Learn more about SCL Health's Nutrition and Weight Loss and Bariatrics services.

As a family, we spend most of our day in different places (or rooms of the house). We’re on separate conference calls, locked into our own responsibilities whether that’s homework, parenting, checking in at the office, or running across town to cross off errands on our list. There’s hardly a chance to have the whole family together at once. That’s what dinner is for, right? Unfortunately, we barely have enough time to eat dinner, let alone prepare it.

At SCL Health, we’re a big proponent of one pot meals. They’re low maintenance and require little clean up. All you have to do is simply gather a few ingredients, throw them into a crock pot (or Instant Pot for faster results), turn a knob a few clicks and before you know it, dinner is served. From a dietary standpoint, “they allow you to control the ingredients, so that if you are trying to follow a meal plan that limits salt for example, you can simply add other seasonings to suit your tastes,” Lori Wenz, Nurse Practitioner at St. Mary’s Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery Center adds. This type of home cooked meal gives you more control over monitoring the ingredients you consume.

To get you cooking, here’s a chili recipe that takes only 4 ingredients to bring your entire family to the table. And back again for seconds.

ONE POT CHILI

Ingredients:

• 1 pound 85/15 ground beef
• 1 to 3 tablespoons chili powder
• 2 cans mild or medium chili beans
• 1 jar tomato and basil spaghetti sauce

Instructions:

1. In a skillet, cook and drain beef.
2. Combine it with everything else.
3. In one pot. Cook on HIGH 4 to 5 hours or on LOW 8 hours.