Gazpacho, cheese, and baguette.
Salmon burger paninis.
Tuna melts.
Make your own pita pizzas in the toaster oven.
I don't have a recipe for it, but I make a dish with frozen shredded potatoes, frozen peas, onion, and shrimp, heated up together. I use mild curry as the spice.

Anonymous wrote:
We are obsessed with fish tacos this summer. Cod or mahi mahi. Corn tortillas. Mango, corn, avocado, cabbage, sour cream, lime. Whole family loves it!


This sounds delicious, but I know my 4 year old would not eat it, regrettably.

Another vote for fish tacos! It's my 5 year old's favorite dinner, and her little brother likes them too -- though they usually just do fish, avocado, and plain yogurt (the gronwn ups enjoy the rest of the fixings). Salmon burgers too.

Our other favorite quick dinners are frittatas (eggs, cheese, and whatever veggies or meat we have on hand cooked on the stovetop for a few minutes then popped under the broiler) and rice and bean, though you'll need to make the rice ahead of time. Tuna melts and sweet potato fries or reheated empanadas are good too (freeze them, then just pop them in the toaster oven)

Chicken and rice with a mild chorizo sausage. Make it for Sunday dinners and leftovers on Monday. I got the recipe from Cook's Illustrated cookbook 30 minute meals (library book). Just be sure to use a mild sausage- we used spicy, but my child is seven and we all like some "kick."

Turkey tacos- fast, easy.

Baked salmon with simple olive oil, cracked pepper and kosher salt.

Make a big vat of homemade bolognese sauce on Sunday- heats up great and you may be able to freeze some for later in the month.

I chop a bunch of stuff at the beginning of the week- eg. Peppers, cucumber, tomato, avocado, chicken breast, beef strips. Drain and rinse a few cans of chickpeas and black beans. They all go onto the fridge. One night we'll use the fixin's for wraps, another for pho, another with omelette, or pasta / pasta salad. Ridiculously easy, and it feels like a different meal every day even when it's not really.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are obsessed with fish tacos this summer. Cod or mahi mahi. Corn tortillas. Mango, corn, avocado, cabbage, sour cream, lime. Whole family loves it!

This sounds delicious, but I know my 4 year old would not eat it, regrettably.

I'm the one that posted the fish tacos "recipe" (I can get into more details on how I prepare the fish and sourcream/yogurt/lime sauce if you want). I have a 6 and 4 year old and the 6 year old is much more adventurous, but she wasn't always. My 4 year old can still be picky at times, but loves loves this (the mango helps a lot). Don't be afraid to serve something! Have your kids try it, and then give them mangoes, corn, and yogurt with tortilla chips for dinner so they're still having what you're having just deconstructed. It's worth a shot, right??

Some combos that have worked for us:

I often cook Saturday and Sunday and we have Saturday leftovers on Monday and Sunday leftovers on Tuesday.

I sometimes get a rotisserie chicken from Sam's Club (they're much bigger than the ones in supermarkets) for one meal. After dinner, I make a rice cooker of rice, put in a ziploc bag and freeze. The next time I need a meal, I defrost the rice in the microwave and can put together a chicken fried rice in about 15 minutes (chop onion or scallions, dice some Virginia smoked ham. scramble/fry an egg, cook onions in oil, add in ham, add in frozen peas, add in defrosted rice, season with a little teriyaki, soy sauce, and sesame oil, toss and add in egg at the end). My 3 yo twins love the chicken and the fried rice.

I make a spaghetti sauce on the weekend. After dinner, I make some salads in tupperware bowls. Come home, make a pot of pasta, microwave some veggies (peas and corn) for the kids, reheat sauce in microwave and dinner in about 15 minutes.

Shepherd's pie can be made the night before and then taken out of the fridge and baked for about 20 minutes. I make mashed potatoes (I have used boxed mashed potatoes when in a real hurry), brown ground beef with one package of beefy onion soup mix per lb of meat and add in some beef bouillon (I use the brand better than bouillon which is really good). Put beef in bottom of a baking dish or pie plate, cover with a layer of frozen veggies (I use peas or peas/corn or peas/carrots/corn), then cover with mashed potatoes. Everything is cooked, so just bake until warm. You can do something like 400 for 20 minutes or 375 for 25 minutes.

You can prep veggies and meat the night before and then make a stir fry in 15 minutes. You can make rice the nice before and then reheat in the microwave.

Make a meatloaf ahead of time and just reheat at dinner time. Serve with new potatoes and other fresh veggies.

Homemade turkey and apple and parmesan burgers. (Just combine ground turkey; one egg; panko breadcrumbs; one chopped apple; and parmesan cheese; form into patties; cook in oven or convection over at 375 for about 20 minutes; broil at the end. You can make the patties ahead of time and keep in freezer until after work) Serve with pre-made side dishes.

Costco fishsticks.

Homemade chicken nuggets. (Cut up chicken ahead of time into thin nugget size pieces; when get home form work - dip chicken in buttermilk and coat with panko breadcrumbs mixed with parmesan cheese and spices) put on oven-friendly cooling rack on a baking sheet - to more evenly cook both sides of nuggets; spray with oil; cook at 400 for 20 - 23 minutes.) Serve with steamed broccoli and a packet of stovetop organic mashed potatoes from Costco. (This is dehydrated; add milk, butter and water; delicious)

Veggie burgers on buns. Heat up baked beans and pull homemade potato salad or pasta salad out of fridge to go with.

Anonymous wrote:We are obsessed with fish tacos this summer. Cod or mahi mahi. Corn tortillas. Mango, corn, avocado, cabbage, sour cream, lime. Whole family loves it!

This sounds delicious, but I know my 4 year old would not eat it, regrettably.

We are obsessed with fish tacos this summer. Cod or mahi mahi. Corn tortillas. Mango, corn, avocado, cabbage, sour cream, lime. Whole family loves it!

My kids love this and it is ridiculously easy:


http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/wagon-wheel-pasta-with-salsa-chicken-10000001928579/

I'm psyched for cold weather because I'm going to try out a beef stew with brown rice and broccoli in the crockpot.

Homemade pizza is pretty quick and easy.

What are your current go tos?

So I'm in a total rut making dinner for my kids - ages 3 and 5. They're pretty good eaters and will at least try whatever we put in front of them as long as it isn't spicy. What are your go-to quick and easy weeknight dinners? Emphasis on quick -- we don't have more than 15 minutes to cook/reheat when we get home.