Kid-friendly meals in 15 minutes or less?

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GiddyUpGo

Assistant Cook
Joined
Oct 8, 2011
Messages
20
Moms and dads: What's your go-to fast weeknight dinner recipe? My busy night of the week is Wednesday, and I usually just put on a crockpot meal so dinner will be ready when I get home. I would love to have some other alternatives, though. Anyone have a great and fast kid-friendly recipe you wouldn't mind sharing?

Thank you!
 
How about fettuccine Alfredo? The sauce will be ready by the time the water boils and the pasta cooks.
 
Beanie weinie: Cut up a package of hot dogs (or you can leave them whole), and heat in a pot with a can or two of pork & beans until the hot dogs are plumped up. I like hot dogs heated this way because the liquid they absorb is the juice from the P & B.

Grilled cheese and soup.

Fry pre-made 100% beef patties for burgers.

Packaged mac & cheese with ham. You can buy ham already cut into chunks that are tasty and relatively inexpensive. Add broccoli florettes to the macaroni boiling water for a complete meal.
 
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another pasta lover here for a quick kid's meal.

you can make meatballs (which are easy to chew and digest for a little one) ahead if time and freeze in sauce.

while the pasta is boiling, use the nuker to defrost meatbslls and sauce a little, then transfer to a pot to finish defrosting and reheating.

start with a bagged salad and baby carrots, celery sticks, and strips of a red bell pepper with your kid's favourite salad dressing for dipping.
 
lol @ beanie weenies.

i remember telling my mom that i thought i'd be a really good cowboy when i grew up because i loved hot dogs cut up into baked beans. i guess i thought that's what cowboys ate everyday. :)








yes, it was only a few weeks ago...
 
I have many of these quickie dinner nights you speak of. I like to do quesadillas with cheese and refried beans. They like to dip them in sour cream and/or taco sauce. A side of spanish rice completes the meal for us. Also, sometimes I just throw together a bunch of healthy snack-type stuff and call it dinner, they tend to want to eat light at dinner anyway. I'll do pretzels with peanut butter, sliced apples, berries, cheese, yogurt, etc. On these nights me and the hubs usually just heat leftovers for ourselves.

Above suggestions are great as well!
 
I pre-chop veggies when I make a roast or chicken on Sunday. This makes for a quick stir-fry later in the week using leftovers. I will use rice noodles (they are faster to prepare than rice). With the veggies done, stir fry and noodles can be ready in 15 minutes.
 
Two of our daughter's favorite quick meals growing up were Tuna Melts and Beans & Rice.

For the tuna melts, just mix two cans of drained tuna, a little celery and onion, dill relish, and mayo. Slather some on a bun with grated cheese and put it under the broiler for 5 minutes. Good to go.

Beans and rice was equally simple, though it probably takes 20 minutes to cook the rice. I just put the rice on to cook first,and then open a can of black beans, a can of tomatoes, and a tablespoon of chili powder. Heat it up and spoon it over the rice.
 
That's the great thing about DC. You get new ideas for old dishes. Welcome, by the way.
 
Burritos! I throw all the veggies into the FP and process them to very small. Then nuke some Refried beans and get the pre-browned burger out of the fridge and warm it.

Done! Serve with some sour cream and milk as the beverage.

I've never met a kis who didn't like burritos.

Dice some veggies up the same day you cook about 3 pounds of burger up. Then it's just a matter of putting everything on the counter and let them make their own burritos.
 
Soft or crisp taco's served with white Mexican Rice, My grand kids love my dad's beans with bacon but they are an long process, Pasta with cherry tomatoes, sauted onion and garlic then dusted with either Parmesan,Monterey Jack or Romano cheese top with fresh chopped parsley for some color. Soup and French or Italian bread and butter and a salad.,Rice and green chiles with several mixed cheeses then baked at 375 for 25 min take off the cover and bake 10 min more or til cheeses are bubbly. Fat egg noodles with garlic and walnuts and cream and parmesan.
kadesma
 
My child always wants butter noodles, lettuce with ranch dressing and garlic bread.

I love the hotdogs in the pork and beans idea.... He likes both so I might try it. :)
 
Pizza made ahead of time and frozen. Pop it in the oven for a great meal!
 
My go to is Chicken Schnitzel AKA Lemon Chicken

Thin sliced chicken breasts
Milk/Cream 1/2-1/2 what ever is on hand
Panko breadcrumbs or regular {plain or seasoned}
Grated parma or pec roman
Lemons
Butter and oil for frying 2 tbsp each

Zest lemon into breadcrumbs add in cheese S+P. Mix, set aside on shallow plate.
Dip chicken into milk, press both sides into crumb mixture.
Fry in butter oil combo turning once till evenly browned

Squeeze lemon on top.

Boom Done!!

Let your child choose the veg and have him/her help {even if it's just adding the S+P} they will be more likely to eat them

 

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