Go-To Meals for Your Kids (From our Readers)

When you're cooking for your kids, you don't want the fanciest meal, you just want something healthy that you can prepare somewhat easily that the kids will actually eat.  Sometimes that can be a pretty tall order.  Sometimes, I just don't have enough go-to meals.  So I posed this question to our facebook followers.  I asked everyone what their favorite go-to meal was, and I got a great response.  So, I wanted to share all of the great ideas with everyone.  If you have a meal that you'd like to add, please put it in the comments section.  Next time you're searching for something to eat, hopefully this post will give you some great ideas!

Here are the ideas from our wonderful readers:

*pesto pasta

*Green chili turkey burgers and frozen veggies roasted in the oven

*Lentil sloppy joes

*My mom mixes cooked ground beef, cheese, onions, carrots, peas and corn all together in a bowl. Cover with a jar of tomato sauce. Then she places it in a baking dish, puts raw biscuits on top and bakes it until the biscuits are brown.

*I use Weelicious when I am struggling for an idea. Her chicken nuggets have been a hit- zucchini bread and mac'n'cheese too 

*Ours is a version of the delicious mac and cheese that they have at Panera. You can kick it up by adding pimentos, bacon, veggies, etc. Ingredients: 11oz. pasta (cooked), 4TB butter, 4 TB flour, 1 C milk, 1 C cream, 4 oz. shredded cheddar, 4 oz. cream cheese, about 1/2 C of pasta water...mix flour and butter in saucepan, add milk and heavy cream slowly while whisking, heat to boiling, take off heat and add cheese slowly, once sauce is melted add it to noodles. It's delicious and kiddos love it!

*Spaghetti,,, ground beef, jar sauce and any pasta I have around.

*Cooking lights no chop chili. So easy! No chopping. And always always always breakfast for dinner. I think they think we are breaking the rules 

*Black bean and cheese quesedillas

*Kabobs out of random fruits and veggies. We eat honey butter sandwiches and have a million different ways of making oatmeal that is nothing like oatmeal (throw walnuts, cranberries, blueberries, flax seed, cardamom, etc in the microwave) for fast nutritious treats... Depends on the season and the temperature.

*My kids eat rice, kale and chicken like it's magic. Cook brown rice, pill a rotisserie chicken and the kale is the slightly more difficult part... Olive oil in pot with garlic and pepper, finely chop kale and sauté in olive oil until bright green, add a bit of chicken broth, cook another 5 minutes, add a little salt and mix all 3 together. I usually make 2 cups rice, all the dark meat and whole bundle or kale together.

*Skillet lasagna. If using gr beef, brown in pan with onion and garlic. If not, start w veggies only. keep heat on med. Then add some ricotta, ital seasoning, and balsamic vinegar. Top with 4 broken lasagna noodles flat on top. Smooth on 1 can diced tomatoes and 3/4 cup water and peppers/other veggies like mushrooms if desired. Bring to a boil. Then cover and simmer on low for 30 minutes. Uncover and add mozzarella cheese, let melt. Serve with garlic bread. You can start this early and let it simmer during those "witching hours".

*Joy of cooking's banana bread. Takes an hour to bake and I leave out the nuts for my little ones but its worth the wait and my 3 year old lives to help cook. http://www.grouprecipes.com/121980/joy-of-cooking-banana-bread.html

*Zucchini Spaghetti-A jar of sauce, half to a whole box of spaghetti and 4-5 zucchini's grated in the cheese grater. Cook the pasta and throw the grated zucchini in the pasta water the last 2 minutes of cooking. Drain and mix with the sauce. My kids love spaghetti and don't notice the zucchini. We eat it with lots of parmesan.