Ground Turkey Teriyaki Bowls
A 20-minute recipe for busy nights + a cookbook for chicken lovers
Hi there!
We made it to February! Which I guess isn’t all that different from January, but it still feels like an accomplishment.
We sloshed out of the house this morning during a downpour. I managed to convince one kid to wear rain boots but both refused rain jackets. What is it with kids and resisting proper outdoor clothing?
I know that most of you fight this battle much more often than I do. Our temperate climate means I never had to bundle toddlers into snowsuits or engage in lengthy negotiations about wearing a winter coat. For those of you who bundle kids up on a regular basis, you are doing a good job!
On the way to school today we passed many parents trying to get their little ones out of puddles and into the school building before they were soaked. There are lots of little kids in our neighborhood, young families that make my husband and I feel like older, seasoned parents. When we moved to our neighborhood in 2010, we were the only family on our street with little kids. Now, there are toddlers and preschoolers up and down the block.
When I see younger parents holding a baby or pushing a stroller, I often smile with nostalgia. When I see them trying to pick up a flailing 3 year old having a meltdown on the sidewalk, I breath a sigh a relief that I’m no longer in the truly exhausting years of wakeful nights and toddler meltdowns.
There’s no question that as my kids grow into the tween and teen years, many aspects of parenting are easier. Most recently, my husband and I earned back the freedom to leave the house without hiring a babysitter. We can just leave the kids at home and go on a walk, whenever we want! Or run errands or (drumroll please) go out for dinner!
Reaching such a momentous parenting milestone makes it feel like everything should be smooth sailing from here on out. The hardest part is over!
Obviously, as any parent of a teen can tell you, that’s not true. There are many parts of parenting, both big and small, that remain challenging. On the small side, something that has genuinely surprised me is that making dinner is still a major challenge.
The reason is different now. Dinner use to be hard because I had a toddler hanging on my leg. Now it’s hard because on many nights of the week we’re not home between 5:45pm and 7:30pm. It’s just the way life is when you have older kids who are happily busy with activities and reliant on parents to shuttle them around.
I really thought at this point in parenting I’d be less dependent on 30-minute meals. Turns out, I need them now more than ever!
Ground Turkey Teriyaki Bowls
This is an easy dinner that cooks in under 30 minutes. You can serve turkey teriyaki over rice. It’s also great with noodles or wrapped in lettuce leaves.
The homemade teriyaki sauce is made with just 4 ingredients. It’s sweet and savory and gives ground turkey lots of flavor.
Here’s a preview of how to make ground turkey teriyaki (find the full recipe here)
Saute ground turkey with garlic and ginger.
In a separate sauce pan simmer reduced-sodium soy sauce, brown sugar and water.
Add a cornstarch slurry (water whisked with cornstarch). Simmer the cornstarch slurry with the teriyaki sauce to thicken the sauce.
Mix the teriyaki sauce into the ground turkey. Serve the ground turkey teriyaki over rice or noodles. Sides can be steamed broccoli or raw snap peas or sliced cucumbers.
A few tips:
Start making the rice first. I usually make rice in my Instant Pot (white or brown). I also keep frozen rice from Trader Joe’s in my freezer for a very quick option.
You can use ground chicken instead.
You can replicate this recipe with store-bought teriyaki if that’s easier for you. Just saute the meat with garlic and ginger, then add teriyaki sauce to taste.
Add green onion and/or chili garlic sauce for more flavor and heat.
Dinner Last Week
I’m always curious about what other families are eating. Aren’t you? Here’s what my crew ate last week.
Monday: Veggie burgers, plus a regular beef burger for my kid who prefers “real” burgers + frozen French fries.
Tuesday: Lemony white beans and leeks with toasted baguette, store-bought spanakopita and salad (the white bean recipe was sent to paid subscribers on Monday).
Wednesday: Instant pot pork shoulder, angel hair pasta, shredded raw purple cabbage, sliced cucumber, mint leaves for garnish.
Thursday: Mediterranean green beans with potatoes, fruit salad, leftover spanakopita from Tuesday.
Friday: Sorin made chicken schnitzel and I roasted potatoes and carrots as a side. After dinner we watched Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret which I thought was a really sweet, funny movie.
Cookbooks
I recommended this cookbook last year but wanted to bring it back to your attention because it really is packed with good, easy recipes. If your family loves chicken, this cookbook by Stacie Billis is a must.
Winner, Winner Chicken Dinner has about 50 chicken recipes, from roasting and grilling to sheet-pans meals and pasta.
I “know” Stacie from the Didn’t I Just Feed You podcast. It’s a good one for helpful dinner ideas!
That’s it for this week. May your weekend be as relaxing as Tiger’s!
Jenny
Having lots of fights over when to turn off the phone during the week. Turns out my 14 year old girl wants to Snapchat until all hours of the night and my 14 year old boy just wants to keep gaming until his eyes fall out. I put my foot down and now phones and computer are off at 9 pm and we are playing games until they are tired enough to go to sleep. It has been a rough week.