Studies
have shown that malnourished children have a harder
time staying focused in the classroom. Many of the
foods that make up a Standard American Diet –fast
food, packaged snack foods, and refined grains –
are low in nutritional value per calorie. They are
literally designed simply to fill us up in the least
expensive way possible, using the cheapest or even
completely synthetic ingredients. The brain just doesn’t
function as well without the nutrients it needs.
Let’s
send our kids to school this year with the best chances
for success by feeding them real, whole foods that
nourish their bodies and their minds. Cooking whole
foods doesn’t have to mean hours of time and
effort in the kitchen: try this easy infused one-pot
meal for a handy time-saver. Its mild flavors and
separated ingredients stem complaints from picky eaters,
and you can even use all frozen ingredients without
changing the cooking time.
Plain
Jane Chicken
Serves 4-5
4-5
pieces chicken
salt & pepper to taste
12-16 new potatoes, unpeeled, scrubbed, quartered
4 cups carrot medallions
8-10 mushrooms, washed, thickly sliced
4 cups frozen peas
Preheat
oven to 450 degrees. Spray inside and lid of 3 ½-
or 4-quart cast iron Dutch oven with canola oil. Set
chicken pieces into pot, trying not to overlap. Lightly
season with salt and/or pepper. Add quartered new
potatoes and carrots. Lightly season again. Scatter
mushrooms into pot. Pour in peas.
Cover
and bake for about 50 minutes, or 3 minutes after
the aroma of a fully-cooked meal escapes the oven.
Tips
For a bit more flavor, drop a few peeled and halved
garlic cloves underneath and around the chicken. Or
consider drizzling 4 Tbsp. of your favorite Italian
salad dressing over the chicken instead of salt and
pepper for a totally different and extremely tasty
meal.
About
the author:
Elizabeth Yarnell is a Certified Nutritional
Consultant and author of Glorious
One-Pot Meals:
A new quick & healthy approach to Dutch oven cooking.
Her new e-book, Glorious One-Pot KIDS Meals, offer
many more kid-friendly, quick and easy weeknight dinner
solutions. Glorious One-Pot Meals recipes use a unique,
patented cooking technique (US patent 6,846,504 ).
Visit her online at www.GloriousOnePotMeals.com.
