Are you noticing the number of recipes for sheet pan dinners? Maybe it’s the nod to comfort foods, maybe it was the long winter but regardless, those recipes are everywhere!

Since I am the clean-up crew most every night at home, using only one pan has great appeal for me.

So, the first thing I do when reading recipes for inspiration (since I never follow directions or ingredients exactly as written) is to weed out the ones starting with the protein cooked in a skillet first! Admittedly, I was intrigued by the sheet pan recipes for cinnamon rolls and fried chicken with waffles…but those recipes are skipped over too.

Thinking of the clean up means I’ll line the pan with parchment or foil and, likewise, I’ll use a plastic bag for a marinade instead of another bowl.

We don’t typically enjoy mixed up foods or casseroles; we want are veggies distinctive, our meats (primarily fish) cooked and not over cooked and our starches in small quantity. Though, we can certainly make exceptions for chicken fajitas or jambalaya where we do want the flavors to meld.

So in our case, with a bit of mathematical calculation we can accomplish all our goals. The math goes into the timing and sometimes the size cut among vegetables if there are several. Starting various elements at different times, with planning, is pretty straightforward.

The conventional recipes are often animal protein focused which isn’t quite our eating style so, again, altering quantities is easy.

If you’ve got some pretty selective eaters at your table, perhaps, sheet pan dinner nights might include one favorite food from each person/meal. Could it even be a teaching lesson about what goes into a balanced meal?

There are many ways sheet pan meals can work for you to be well,

Marcia