Family meal ideas please!?!


Question: I'm trying to find some inspiration for me and my kids dinner.
Normally eat stuff like spag bol,lasagne,roast turkey, sweet and sour, casseroles etc.
I'm looking for something thats different, but isnt fussy,as the kids like normal home cooked simple food.
My kids are ages 3 and 8 if it helps to know that.
we dont mind eating meat/fish/veg/pasta..pretty much anything, but the kids dont like anything processed or spicy!
Please help me!


Answers: I'm trying to find some inspiration for me and my kids dinner.
Normally eat stuff like spag bol,lasagne,roast turkey, sweet and sour, casseroles etc.
I'm looking for something thats different, but isnt fussy,as the kids like normal home cooked simple food.
My kids are ages 3 and 8 if it helps to know that.
we dont mind eating meat/fish/veg/pasta..pretty much anything, but the kids dont like anything processed or spicy!
Please help me!

homemade cottage pie, or fish pie with cheesy mash, home made creamy chicken korma with rice. tagliatelle with ham and mushrooms.

whats with the thumbs down???? there all nice ideas well im giving thumbs up to all.

sausage and mash

Try fish pie with a potatoe and cheese topping, you can mix the fish, use cod, hake prawns and a little smoked haddock to give it a subtle change in taste. Accompany it with light salad veg such as sweetcorn, grated carrots and beetroot

Here's a great family recipe:

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, 2 turns of the pan
1/2 small onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 cans (14 ounces) chicken or vegetable broth or stock
2 cups orzo pasta (enriched rice may be substituted)
1/2 cup grated Parmigiano or Romano
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
CHEESY ORZO
Preheat a 8 inch pot with a tight fitting cover over moderate heat. Add oil, onion and garlic and saute for 2 or 3 minutes. Add broth to the pan and bring to a boil. Stir in orzo and return broth to a boil. Cover pot and reduce heat to simmer. Cook 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until liquid is absorbed and pasta tender. Remove lid and stir in cheese. Season with salt and pepper to your taste. You favorite fresh herbs may also be stirred into the orzo or rice to strengthen the flavor even more.

BALSAMIC GLAZED VEGGIES
1 1/2 to 2 pounds of your choice of the following, or any combination of: "baby" packaged fresh carrots, brussel sprouts, yellow squash (you can also use broccoli, cauliflower and zucchini)
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon butter
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Chopped parsley leaves, for garnish

Place veggies in a pan with water and vinegar. Bring to a boil and cover. Reduce heat to medium and cook 10 minutes. Remove lid and raise heat back up. Allow the water to boil away and the vinegar to reduce and glaze the veggies, about 5 to 7 minutes. When the vegetables are glazed, to a sweet, rich brown color add butter to the pan. Turn veggies to coat lightly with butter. Season with salt, pepper and serve. Garnish with parsley.
For an optional glaze for the vegetables, substitute 1/4 melted butter and 1/4 cup honey for 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar. Follow method as listed.

MARINATED MEAT
Basic Marinade:
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme leaves, a few sprigs
1 tablespoon chopped parsley leaves, half a palm full
One recipe will cover:
4 to 6 (1-inch) thick beef tournedos (filet steaks), 6 ounces each
4 strip steaks, 12 ounces each
4 pieces boneless skinless chicken breast, 6 to 8 ounces each
4 center cut pork loin chops, 8 ounces each, 1 inch thick

Basic Pan Gravy:
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons chopped shallot or onion
4 mushrooms, crimini or button, finely chopped, optional
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour, a handful
1 cup beef, chicken or vegetable stock, found on soup aisle


Combine marinade ingredients in the bottom of a shallow dish. Season meat of choice with salt and pepper and set meat into marinade and turn to coat. Allow meat to hangout 10 minutes.
Heat a nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Add marinated meat to the pan and cook 5 or 6 minutes on each side. Remove meat from the pan to a warm platter. Add butter to the skillet, chopped shallot or onion and mushroom bits (optional) then saute for 3 minutes over moderate heat. Add flour to the pan and cook for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Whisk in stock and reduce for another minute. Pour pan gravy over the meat and serve.

Since they don't like spicy leave out the crushed red pepper flake in the meat recipe!

