Dinner Time Help

There's a recipe on www.weelicious.com that is so yummy for the whole family. It's a stufffed pasta shell recipe - easy to make and I'm sure your kids would love it. I used ground turkey breast to keep it healthy.

Have you tried making salmon quesadillas? A fav in my house. I just use grilled/broiled salmon in place of meat. I also make a veggie version that's super kid friendly: sliced a cooked and peeled sweet potato, puree some black beans, then on a wheat tortilla, put the beans first, then the sweet potato then the cheese. I could eat them daily.

You might want to check out cookscountrytv.com or their magazine which has some 30 minute meals in there. They are really vetted in their kitchen and we haven't had a problem with one of the recipes. We did their meatballs and noodles the other night and it was under 30 minutes, and yummy.

Check out the cookbook Deceptively Delicious by Jessica Seinfeld. Great ideas in there! Plus, you "hide" fruits and veggies into the food and they truly cannot be detected in most of the recipes.
The thing that helps us with ruts is that I try to introduce at least one new recipe to our list of what we offer each week. Helps us to naturally offer new things. When our daughter goes through the phase of not eating much at dinner time, we start to eliminate snacking during the day...not to starve her, but that way she'll eat what is in front of her at dinner (that seems to be the most difficult meal so we usually don't offer a late afternoon snack).

Ah yes, that is familiar to me as well! ;) I find it's easiest to hide veggies in pasta sauce for pasta or lasagna or pizza sauce. Also, my daughter loves soup and will generally eat all the veggies that are in soup. Fall is a great time to try some soups like potato soup and taco soup. You could easily hide some purees in the potato soup too like cauliflower.

Also try mixing up some of your favorites like do taco salads one night instaed of regular tacos. We use all the regular taco stuff but I use baked pita chips instead of tortillas and it's really good! Also do fajitas with chicken strips and peppers. You can buy the tri color pepper mix frozen and just throw it in the pan! I also have a few taco like casseroles that I throw in the mix too. Tacos are so good and so easy, I feel like I make them all the time! There are also a few pizza like casserole recipes I've come across too and that might be another way to introduce another meal with familiar flavors.

You could also make your own chicken strips. Buy breasts and cut them yourself for a cheaper option and then coat them in a little yogurt and roll them in crushed cereal and bake. My kids love them! Another easy chicken recipe is to throw the whole chicken (which are much cheaper) right into the crock pot and let it cook all day. I put some other veggies in there, some spices and the chicken just falls off the bone at the end of the day.

Whenever I feel in a rut I will sometimes go and buy one of those magazines at the grocery store dedicated to casseroles, one dish meals, soups, or whatever and try some recipes from there to get me going.

Buy Zatarain's black beans or red beans & rice. It is super cheap. You can add cut up turkey or beef smoked sausage. It is a healthy meal too. My 3 year old loves it.

Also, check out the McCormick cooking bags & seasonings in the spice packet section of your store. Each packet contains a cooking bag and the spices to go with the item. You add fresh meat and sometimes some vegetables, depending on the product. These are simple and very tasty.

The cooking packet section has lots of ideas, you just need to spend a few minutes looking there. I have made dozens of meals with these and my daughter eats everything. There are even packets to add to crock pot recipes and other one-dish type meals. Bon Appetite!

If you want to message me your email, I can send you some of my familie's favorites!!

Hi,

The easiest way I've found to get kids to eat veggies is to sneak them into foods they already love. Chop them up really fine and add them into the recipe where they won't be too conspicuous. Next, have your daughter start helping you shop for and prepare a meal on a regular basis - say once a week or so. Kids are much more willing to try foods that they have picked out themselves. Also, look through cooking books together - my kids liked picking out food to prepare from magazines like Taste of Home, etc.

Hope this helps!

God Bless,
A.

My husband and I have found ourselves in the same rut before. We figured out a few years ago that when we are starting to get bored what works for us is picking a country/culture and cooking new meals for a whole week from there. We even have our kids check out books from the library and give little reports at dinner. We usually do this for about a month and by the end we have a ton of new favorites and we've had an opportunity to teach our kids something new!

As for vegetables, we are vegetarians so we've never had a problem getting our kids to eat their veggies. They would be too hungry if they didn't. I have to say that I strongly disagree with the idea of hiding veggies in other foods. I think its wonderful to incorporate them into an entree whenever possible but children need to learn that eating healthy is important. I think hiding veggies just reinforces the idea that they are not tasty and need to be camouflaged.

meatload with grated carrots and zuchini in it adds some hidden vegies. dont forget spaghetti. Have you tried her on vegetables with a little bit of cheese sauce or even ketchup to help her get them down?
I'm sure some good recipes will start pouring in.
A simple goulash consisting of browning ground beef with chopped onions, add a couple of cans of tomato soup and water and toss in bite sized potatoes and carrots... it's good stuff with a little cottage cheese on the side.

One easy & fun dinner is to have a "finger foods" night-- Whole wheat crackers (triscuits are good), cheese, ham or salami, a variety of veggies & dip. We also like to make funny faces on the kids plates with their veggies-- give them a variety to choose from (broccoli, carrots cut into disks/circles, peppers & celery sticks are favorites). Then encourage them to make a silly face (broccoli eyebrows, carrot circle eyes, pepper lips, etc.)

Also, try a vegetarian night each week-- look up some recipes on food.com. I love that site because people rate the recipes so you know if several people have loved it, it's probably good.

For snacktime, my girls like frozen veggies--Frozen. Peas, corn & green beans are favorites. They're like mini-popscicles (and easy!). Since your daughter is still young, now's the time to get her to like veggies. Good luck!

For a gradual change, you can start with variations of what you're already eating. Try fancy sausage, like chicken basil, instead of hotdogs. Add spinach leaves and grilled onions and mushrooms to the burger, and serve it with sweet potato fries. Add corn, black beans, and peppers to the taco meat. Make your spaghetti into lo mein. Try broccoli and zucchini on pizza.

i am in the same boat as you... we are having texas hash tonight,
ground beef, onion, bell peper, rice & chili powder. super simple and all ingredients we keep on hand.