Month-of-One-Pan Meals: Baked Chicken Thighs

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.

Sometimes you just want simple, right? Well, you got it with this one-pan meal. While you certainly are welcome to add spices of your choice, sometimes just plain salt and pepper are enough. This may be the simplest recipe I’m posting this month. Again, if you have leftover rice, potatoes, or noodles, feel free to add them in. We found the veggies and chicken to be a fine dinner on its own, especially if you’re going lower carb for meals.

Baked Chicken Thighs (serves 4)

4 chicken thighs

1 bunch of asparagus, woody ends snapped off

3 large carrots, cut into strips

Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Put chicken thighs in the middle of a baking dish and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake for 20 minutes until lightly browned.

While chicken is baking, prepare your vegetables.

When the chicken comes out of the oven, tuck the carrots and asparagus around the thighs. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and return to oven for another 25 minutes.

Serve with pan juices drizzled over both the chicken and vegetables. Enjoy!

DH’s Rating: 5 Tongues Up

Have you picked up that we eat a LOT of chicken? Yep, that’s cause it’s easy, cheap, and you can fix it a million ways. I’ve only found, over the years, a couple of chicken recipes that DH didn’t like. DH liked that in this dish the chicken flavor really came through when it was not masked by herbs or sauces.

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!