I’ve said it many, many times on this blog, but I feel like I need to reiterate it again: I hate cooking.  I’d rather clean toilets that chop vegetables.  I’m not even making that up.  But alas, may family insists on eating dinner every night.  Sigh.

We eat a lot of pasta dishes because I find them quick and easy.  But on the rare occasion that I’m feeling like Donna Reed, I try to do something different.  Before we had kids, Tom and I used to make foil packets of meat and vegetables on the grill.  They are simple to throw together so we still eat these every now and then – but I put them in the oven these days since our grill bit the dust a while back and we haven’t replaced it.

I consider these foil packet dinners to be a use-what-you-have type of dinner.  They always include ground beef, but the types of vegetables and seasonings change.  One night, I used something odd from the pantry to try for a different taste, and we couldn’t believe how awesome our dinner tasted.  Now, that ingredient is a necessity when we make our packets.

Here’s a {very rare on this blog} recipe for one of our favorite dinners on a lazy night.

Easy Foil Oven Packets with a Secret Ingredient

Ingredients (serves 4):

1-1.5 lb. ground beef
1 c. cubed potatoes
1/2 c. chopped onion
1 c. chopped baby carrots
2 cloves chopped garlic
4 tbsp butter (no, this isn’t healthy)
2 tubs Knorr concentrated vegetable stock
Salt & pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Make 4 patties out of ground beef and lay each on a piece of aluminum foil that measures about 12-14 inches long.

3. Divide vegetables and garlic evenly and top the patties.

4. Add 1 tbsp of butter to the top of each pile of vegetables.

5. Add 1/2 of a tub of Knorr concentrated vegetable stock to each pile of vegetables. *This is the secret ingredient that will make your dinner melt in your mouth. You can find it in your grocery store in the soup/stock aisle.*

6.  Add salt and pepper.

7. Fold up each packet into a little envelope so that no juices can leak out. I usually write each family member’s name on their packet, since we each like ours a little different (no onions for Emma, no potatoes for Zack, etc).

8. Place packets in the oven (I put mine directly on the middle rack) and bake for 45-55 minutes.

When we eat these for dinner, we generally put the entire packet into a bowl and then open it and eat straight out of the foil. That keeps the juices from running off of our plates.

These are perfect for this time of year when it gets dark earlier and the wind gets a bit more nippy.

Do you love foil oven packets?  What do you put in yours?