I find that making meat takes the most time with the cutting, marinating, and then cooking them.
So I figure out a progressive way. You can start with grilling on the weekend when husband is around. You grill extra meat (whatever meat you like) and veggies too.
You don't add a lot of spices.
Then you take the leftover meat and break them down to :
1. Quesadillas/taco - meat + cheese +. Add veggies if needed. Add spices.
2. Burrito - repeat above like quesadillas except put in oven. You can even do corn chips instead of soft tortilla.
3. Chili - meat + beans + veggies. Rice/bread/corn
4. Steam veggies since they just steam itself while you are taking care of kid.
5. Pasta + meat + veggies.
6. Pulled pork/chicken - add spices and do a sandwich
7. Stir Fry
My carbs is different: Rice, bread, pasta, corn or potatoes. And my spices changes the cuisine type.

Sometimes I use the veggies and blend them and that's my veggie sauce (with or without tomatoes) for the pasta.

A slow cooker is nice to have. If all the above is cooked, all you do is add beans of choice (can or dry) and all of the above in the slow cooker. It slows cook for 2-3 hours.

And if there are days you just can't function and want to give up, it's ok to get the cereal out and eat it as a dinner.

Work so hard, I try not to cook on Fridays/Saturdays.

Anonymous wrote:Where I would start is figuring out what you like to eat, then finding the simplest way to prepare that. If you LIKE salads or sandwiches or soup or pasta, then great! But if you don't, then you won't ever like preparing them even a little. What is your favorite stuff to eat?

OP here.

We like pasta, soup, sandwiches, lots of stuff...but I am trying to cook one thing for both my two year old and myself. I don't want to become the "short order cook" and only make him grilled cheese and such. And while I kind of agree with the philosophy "let the kid eat what everyone eats, or he can wait until the next meal" (which why I was asking for help)...my son is small. Like, really small, 1 percentile small. He was a preemie and since he was born it's been emphasized to us to feed him so he gains weight. So I put butter and olive oil on stuff, he's still on full milk. The thought of him skipping a meal makes me uncomfortable, so I want to cook things we'll all eat. But maybe I have unreasonable expectations for what a two year old will eat vs what adults eat.

I'm going to keep trying though...for a long time he didn't eat quesadillas, now he does!

Thanks again everyone.

Anonymous wrote:I sometimes make a from scratch bolognese sauce on the weekend and serve it with pasta on Mon. and Tues.

Turkey tacos are the easiest thing- just sauté turkey then add pintos from the can, taco spices, and some tomato sauce. Once it's cooked, put it in taco shells, sprinkle with cheese and bake about five minutes. I serve it with store bought pico and baked chips (for the salt police, I buy everything low salt). It's reasonably healthy and enough to feed a small army.

Baked fish, sautéed green beans, and garlic bread (we eat it about once a week). 30 minutes start to finish and healthy.

Baked chicken thighs, sautéed veggie, bread. About five minutes hands on.

Thanks for the suggestions...but as I mentioned in my OP, were vegetarian.

Anonymous wrote:Where I would start is figuring out what you like to eat, then finding the simplest way to prepare that. If you LIKE salads or sandwiches or soup or pasta, then great! But if you don't, then you won't ever like preparing them even a little. What is your favorite stuff to eat?

Yes, this. The *primary* reason I like to cook is because I cook what I like to eat.

Where I would start is figuring out what you like to eat, then finding the simplest way to prepare that. If you LIKE salads or sandwiches or soup or pasta, then great! But if you don't, then you won't ever like preparing them even a little. What is your favorite stuff to eat?

I sometimes make a from scratch bolognese sauce on the weekend and serve it with pasta on Mon. and Tues.

Turkey tacos are the easiest thing- just sauté turkey then add pintos from the can, taco spices, and some tomato sauce. Once it's cooked, put it in taco shells, sprinkle with cheese and bake about five minutes. I serve it with store bought pico and baked chips (for the salt police, I buy everything low salt). It's reasonably healthy and enough to feed a small army.

Baked fish, sautéed green beans, and garlic bread (we eat it about once a week). 30 minutes start to finish and healthy.

Baked chicken thighs, sautéed veggie, bread. About five minutes hands on.

OP here, thanks for the thoughts. Some of them I'm already working on.

Apparently my MIL bought us a crock pot right before my son was born didn't find it until earlier this summer...so I'm planning on attempting to use it soon.

Thanks for the lentil suggestion...I need to visit Trader Joes more often.

My H has the intention of making something on Sunday nights to use another night for leftovers...however 50% of that time the intention fails. He gets tired and doesn't want to cook up a meal either. I can't blame him for that.

Thanks again for the suggestions...I needed some fresh eyes, and wanted to try things myself still, though I will look at Souper Girl.