Pasta for Everyone in the Family?

[Anonymous]

My kids are sick of meatballs, meatloaf, tacos, and spaghetti. I tried a carbonara pasta with romano thinking they wouldn't mind the eggy sauce but no one liked it. Besides mac/cheese are there any kid friendly pasta dishes anyone makes they can suggest? Or any other dinners for that matter? Please

[Anonymous]

How about a baked ziti. You make the ziti according to package directions. While it is cooking, you mix up the filling for lasagna or stuffed shells (a small container of ricotta cheese, a small bag of mozarella cheese, a can of spaghetti sauce, one egg, some parsley, oregano, salt, pepper, and garlic powder). Mix the ziti in with these ingredients then spread in a baking pan, top with another can of tomato sauce and bake covered for about 45 minutes at 350 degrees. It's an easy make ahead dinner - you can either do it all the night before and then reheat for dinner or you can get it ready up to baking and then put it in the oven when you get home from work. If you do the latter, use a metal pan and put it in the oven when you turn the oven on instead of preheating the oven first.

[Anonymous]

Chicken tetrazzini comes to mind. My kids also like pesto so I do pesto with tortellini.

[Anonymous]

My kids just love spaghetti with butter and parmesan cheese.

[Anonymous]

If pasta is your main staple, then try to space it out during the week:

1. Monday: spaghetti bolognese with mushrooms and carrots (ground meat and marinara)
2. Tuesday: sauteed rice with sausages, peas and corn (canned veggies)
3. Wednesday: elbow pasta with eggs stirred into it (or tuna) and melted cheese and broccoli
4. Thursday: battered fish with steamed celery and potatoes
5. Friday: zucchini or eggplant and cheese lasagna (layer slices of vegetable and cheese with no-boil strips of lasagna and stick in oven - white or tomato sauce)

[Anonymous]

I don't know if this qualifies as a "pasta" dish, but my son will eat Lo Mein - somtimes. The recipe I have is basically a stir-fry with a lot of extra sauce, then you add in spaghetti noodles at the end. He tends to eat the stuff separate (I pull out "plain noodles" and brocolli and put it separately on his plate).

Also, pad thai (same thing - I have to separate the stuff on this plate). allrecipe.com has a ton of recipes for pad thai.

[Anonymous]

Have you tried the "absorption" method for pasta? Saw this on one of my favorite blogs and the kids loved it (1 and 4 years). http://www.designspongeonline.com/2010/04/in-the-kitchen-with-kate-flaim.html. I used a gemelli pasta instead of penne. Nice dish for summer too.

[Anonymous]

Pesto penne.

[Anonymous]

DS loves pasta with just some olive oil, salt, pepper. I usually put in a diced roma tomato and any fresh herb like basil or parsley. Sometimes I throw in a little feta or fresh parm. Great for summer b/c it's not a hot pasta.

Instead of plain olive oil, I also sometimes mix olive oil with lemon juice-- gives it a nice little tang. 1/3 c oil to 1/4 lemon juice. Or you could use a vinaigrette. Cold pasta with vinaigrette is nice also with just whatever raw veggies you have on hand-- broccoli, asparagus, etc.

If kids are getting tired of the usual, you can also mix it up by varying the pasta shape rather than the sauce. DS was excited by the introduction of bowties the other day.

[Anonymous]

tastebudding.com has a few interesting recipes (peanut noodles, mac n greens). might be worth checking out.

[Anonymous]

our 5 yo is good with ravioli. We top it with marinara and shrimp. Could also serve the marinara and shrimp separately so that everyone can mix and match as desired. I like this for later in the week as it is quick to make and, if we use frozen ravioli, something that can be kept on hand.

Not a pasta dish, but kid friendly: sloppy joes. You can make them with beef, turkey, or veggie crumble. Serve on buns, or you could serve on pasta, rice, or potatoes.

[Anonymous]

I second the ravioli. I also serve tortellini and I tell the kids they are belly buttons. The 4 and 5 yo eat them with just olive oil and parmesan sprinkled on top. The grown up version is the pasta, but heated with oil, garlic and wilted spinach or arugula. If we have pancetta, we throw it in too.

[Anonymous]

my mom used to make stuffed shells and they were pretty easy and we loved the taste. they were big pasta shells stuffed with a ricotta mixture (similar to what goes in lasagne) and covered with marinara. lasagne's actually not that hard either, and feeds an army. (might freeze the second half of it.)

[Anonymous]

Our three kids love clam pasta. I would never have thought it. It is so quick to make too so a win win.

[Anonymous]

Pasta with pancetta and arugula. Got the recipe on this forum a few months ago, the kids loved it, and it's really quick & easy.