Cooks' Books by Lisa Messinger

"Glorious One-Pot Meals: A Revolutionary New Quick and Healthy Approach to Dutch-Oven Cooking" by Elizabeth Yarnell (Broadway, $17.95).

Elizabeth Yarnell hopes to turn her misfortune into your good luck. She also proves that sometimes it takes a crisis to think in a new way.

A few weeks before her 30th birthday, the cooking school instructor and health coach woke up blind in one eye. Soon, she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, the degenerative neurological disease. Eating for optimal health and nutrition became a big part of her treatment plan.

Like many busy people, Yarnell found little time to prepare healthy meals. Eventually, she devised a strategy of cooking using a Dutch oven that was so innovative that she now has patents for it and the name is trademarked.

"Glorious One-Pot Meals call for whole foods rather than processed and packaged items, and you'll find that each recipe ... offers a complete and balanced meal of an appropriate amount of protein, a variety of vegetables and a healthy serving of carbohydrates," she writes.

"While many other familiar one-pot meals require a side dish of pasta or rice made separately, or even a salad or bread, Glorious One-Pot Meal recipes are intended to provide the entire meal in just one pot."

Her process involves layering ingredients in a specific way and using infusion cooking where ingredients are placed in a cast-iron Dutch oven (she recommends enamel-coated ones, although regular cast-iron is also acceptable). And then ingredients are "heated rapidly in a hot oven, releasing the moisture form the vegetables and trapping the steam inside the pot, which in turn cooks the food and infuses it with flavor," she writes. "Because the hot steam is trapped against the food instead of evaporating, it cooks the food quickly and retains moisture.

"The method is deceptively simple, yet produces complex flavors and aromas, and enhances ordinarily mild flavors while retaining much of the nutritional value of the food."

As she says, don't think of stereotypical hospital food or other clinical nutritional dietary meals when pondering the creations of Yarnell, who has, since her diagnosis, also become a Certified Nutritional Consultant (CNC) and a Certified Natural Health Professional (CNHP).

Her background in teaching at a cooking school deliciously comes into play. Treats like Thai-influenced chicken satay — flavored with peanut butter, soy sauce, scallions, garlic, fresh ginger and adorned by shredded red cabbage, snow pea pods and shiitake mushrooms — make her creations stand out above not only "health fare," but also most one-pot gourmet cookbooks.

Lamb derives flavor from minced sun-dried tomatoes, garlic and honey; it is cooked with potatoes, carrots, cauliflower florets and green beans. Tuna steaks, like much of the seafood in the book, is vividly flavored — with soy sauce, honey, fresh orange juice, fresh ginger, sesame seeds and sesame oil and flanked by broccoli florets and sliced yellow squash.

Even what are usually off-limits choices for health plans are reworked temptingly. This garlic- and oregano-seasoned macaroni and cheese is creamy and enhanced — rather than dragged down — by the addition of yellow bell pepper, broccoli florets, fresh spinach and plum tomatoes.

GLORIOUS MACARONI AND CHEESE

Olive oil nonstick spray

2 cups macaroni

1/2 teaspoon olive oil

8 to 12 ounces cheese, such as cheddar, mozzarella or Monterey Jack, sliced or grated

3 to 5 garlic cloves, chopped

1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano, or 1/2 teaspoon dried

Sea salt, to taste

Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1/2 yellow bell pepper, cored, seeded and cut into thin strips

1/2 head broccoli, cut into florets (about 2 cups)

2 handfuls fresh spinach, shredded (about 2 loosely packed cups)

2 or 3 plum tomatoes, chopped, or 1 (14-ounce) can, drained, liquid reserved, optional

Yields 2 servings.

Preheat oven to 450 F.

Spray the inside and lid of a cast-iron Dutch oven (enamel-coated Dutch oven recommended, but not required) with olive oil nonstick spray, taking care to fully coat all interior surfaces.

Pour the pasta into the pot.

Combine 2/3 cup water and the olive oil in a measuring cup.

(If using canned tomatoes, drain and use the liquid to replace the water.) Stir and pour over the pasta. Mix gently to coat all the noodles and spread them evenly in the pot.

Layer about half the cheese over the pasta. Sprinkle with half the garlic and half the oregano. Lightly season with salt and pepper.

Add the bell pepper and broccoli in even layers and cover with the remaining cheese. Sprinkle with the remaining garlic and oregano and season lightly with salt and pepper.

Top with the spinach and, if you choose, tomatoes.

Cover and bake for 30 minutes, or until 3 minutes after the aroma of a fully cooked meal escapes the oven. Serve immediately.

Approximate nutrition per serving: 535 calories; 24 grams protein; 23 grams fat; 60 milligrams cholesterol; 60 grams carbohydrates; 6 grams fiber; 438 milligrams sodium.

CHICKEN SATAY

Canola oil nonstick spray or sesame oil

1 scallion, white and green parts, sliced into thin rings

2 tablespoons peanut butter

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 tablespoon light brown sugar

1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger, or 1/4 teaspoon ground

1 or 2 garlic cloves, chopped

1 cup broth (chicken or vegetable)

1 cup rice

1/2 to 3/4 pound chicken thighs or breasts

1/4 head red cabbage, shredded (about 2 cups)

About 2 cups fresh or frozen snow pea pods

1 large shiitake mushroom, thinly sliced

Yields 2 servings.

Preheat oven to 450 F.

Coat the inside and lid of a cast-iron Dutch oven (enamel-coated Dutch oven recommended, but not required) with the canola oil nonstick spray or sesame oil.

In a small bowl, whisk the scallion, peanut butter, soy sauce, brown sugar, ginger, garlic and 2 tablespoons of the broth. Whisk until the sugar is dissolved and peanut butter is emulsified.

Rinse the rice in a strainer under cold water until water runs clear. Tip the rice into the pot. Add the remaining broth and 1/4 cup water. Stir to make an even layer.

Add the chicken and drizzle with one-third of the peanut butter sauce.

Arrange the cabbage on top and pour half of the remaining sauce over it.

Add the snow peas and mushroom in another layer and pour the rest of the sauce over it.

Cover and bake for 45 minutes, or until 3 minutes after the aroma of a fully cooked meal escapes the oven. Serve immediately. If the rice is still crunchy, fluff with a fork and replace the lid. Before serving, let it sit for another 3 to 5 minutes.

Approximate nutrition per serving: 400 calories; 44 grams protein; 13 grams fat; 80 milligrams cholesterol; 46 grams carbohydrates; 4 grams fiber; 1,439 milligrams sodium.

Lisa Messinger is a first-place winner in food writing from the Association of Food Journalists and the author of seven food books, including "Mrs. Cubbison's Best Stuffing Cookbook" and "The Sourdough Bread Bowl Cookbook." She also writes the Creators News Service "After-Work Gourmet" column. To find out more about Lisa Messinger and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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