Easy One-Dish Meals Great for Winter

What's for dinner? Well, come winter, when hearty stews, casseroles, and soups top your list of meals, the answer is easy: A warming, one-pot wonder.

It's 6pm and the battle cry has begun-often before you've taken off your coat and gotten both feet in the front door. "What's for dinner?" Usually that question is like nails against a chalkboard, meaning, I have no idea. But come winter, when hearty stews, casseroles, and soups top my list of meals, the answer is easy: A warming, one-pot wonder.

Think about it, my fellow (exhausted, stressed-out, multi-tasking) mom comrades: You chop, dice, and throw some things in your crock pot/slow cooker in the morning, and come late afternoon/early evening, the fruits of your labor are bubbling, simmering, and sizzling with the tempting smells and promise of a delicious home-cooked meal, often with enough leftovers to last the week.

A good one-pot meal generally includes a protein (meat, chicken), aromatics (garlic, herbs, spices), vegetables, and a starch (potatoes, rice, grains, pasta). And it's honestly that melding of flavors, often substituting some of your favorite spices in lieu of what a recipe suggests, that provides for a delicious warming meal. The secret: You just have to plan ahead (and have a decent-sized pot or deep skillet). The beauty? You don't have to be a stellar cook to get it together. (I use time-saving ingredients such as prepared sauces, marinated meats, washed/pre-cut vegetables, bagged salads, and other lifesavers, such as frozen pre-cooked brown rice.). Plus-and here's the kicker-you essentially only have one pot to clean at the end of the evening. It's seriously the best way to get dinner on the table in a hurry.