Since my last post was about meal planning, I thought I’d share one of our favorite dinners: one pan meals!
“One pan” is a frequent dinnertime phrase at our house. It simply means we are going to eat a delicious combination of vegetables and meat that was cooked all together in, you guessed it, one pan. We love one pan meals because they’re so versatile and never get boring. There’s nothing fancy about my cooking, but pretty much every time I make this, I try something a little bit different. The more colorful the better!
One pan meals are also awesome because they’re easy to cook and easy to clean up (the best part!). You just cut everything into bite size pieces, season it, and stick it in the oven. Chopping can be a little tedious sometimes so I look for opportunities during the day or week to chop. My older child likes to take 90 minutes to eat breakfast some mornings so I can get a lot of meal prep done during this time!
Keep in mind roughly how long each vegetable takes to cook when you’re cutting. A sweet potato cooks way slower than a zucchini, for instance, so I slice the sweet potato into pieces that are a little thinner.
Lately, I’ve enjoyed experimenting with different spices and herbs to see what goes well together. Salt, pepper, paprika, thyme, basil, oregano, and cloves are always great options!
As far as meat goes, it’s not totally necessary, but my husband doesn’t consider anything vegetarian a full meal. Haha! I’ll either use chicken breasts or chicken Italian sausage in my one pan meals.
I’ll put my pan in the oven for 20 minutes to start, stir it up, and cook it for another 15 minutes. If you like super tender veggies, feel free to cook it a little longer.
One pan is always a winner at our dinner table! These meals are an awesome way to make sure your family is getting lots of yummy veggies!
One Pan Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
- 2 sweet potatoes
- 1 yellow bell pepper
- 1 red bell pepper
- 2 cups of mushrooms
- 1 onion
- 1 lb Italian sausage
- 3 cups kale
- sea salt
- ground pepper
- thyme
- basil
- paprika
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees and line your baking sheet with foil.
- Set kale aside. Chop all other vegetables and meat into small pieces and mix it up with the olive oil, spices, and herbs.
- Spread the mixed up ingredients out on your baking sheet and cook for 20 minutes.
- Take the pan out, stir in the kale, and cook for an additional 15-20 minutes.
- Serve and enjoy!
*Optional: Serve over brown rice
What blend of vegetables do you like together? Tell me in the comments and I’ll give it a try!
If you need more dinner inspiration, here’s a one-week meal plan for you and your family!
Talk to you soon!
Oh these all look/sound delicious. One of my fave one pan recipes (well actually it’s one tray) is a tray bake. I just throw a mixture of whatever we’ve got on a tray with either sausages or chicken and whack it in the oven. Generally it’s a combination of either sweet potato or new potatoes with tomatoes, broccoli, red onion etc. Toss them about in a little olive oil and just bake.
Yes! I love food that’s yummy and easy!