Greek Bowls

This has become one of our favorite meals, and it's so easy to throw together as long as you have all the ingredients. 

Ingredients:

Ground beef (or ground turkey) 

Greek seasoning

Fresh tomato, chopped

Fresh cucumber, peeled (mostly) and chopped

Purple onion, chopped

Tzatziki sauce and/ or Tahini Lime dressing 

Basmati rice

Directions:

Boil the water and start cooking the rice. I make two cups of rice for my family of five, and we have leftovers, which we like to eat the next few days for lunch. 

Brown the meat. I use two pounds of beef for my family of five. We buy ground beef in bulk on sale and then we portion it into smaller quart freezer bags and freeze them in smaller sizes, usually just enough for one meal. I thaw one freezer bag of beef in warm water an hour before dinner, of if I am thinking ahead, I  put it in the fridge to thaw a day or more ahead of the day I cook it. Approximately two pounds of ground beef fits in a quart bag. 

After the meat is brown, drain it, and then return the meat to the skillet. Add Greek seasoning and toss to coat. Turn the heat down so it doesn't keep cooking, but the meat remains warm until the rice is done and all the toppings are prepared.  

While the meat and rice and cooking, chop the fresh vegetables. 

Take out the sauces and/ or prepare those, too. 

For the Greek seasoning, you can buy some pre-made or you can make your own using a recipe online. Sometimes, I just Google "Greek Seasoning Recipe" and then throw all the ingredients in the beef without being exact. It still tastes great. 

For the tzatziki sauce, you can buy a pre-made version or make your own with plain greek yogurt, garlic, lemon, cucumber, and olive oil, etc. Just Google a recipe and use it if it looks good to you. We usually have all these ingredients in our fridge and cabinets as staples, so I can just make some if we are out of it. But if you don't keep Greek yogurt around, just plan ahead and buy some premade. Note: There's a dairy free tzatziki at Trader Joe's for those of you who need that option. 

There is a delicious Tahini Lime dressing at Whole Foods near the fresh vegetables on the refrigerated shelves.  But you can also Google a recipe and make your own Tahini Lime sauce with hummus, tahini, lime, garlic, salt, etc. 

I like to keep the meat in the skillet and the rice in the pot on the stove.We serve ourselves rice and pile on the beef, then we go to the table where the fresh toppings and the sauces are out in the middle of the table. 

Enjoy!