Stuck in a rut

[Noodlebear]

I find myself cooking the same sorts of things over and over. It doesn't help that LO has become a little fussy recently! What are your toddler's favourite quick and easy dinners? Looking for some inspiration!

 

[whatwillbex]

Favourite's at the mo are cheesy pasta with chicken and broccoli. V mild Chilli con carni. Spag bowl. Cheese and crakers. Cottage pie and fish pie and roasted veg and pasta. We get stuck in a rut and tend to make the same meals too.

 

[Noodlebear]

Similar things to us! I'd like to be able to cook more fish but OH won't eat it and I'm not cooking 2 different dinners lol.

 

[jd83]

Similar things to us! I'd like to be able to cook more fish but OH won't eat it and I'm not cooking 2 different dinners lol.

It's not too bad really; you can always fix him a different meat, but make all the side dishes the same. I sometimes fix different meats for Dh and myself than what I fix for the kids. As long as the cook time is pretty similar, its not that big a deal. Sometimes DH and I want pork chops or steak, and our kids don't like them as they don't like how much they have to chew them. I fix them chicken or something else that takes about the same amount of time, but everyone gets the same sides.

ETA: If you can find marinades/rubs suitable for fish or chicken, that's the easiest fix to the problem. Both get marinaded or rubbed in same mix, then cooked. Fish usually done a little quicker than chicken though.

 

[Noodlebear]

I'm thinking about making a chicken and prawn paella and OH can just pick out what he doesn't want lol. It's not too bad if (for example) I just cook up some pasta and add tuna for me and LO but it's when I want to make a fish pie or some sort of bake that I get annoyed with him for being fickle

 

[jd83]

I can see that being a problem if its a casserole type dish. I don't ever make fish pies, lol, but I think that may be a European thing mainly? I have no idea what's in a fish pie...would the rest of the ingredients go with chicken or another meat if you were to split the ingredients into two dishes before baking? I've had to split some dishes before adding a certain ingredient before if not everyone likes it. Example: DH HATES kidney beans, so when I make chili, I have to split the pot before adding them or he won't eat it.

 

[Meezerowner]

A favourite with mine is home-made meatballs and tagliatelli.
I mix lean mince with onions, breadcrumbs, egg and spice it up with loads of cumin, rosemary and dried garlic granuals.

I make a huge batch and either freeze the meatballs raw so that I just defrost and fry on the day. Or I freeze them cooked in a sauce usually tomato with sweet peppers and onions. My twins love them with tagliatelli pasta or noodles.

Another fav is home-made macaroni cheese. I usually add onions, leeks, peas, mushrooms, fresh coriander and a little bit of ham/gammon/bacon and then a general cheese sauce with whatever cheese is in the fridge. I make huge batches of this too and freeze it in portions.

 

[Meezerowner]

I can see that being a problem if its a casserole type dish. I don't ever make fish pies, lol, but I think that may be a European thing mainly? I have no idea what's in a fish pie...would the rest of the ingredients go with chicken or another meat if you were to split the ingredients into two dishes before baking? I've had to split some dishes before adding a certain ingredient before if not everyone likes it. Example: DH HATES kidney beans, so when I make chili, I have to split the pot before adding them or he won't eat it.

I LOVE FISH PIE

I can write a good receipe if you want?
Basically I cook some white fish, onions and leeks in a pan or wok add olive oil, flour and milk. Add dried herbs, a bit of stock cube, black pepper, a ton of coriander (parsley if you hate coriander although it's a different flavour), and some peas, a can of tuna and chopped fish/crab sticks (dunno if you get them?). Cook it up for a bit then put it in a big "lasagne type" dish then top with layer of mash potato (to which I add a little cheese too). Then cook in the oven until a bit cripsy.

 

[Noodlebear]

Mmmmm both of those sound so good! The thought of bacon/gammon makes me so hungry...

Fish pie is just fish in a white sauce with some veggies topped with mash potato, would be just as good with chicken (we eat so much chicken lol) He just has to wait for me to cook his afterwards if I'm cooking fish lol.

 

[jd83]

You could try diced ham as a substitute for him too? Ham's not bad in white sauce in a casserole type dish.

 

[Noodlebear]

Chicken and broccoli cheesy pasta bake is a firm favourite in this household. Topped with breadcrumbs and more cheese. Yum! Basically - if there's cheese I'll eat it

 

[staralfur]

Homemade pizza is always popular here, and you can do variations within it by switching up the toppings.

Tacos as well, you could do beef, chicken, fish tacos.

 

[AngelofTroy]

Any sort of risotto goes down well here, as does spinach lentil curry with yoghurt and rice. Cottage pie topped with curried parsnip mash, pasta bake, rice noodles with peppers, grated carrot, onion and coriander and a tiny bit of soy sauce.

Oh and a big hit recently was minced lamb fried with onion, dried apricots and 1 part cinnamon to 3 parts cumin.. served with couscous (I added peas and spring onions) and hummous. Yum yum!

 

[Noodlebear]

Oh the minced lamb sounds good!

 

[bumpbear]

I just take recipes from Annabel Karmel's 'favorite family meals'. There is always something all of us will enjoy in there. I really recommend it. It has got us eating healthier too and none of the recipes are particularly difficult.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Annabel-Ka...words=annabel+karmel+favourite+family+recipes

This week so far we have had teriyaki chicken skewers with rice, cottage pie, and tonight i'm planning a veg lasagne.

 

[biglebowski]

We are another big fan of risottos here. Lo loves them. We often have chicken and chorizo, but you could fling anything in. Chicken cacciatore is good too served over pasta. Sauce is made of 2 tins of cherry tomatoes, onion, garlic, 4 spoons of marscapone and add torn basil leaves. Add cooked chicken and oven bake for 30 mins. We use the left over sauce as a base for homemade pizza. Its delish and so easy. Stuffed chicken breasts are easy. Me and lo have soft cheese in ours and oh has haggis. We wrap in proscuitto but dont put that on lo's. You can roast veg when the ovens on to serve along with it. Chicken stroganoff is lovely too, I use gordon ramsays recipe.

 

[Noodlebear]

I've taken a few ideas from Annabel Karmel's website and saw that recipe book earlier. Might have to get it.