Vegetable orzo with meat sauce

Spaghetti with ground beef is a famous and favorite comfort food for most Greek families. We grew up on this, it fills us with memories and deliciousness, and it’s what we think every child happily eats, right? So, why not take our favorite food and make it even more nutritious and easy to be loved by children? How, you ask? By adding some vegetables to the ground beef, and using the playful and colorful vegetable orzo by Mama Irene Pasta. Orzo with a meat sauce is also an easy solution to the problems smaller children have with most pasta. The little hands started eating this favorite comfort food just before he was one year old, with preloaded spoons, and with quite the success I must say. Let’s discuss this in detail.

What we will need

• Mama Irene Pasta vegetable orzo. I’m using Mama Irene Pasta since they have hand-made, pure pasta from select Greek wheat that is always fresh. Fresh, select vegetables have been chosen, one by one, to create a delicious orzo ready for colorful and nutritious meals! The color is given by Florina peppers, spinach, beets, and the yellow is given by turmeric. There’s no added salt, and it’s suitable for vegans. You’ll find the vegetable orzo at mamairenepasta.gr, and using the code “LITTLEHANDS”, you’ll get 10% off your purchase.
• Ground beef. I prefer meat without much fat, though I don’t usually ask for meat from a specific part of the animal. It’s also tasty to combine two different types of ground meat.
• Vegetables. Tomatoes, onions, carrots, leeks. Now, you might say that it’s not the season for tomatoes and you might be right, but grandfather’s garden tomatoes were late bloomers. If I don’t have fresh tomatoes, I use tomato paste from a glass jar, but nothing can compare to fresh tomatoes. In general, you can add any seasonal vegetables, depending on what’s in your fridge or pantry. Leeks go excellently with it, and I always add them in slices if it’s in season, or I might add some peppers in the summer.
• Spices. Cinnamon and sweet paprika are our favorite. I often add turmeric, too.
• Olive oil.

Tips

• Add the vegetables grated in your meat sauce if you like, or if you know that your pair of little hands will have an easier time that way. I personally choose to do both, because I want my boy to see and understand what’s in his plate and make his choices. I expose him to most types of foods as much as I can, and avoid the tactic of “hidden” ingredients, because I feel as if I’m deceiving him that way.
• You can store it in the fridge for 4 days, and when reheating it, it’s best to add some water so that it becomes juicy again.
• You can cook the Mama Irene Pasta vegetable orzo separately and serve it normally later or cook it with the ground beef in the end. In the second case, you’ll need your meat sauce to have retained more liquids from the beginning, and when you add the orzo, as well.

How the little hands can help

• Allow them to choose the vegetables from the grocery store and then wash them and cut them with a children’s knife or grate them—always under your watchful eye.
• Let them add the ingredients in the pot, add the vegetables, or mix them.
• Give them the ladle and the plates to serve the ground beef orzo.
• Remember that the more they help in the kitchen and realize how much work is needed to make a dish, the more open they’ll be to trying it.

Check too

Το περιεχόμενο αυτού του blog αποτελεί πνευματική ιδιοκτησία της εταιρίας LITTLE HANDS BLW. Συνεπώς, ΑΠΑΓΟΡΕΥΕΤΑΙ κάθε αναδημοσίευση, αντιγραφή ή τροποποίηση του χωρίς την έγγραφη συγκατάθεση της εταιρίας. Εάν ενδιαφέρεστε για το περιεχόμενο του blog, μπορείτε να επικοινωνήσετε μαζί μας για να συζητήσουμε πως θα μπορούσαμε να συνεργαστούμε.