Weeknight workhorses
easy Chicken Meatballs, Tzatziki & a book to give you all the feels
These days, every-time I sit down to write to you, my instinct is to start off with some iteration of, “oooof, what a week, am I right?”. Is it just me? Or you feeling the squeeze too? Work is really busy and I’m still that annoying person who cooks dinner almost every single night. But I want to cook once, eat it at least twice and have it double as a mini mouth meal. Three birds one meatball.
A fan of my book LUNCH! had just written me, telling me how they love ht echicken meatballs in chapter 1 and how they’ve been an awesome prep ahead meal. These are probably my favorite recipe as well. So it inspired me to riff on them. They’re easy because they bake in the oven - I don’t have the patience right now for pan frying meatballs. Dill, a jar of olives I've been meaning to finish and a box of baby spinach inspired the flavor profile. We’re obsessed with tzatziki so that was the obvious dipping sauce. Do you make tzatziki in your house? It’s one of those quick easy sauces that can elevate even a plain piece of chicken. Total weeknight workhorse to keep in the fridge. Mine is super minimal on ingredients just like the ones I ate in Greece.
It’s an awesome make ahead meal plan. I made a big batch of both the meatballs and tzatziki. Then I packed everything up in glass containers. Cut a big head of broccoli into florets, ready to steam or oven bake. Wednesday night I got home from set around 8:45pm, steamed the broccoli, heated the meatballs in the oven and done! We ate! They were a HUGE HIT.
Mini Mouths: These soft meatballs are perfect to cut up into bit sized pieces, dip in a little yogurt and give to the babes.
If these Greek-ish Chicken Meatballs with Tzatiki sound good to you, you can get the recipe by subscribing! If you’re already subscribed, it’s headed for your inbox very shortly.
What I’m Loving Right Now:
A Gift From The Sea: WOW. This book! The best way I can describe it, is that reading it is like a really good meditation, but with your eyes open. It was written 50+ years ago but the way the author talks about motherhood, being a woman and trying to live more simply, it may as well have been written yesterday. I’m loving it. (it also has big print, which I love!) The author wrote the book while living in a little beach shack on Sanibel Island…. dream right now.
Altufo/Champagne Mangoes: Right now these bright yellow mangoes are at their best. If you haven't tried them, go now to your store. They have a higher likelihood to be perfectly ripe and sweet then the bigger more conventional mangoes - I always feel like those are hit or miss. I like to peel them with a Y peeler, then cut around the pit. I’m ODing on them while they're this good. I love them with yogurt in the morning, I’ll blend them into a smoothie or food for Dean, and I have *big ambitions* to make a Mango Cheesecake with them.
GIR rubber spatulas: These I’ve been loving for a long time. I can tell you that I use one probably every single time I cook. They have all different sizes and it’s hard to explain why, but they are THE perfect rubber spat. It’s also all one piece, so they clean up really easily. The owner, Samantha, is a mom of three and all around cool boss babe. Bonus: they make excellent chew toys for bébé.
Hoping you have a relaxing weekend and an energizing week ahead! XO Liv
