new dinner ideas for teens/kids who eat a lot

[Anonymous]

My almost 14 yo DD is an athlete. Tonight for dinner we are having Peruvian rice with chicken and egg, it’s leftovers from restaurant dinner last night. I make extra egg to make the rice go further.
She’s on her 2nd bowl.
She’s also having a handful of cherry tomatoes and a sliced apple.
Eggs are an easy protein source in our house.

Tomorrow we are having salmon marinated in pesto, potatoes ( cooked in microwave) corn on the cob, peas.

Tuesday we are going out to eat and that’s as far as I’ve gotten.

[Anonymous]

Baked potato or baked sweet potato topped with all sorts of things...beans, pulled chicken, etc. easy to bake a bunch and turn extra into soup, chili, hash browns, mashed potatoes, or other things.

Fried rice or moo shu (we use tortillas for the wraps) are also pretty quick and flexible.

Not every casserole we have tried is a hit but broccoli cheddar rice casserole was well liked. We also do various egg bakes and pasta bakes.

We also do a "burger salad" with romaine lettuce, tomato, pickles, red onion or crispy fried onions and a dressing of mayo, ketchup, pickle juice, and mustard. We cook lentils and season with a burger spice blend, but crumbled ground beef or turkey would also be good. We usually serve with oven fries.

[Anonymous]

Marry me chickpeas with French loaf or focaccia is super filling and delicious. I do a 50% split between low fat ricotta and heavy cream to reduce the calories instead of only using heavy cream. Takes 15-20 min to cook.

Deconstructed manti pasta is really good and easy and so filling. You can search that and find a bunch of recipes.

Smash beef with garlic yogurt and pita is another good one (I use the NYT version and then modify to taste)

A huge thing of Shakshuka with bread is usually a hit too for lazy dinners. Can just add eggs or so eggs and beef or sausage or whatever. World is your oyster with the Shakshuka base.

Healthy hamburger helper - lots of recipes online

[Anonymous]

Just double the portions.

[Anonymous]

Stuffed shells and meatballs

Steak with chimichurri and scalloped potatoes

Grilled fish, corn on the cob, cucumber tomato feta salad

Sometimes I make a flatbread pizza and cut it into wedges as an “appetizer” while the rest of the food cooks

None of this is new but those are my defaults currently

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Stuffed shells and meatballs

Steak with chimichurri and scalloped potatoes

Grilled fish, corn on the cob, cucumber tomato feta salad

Sometimes I make a flatbread pizza and cut it into wedges as an “appetizer” while the rest of the food cooks

None of this is new but those are my defaults currently

+1 to chimichurri. Mom’s has a great premade version in the cheese section.

[Anonymous]

I have 3 teen boys who eat a lot. My biggest concerns with how much they eat are the impact on my budget, and also the amount of meat in their diet. I serve a lot of meat, but I also think it's important to balance meat with other foods.

One way I manage this is by serving 1 - 2 reasonable adult sized portions of meat for each kid, and then having a vegetarian protein they can eat their fill of. So, maybe I serve chicken or steak tacos, and I also have beans. Or I serve turkey sandwiches with lentil soup.

The second way I manage this is by serving foods that combine two proteins. So, a miso based soup with shrimp and tofu. Or cottage pie with a mixture of ground beef and lentils.

And finally, I manage this by making sure that the vegetables and grains I make have added fat, like roasted veggies with oil and salt, or salad with a full fat dressing. I do this both so that they taste good which makes the kids more likely to eat it, and because it increases the total amount of calories in the food which leads to satiety.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Baked ziti with spinach, salad, garlic bread.

+1

It's my two athletic college-aged sons and me. These are some of my hearty dinners, off the top of my head.
Chicken Pot Pie with salad (double recipe)
Shrimp and vegetable Fried Rice with eggrolls (double recipe)
Butter chicken (double recipe, and I add spinach to the sauce) with salad and Naan bread
A typical Sunday dinner that makes enough for Monday leftovers: I rotate Fried Fish (3lbs), Salmon patties (about 15 medium-sized), or Baked cod (3lbs) [you can insert whatever protein you want] with baked sweet potatoes (I cook 5), roasted broccoli, and homemade rolls.
Dirty Spaghetti (double recipe) with tomato and avocado salad, and rolls.
Tacos with white rice and salad. (I make around 15 tacos - a mix of blackened shrimp or ground beef). I make a salsa of chopped avocado, jalapeno peppers, corn, black beans, red onion, fresh cilantro, lime juice, and tomato to top the tacos.
Sometimes we do breakfast for dinner, so I typically will do:
Fried potatoes with peppers and onions, blueberry pancakes or blueberry waffles, bacon/sausage patties, grits, and scrambled eggs with onions, spinach, and peppers.

My sons would LOVE these.

Same. I make the butter chicken but add paneer to the chicken. So half paneer, half chicken (I adore paneer so it's a bit selfish) but lots of protein. I love the idea of adding spinach to the sauce. Going to do that! Thank you PP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Big salads (light on the dressing of course). Load it up with hearty veggies like cauliflower, tomatoes, broccoli.

“Light on the dressing of course”
Ok almond mom.