My question is, as I been trying to teach myself to cook, as I was never taught as a child or at home, what to cook for dinner? I will be going to the store today or tommarow to pick up food for the week, and I wanted some suggestions on what to make. Even ideas that are good to make with the help of a little 5 year old. Hes such a picky eater, but he loves to help cook. He helped me make tacos the other night, something he would not eat befor cus of the hambuger in it and all. Well I told him to try some of the meat as I picked out a little from the pan we had been stirring. He at first said "No Yukcy" I said " If you going to cook with me you got to at least try what you making" So he said okay and tried a bit. He lit up and was like "Oooh I like it, it yummy" So I got him to actually eat a whole taco, with meat letus and cheese. Which is a big accomplishment for me to get him to do. So any suggestions, kid friendly or not would be great. Thanks.
This is the third time this morning I'm posting about my latest food find...tostadas! So easy and cheap and everyone loves them. Just get the shells, can of refried beans, shredded cheese and lettuce. Done! And being in the HOT desert, I don't cook in the summer so this is great. Good luck!
Wow..... have you thought about enrolling your child in a child's cooking class? There are sometimes "Mommy and me" food classes. That might be a way to get him to try some more foods, also.... and give you some more meal ideas.
I like the way you put it that if he was going to cook with you, he has to try it. Some kids do have food aversions, or texture issues.... my kids never had problems with that, so I don't know how to suggest a way around that.
We didn't make meal time a battle, I just said they didn't have to eat what I cooked, but if they didn't eat what I cooked, they could wait until the next meal. (They didn't get the option of a sandwich or bowl of cereal, either.) My kids grew up to be fantastic eaters, willing to try just about everything this way. (One daughter still hates peas, though... oops!) There were some things I didn't MAKE them eat, like sauerkraut (but they all love it), but cooked the things hubby and I liked.
Some people do not like things blended together, but I love casseroles! It is really hard to give meal ideas if we don't know what kind of things you and your family usually eat.
spaghetti or a real fun one is to build your own pizza. I always use sweet turkey sausage and feta/mozzerella cheese with veggies. So yummy. My 4 year old loves to help!!!
Learning how to cook is so much fun! I never really cared much about cooking until I met my husband. I basically had to start from scratch. My advice is to go to the library and get some cook books. Pick the recipes that you like best and try them. If they're good, write the recipe down so you can have it for another time.
I use this website http://www.kraftrecipes.com/home.aspx a lot for my family. There are some really super simple, but very tasty, recipes on there. I love the budget wi$e section and the part where you can enter what ingredients you have. There's just a ton of really great stuff on there. It's perfect for the beginner cook. You should definitely look at the Your Kids tab!
This is another one of my favorite sites for recipes http://www.campbellkitchen.com/?fbid=X4bg-Jl0WVl Again...very simple but very delicious recipes.
This one http://www.cooks.com/ and this one http://allrecipes.com/ are also really good sites.
I think it's awesome that you're including your son in your cooking. What a great lesson for him! And a FANTASTIC way to get him to try different things.
Happy cooking!!!!
I just blogged about this:
http://heyyougetreal.com/momblog/how-can-i-feed-a-family-...
B.
Family Success Coach
An easy child freindly meal is personal pizzas. Kids love them because they get to choose their toppings & build their own. English muffins, those thin buns or pita bread work great for the crust & the rest is up to everyone's personal preference. Our family likes to put spinach on ours plus it is an extrea veggie thrown in the mix. Other options that work well (other thanthe traditional toppings) are pesto, fresh mushrooms, olives, chicken, broccolli, olive oil, alfredo sauce...
Shopping for sale items is a thrifty idea. Base your menus on what is cheapest! Chicken is great for several menu ideas or buy a pot roast and make a couple of meals out of it. There are many recipes online and you will get lots of ideas from them!
D.,
There are a lot of fun recipes on my web site that your son can help make. For example, he can make the "snow balls" (dough balls) for the Snow Ball Soup (potato soup) recipe, or the monkey face for the Mad Monkey Garden Salad recipe, or the egg noodle "worms" for the chicken noodle soup recipe. He can even make stick people using the ingredients from the green beans and cashews recipe.
Just go to www.artfulveggie.com and take a look around. There is bound to be something there that both of you will enjoy making.
sloppy joes, individual pizzas with english muffins or tortillas, mini burgers, grilled cheese cut with with cookie cutters (after cooked) into shapes, egg in a hole...
We love Shepherd's Pie. Brown ground beef, garlic, and onion. Drain and put the meat in the bottom of a casserole dish. Put American cheese on top of the meat. Make mashed potatoes according to package directions and spread on top of the cheese layer. Sprinkle a bit of cheddar cheese on top; then bake at 350 for 30 minutes. We usually eat it with green beans. It's yummy!
Here's another recipe--Chicken Lasagna. For the "sauce" add two to three cups of cooked chicken (I've used rotisserie chicken, boiled chicken breasts, and in a pinch canned chicken), three cans of condensed cream of chicken soup, one can full of milk, and 1 1/2 cups of frozen mixed vegetables. Mix together. Add a little sauce to the pan; then a layer of noodles. Next, a layer of sauce (almost but not quite half of it). Then a layer of of American cheese. Repeat these layers again; then end with one last layer of noodles, a little sauce and a sprinkle of Cheddar cheese. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. I use the 2 percent deli deluxe American cheese. It melts really good and makes a cheese sauce of sorts. It's very yummy and reheats well. Enjoy!
if you google "menu planning Monday" you'll get tons of hits from mommy type blogs posting their menu plans (and usually the recipes or links to the recipes) on line. You can see how other people menu plan and get an idea of what might work for you AND find lots of "real mom" meal ideas and recipes
