Mediterranean Ground Beef & Veggies

I am always on the lookout for easy recipes for simple home cooking. Nothing fancy, just interesting combinations of meat, a good whack of veggies, flavorful seasonings, and not a lot of fat. If they are one-pan, even better. I saw several different recipes for a Mediterranean ground beef and veggie skillet meal, and in pondering them came up with something that worked for us.

Most recipes I saw started with the same ingredients and similar seasonings, but none of them included any rice, potato, noodles, etc. I knew for staying power, we needed a touch of carbs to keep us feeling full and not snacking. I decided to stir in 1 cup of cooked Quinoa that I had simmered in vegetable broth. It wasn't a lot, just enough to make the dish more filling. I also up'd the veggies a bit.

I served this with just a simple side salad. As my husband is a big eater, I would say it made 2-1/2 to 3 servings. But if you serve as a part of a larger meal, or with a good help of rice, pasta, or potatoes, and perhaps a roll, it would feed 4.

Again, this is not a fancy meal by any stretch of the imagination, but it was easy to make, was full of fresh ingredients, and had lots of flavor. Enjoy!

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Mediterranean Ground Beef & Veggies

Ingredients - 

1 lb                         Ground beef
2 T                          Olive oil

1 C                         Cooked quinoa (cooked in vegetable or chicken broth)
1                             Small red onion (or sweet onion5), diced
2- 3 cloves             Garlic, minced
1                             Red bell pepper, diced
2                             Zucchini, diced (I did one green and one yellow)
1/2 - 1 C                Cherry or Roma tomatoes, halved (I like mixed colors)
1/4 C                      Kalamata, sliced or halved
2 tsp                       Dried Italian herbs (or 1 tsp basil and 1 tsp oregano)
½ tsp                      Ground cumin
½ tsp                      Smoked paprika
Salt and black pepper, to taste
1/2 C                      Feta cheese, crumbled
Juice of 1/2 lemon, optional
 

Directions - 

If you haven't precooked your quinoa in broth yet, do that first.  Then I would cooked the ground beef in a large frying pan until all the pink is gone. Remove any excess fat and set aside. 

Wipe out the pan with a paper towel and then add the olive oil. Sauté the onion and garlic until the onion is fully cooked.  Add the bell pepper, zucchini and tomatoes and continue to sauté until the veggies are just done. If you want to leave them a little crispy, that's fine.

Stir in the all the seasonings, that add the olives, feta, cooked quinoa and lemon juice. Combine gently until evenly mixed, then serve.  Note - a more striking way of plating would be to not stir in the feta and sprinkle it on top after plating. My photo shows this, but in the pan.