One Dish, One Pot Healthy Mexican Meals

Tired of washing mountains of dishes and forking out heaps of cash for great homemade food?

You won't have do either with Rick Bayless' meals.

Bayless is an award-winning chef, restaurateur, cookbook author, and TV personality known for bringing authentic Mexican cuisine to America. In the upcoming Cook! section of Prevention magazine, Bayless, a contributing chef will be featured along with several of his healthy and affordable one-dish Mexican recipes.

Bayless appeared on "The Early Show" Wednesday, to show just how easy it is to bring authentic Mexican food to your dining room table with just one pot.

RECIPES:

Spicy Chipotle Beef

(345 calories and $6.21 per serving)

2 tbsp vegetable or olive oil
1 lb beef tenderloin, strip, or sirloin, cut into 1" cubes
1 lg white onion, sliced 1/2" thick
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup dark beer, broth, or water
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
2 cans (14.5 oz each) no-salt-added diced tomatoes, drained
12 oz shiitake, oyster, or other mushrooms, or a combination, stemmed and sliced 1/4" thick
2 canned chipotle chile peppers in adobo sauce, chopped
1 tsp salt
1/3 cup chopped cilantro

1. Heat oil in Dutch oven over high heat. When hot, add beef in uncrowded single layer. Cook, stirring frequently to brown all sides, until almost at desired doneness (about 4 mins for medium rare). Remove to plate, leaving oil behind.

2.Return pan to medium-high heat. Add onion. Cook, stirring occasionally, until brown, about 7 mins. Add garlic and stir 1 minute. Add beer and Worcestershire. Add tomatoes, mushrooms, peppers and salt and cook, stirring occasionally and scraping up bits stuck to bottom of pan, until mushrooms are done and liquid is reduced to a sauce, about 10 minutes.

3. Season with salt, if desired. Return meat to pan and heat. Serve sprinkled with cilantro.

Chicken Soft Tacos with Tangy Guacamole

(421 calories and $2.48 per serving )

1/4 c + 2 tbsp vegetable oil, divided
3 cloves garlic, halved
2 sm serrano chile peppers or 1 sm jalapeno, halved
1/2 c loosely packed cilantro
1/3 c freshly squeezed lime juice (about 2 limes)
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (about 1 1/4 lb)
1 lg white onion, sliced 1/4" thick
2 ripe Hass avocados
12 corn tortillas (6" size)

1.Heat 1/4 cup of the oil in small skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and chile peppers and cook, stirring frequently, until just brown, 1 to 2 minutes. Process with cilantro, lime juice, 1/2 tsp of the salt, and black pepper in blender or food processor until smooth.

2.Put chicken in shallow dish and spread half the garlic mixture over all the sides of chicken.

3.Heat 1 tbsp oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and cook, stirring occasionally until golden but still slightly crunchy, about 5 minutes. Chop enough of the onion to make 1/4 cup and set aside. Put rest of onion on a plate. Save the skillet.

4. Peel and pit avocados and put flesh in a bowl. Add reserved chopped onion, remaining garlic mixture, and 1/4 teaspoon of the salt. Coarsely mash with potato masher or fork.

5.Return skillet to medium heat and add remaining tbsp oil. Lift each breast and let excess marinade drip off. Discard extra marinade. Add chicken to hot pan and sprinkle with remaining 1/4 tsp salt. Brown on one side, about 5 minutes, then flip and finish cooking, 3 or 4 minutes longer. Remove to cutting board. Put reserved sliced onion in the skillet to reheat. Scrape up any brown bits stuck to the bottom of the pan.

6.Wrap tortillas in damp paper towels and microwave on high 1 minute. Remove paper towels and keep tortillas warm. Cut chicken across the grain into 1/4" slices and toss with onion in pan. Serve with tortillas and guacamole.

Chile-Baked Fish With Sweet Potatoes (Pescado con Chipotle y Camote)

Get ahead: put this quick dish together hour in advance if you'd like. Remove from the refrigerator about half an hour before baking.

Work time:10 minutes/ Total Time 35 minutes/ Servings:4

2 Med Sweet Potatoes (1LB total) peeled and sliced 1/4" thick
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 1/4 tsp. salt divided
1 can (14.5 oz) no-salt-added diced tomatoes (with juice)
1 lg garlic clove, halved
1 canned chipotle chile pepper in adobo sauce, seeded (if desired) + 1 tsp of the adobo sauce
1 tsp sugar
4 skinless fish fillets (about 1 1/4 lb total) such as mahi mahi, 3/4"-1" thick
2 Tbsp chopped cilantro

1. Heat Oven to 400 degrees F

2. Put potatoes in microwavable 8"x8" backing dish. Drizzle with oil and sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon of the salt. Toss to coat and spread in even layer. Cover with plastic wrap and poke a few holes in it. Microwave on high until nearly tender. 6-8 minutes.

3. Combine tomatoes, garlic, pepper and sauce, sugar and remaining 3/4 teaspoon salt in food processor. Process to a puree, leaving a little texture.

4. Lay fish in single layer over potatoes. Pour tomato mixture evenly over top Bake until fish flakes when pressed firmly, 15 to 20 minutes. Serve sprinkled with cilantro, if desired. Nutritional info per serving 252 cal, 28 g pro, 22 g carb, 3 g fiber, 5 g fat, 0.5 sat fat, 969 mg sodium

Braised Lamb Shanks with Tomato-Jalapeno Sauce

(528 calories and $7.00 per serving)

2 tbsp olive or vegetable oil
4lb lamb shanks
1 lg white onion, chopped
2 jalapeno chile peppers, finely chopped
2 cans (14.5 oz each) no-salt-added diced tomatoes (with juice)
3 c reduced-sodium beef broth
1 unpeeled head garlic, halved crosswise
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1 1/2 lb sm red potatoes, halved

1.Heat oven to 325F

2.Put oil in Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Sprinkle lamb with salt, if desired. When oil is hot, put shanks in pan. Cook until brown on all sides, about 8 mins total. Remove to plate.

3.Add onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until golden, about 7 minutes. Stir in peppers and cook 1 minute longer. Add tomatoes, broth, garlic, thyme, and salt. Bring to a boil.

4.Return lamb (and any juices) to pan, nestling them into the liquid. Cover and bake 1 and 1/2 hours. Add potatoes and continue cooking until lamb is fork-tender and potatoes and continue cooking until lamb is fork-tender and potatoes are done, about 1 hour longer.

5.Remove lamb to deep ovenproof serving platter. Remove and discard garlic from braising liquid. Uising a slotted spoon, remove potatoes afrom liquid and arrange around lamb. Cover with foil and set in the turned-off oven. Skim any excess fat from top of sauce. Boil sauce over high heat until reduced by half, to about 3 cups. Taste and season with additional salt and black pepper, if desired. Ladle sauce over lamb and potatoes and serve.