just got back from a hunting trip. (We use elk & venison in your recipes that call for beef or lamb.) In preparation for the trip I made several one pot meals (Indian Almond Curry "Venison", All-American Pot-Roast, and Hearty Polenta & Sausage) and then put the whole meal in a sealable bag and froze it. After a long day of hunting we shortly had a great dinner even though we were so tired we could hardly see straight. Thanks for all the great meals!!"
-Barbara Dean

"It's nice to know that I'm not totally inept in the kitchen. ."
-Carol Lassen

Advance Praise for Glorious One-Pot Meals

“Glorious One-Pot Meals are delectable, fast-to-fix, nourishing and wholesome ---exactly what America needs to meet the present health crisis. We love Glorious One-Pot Meals!
Joy and Steven Gurgevich, Ph.D., authors of "The Self-Hypnosis Diet"

When I hear “Crisp vegetables, tender meats, incredible flavor, ONE pot, and ready in less than 30 minutes”, I say COUNT ME IN! That’s my Quick Fix mantra! Who doesn’t cherish strategies that deliver wholesome, family-friendly meals in just minutes? All in one pot, which makes for easy cleanup. Glorious One-Pot Meals offers tons of variety, from the fabulously ordinary to the incredibly extraordinary. Fish dishes range from Very, Very Mild Fish to Honey-Chili Trout and Pistachio Halibut (with lavender!). Elizabeth tempts you with All-American Pot Roast and Corned Beef and Cabbage and then wows you with Amaranth Chili. Ready to move beyond Simply Chicken and Chicken Marsala? Then try the African Peanut Butter Stew. Or leap from Glorious Macaroni and Cheese to Aloo Gobi (a flavor-packed, Indian feast). If you’ve got a pot, you’ve got a meal. There’s truly something for everyone.
Robin Miller, Host of Food Network’s “Quick Fix Meals with Robin Miller”

Sometimes the simplest-seeming cookbooks yield the most surprising revelations, as in nutritionist Yarnell's guide to one-pot cooking. Yarnell's signature “infusion” method, cooking in a dutch oven at a very hot temperature renders layered vegetables, starches and proteins like tandoori salmon and kale with butternut squash over basmati rice, into a surprisingly well-textured, hearty meal. (It's also foolproof: when you smell the aroma of dinner, you're three minutes from the end of the cooking time.) Dishes like citrus ginger chicken with root vegetables; penne puttanesca; and fiesta steak are simple choices for busy weeknight dinners. The real genius, of course, is the single pot—Yarnell's all-inclusive meals don't require the usual juggling of oven times to coordinate complementary dishes, and cleanup is simplified even further by a preliminary canola oil spritz on the pot. Her emphasis on whole foods, abundant servings of vegetables, moderate amounts of protein and the incorporation of whole grains like amaranth and quinoa justifies her health claims. Yarnell also guides readers in creating their own custom versions of the one-pot meal, even offering a one-pot meal weekly grocery list. (Dec.)
Publishers Weekly 11/3/08

Easy, healthy meals - for real

Your cookbook shelf may be jammed with volumes that promise quick, easy, healthful meals, made in a nanosecond and cleaned up in less. They lie -- or most of them do. But this year, it's worth making room for a new book that delivers what it promises. "Glorious One-Pot Meals" by Elizabeth Yarnell (Broadway Books, 2009) is not particularly impressive. It's small, lacks photos and the title seems recycled. But Yarnell has developed -- indeed, patented! -- a method of cooking that results in quick-to-prepare, healthful, delicious and satisfying meals. And, unlike most "one pot" cookbooks, her meals are indeed complete. They include starch, protein and lots of vegetables. No need to cook rice or potatoes or toss a salad to "round out the meal."

Here's her method: You layer a bunch of stuff -- let's say rice, chicken and vegetables -- in a Dutch oven. No sauteing, no browning, no crisping -- just layer the raw ingredients. You add a bit of liquid (water, broth) and maybe 1/2 teaspoon of oil. And you bake it at 450 F. Forty-five minutes later, you are serving up a delicious, complete, from-scratch, low-fat, delectable and highly satisfying meal, and you have only one pot and your plates and utensils to wash. The method, which Yarnell calls "infusion cooking," works, almost magically, with all types of protein -- fish, poultry, red meat, tofu -- as well as pasta, potatoes and grains, and every vegetable imaginable. You can even use frozen foods and subtract or add ingredients. This may not be "revolutionary," as the book cover proclaims, but it's really, really useful.

Yarnell's journey into cooking began about 10 years ago when, at the age of 29, she woke up one morning blind in one eye. She had just finished grad school, bought a fixer-upper, and was engaged to be married. The diagnosis of multiple sclerosis was a shocker. After intensive research, Yarnell -- interviewed recently by phone from her home in Denver, Colo. -- said she decided that one of the things she could do to help herself was to eat well, "but I had no idea what that meant." More research persuaded her that a varied diet with a heavy emphasis on vegetables and whole -- not prepared -- foods was the way to go. The problem: "I had no idea how to cook," she says. As a single 20-something, she had eaten out several nights a week, dined on the leftovers, or subsisted on her then-favorite food: Gummi bears. She wanted to get her nutritional act together, but, facing the fatigue that accompanies MS, she knew she was not up to spending loads of time and effort in the kitchen, whether preparing or cleaning up.

She and her fiance (now her husband) began growing organic vegetables in their garden, and the night of their first harvest, Yarnell says she "just threw a bunch of stuff in a pot, cranked up the oven, and stuck it in." Her "glorious one-pot meals" were born, followed by 10 years of recipe development, a successful self-published book, a Web site (www.gloriousonepotmeals.com) and now national publication. She has since become a certified nutritional consultant, and, without making medical claims, she notes that has not had an MS "attack" since 2001.

This book offers great recipes: Adobo Pork, Almond Curried Lamb, Lemon-Rosemary Salmon, Fiesta Steak and Sweet-and-Sour Tempeh, to name a few, as well as encouragement on making your own combinations.

- Marialisa Calta, Universal Syndicate, 1/13/09