Needing EASY Recipes!!

My family tried the chicken recipe on the back of a box of stove top stuffing last week. It was really good and easy. I have a 9 month old who only has two teeth. She was able to eat small pieces wonderfully and better yet it was something we all could eat so no one was making two separate meals. I don't usually like chicken, but this recipe had just enough other stuff to make it good. We used a frozen bag of vegetables.

Get a copy of FEED ME I'M YOURS by Lansky. In addition, there is absolutely NO reason you can't fix things like butternut squash, baked or mashed potatoes & sweet potatoes, peas, green beans (put the veggies in the food processor or blender) etc.

If you need other easy recipes for the family.....let me know. I've got over 400 cookbooks and I USE them. In addition, I've done some catering and cook for over 120 people every Monday at a local church.

Your son can pretty much eat everything you eat. Just make sure that you cut everything up in small enough pieces. (The size of a grape cut in quarters). One of my favorite cook books is: "Fast fixes with mixes." I absolutely love it. The recipes are so, so easy and taste so good.

Hi M. I bet you could fix this. I made it for my son who was extremely picky and only for him so we called it Michael's special dinner. It's basically what hamburger helper came out with but I was doing it years before. I would brown and crumble one hamburger patty. Fix a box of mac and cheese. Chop finely a tomato and mix a small portion of the mac and cheese with the hamburger and the tomato. I would also rinse the hamburger to get rid of as much fat as possible. Use hot water or it sticks to the meat. I made happy face pancakes. Drop a couple of drops for the eyes and a thin line for the mouth then poor more mix over the top. If you let the eyes and mouth cook and brown for a bit first they willbe darker and look more like a face. Do ants on a log. Celery, peanut butter, and raisins. You would be surprised what children will try if it has peanut butter. Also take cookie cutters and cut around them for sandwiches or just cut them into little wedges. Mine loved that I took the time to make their meals different even when it was the same foods.
I am sorry you lost your brother to choking. I sat for a dear older friend once who was fostering her brother's 2 kids and I nearly killed her with a hot dog. I did chop them up but they were still too big and one got lodged. Since she came during lunch I didn't catch it. It was only after taking her home and noticing she was blue on the lips that she went to the ER. She never held it againist me and I still watched both children.
Get a children's cook book. that will help too.

Hi M.!

Here's a pretty easy recipe that is a family favorite at our house:
Hamburger Rice-a-Roni

1 lb. ground beef
1/2 onion, chopped
1/4 cup butter
1 cup rice (not instant)
8 oz. uncooked spaghetti, broken into 1 inch peices
4 cups chicken broth
salt
pepper

Brown ground beef and onion, drain. Melt butter in a large skillet. Add rice and spaghetti and saute until golden. Add beef and chicken broth. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil. Cover and reduce heat. Simmer for 20 minutes or until rice and pasta are cooked. Enjoy!

Hope you're able to make it - we LOVE it! Hang in there with cooking and keep experimenting...I've been cooking for years and I still learn new things through experimentation.
A great place for easy recipes is www.campbellskitchen.com. Good luck!

I found a cookbook a few years back called "Lickety Split Meals." Everything is easy; she details all the steps, and the recipes are healthy. She even tells you, for instance, to chop up the salad greens while the other part of the meal is simmering. That might help you get some basic cooking skills down. It's very easy, good, and good for you. I have found a great burrito recipe that we eat all the time now. The book is a few years old, so you may have to try Amazon.

He really can eat anything you do, you just want to make sure you make things like meat in small bites. The crock pot is great because it cooks for SOOOO long, everything gets so tender and you can easily pull meats in to tiny pieces. I like to throw whole chickens or turnkey breasts in in the morning, set it on low, and come home to it at the end of the day.

Hi M.,
I feel the same way when it comes to cooking, so here is an idea. Use the crockpot. You can put all the food in before you leave for work and by the time you get home it will be done. The best part is the longer you cook it the better it will taste and the softer it will be. You can make soup beans(beansoup)pork and sourkraut, beef with potatoes and carrots.(add water and beef boullion) Basically the possibilities are endless. This is great for the whole family,and everything will be soft enough for the little one. Hope this helps!

Your little guy can eat pretty much whatever you do. My daughter was a late bloomer as far as getting her teeth. I just made sure that everything I gave her was small enough that if she did swallow it whole, she wouldn't choke. Obviously, avoid things that are hard to chew like steak or roast, but everything else is pretty much fair game. If he doesn't want to chew, it may very well be because he's getting his molars.

As far as recipes go, check out www.kraftfoods.com. They recipes are super easy and the ingredients aren't anything strange. I also recommend any of the Taste of Home Best of Country Cooking recipe books. Those are what gave me my start in cooking. I'm not the best cook, but I can follow a recipe pretty well! Also Campell's website and Stove Top's website have some really simple and easy recipes. Once you get the basics, it's easy to expand on your knowledge.

Oh, and my dd LOVES casseroles. It seems like everything in it gets mushy enough that she can chew it whether she's teething or not. Trust me, I have a VERY picky eater! She'll eat just about anything....just when SHE wants too! Good luck and Happy cooking!

He should be able to eat anything the rest of the family is eating with few exceptions. The teeth don't matter - babies and toddlers can gum anything. None of my child had a single tooth until after their first birthday (still well within the range of 'normal' in case you are wondering). Most kids I know are eating "real" food (ie, whatever the rest of the family is eating) by 7-8 months. He can even have steak if it's tender. Just cut everything into pea-size bits and put a few at at time onto his plate. I think you'll be surprised.

Your son may not want to chew simply because he hasn't had to learn how to do it yet. The only way he'll learn is to give him foods of various textures. If you wait much longer to expose him to a variety of food textures, he may take a much longer time to adjust to eating certain foods (and require therapy from First Steps to help him over it).

My boys loved cheese grits--just boil up some of the instant grits and add a slice of american cheese or a coupple of chunks of Velveeta and stir, the grits will be warm enough to melt the cheese. Allow them to cool a little before feeding them to him. Also, try Vienna Sausage, cut into small chunks. He can pick up the pieces himself, and they are soft enough that they fall apart in his mouth. You can also give him small pieces of cooked sweet potato and green beans.
Good Luck!

You've got some great ideas, here. I have to agree with the crockpot recipes - nice, soft foods and easy. I'll add another resource... www.allrecipes.com - I use it all the time! It has crockpot recipes and anything you could ever want under the sun. The recipes are reviewed by those who've tried it, so you know if you need to "tweak" anything or if it went over well with their family, etc. The recipes reange from super easy to more gourmet, depending on whatever you are in the mood for. It tells you how long it takes to make and you can change the servings to suit your family....love the site(obvious, eh?). Good luck!!!

I've posted some here:http://lesliemillermama.blogspot.com/search/label/Recipies

comment me if you want more!
p.s. crockpot and crockpot cookbook.......always good