Month-of-One-Pan Meals: Greek Meatballs

Welcome to my annual Month-of Recipes on this blog. Go rummaging in the attic here and you’ll find past recipe months for appetizers, chicken, soup, mini-desserts, and more. The way it works is, for each day in February I post a recipe that fits the category. This month is one-pan meals, excluding pizza, most casseroles, and slow cooker recipes.

Who doesn’t love Mediterranean/Aegean flavors? Even though lamb is a meat to be eaten only occasionally, making meatballs from ground lamb allows you control portion size even more. One pound of ground lamb, cooked with enough vegetables, can easily serve four people. The unique flavor of the meatballs makes this an interesting meal for your exploration of flavor profiles from other countries.

Unless you serve this with leftover rice or noodles, you have another tasty low-carb meal that pleases the eye and the palate.

Greek Meatballs (serves 2 with leftover meatballs for later use)

1 pound ground lamb

1 egg

½ medium onion, diced

½ cup panko crumbs

2 tablespoons McCormick’s Greek Seasoning, divided

1 tomato, cut in eighths

1 yellow squash, cut in ½“ rounds

1 bell pepper, cut in strips

1 small onion, quartered and separated

1 teaspoon olive oil

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cover a baking pan with foil.

Combine ground lamb with egg, onion, panko, and 1 tablespoon Greek seasoning. Mix thoroughly. Put in oven to bake for 20 minutes.

After cutting vegetables, massage with olive oil and sprinkle on remaining Greek seasoning. Add to pan and bake for 30 minutes alongside meatballs.

Serve immediately.

DH’s Rating: 3 ½  Tongues Up

“I’m just not a lamb fan. I mean, this is tasty, but I don’t like the flavor of lamb. Could you make this with hamburger, ground chicken, or ground pork?” Can do!

Month-of-One-Pan Meals: Mongolian Beef

Welcome to my annual Month-of Recipes on this blog. Go rummaging in the attic here and you’ll find past recipe months for appetizers, chicken, soup, mini-desserts, and more. The way it works is, for each day in February I post a recipe that fits the category. This month is one-pan meals, excluding pizza, most casseroles, and slow cooker recipes.

I am not claiming this is the real deal like you might find in a Chinese restaurant, but it’s pretty darn good, if I do say so myself. The meat compliments all the vegetables rather than being the featured ingredient. Limiting our red meat intake is one of our dietary goals, and this fits the bill rather than a slab of meat with some side veggies. The thickened sauce is delicious!

Mongolian Beef and Vegetables   serves 4

Sauce:

¼ cup brown sugar

¼ cup tamari sauce

¾ cup water

1 tablespoon cornstarch

Main Ingredients:

1# flank or steak, cut in strips

2 tablespoons cornstarch, divided

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 cups broccoli florets

1 medium onion, sliced

2 carrots, cut in chunks

1 red bell pepper, cut in strips

2 cups snow peas

3 garlic cloves, chopped

Scallions for garnish, optional

 

Prep all vegetables and set aside.

Toss beef with one tablespoon cornstarch and set aside.

Mix brown sugar with soy sauce, water, and cornstarch. Mix thoroughly and set aside.

Put oil in pan and heat on high heat.

 

Brown steak for about 5 minutes. Remove steak from the pan and add broccoli, onions, carrots, and bell pepper to the pan juices. 

Cook for a couple of minutes then add snow peas and garlic. Add in steak and stir to combine.

Add in sauce and cook until thickens. Serve topped with green onions immediately to keep veggies crisp. If you have leftover rice, you can serve this on top. But it's delicious all by itself.

DH’s Rating: 5 Tongues Up

He likes this dish so I have made it a few times. Lots of different textures and tastes. We do like our ethnic-like dinners!

Month-of-One-Pan Meals: Crab-Stuffed Sole

Welcome to my annual Month-of Recipes on this blog. Go rummaging in the attic here and you’ll find past recipe months for appetizers, chicken, soup, mini-desserts, and more. The way it works is, for each day in February I post a recipe that fits the category. This month is one-pan meals, excluding pizza, most casseroles, and slow cooker recipes.

