Meal ideas for kids dinner?!
Answers: my wife is away for a few days and i want to try something other than nuggets, noodles, pasta all ideas welcomed.
Some ideas: Taco casserole, lentils & rice, lentil casserole, shephards pie, meatloaf w/ mashed potatoes, homemade mac& cheese, breaded and fried fish, salmon with rice and corn, roasted potatoes, pot roast, sausage and rice stir-fry.
can't think of anything else right now but these are all things my 9 year old eats and likes. Good luck.
two recipes below:
Taco casserole:
1 lb. ground beef
? t. whole oregano, crushed
1 c. chopped onions
1 can kidney beans, undrained (15 oz.)
1 clove garlic, minced
2 c. corn chips, crushed
1 can tomato sauce (8 oz.)
1 ? c. shredded lettuce
1 T. chili powder
Combine beef, onions and garlic in skillet. Cook until meat is browned; drain. Combine meat mixture, tomato sauce, water, and seasoning in a medium bowl. Stir well. Place half of meat mixture in lightly greased 2 quart casserole. Top with half of kidney beans. Sprinkle with half of crushed corn chips. Repeat layers, cover and bake 350 deg for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake additional minutes. To serve, top casserole with shredded lettuce.
Lentil Casserole
2 c. lentils, washed
1 (1-3/8 ox) onion soup mix
1 qt. water
1 t. cider vinegar
1 lb. ground beef
1 t. prepared mustard
? c. salad oil
1/8 t. pepper
1 c. catsup
1 c. water
Combine lentils and 1 quart water in saucepan. Cook, uncovered over medium heat for 30 minutes. Brown beef in oil. Stir in lentils, catsup, onion soup mix, vinegar, mustard, pepper and the one cup of water. Pour into casserole and bake, uncovered, in 400 deg oven for 30 minutes. Serves 8 Less oil may be used.
check out the Sainsbury's website. They have a whole range of healthy foods and recipes especially for kids.
what about a child friendly toad in the hole with lots of mash and veggies??!
Kids love fish pie!! Sounds odd I know as you think most don't eat fish but you might be surprised.... just pour some milk into a saucepan, add in a finely chopped onion and a diced up carrot & some peas. Then add to the milk some fish - white fish, smoked, like haddock, or even salmon is good - and then while it is cooking put on some potatoes to boil. When they are cooked and the fish is cooked, mash the potatoes using the milk from the saucepan, once mashed, tip in the fish & veg and stir around. Pour into an oven dish, grate cheese on top and bake in oven until cheese is browned on top. Total classic and a favourite in our house! Good luck and good on you for trying something different!!
How about some mash on a plate sprinkle some cheese on top with beans my kids use to love it.
Chicken wraps are quite good. Just get tortilla wraps, cooked chicken breast, salad leaves and perhaps a sauce. They're easy to make and there's not much not to like. They only take 5 minutes to prepare. They're also healthy.
i do believe that kids eat what parents themselves eat. and it also is about discipline. I've been to London years ago, and i think i can say that kids there have no discipline. i think this can make life for their parents a lot harder, esp making them eat healthy food. i got a nephew and a niece, ages 6 and 8, and they both love vegetables, esp broccoli. i think they love to eat it because they see us also eat the same food and not making a fuss about it.
sausage and mash fishcakes and chips ask them what they want
The more kids can do to help, cook or fix their own, the more you will get them to eat..Keeping that in mind I will suggest the following:
1. Tacos---let them build their own. All you have to do is the meat and 'help' them.
2. Pigs in a blanket--- they can roll out the biscuits using a glass and then wrap the biscuit around a cut hot dog, add cheese if they like it. All you have to do is cut the hot dogs in half, 'help' with the rolling , and place and remove from oven.
3. Chicken salads---have all ingredients set out on table and let each child fix their own salad.
Well that's three, but I hope it helps you..if you need more, let me know...
Here's another one:
Pizza
Buy a premade pizza crust and a jar of pizza sauce. Make sure you have toppings that everyone likes. You spread the sauce on and then let each child do one of the other ingredients. Like have one child put the cheese on, the other child can put the pepperoni on, then the mushrooms, onions,, whatever you all like. Plus if one child likes pepperoni but the other one doesn't, you can skip putting the pepperoni on 'their' pieces of the pizza, and by doing this, it really becomes THEIR pizza.
And do NOT forget to tell the children what good jobs they have done, and how good it tastes....
Involve them in "special treats". Instead of beans bangers and mash ask if what shape sausages they would like -square ones, round ones, doughnut shaped ones, long ones (all intriguing for kids) - Just get sausage meat and shape your sausages accordingly, flour and fry. Give the beans a kick with Worcestershire sauce, tomato ketchup and a little mustard. Offer them their choice of mashed potatoes - special mash, super mash or superdooper mash - regular mash just has margarine mixed with them - add milk and whip them for special mash, add milk and an egg for super mash (and whip) or the ultimate addition: grated cheese to the super mash to give you superdooper mash.
They obviously have to agree on the type of mash but their sausages can be to individual choice (you can even let them make their own if you wish).
Tacos sounds like a good idea. it's easy to make and could be fun to let them make their own.
Fried rice is good too and very easy to make. here is an easy recipe we do at my house.
Polish sausage (hot dogs work fine too)
Onions (diced small)
carrots (diced)
frozen peas
2 eggs
cooked rice
soy sauce
sesame oil
over med heat. in pan cook carrots and onions until onions start to go clear. add diced sausages. cook for a couple minutes. add cooked rice. mix until rice is well incorportated. add a touch of soy (to your taste) and a touch of sesame oil (a little goes a long way) toss well. turn heat to high. crack 2 eggs over rice and again toss well untill all the egg is well incorporated into rice and cooked. enjoy.
try something like chicken wraps but let the kids make them there-self cook the meat and some veggies and serve it in separate bowls so they help them-self to what they want my kids love it but just have plain chicken or beef in them and then add there own ketchup
When I was a little girl my grandma used to make little pizzas.
1. 1 small can of biscuits (in the refrigerator section) not the large one, get the smaller rolls.
2. take the biscuits out and flattin them and place on lightly greased cookie sheet.
3. smear a little ketchup on them
4. add cut up lunch meat(ham, pepperoni)
5. add a little cheese
back for the time on the rolls.
My kids love eating them, and for my picky eater I don't put any meat on his.
one of my favorite meals as a kid was soup and grilled cheese sandwhichs we had that for dinner a lot you could also do hot ham and cheese sandwhichs, or another one of my favorites is pancakes for dinner!
As `a chef of few years standing, quite a few in schools, I find that children like quite simplistic food. Like stew without the vegetables.The other idea is to serve lots of different things as tasters. I tried this idea in a 4 star hotel I worked in and it was extremely popular. I used a chicken breast, cut into 4 and pan fried. 2 small blocks of cheese. Baby sweetcorns. A couple of baby sausages and some broccoli. In the centre of the plate I'd put a couple of small dishes with their favourite dips, and place the food all around the rim.
Buy a pizza bases, some cheese, tomato paste and your kids favourite toppings.
Give each of your kids a small pizza base, and spread on tomato sauce and cheese and then let the kids decorate the pizza with their favourite toppings, then bake the pizza for 15 minutes. The kids will have fun making their own pizza and i guarantee that they will eat it.