Easy, healthy dinners—parenting hack help

[Anonymous]

Maybe show your kids a video about Gaza and remind them kids in other parts of the world aren’t as fortunate?

[Anonymous]

If you have an instant pot, the Kitchn instant pot spaghetti is really easy.

[Anonymous]

--Brown some ground beef, add fresh green beans, cook until tender, add TJ's Soyaki sauce. Serve as is or with TJ's frozen brown rice. Can sub green beans with broccoli.

--Shred rotisserie chicken, use it to make chicken quesadillas. Serve with sour cream, salsa, premade guac. I try to time it for when we have leftover rice to use for my kid who doesn't eat quesadillas/others who need the extra filling.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Maybe show your kids a video about Gaza and remind them kids in other parts of the world aren’t as fortunate?

Wtf does this have to do with anything? We still need to feed our children dinner. I would also not expose my child to that violent imagery, not sure what your household is like

[Anonymous]

This is a wonderful thread! My contributions:

1. Chickpeas in couscous: make one box of pearl couscous according to the direction, add one can on chickpeas and half a bag of frozen peas. Stir until the peas are cooked at which point it will conveniently be the exact temperature my kids want their dinner at. (I made this so many times I now buy the couscous in big tubs and cook it with broth instead of relying on a spice pack for flavouring and prep dried chickpeas but the above is the quickest and easiest of recipes.)

2. Shrimp peanut bowls: Put on plain rice. While it’s cooking, pan fry shrimp and julienne vegetables (carrots, cucumbers, peppers are good as are bean spirits if you have them). Make peanut sauce of up rice bowls with 4:3:2:1:1 Tbps of oil:peanut butter:citrus juice (lime/lemon/Yuzu all good):sugar:soy sauce plus a minced clove of garlic and some grated ginger. Construct rice bowls according to taste with shrimp, peanuts, veg, and sauce.

3. Sprinkle fish on both sides with salt, let sit for 10 minutes. Pan fry. Serve over rice with sesame seaweed sheets and/or edamame.

4. Avocado pasta: Cook pasta. While cooking, slice tomatoes and avocado. Dump in parts as soon as it’s drained, add a drizzle of olive oil, mix well so the avocado smushed a bit, and serve with a generous helping of Parmesan.

5. Almost any breakfast-as-dinner (tonight we had scrambled eggs, toast, and cherry tomatoes).

[Anonymous]

The Anyday website is a great resource for how long ot cook things in the microwave. The dishes are great too but even if you're not using them.

[Anonymous]

Budget Bytes is great for quick, easy, and inexpensive recipes. Never had a dud from that site.

[Anonymous]

Turkey cutlets in lemon caper sauce. Salt and pepper the cutlets. Quick sauté until done and sides are golden. Deglaze pan with a 1/4 cup or capers with 1/2 a lemon squeezed and some water. Pour sauce on cutlets and serge. We add rice or orzo for kids with a non lettuce salad as well

Panko crusted cod or chicken tenders. I pretty much make my own fish sticks or chicken tenders using this method. Dip seasons fish or tenders in flour, egg and then panko and quick fry.

Tacos. We use a meat alternative like beyond or impossible or TJs brand. Serve with bowls of heated refried beans, cheese, lettuce, chopped tomatoes and salsa and kids make their own taco/burrito.

Chicken soup. I use 6 bone in skin on thighs in the intant pot with an onion and celery stalk. Soup setting. Transfer broth to pot through a paper towel on a sieve to clarify and season in the pot. Toss the veg and shred the meat. Add separately sauteed (in butter) and seasoned mirepoix. Broccoli and/or diced potatoes or cooked pasta. This is dinner one night a week in winter with some bread. It uses a lot of pots and pans but so good and everyone has 2 bowls worth.

I love cooking and as the kids get older and can do HW unassisted etc while I cook, the meals are getting more interesting again since i have more than 20 min to put food on the table. I also don't like leftovers. But things like the chicken broth will be used for soup another day or frozen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Rotisserie chicken is my hack.
One of our favorite dinners is Ramen soup. I add rotisserie chicken, chopped celery, chopped carrots. I use extra water so the seasoning is more diluted as well.