Another Fishy Friday palate-pleaser for you. We like sole, just not plain. Sole is an ultra-mild fish and just begs for some flavor additions. Back in the day, I used to make sole roll-ups stuffed with crab and baked in a mushroom sauce. But I like this recipe for even more punch. And it’s a meal on one-pan! Don’t let the list of ingredients scare you off. This is actually a very simple recipe to assemble and bake. Raves will come your way.

Crab-Stuffed Sole (serves two)

4 ounces crab meat

2 sole fillets

3 teaspoons green onions, minced

1 tablespoon panko

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1 teaspoon lemon zest

2 tablespoons mayonnaise

1 ½ teaspoons Old Bay Seasoning, divided

Salt and ground black pepper, divided

1 tablespoon butter, softened

1 tablespoon olive oil

Sea salt

1 teaspoon brown sugar

2 handfuls of fresh green beans

2 cups butternut squash, peeled and chunked

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

 

Massage vegetables with olive oil and place on baking sheet, leaving room for the fish to be added later. Sprinkle sea salt on green beans and brown sugar on the butternut squash. Bake for 15 minutes, then remove from oven.

While vegetables are roasting, combine onions, panko, lemon juice and zest, mayonnaise, one teaspoon Old Bay Seasoning, and salt, pepper in a small bowl. Mix thoroughly.

In a smaller bowl, mix the butter with more salt and pepper, a half teaspoon Old Bay Seasoning.

Lay out sole filets and top with the crab mixture. Roll up sides to keep crab in (using toothpicks if necessary).

Place sole on baking pan. Divide butter on top of each fillet. Bake for an additional 15-20 minutes until fish flakes easily and squash is al dente.

Serve immediately.

DH’s Rating: 5 Tongues Up

“This is new. Very tasty. Have we had this before?”

“Nope. I used to make it B.D. I haven’t ever served it to you.”

“B.D.?”
“Before David.”

“You had a life before me?”

Ain’t he funny?

Month-of-One-Pan Meals: Tuscan Chicken My Way

Welcome to my annual Month-of Recipes on this blog. Go rummaging in the attic here and you’ll find past recipe months for appetizers, chicken, soup, mini-desserts, and more. The way it works is, for each day in February I post a recipe that fits the category. This month is one-pan meals, excluding pizza, most casseroles, and slow cooker recipes.

Halfway done with this year’s February recipes and it’s a Happy Valentine’s Day, too!

Everyone needs a bit of special love on this day, and some of my love comes from the kitchen. This recipe took a bit more prep and steps to prepare than some of the recipes this month, but DH is so worth it!

I found this recipe on-line and it is compatible with Mediterranean-style eating, so I thought it would be an occasion-worthy meal to try out. However, in typical Sharon fashion, I did make modifications. If you want the original recipe I riffed on, take a look here for Tuscan Chicken.

Tuscan Chicken (serves 4 with leftover chicken)

3-4 pound roasting chicken

½ cup butter, melted

3 garlic cloves, minced

2 tablespoons + 2 teaspoons dry Italian dressing mix, divided

1 head of broccoli, cut into bite-size chunks

1 pound baby potatoes

1 cup cherry tomatoes

½ large red onion, cut in sections

3 tablespoons olive oil

Large handful of baby spinach for each plate

Remove chicken from refrigerator and let sit at room temperature during meal prep.

Put large cast iron skillet in oven and heat oven to 450 degrees.

Melt butter in coffee cup. Mix garlic and 2 teaspoons of Italian dressing into butter. Set aside.

Put olive oil and Italian dressing into zipper bag. Combine by mushing together.

Cut up vegetables and add to bag. Toss to coat the vegetables.

Coat both sides of the chicken and into crevices with seasoned garlic butter. Use all the butter, putting extra on the top.

When skillet has been in oven for at least five minutes at 450 degrees, remove the skillet to a heat-proof surface and put the chicken in the middle. Tuck the vegetables in around the chicken and put back in the oven.

