my holy grail: kid-friendly recipes that can be mostly made in advance and not taste like leftovers

[Anonymous]

Got any to share? I get home at about 5:45 to 2 kids under the age of 4 who are both starving and demanding my attention. I aim to have dinner on the table no later than 6:10. I dont mind cooking the night before after they go to bed, but I do like dinner to be fresh, not taste like last night's dinner out of the microwave. So I'm not looking for the 30 minute meals because I dont have 30 minutes and I've got kids attached to each leg - I'm looking for the ones that can be thrown in the oven (nanny can do that so timing's not an issue) or in a pot for 10 mins or the like when I get home. Here are a few things I do but I could definitely use more:

quesadillas - prep everything the night before (saute veges, meat and/or beans), just throw in pan or oven when I get home.
burritos/enchiladas - totally prepare in advance, bake when home
burgers - prep burgers, fixings and sides in advance, then just grill burgers and steam a veggie when home
pasta - has to be made the night before, then just heated with sauce. not ideal (pasta doesn't keep that well)
stir fry - everything prepped including sauce and noodles or rice - just toss in wok quickly.

other ideas?

[Anonymous]

You're the one with the issues. The little ones know nothing about "tasting like leftovers". So yes, you don't precook fish, but casseroles, chili, stews, soup? Most of them taste better if they've sat a day or two.

And if you've got a nanny, is it really too hard to ask her to put a pot of water on the stove at 5:40 so the water is boiling to make pasta when you get in? Even if you didn't have a nanny, pasta is the easiest thing in the world to make, if you already have a sauce done.

Get a crockpot. Many recipes can be prepped the night before, so you dump it in the crockpot in the morning before you leave and turn it on. Hot food waiting when you get home.

[Anonymous]

OP: My DS loves soup and they reheat and even freeze and reheat well. Also, if they will eat beans, try making Red beans and Rice in any style you like. That too is a good one. Finally, do you remember your mom making "casseroles" . Ive actually made a few for my DS (nearly 3) and he LOVES them. I don't have a recipe off hand but "burger mac" is one and the other was basically velveta mac'n'cheese, chicken, peas. I think there was something else in that but can't remember right now.

(tot is singing at top of lungs from bedroom right now: jingle bells..too funny).

[Anonymous]

WOHM to three kids (2.5, 2.5, 5) who are starving by the time we get home from daycare at 5:50PM. Here are our regulars:

1) Make your own English muffin pizzas - sauce, shredded cheese, toppings (our choices usually are pepperoni, mushrooms, sliced black olives, pineapple)

2) Grilled cheese and tomato soup (5 yo DS likes turkey in his sandwich); Kids go thorugh my cookie cutter basket to choose the ultimate shape of their sandwich (DH and I eat their crusts) while sandwiches cook

3) Breakfast for dinner: usually pancakes and sausage and fruit; again, I use cookie cutters as a distraction

4) Rice and beans (made the weekend before) and quesadillas; chips and salsa

5) Baked salmon with teriyaki suace (takes 20 min in oven) and rice; microwaved edamame from Costco (kids start shelling the edamame while the salmon finishes)

Hope this helps!

[Anonymous]

Two suggestions:

Lasagne. You can make it the night before, stick it in the fridge, and have the nanny put it in the oven (don't preheat the oven-- put the fridge-cold pan in while the oven is cold, to prevent temperature shock) about an hour before you get home. When you get home, take the foil off so the top bubbles, then pull it out and let it rest for 10 minutes before serving. Use this time to make a salad.

Good old midwestern casserole. I know, I know. It's not fancy, and probably not as healthy as we'd all like, but kids love it. I mix a can of mushroom soup with parboiled wild rice and finely chopped broccoli and a handful of shredded cheddar. Throw some milk in to loosen it up. You can put this in the fridge on its own. Then Nanny can pour that mess over raw chicken in smallish pieces-- the supermarket "tenders" are good-- and bake for 45 minutes or so. (I probably wouldn't put the raw chicken in with the casserole glop overnight. Just seems like asking for trouble. Serve with whatever green thing your kids like. The broccoli will have had most of its goodies cooked out.

[Anonymous]

What do leftovers taste like?

Casseroles and lasagna can be prepped in advance and reheat well. And the crockpot is your friend.

We also do quesadillas, grilled cheese, bagel pizzas, tacos, etc.

I do a rice, broccoli, and cheese casserole that is really easy. Just evaporated milk, a tablespoon of diced onion, garlic, 2 cups cooked rice, and steamed broccoli. Bake on 375 for 25 minutes. You can do it with chicken or breaded chicken. In a pinch, I'll do Bell & Evans frozen breaded chicken.

I often do crockpot of meatballs with sauce - cook on low until I get home then cook pasta or make subs. Those also reheat well and can be used for leftovers. You can also make the meatballs in advance and pan fry them and serve with noodles, parm. cheese, and fresh tomato.

