Noodle Salad
(Soba noodles tossed with broccoli slaw, chopped bell, pepper, peanuts, and Japanese teriyaki sauce)

Homemade Pizza
(made with 2 ingredient pizza dough: Greek yogurt and self-rising flour)

Pasta Salad as dinner

Caribbean-inspired plate: Black beans, coconut rice, sautéed sweet plantains, sliced avocado, and salsa.

And anything with chopped and roasted red potatoes at the moment.

We are in a rut, too. Thanks for the post.

My son's favorite is tofu stir fry with peanut sauce with peppers, baby corn, and peas.

Shepherd's pie, lasagne.

DH: Steak, mashed potato & veg
DS: Lasagna
DD: Pork chops baked with rice
Me: Spaghetti with meat sauce
Favorite lunch: Greek orzo salad

Probably steak or ribs. Ironically I’m a vegetarian.

Rice bowls are popular here too (lots of toppings, make your own, usually an Asian sauce)

Fish tacos with mango salsa

Shrimp scampi or seafood scampi

Husband - Jambalaya - shrimp and spicy andouille

DD - Lemon chicken orzo soup

DS - Chicken Cordon Bleu with mixed vegetables and mashed potatoes

Hits with everyone in our household:

Protein:
Marinated salmon
Teriyaki pork tenderloin
Meatloaf
Shredded bbq chicken breasts

Veggies:
Broccoli prepared a variety of ways
Mashed potatoes
Roasted zucchini/onions/red peppers/carrots
Cucumber salad
Corn on the cob
Spinach salad
Caesar salad
Cole slaw
Raw veggies with dip

Soups:
Beef vegetable soup
Chili
Cheesy chicken chowder

Grains:
None that everyone can agree on!

Also, breakfast for dinner is always a hit.

Husband- salmon Florentine
Kid 1 - panko crusted cod, pasta, sauteed broccoli
Kid 2 - fried rice with a lot of scrambled egg
Me - Nicoise salad- sesame crusted seared tuna, hardboiled egg, blanched green beans, boiled baby potatoes, arugula/spinach mix with a mustard vinaigrette.

Oven roasted pork butt. I throw some potatoes in the oven, green salad on the side, and it’s a nice meal for 1- 2 evenings.

https://www.foodiecrush.com/oven-spare-ribs/


I use this sauce and onion mixture to make pot roast or pork shoulder- brown and then whatever low and slow method you usually do. I frequently double the sauce and then thicken after with beurre manie (which is new to me and a thrilling discovery) equal parts softened butter and flour kneaded together and then added in increments to sauce and gently boil until thickens. Serve with mashed potatoes and any green veg. I tried it with ribs but ended up with bone shards from cooking so long. The sauce would make cardboard taste good.

Chicken Tikka Masala

Anonymous wrote:Spaghetti with homemade meatballs

Same

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The rule in our family is that you get a home-cooked meal of your choosing for your birthday.
For ~10 years now, my mother has requested I make shrimp & grits.
DH has asked for Shrimp Diavola 2 years running now.
Apparently I make good shrimp.

The other two that everyone always get excited about are pasta with vodka sauce, and chicken parm meatballs (sometimes I make the vodka sauce and put it on the meatballs).

I'm intrigued by your chicken parm meatballs - can you explain what those are/how those come to exist?

Sure - they came to exist because in the early pandemic, when we were all doing click and collects for groceries, and stores were sold out of half their products, you accepted the substitutions/took what you got even when it wasn't what you ordered. So, I had a recipe that called for one pound of ground chicken. They gave me four pounds. So, I had to explore other uses for ground chicken.

They are a ground chicken meatball, stuffed with bocconcini cheese (you can use one of the bigger cocktail size balls, or a few of the mini minis), browned on stovetop then put into sauce (usually tomato, rarely homemade, sometimes the vodka sauce which is homemade if we're feeling really extra) and baked in the oven to finish.

Also, I have a lot of other chicken meatball recipes post-pandemic as a result of this, but I sort of feel sorry for the rest of them. No one gets excited for the others like they do for the chicken parm.

Our 2 favorites, keep in mind I don’t enjoy cooking so all dinners are 20/25 mins max.

Homemade Alfredo sauce, with spinach or cheese tortellini, chicken and broccoli. My kid likes the broccoli on the side, we like it mixed in. Easy enough to do.

Baked salmon marinated in pesto either with rice or a microwaved potato with butter/cheese. Frozen peas/carrots or broccoli.