Hope you enjoy it!

Upside down Pizza

Ground beef, seasonings, pizza sauce, and a mixture of eggs, milk, salt, and flour (2 eggs, 1 cup of milk, 1 cup of flour, and 1 tsp. of salt) and 1/2 onion, chopped. Also get a couple (2-3) bags of your favorite shredded cheeses.

Cook the meat with onions (onions are optional) until browned. Drain the grase and mix with the pizza sauce. Add to bottom of a dish (casserole would be fine) and sprinkle your favorite shredded cheeses (eyeball how much you want to use). Meanwhile, mixing the dough mixture and pouring on top of the beef and cheese (make sure it spreads over all the beef and cheese). Sprinkle some more cheese, not too much, on top to give a nice cheesy "crust".

Pop into a 350 degree oven and bake for 30 minutes. Let the dough settle (there will be air bubbles) then cut into blocks and serve on a plate, while sprinkling a little more cheese on the top (parmesan, of course.) Enjoy!

shepherds pie, made with turkey mince
tagliatelle with cheese sauce, bacon and mushrooms
sausage, bacon and egg sarnies
home made pizza
good old scrambled egg and beans on toast.
egg fied rice. You can throw in bits of chicken or prawns and veggies.

shepards pie! yum, i feel hungary

Corned beef hash served with sweet corn and broccli....yummy.
make sure you add baked beans in tomato sauce to the hash before covering with soft mashed potato and grated cheese,

We call this Chicken a la Louie (after Papa Louie) It's very good and easy to make!

-1 package a chicken breast
-sliced mushrooms
-1 package shredded Swiss cheese
-1 package shredded mozzarella cheese
-1 French's crispy onions (the ones you usually put on top of green bean casserole)

Put Chicken in pan and cover with mushrooms. Bake until chicken is almost done, 30 minutes. Then pour on both cheeses. Bake until done, probably another 15 minutes or so. Then top with crispy onions and bake 5- 10 minutes.

Try this.
Cook 1lb of minced meat with a little seasoning in a frying pan. When the meat is almost cooked, add a level teaspoon of garlic salt, stir, and let it finish cooking.
Open a large tin of spaghetti in tomato sauce and add to the meat. Toast and butter some slices of bread and spoon on the mixture.
Delicious! My children loved this.

Make some tacos. Do not put any spices in the hamburger maybe some onion and have the kids build their own by adding things like tomato, lettuce, sour cream. They are fun and kids always like it when they have some input into what they are eating.

a nice cottage pie
and cheese cauliflower on the side....:-)

Well..it all depends on what time you have really... my mom and dad are at work untill 4 and they are both pretty tired running their own businesses...if u have time in the morning if u dont go to work then think of something that u think your kids would like...my mom owns a business called super suppers. i dont know if there is one around you, but there food is super tastey and really easy...all you do is go to the store and prepare the food there(not cooking it) all the ingredeints are there and the recipie is there too. u just have to buy it, go home and cook it. my brothers(17&12) and me(15) all love it, no matter what it is.

if you dont have one around you then try fried hotdogs and onions, its awesome with some mustard

go to this website they have great ideas for meals for kids.

u could try this there easy http://www.kraftfoods.com/kf/Dinner/1Bag...

Tostados....
Flat corn tostado shells
1 can pinto beans
a little onion
oil
cook the chopped onion in the oil until translucent. Add the can of Pinto beans, add a little cumin, chili powder, garlic (don't put too much, just a little shake of each) cook until it boils then begin mashing the beans.

Chopped lettuce,
Chopped tomatoe
guacamole
mild salsa
sour cream
shredded cheese.

