Sheet pan dinners are quite delicious

Yes, I know. I’m late to the party. It seems that the food blogs have been filled with ideas for sheet pan dinners. You know what I mean. It’s where you place all the ingredients on a sheet pan, roast it for 30 minutes, and serve it up. My first reaction was, “Really, how good can these be?” I thought they were primarily for harried parents who came home from work and had to face cooking dinner for the family. You know—food that was nutritious but not necessarily delicious.

Boy, was I wrong! Two weeks ago, I was in the mood for fajitas, but I didn’t want to bring out separate frying pans for the meat, the onions, and the bell peppers. I didn’t want to clean up the splatters. And I definitely didn’t want to stand over the cooktop stirring and watching. It was time to try the recipe for sheet pan fajitas I’d seen online. So, I sliced up the onion, cleaned and sliced some bell pepper into strips, cut up some chicken breast, and tossed it all into a bowl. Drizzle with oil and spices, mix it up, and spread it on the sheet pan. Roast for 20-25 minutes while warming the flour tortillas, and you’re in business.

My judgment? Just great! I’d have asked Gary for his opinion, but his mouth was full. All he could manage were a few throaty noises that sounded like, “Mmmmmmm!”

So, the next night, it was gnocchi roasted with meatballs, tomatoes, onions, and olives. For simplicity, use frozen meatballs, or simply shape plain ground beef into balls.