After five minutes, turn the oven heat down to 375 degrees. Roast the chicken for about an hour and a half or an hour and 45 minutes or until meat thermometer inserted in thickest part of thigh reads 165 degrees.

Remove from oven. Tent with foil and let sit for five to ten minutes while you set the table and get other food ready to serve.

On each plate put a handful of baby spinach.

Slice chicken in the skillet and scoop out vegetables onto spinach. Put pan juice over the chicken and vegetables to slightly wilt the spinach. Eat immediately.

DH’s Rating: 5 Tongues Up

“This is a really pretty dish,” he told me after almost licking the plate. What? He notices how food looks? Wow!

Month-of-One-Pan Meals: Mojito Lime Fajitas

Welcome to my annual Month-of Recipes on this blog. Go rummaging in the attic here and you’ll find past recipe months for appetizers, chicken, soup, mini-desserts, and more. The way it works is, for each day in February I post a recipe that fits the category. This month is one-pan meals, excluding pizza, most casseroles, and slow cooker recipes.

We really enjoy my cena falsa mexicanas (faux Mexican dinners). One of our favorites is fajitas. I try to keep meals nutritious since that’s the way we roll, so I don’t use refried beans, but we eat black beans instead with no added fat or meat. I use leftover steak or chicken or pork, and the amount of meat per fajita varies each time. Sometimes our fajitas are all or almost all veggies, and that’s okay because the flavor is there.

I have a cast iron grill pan I use on the stove top or I use my cast iron skillet. It needs to be screaming hot. If you don’t have one, put it on the list for your next gift-giving occasion.

You can cut up raw meat (pork, chicken, or steak) into strips you season and flash fry, or, do what I do most of the time and use up leftover meat which cleans out the refrigerator and speeds up dinner by a couple of minutes. This recipe uses raw steak. The big deal for us is the low meat to veggie ratio. This is a relatively healthful choice on a Mexican restaurant menu when eating out, too.

While sharing my Mexican Steak recipe, I mentioned a great seasoning blend I discovered in Alaska, Mojito Lime seasoning blend, and that is the star in my fajitas, too. Fajitas and stir frys are the quickest meals I make, I think. The prep is more time-consuming than the cooking, but you can do that way ahead of time.

Mojito Lime Fajitas (serves two)

1 bell pepper, cut into strips (use a third each of three colors for more appeal)

1 medium onion, cut into strips

1 cup meat, cut into strips

3 tablespoons Mojito Lime seasoning blend, divided

3 tablespoons olive oil, divided

4 flour tortillas, warmed

2 lime slices, optional

In a zipper bag, put 2 tablespoons oil and 1½ tablespoons Mojito Lime seasoning. Mush to combine.

Cut vegetables into strips and put into the zipper bag. Toss and massage to coat thoroughly. Put aside for a few minutes.

Massage meat strips with 1 tablespoon oil. Sprinkle meat strips with 1½ tablespoons Mojito Lime seasoning and massage into the meat.

Heat grill/skillet to screaming hot. Add meat and flash fry. Remove from skillet to a covered dish to keep warm.

Add vegetables to the grill/skillet and cook for 2-3 minutes until onion begin to soften. Add meat back in and toss together. Remove from heat and distribute on tortillas to serve with lime slices for squirting if desired.

D’s Rating: 5 Tongues Up

“I love it when you make fajitas. I feel so healthy!”

“And you like the flavors? It’s not just about health?”

“Oh, yeah. That goes without saying.”

Hmm. Well, I like for you to say it.

Month-of-One-Pan Meals: Hot Chicken Salad Casserole

Welcome to my annual Month-of Recipes on this blog. Go rummaging in the attic here and you’ll find past recipe months for appetizers, chicken, soup, mini-desserts, and more. The way it works is, for each day in February I post a recipe that fits the category. This month is one-pan meals, excluding pizza, most casseroles, and slow cooker recipes.

I've seen a bunch of recipes that riff on the traditional chicken salad, but serving hot chicken salad for dinner is relatively new. There are recipes out there for you to try if you don't like mine. But, seriously, how can you not like mine, right? This one is taste-tested by my harshest food critic, DH. (Well, not really. But he does tell me what he likes and what he doesn't.)