Black bean and cheese quesadillas. Avacado and tomatoes on the side. Obviously do different veggies or filling as works for you/your family.

+1 You can even buy rotx already off the bone, if you prefer. It also freezes well.

[Anonymous]

Meal prep 2 neutral proteins on the weekend, portion and freeze. Crockpot pulled chicken and brown some ground beef. Reheat in pan with differenr dry seasonings or jarred sauces, microwave rice or potato, microwave steam in bag veg. You can have tacos, Tikka masala, and Bolognese in 10 minutes. Any kid over 10 should be able to prepare this themselves.

[Anonymous]

Really really easy...high quality chicken sausage (just warm in skillet), baked beans from a can (can get lower sugar versions if that's a concern or swap in black beans), steamed brocoli sprinkled with parm and some salt, green salad.

Also easy but a bit more elevated, take a glass roasting pan (we call them jelly roll pans?), pour in a good jarred pasta sauce, and layer on a pound of shrimp (TJs frozen if you're really making it easy), top with crumbled feta and bake until bubbling. Add baguette and green salad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sheet pan meals! Throw a protein on a sheet pan with your favorite veggies. We like sausage, chicken or shrimp with whatever veggies are in season.

+1

Here's a decent starter list: https://www.tasteofhome.com/collection/sheet-pan-supper-recipes/

It's shocking how quickly high heat (450F+) will cook even bone-in chicken thighs (our current go-to protein but pork tenderloin is another family fav).

And tacos! Hard to go wrong, hard not to like.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is a wonderful thread! My contributions:

1. Chickpeas in couscous: make one box of pearl couscous according to the direction, add one can on chickpeas and half a bag of frozen peas. Stir until the peas are cooked at which point it will conveniently be the exact temperature my kids want their dinner at. (I made this so many times I now buy the couscous in big tubs and cook it with broth instead of relying on a spice pack for flavouring and prep dried chickpeas but the above is the quickest and easiest of recipes.)

2. Shrimp peanut bowls: Put on plain rice. While it’s cooking, pan fry shrimp and julienne vegetables (carrots, cucumbers, peppers are good as are bean spirits if you have them). Make peanut sauce of up rice bowls with 4:3:2:1:1 Tbps of oil:peanut butter:citrus juice (lime/lemon/Yuzu all good):sugar:soy sauce plus a minced clove of garlic and some grated ginger. Construct rice bowls according to taste with shrimp, peanuts, veg, and sauce.

3. Sprinkle fish on both sides with salt, let sit for 10 minutes. Pan fry. Serve over rice with sesame seaweed sheets and/or edamame.

4. Avocado pasta: Cook pasta. While cooking, slice tomatoes and avocado. Dump in parts as soon as it’s drained, add a drizzle of olive oil, mix well so the avocado smushed a bit, and serve with a generous helping of Parmesan.

5. Almost any breakfast-as-dinner (tonight we had scrambled eggs, toast, and cherry tomatoes).

I never put avocado with pasta before but I bet that recipe would also be good with chickpeas and a little lemon.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m looking for VERY easy, healthy dinner ideas that your kids like. I’ll start with two that work in my family:

1. “Sweet salmon”—3tbs of mustard and 2 tbs of brown sugar mixed together. Spread on salmon and pop in oven at 420 for about 10 minutes. Finish under broiler if you want. My kid loves this, even though she claims to dislike fish. I pair it with a lettuce-free salad that’s just a mix of cucumber, tomato, avocado and feta. The whole thing takes 5-10 minutes to prepare.

2. “Green Monster Burgers”—

1/4 cup of milk
1/2 cup of panko
1 egg
A ton of fresh spinach chopped very small
1lb of turkey meat
Zest from one big lemon
Optional:
A dash of Worcestershire sauce
Grated or powdered parm
Sale/pepper

Combine all ingredients. Form into burgers. Grill or cook in pan until center is 160 degrees. Top with sliced cheese for the last minute (we use Kraft singles)

My kid likes this on buns or just sliced into strips for her to dip in ketchup. I use a lot of spinach so the burgers are very green. This recipe makes 5 burgers. The whole thing takes 20ish minutes.

Share your easy, healthy dinner ideas below!

It's not "easy" if it involves zesting a lemon.