Easy One-Pan Lamb and Spinach Dinner

My husband and I spend a good chunk of the year living in our RV. One of the challenges of RV life is eating healthy, since both food storage and preparation space are limited. Depending on where we are, we may also not have easy access to fresh vegetables.

All this put together means I specialize in one-pan meals made from canned and frozen items. These sort of meals are also great if you live a busy city life or are trying to batch cook for multiple days’ worth of food — or if you just haven’t gone grocery shopping in a long time.

This particular meal was inspired by the African dish sukuma wiki. I swapped out the beef for lamb and the collards for spinach for an overall milder experience. Except for the spices — I like to power this up with harissa paste, but if you don’t have any on hand or can’t find any that is Whole Life Challenge compliant, you can throw in some chili powder instead. (You can also try this recipe to make your own harrissa paste.)

I usually eat this meal as is, but I also make up a batch of rice in our Instant Pot every couple days and serve this dish to my husband over white or brown rice. You could also put it over spaghetti squash or baked sweet potato. However you do it, it’s going to be both easy and tasty!

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Easy One-Pan Lamb and Spinach Dinner

This particular meal was inspired by the African dish sukuma wiki. I swapped out the beef for lamb and the collards for spinach for an overall milder experience.

Category Dinner, Paleo

Compliance Level Kickstart, Lifestyle, Performance

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Total Time 25 minutes

Servings 4

Author Becca Borawski Jenkins

Ingredients

• 1 pound ground lamb use beef if that's what you have
• 1 12 oz package frozen spinach
• 1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes
• 1 tbsp dried onion flakes or onion powder
• 1 tbsp garlic powder
• Sprinkle of red pepper flakes
• 1 tbsp more or less harissa paste or chili powder, depending on your taste for heat
• 2-3 oz can black olives sliced or whole
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• Salt to taste

Instructions

1. Heat pan to medium-high.
   

2. Add your oil of choice and then the lamb. Cook until browned.
   

3. Add onion flakes/powder, garlic powder, black pepper, and harissa (or chili powder).
4. Add spinach and let soften, break it up with a spatula.
5. Once softened, add can of diced tomatoes (including juices).
6. Add black olives.
7. Sprinkle lightly with red pepper flakes and salt.
8. Cook until hot throughout, then serve as is or over starch of your choice — sweet potato, spaghetti squash, brown rice, or white rice.

Becca Borawski Jenkins

Becca earned her MFA in Cinema-Television Production at USC’s famed film school, and her first career was as a music editor. Becca found her way to career number two through martial arts. She trained in BJJ and muay Thai and worked with professional MMA fighters, building websites, organizing fight promotions, and producing videos.

In 2005, she became a student at CrossFit Los Angeles where she met WLC co-founders Andy Petranek and Michael Stanwyck. In only a couple years, she became CrossFit Level III Certified, left her entertainment career, and dedicated herself full time to coaching, serving as the Program Director of CFLA and founder of the CFLA CrossFit Kids program. After seven years as a music editor and then eight years as fitness instructor, Becca segued to her current career — full-time editor and writer.