Dinner Tetris for finance expert Jean Chatzky

Welcome to Dinner Tetris, an advice column here at 40 Ingredients Forever where a reader shares the ingredients they always have on hand and I dream up three dinners using those ingredients. If you’d like your pantries Tetris-ed into dinner, head here.

Food is so expensive these days!! Jean Chatzky wants to help. She runs Her Money, a personal finance website and podcast, and has written many books on subject. You may also recognize her from her 25 years as a financial editor of the Today show. (I also remember her on Oprah.)

Anyways, Jean had me on her podcast this week to talk about how to use fewer ingredients in more ways and how to save money at the grocery store, so I just ended up talking about beans the whole time.

Jean went to cooking school and is a prolific home cook but hates deciding what to make for dinner, so I Tetris-ed her forever ingredients into a few dinners.

Jean’s forever ingredients:

• Proteins: Frozen shrimp, chicken thighs, ground turkey

• Veggies: Cherry tomatoes, romaine, cukes, potatoes, broccoli, string beans, Brussels sprouts

• Seasonings: lemons, garlic

• In the pantry: Always Raos, chicken broth, black beans (canned), diced tomatoes (canned), rice (brown and white), pasta (assorted), and some parm or feta

Photo by Mark Weinberg, for I Dream of Dinner

Three Dinners Using Jean’s Ingredients

🍋Greek lemon chicken & potatoes🍋

Lemons, salt, oil, bone-in chicken thighs, chicken broth, potatoes

This is a riff on the Lemon-Pepper Chicken and Potatoes from I Dream of Dinner. In a large bowl, stir together the zest of 4 lemons, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1 tablespoon olive oil. (If you have some black pepper, add a few cranks.) Add bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs and toss to coat. On a sheet pan, combine 1/2 cup juice from the lemons, along with 1/2 cup chicken broth, 1/2 cup olive oil, and 1 tablespoon salt. Peel about 6 large Yukon Gold potatoes and cut them into roughly 2-inch pieces. Add them to the sheet pan and toss to coat, then spread into an even layer. Top with the chicken and roast at 450°F until everything’s golden, cooked through, and tender, about an hour. Eat with a side salad.

🍝10-minute turkey ragu🍝

Ground turkey, oil, garlic, salt, Rao’s marinara, lemon, pasta

Heat 3 tablespoons oil in a pot over medium-high. Smash four or five garlic cloves and add to the oil, along with a pound of ground turkey. Cook, stirring occasionally, until golden and cooked through, 5 to 7 minutes. Season with salt, then pour in a jar of Rao’s marinara. Simmer until warmed through, 3 to 5 minutes. Stir in the zest of half the lemon, then season to taste with salt and more lemon zest, which adds even more brightness to this lighter meat sauce. Add with pasta, and maybe a side of sautéed green beans or broccoli.

🦐Sheet-pan garlic shrimp with tomatoes🦐

Shrimp, oil, salt, garlic, cherry tomatoes, green beans, feta

In a bowl, toss 1 1/2 pounds frozen large shrimp (no need to thaw) with 2 tablespoons olive oil, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 2 chopped garlic cloves. Set aside while you tend to the tomatoes. On a sheet pan, stir together 3 pints cherry tomatoes, 2 tablespoons oil, 2 chopped garlic cloves, and a pinch of salt. Spread into an even layer and roast at 450°F until the tomatoes are starting to burst, 10 to 15 minutes.

Snap 1 pound green beans in half and stir into the tomatoes. Top with the shrimp. Scatter 8 ounces feta over top. Roast until the green beans are crisp-tender and the shrimp is opaque, 7 to 10 minutes.