Chicken with cream of mushroom, serve with rice and veggies. Just dice chicken, put in a casserole dish with cream of mushroom, and bake on 350 for about 45 minutes.

I found a fairly easy beef stew recipe that can be done in the crockpot, but unfortunately the kids don't really like it.

Do you have Pininterest? You can get loads of ideas from there as well.

[Anonymous]

1.You can make your own pizza dough the night before and let it rise under a towel when you're at work. Then, it only takes 10 minutes to bake.
2. Turkey chili in a crockpot - (we make ours w/o beans)
3. Tacos -- keep chopped veges in baggies or a container and have kids assemble their own (takes 2 minutes)
4. Chicken - cook all day in crockpot
5. Turkey meatloaf -- wrap in foil and cook on low all day in crockpot
6. Vege Soup -- cook all day in a crockpot
7. Sloppy Joes w/ ground turkey - cook all day ...
8. Baked ham - wrap in foil and cook all day...
9. Baked Turkey - "...
10. chicken or shrimp salad - make in advance and put on toast
11. Casseroles -- make the night before and put post it note on when it should go into oven for nanny
12. lasagna or baked stuffednoodles -- cook the night before and let nanny know when to put it in oven
13. brisket -- wrap in foil w/ bbq sauce and cook in crock pot
14. Crap cakes -- buy canned crab and make them in advance to re-heat
15. salads and pasta salads -- make in advance and have family eat while you're putting the finishing touches on dinner
16. frozen meatballs - throw in crockpot w/ chili sauce and heat all day
17. stir fries or steam fried asian -- chip in advance and stir or steam fry for 5 minutes

[Anonymous]

To make the pasta taste better, heat up some water and then dunk the pre-cooked noodles in it to warm up. That's what my BIL does, he's a chef at a fancy restaurant.

[Anonymous]

My life has been revolutionized by a simple change I made to our dinner process. Similar to you I would get home with starving kids and just a few minutes to get them fed.

Then I started keeping a veggie tray in the fridge with a variety of cut up veggies. So when I get home the first thing I do is put the veggie tray out on the table for the kids to eat.

They chomp down on carrots/cucumbers/squash/grape tomatoes/etc, and it frees me up from both the rush to make dinner and the distraction of kids hanging on me telling me that they are hungry. They still eat dinner well, and they eat a TON of veggies now.

I know you asked for recipes, not overall advice, but this improved my life so much I had to share.

[Anonymous]

Seriously, give your kids a snack. The idea that you get home at 5:45 and will have a real meal on the table by 6:10 is ludicrous.

If you spent 15 minutes giving them the undivided attention they want while sitting down with them over a snack, you could then aim to have dinner on the table by 7 and save your sanity.

This is an example of the "hurrieder you go, the behinder you get."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To make the pasta taste better, heat up some water and then dunk the pre-cooked noodles in it to warm up. That's what my BIL does, he's a chef at a fancy restaurant.

Yep, SOP at all restaurants. All the ones I've ever worked in, anyway.

Other little time-savers:
My MIL keeps a container of sauteed recipe-ready onions in the fridge. She's middle eastern, and most of her recipes involve a tablespoon or two of browned onion, which takes up to 15 minutes to make. So she just makes a big batch. I wash and tear a whole bunch of lettuce on Sunday, and put it in a big tupperware, loosely wrapped in paper towel, in the fridge. Throw a few handfuls in a bowl, add some chopped vegetables, and poof: salad.

If you're averse to jarred tomato sauce, always make a big batch and freeze the extra in single-meal-sized bags. It takes no time to thaw in a saucepan. Ditto for chicken stock. My freezer is stacked with gallon-sized bags of homemade stock, which can become soup pretty quickly, if I prep the vegetables the night before.

[Anonymous]

I have done variations of 11:48 and 12:31. We had a longer commute so part of dinner was eaten in the car - usually the veggies or fruit. Then I cooked a small "main dish" at home.

[Anonymous]

Weelicious cookbook- awesome recipes for kids and whole family.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My life has been revolutionized by a simple change I made to our dinner process. Similar to you I would get home with starving kids and just a few minutes to get them fed.

Then I started keeping a veggie tray in the fridge with a variety of cut up veggies. So when I get home the first thing I do is put the veggie tray out on the table for the kids to eat.

They chomp down on carrots/cucumbers/squash/grape tomatoes/etc, and it frees me up from both the rush to make dinner and the distraction of kids hanging on me telling me that they are hungry. They still eat dinner well, and they eat a TON of veggies now.

I know you asked for recipes, not overall advice, but this improved my life so much I had to share.

What a great idea. I will try that.

[Anonymous]

My 3 YO can't wait until 6:30 or 7 for his whole dinner, so when we get home at 4:30 / 5:00, he gets a really decent snack (cheese and apple slices or a hard-boiled or scrambled egg, or peanut butter and crackers). Then I cook for real and he eats some of that with us at 6:30 or 7.