The daily dilemma: what to cook for dinner. After years of cooking for my family, I can de facto say that there have been times when I lost my creative will in the evening meal department. Now that I have a picky four-year-old to reconsider in the equation, the dilemma has increased to approximately disaster size. He has a list of about 5 items that he'll eat and will not vary easily. In other words, I'm having a rather difficult time seeing easy to prepare meals that will satisfy the whole family. What to do, what to do?
For most busy families, time is the enemy. They plainly don't have adequate time to prepare whatever more than something pre-packaged from a box. I've been there, done that, and I can also say that it gets old, is unhealthy and eventually someone in the house will start to complain anyway. The request here is: Is there a way to couple salutary eating with convenience?
Meat Loaf
Why of course there is! making great meal planning a priority does not have to cause groans from the cook. There are new methods of meal establishment and easy to fix staples available these days that can make you say 'ahhh'. In fact, getting the kids complicated in the kitchen has become another novel way of getting picky eaters to de facto put something other than Pbjs in their sweet tiny mouths. My own tiny guy found a method in one of the cute kid cookbooks I bought him and with his help we made evening meal and he 'ate it!' Wow, I'm a believer.
So, what are some easy recipes for great house meals? Here are a couple of recipes that I've made in the past month that were hits with everybody in the house from grumpy dad to doubting daughter and picky pint-size pouter:
Pepperoni Pizza Quesadillas
8 - 10 inch flour tortillas
2 ½ cups cheddar cheese (I just buy the 10 oz pre-shredded)
1 cup salsa (I tend to go with mild since it's a meal for the whole family)
½ cup chopped green olives, drained
1 container of sliced pepperoni
Preheat oven to 400 F. Place 2 tortillas on a cookie sheet and top each with cheddar cheese. Put another tortilla on top of each cheese covered tortilla and bake for 5 minutes. Take out of oven and press down on tortillas with a spatula. Top with salsa, olives, some more cheese and pepperoni. Put back in oven and cook for 5 minutes more or until the edges are brown and crispy and the cheese is melted on top. This is great with a garden salad.
C.J.'s tiny Meat Loaf
1 egg
1 lb ground beef or turkey
1 cup oatmeal
1 onion, grated (I use onion flakes to save time, tastes great)
1/3 cup ketchup
¼ cup Parmesan cheese
1 tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper
Extra ketchup for the tops
Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly spray 8 muffin cups with cooking spray. couple ground meat, oatmeal, onion, egg, ketchup, Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper in a bowl; mix well with your hands or a spoon. Divide the meat composition into 8 balls and put each into a muffin cup; press down lightly. Put more ketchup on the tops of each tiny meat loaf. Bake for 30 minutes or until no longer pink inside. Replacement to paper towel covered plate to drain and then serve with mashed potatoes, green beans and carrots...yum!
These recipes have gone over great in my house, and I bet they'll be devoured well in yours too. making house meal establishment and house meal time a priority will encourage children to fabricate salutary eating habits - an prominent key to good health as adults. By making meal time less stressful you can focus on the joys of spending time together instead of the hassles of establishment meals. Every member of the house can enjoy evening meal time again.
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