Dish Darwin, The Evolving Casserole

There is an art to cooking ahead and using leftovers. Done correctly, a meal can change or grow over several days. Here is an example of a simple meal, made in about 15 minutes, that can last for several nights in a row. It changes each night with new ingredients and flavors, is consistently nutritious and even low-fat – far healthier than fast food and probably made in less time than waiting in a drive-thru lane three or four nights a week.

You need:

Deep skillet

Chicken breasts (4-5, frozen)

Stewed tomatoes (2 cans)

Kidney, garbanzo or black beans (2 cans)

Onions (two, chopped)

Night one, Creation: Use your deep skillet to stir-fry some onions, chicken breasts (no skin, no bones), maybe some stewed tomatoes from a can plus a can or two of beans (black, kidney, garbanzo – whichever appeals at the moment). When the chicken seems sufficiently cooked (i.e., slice into the middle of one of the breasts, it’s cooked through if there is no pink meat), throw a bag of chopped broccoli on top. When the broccoli is thawed, start eating. Tastes great with cold cottage cheese on the side or Parmesan cheese sprinkled on top – both of which add some protein. Try to eat all broccoli in this first meal because it tends to turn gray and lose nutrients after cooking.

Assuming you made more than twice as much as needed for a single meal, there will be leftovers to eat later in the week. Store whole skillet in refrigerator, covered.

Night Two, Natural Selection: For the next meal, put the skillet back on the stove and heat up (medium temperature). In the last minutes of warming it up, throw on a bag of diced peppers, green peas or some other new vegetable. Cook till thawed. Eat. Finish off the chicken, even if there are beans and tomatoes left in the mix. Try to eat all the green stuff – again, it doesn’t hold so well a day after it’s cooked.

Still some left? Refrigerate covered again.

Night Three, Modern Times: Next meal, heat up what is now beans, tomatoes and a few errant peas or chopped peppers. Add another can of beans, a bag of frozen corn, and maybe spice it up with hot peppers or hot sauce. Eat. After three meals you should be ready to move on to something different. But notice how each meal was different, and, not much work after the first night.

# # #

Excerpted from "A Guy's Gotta Eat, the regular guy's guide to eating smart," by Russ Klettke, with Deanna Conte, MS RD LD (Marlowe & Co./Da Capo Press 2004). Available where books are sold and in more than 100 public library systems in the U.S., Canada and Europe.