Your humble narrator has a few quirks in the world of food. I have had a fear of funerals for more than just death. Casseroles. "Here, honey. Here are 10 casseroles to get you by so you don't have to cook during grief." Ugh.
Yet I was fascinated by the single pot or slow cooker type meal. You may have seen them in TikTok videos. Easy. Convenient.
Meat is involved. Chicken broth. Often, there is a small, bite sized pasta involved. The only debate in a lot of these recipes are whether there will be a whole block of cream cheese dropped into the dish. The answer most of the time is definitely "yes."
The recipes are centered around the 1-pot dish. Lots of pre-shredded cheese and raw ground beef.
Recipes in motion make for interesting videos. Watching cooking shows such as America's Test Kitchen can seem slow between the PBS and television aesthetics. Why wait 12 minutes when you can get the essence of a recipe in 3 minutes?
The recipe trend reminded your humble narrator of Ree Drummond, aka The Pioneer Woman, from the Food Network show of the same name. Very easy, simple to make, ingredients likely on hand. Drummond has 5 children and her hard-working, hungry husband, Ladd.
Is this cooking? Does it matter if this isn't cooking?
Recipes in motion is a good way to get a better sense of what a recipe looks like. Your humble narrator likes to do searches for recipes, such as a white clam sauce using canned clams. The words tell you the basics yet video proof is easier at times and gives you a better sense of the dish at hand.
There is a single caveat of note. These recipes are designed to feed a family or a few friends. Single people can make these dishes but there will be lots of leftovers.
The beauty of recipes, even the 1-pot kind, is that you can adapt. Maybe you make your own spaghetti sauce instead of pouring in a version from the grocery store. You could use sour cream for the proverbial cream cheese. Impossible or Beyond works just as easily as ground beef.
Perhaps you don't feel secure about "regular" cooking and these videos are a way to show your family or a prospective partner that you can do more than boil water.
We understand anxiety and how the effort behind cooking might be more difficult. The ease of dumping ingredients into a pot and having them cook together can save time and unneeded anxiety.
You might cook a fancier meal for Christmas Day but a 1-pot option for Boxing Day would be a time and energy saver.
If you are already "wasting" time scrolling on your phone, you might as well be looking for future dinner ideas.
While I am not a huge fan of casseroles, I could watch chicken pot pie recipes for 20-25 minutes at a time. Not all cooking has to be complicated.
video credit: What the Duck
photo credit: TikTik/easydinnerideas
