Easy Italian Skillet Dinner

I came up with this recipe as a use up for leftovers. This was a great way to use my leftover meatballs and sauce that I had from the meatball subs. If you want, instead of using meatballs, you could use ground meat, or chicken breast, or even make it vegetarian by using vegetable broth instead of chicken broth. For the frozen veggies, I just used a frozen veggie mix, but you can use whatever you want. After making this I thought it might be better with bell peppers and onions. This dinner is loaded with veggies, from the cauliflower in the meatballs, the extra veggies in the sauce and the frozen mixed veggies. I added even more veggies by serving broccoli as my side dish.

Easy Italian Skillet

Dinner

• 8 oz Orzo pasta
• 1-2 cups diced meatballs
• 2 cups chicken stock
• 2 cups tomato sauce or 1 can diced tomatoes
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 8 oz frozen veggie mix (or you can use fresh veg.)
• 2 tbsp. italian seasoning
• 1 can Cannellini beans or other small white beans
• 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese (optional) + more for serving.

In a large skillet with deep sides, heat the chicken stock to boiling. Turn the heat down to medium and add the orzo and garlic, cover and cook until the liquid is almost absorbed and the pasta is getting close to done, about 5 minutes, give or take. Add the tomato sauce and cook another 3 minutes covered, stirring every minute or so to keep the orzo from sticking to the bottom. Uncover and add the rest of the ingredients except the parmesan. Cook until heated through, stirring often enough to keep the orzo from sticking. The dish is done when the liquid is absorbed and the orzo is creamy. Stir in parmesan cheese and serve with the option of sprinkling on more parmesan. I LOVE cheese!

On another note, I have had a couple of requests to do posts on breakfast and lunch ideas, so I am planning on tackling that sometime this week. I will probably do breakfasts first because I am planning on making my multigrain waffles at some point towards the end of the week, so stay tuned!

Please let me know what you think, if you have tried some of these recipes. I LOVE to have your feedback and I also love to hear your questions and suggestions!

Until next time, happy and HEALTHY cooking!