This is about a 20 minute meal.

i swear by asda magazines for recipes. the meals are cheap, there is a great variety and healthy too. i have 4 kids and i was struggling to come up with something new. i have every edition dating back to January last year. asda brought out their own recipe book, it cost 74p and its my bible.

my kids favourite is pasta, with grated cheese and sliced cooked ham or, tuna. i buy uncut bread, sliced thickly and grate cheese on top with either tomato, onion or even garlic and shove it under the grill for a few minutes and they love it.

help them to get involved with it - they will love the food even more if they helped make it

what about chicken and veg kebabs? alternate chunks of either plain chicken or marinated chicken with red/green/yellow peppers, onions, and any other favourite veg. you can try tis with different meat too - google is great for this kind of simple recipe. they will be colourful, healthy, and very tasty!

you may also want to try things such as home-made burgers (minced beef + half finely chopped onion + hint of salt & pepper +1 egg yolk) mix together, mould into shapes and grill! they are tasty and healthy too, as you know exacytly what has gone into them and they are also grilled.

try fishy parcels - medium fillets of white fish, placed on a large piece of foil or greaseproof baking paper. place a chunk of butter, a bit of garlic and parhaps a few herbs onto the fish, tie up the paper/foil and bake in the oven - they smell delicious and are ever so simple

good luck - remember - keep it simple, exciting, full of texture, healthy, interactive, and dont be afraid to try something new, if they love it - hurrah, if they dont - youve learnt for the future.

ps - there are plenty of smashing cookbooks out there for recipes like the above xx

This is great and all you have to do is put it in the slow cooker... you'll be free the rest of the day!

chicken cacciatore

INGREDIENTS:
6 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
1 (28 ounce) jar spaghetti sauce
2 green bell pepper, seeded and cubed 8 ounces fresh mushrooms, sliced
1 onion, finely diced
2 tablespoons minced garlic

DIRECTIONS:
1. Put the chicken in the slow cooker. Top with the spaghetti sauce, green bell peppers, mushrooms, onion, and garlic.
2. Cover, and cook on Low for 7 to 9 hours. Or on High for 4-5 hours.Yields: 6 servings

neapolitan chicken, there is a great recipe on the net www.great-chicago-italian-recipes.com/ne...

http://www.kraftfoods.com/kf

My family likes everything I have cooked from this site. Good Luck!

Tuna Casserole-
1/2 bag cooked egg noodles
one small can sweet peas- or frozen peas
one can drained mushroom pieces and stems
2 stalks chopped celery
1/2 chopped onion
some French's fried onion about 1/4 cup
1 large or 2 small cans of tuna
1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup
bake in covered casserole dish for 40 min at 375 top with cheese towards end of baking

Meatloaf-
mix ground meat- turkey, beef- whichever you prefer and some ground pork
add 3/4 to 1 cup bread crumbs
chopped onion and green pepper
one egg
and seasoning- or a pkg onion soup mix (then don't add chopped onion)
mix with hands
put in bread pan or other baking pan
bake at 375 for about one hour till meat is no longer pink in the middle- you can put some ketchup on the top before baking also
-serve with mashed potatoes and veggies

Stuffed Green Peppers-
brown1 lb ground meat- turkey or beef
make 4 servings of instant rice or long grain rice
take 4 green peppers, cut around top to take off top, seeds and ribs- boil in water till slightly soft you don't want them mushy at all-about 7 min. place into deep casserole dish
mix meat rice one egg and salt and pepper- stuff into peppers- any extra just place around peppers in casserole dish
pour on one family sized can condensed tomato soup
cover and bake at 375 for 45 min till soup is bubbly

Chicken Marsala


Although the "adult" version of this dish includes mushrooms and marsala wine - neither of which go down well with my kids - this is a perfect family recipe. We save the sauce for the grown-ups and give the kids "crunchy" chicken, and everybody is happy!

Ingredients:

4 boneless, skinless chicken breast
1 stick (4oz, 110g) butter
1 cup all purpose (plain) flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
1 cup milk
? to 3/4 cup marsala wine
1 cup sliced mushrooms
Fresh parsley to garnish

Instructions:

Blend dry ingredients in a flat bowl or plate. Dip the chicken breasts into milk and then douse them thoroughly in the flour mixture.

Melt the butter in a large sauté pan (frying pan). Sauté the chicken breasts over medium heat until completely done, adding more butter if necessary.

Transfer chicken to a serving dish or holding plate (and serve it to the kids like this, if you prefer).

Turn the heat up and add the mushrooms and wine to the pan. Stir constantly until the sauce has thickened.

Return the chicken to the pan to warm through and coat with sauce. Sprinkle with chopped fresh parsley to serve. Delicious with tagliatelle and a green vegetable.

takeaway mcdonald etc





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