As you know from previous posts, I always have cooked chicken available to make a wide-range of quick meals. This one, because it makes a big casserole, uses four cups of that chicken you tucked into the freezer, making it good to clear out space as you feed a crowd. I know at the beginning I said I wouldn't fill up this month with casseroles, the original one-pan-meals option, but I had to make an exception for this tasty one. 

Don't let the long list of ingredients scare you off. You make two mixtures you toss together. This takes mere minutes to assemble, then sit back and enjoy the aroma of a baking chicken casserole. Dinner is all but done!

Hot Chicken Salad Casserole (serves 6-8)

1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese, divided

1 cup mayonnaise

1/2 cup plain yogurt

3 tablespoons lemon juice

½ cup slivered almonds, toasted

4 cups cooked chicken, shredded

4 ½ ounces mushrooms, cut into pieces

2 cups celery, in small chunks

½ cup onion, diced

¼ cup pimiento, diced

8 ounces water chestnuts, sliced

½ teaspoon each salt and pepper

1 cup potato chips, crushed

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In small bowl, mix well one cup cheddar, cheese, mayonnaise, plain yogurt, and lemon juice. Set aside. 

In large bowl, mix well the chicken, mushrooms, celery, onion, pimiento, water chestnuts, and salt and pepper. 

Add sauce to chicken mixture and stir to combine thoroughly.

Put mixture in greased 13"x9” pan and top with remaining cheddar cheese and potato

chips.

Bake for 30 minutes until bubbly. Serve immediately.

DH's Rating: 5 Tongues Up

"This is filling!"

"Yeah, I know, but do you like it?"

"It's good. Really rich tasting. This isn't a diet food, right?"

You got it, Big Boy!

Month-of-One-Pan Meals: Pad See Ew

Welcome to my annual Month-of Recipes on this blog. Go rummaging in the attic here and you’ll find past recipe months for appetizers, chicken, soup, mini-desserts, and more. The way it works is, for each day in February I post a recipe that fits the category. This month is one-pan meals, excluding pizza, most casseroles, and slow cooker recipes.

I credit my oldest son for introducing us to Pad See Ew on one of our trips to Brooklyn. A fave restaurant delivers, so we always do Pacific Rim one or two nights. He had ordered it. I tried it. I now order it. And I went looking for my own recipe to make at home. And it’s a Meatless Monday delight! Here's my version of Pad See Ew based on reading several recipes and making adaptations.

Pad See Ew (serves 3-4)

1 cup oyster sauce

3 tablespoons sugar

4 tablespoons stir fry sauce

1 tablespoon rice vinegar

¼ cup soy sauce

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 large garlic clove, minced

Head of broccoli florets, sliced bite-size

8 oz. rice noodles

2 eggs, beaten

Mix well oyster sauce, sugar, stir fry sauce, rice vinegar and soy sauce. Set aside.

In large, heavy bottom pan or skillet, boil several cups of water. While waiting for the water to boil, cover noodles with water and soak for five minutes. When water boils, add drained noodles and cook for three minutes.

Drain the noodles over a large bowl. Cover the noodles in the strainer and let sit over the hot water while you prepare the rest of the dish.

In the same large pan/skillet, turn the heat to medium high and after water from the noodles evaporates, add oil. When sizzling add garlic. Stir and immediately add broccoli. Cook the broccoli until lightly charred. Remove from the skillet.

Add beaten eggs and stir to scramble, breaking up the pieces. Add in the broccoli and cook for another minute.

Dump the noodles back into the hot water to break up the clumps formed as they cooled. Drain and then add the noodles to the skillet. Stir to combine. Add sauce. Mix thoroughly and serve immediately.

DH’s Rating: 5 Tongues Up

I’m on a roll this year! I’ve had more top ratings by this point in the month then in the past! Maybe I’m onto something with these one-pan meals! He really likes how healthful he feels eating rice noodles (instead of our normal wheat) and having such a tasty sauce for them.