Apparently, people are interested in what ends up on our dinner table. (Wait – is it dinner? is it supper?) Either way, I’ve been asked to share more about our everyday meals, so I documented a general sampling of what we ate this April.
I didn’t start taking photos until a week or so in, and some meals were repeats. If something looked the same as the last time, I didn’t take another picture. We also had plenty of leftovers — hooray for meals that stretch. And other times I just forgot about pictures.
No pictorial evidence, but fondly remembered…
- Company: We hosted a family from church on Good Friday. The menu: sweet and sour meatballs, rice, and corn. Our guests brought garlic bread, homemade biscuits, and Caesar salad. For dessert I made cinnamon coffee cake served fresh from the oven with vanilla ice cream. You’ll have to use your imagination in terms of a visual. Everything was delicious.
- Boxed Mac n’ Cheese. This is the kids favourite go-to when John and I have at-home date nights. Belle prepares it, and she and Indy devour it. This was on the table 2-3 times in April.
- Breakfast for Supper: A few times – when I had zero energy left in the tank – the kids made themselves bowls of oatmeal and I had my beloved cottage cheese with all the fixings. We also had toast at least once.
- Burger Nights (x2). Burgers on buns, potato wedges, and roasted broccoli (from frozen — convenience matters). We had burgers twice in April.
- Salmon risotto. This was the runaway hit of the month — I made it twice and it was devoured both times. The first time with peas, the second with a salad, roasted broccoli, and toasted bread. (I’ve posted the recipe at the bottom of this post.)
- Deconstructed Shepherd’s Pie. Very much not a hit with the kids.
- Savoury crepes (at least x3). Pictured was the time we had salmon, egg, cheese, and Dijon. Delish. The kids can’t get enough savoury crepes these days, and we had various other combos throughout the month. (Here is my go-to crepe recipe.)
- Grilled cheese + sides. Sandwiches with fruit, veggies, nuts, crackers, and hummus = a meal!
- Giant salads. A big bowl of greens and whatever else we had on hand. We ate salad for supper multiple times.
Soup.
- Vegan smoky chickpea lentil soup. I make it based off this recipe. The next night I poured it over some leftover risotto and it became next-level delicious.
- A “kitchen sink” soup. The last few handfuls of wilting spinach, some chorizo, ¼ bag of pasta — delicious. One child told me it tasted like “watered-down spaghetti.” It was soup. Of course it had liquid. I chose to ignore any and all comments from the peanut gallery. The second night I served it with spring rolls on the side.
- Cheeseburger soup — one of Belle’s favourite meals. I made a huge pot expecting leftovers…but each kid invited a friend by the time the the soup was ready. There wasn’t much left.
- Salad, prosciutto, and egg. With a few slices of cheese on the side this was such an easy, delicious meal.
- Homemade tacos (at least x2). John made these for an at-home date night. I can’t remember exactly what went in them, but I remember they were tasty. Not pictured was a night we had beef tacos in hard corn shells with salsa and cheese. We also had scrambled eggs in wraps for supper once as well.
- One-bowl sushi. Not much to look at, but surprisingly delicious. Sticky rice, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, diced veggies, canned tuna, a little mayo. Put a dollop of the mixture on a sheet of nori and it’s finger-lickin’ good.
- Lemon Chicken and Butter Rice. Steamed frozen broccoli/cauliflower mix with a sprinkle of Parmesan. Easy Lemon Chicken (I used the slow cooker this time and it worked like a charm, I just drained off the sauce at the end and thickened it with a corn starch slurry), Spiced Butter Rice (in the rice cooker). It made enough for leftovers.
- Track Meet Supper. I packed some things to eat while waiting: Riceworks crackers, cottage cheese with seeds and fruit, and nori. The girls wanted to stop at McDonald’s on the way home. I had a plain McDonald’s burger for the first time in quite a while. It hit the spot!
Your turn:
- What are some things you’ve eaten recently?
- What’s your go-to meal when you’re too tired to cook?
- Any family-favourite meals your kids unexpectedly hate? Our kids don’t like spaghetti (“watered down” into soup or not).
- Do you meal plan or wing it most nights?
- What’s one meal you’d happily eat every week?
Salmon Risotto
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 onion, finely diced (I skip the onion)
240g risotto rice
1 L chicken or fish stock
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp double cream
100g Parmesan cheese, grated
120g smoked salmon (I didn’t have smoked salmon either time, so just used regular salmon; the kids prefer when it’s mixed in vs. served on the side)
Dill, to garnish (optional)
DIRECTIONS
Add the oil and onion to a large pan
Bring to a medium heat and cook the onions for 10 minutes, until soft
Stir through the rice and mix for 2 minutes to toast
Add the stock and simmer for 20-25 minutes, stirring regularly
If the rice has absorbed all of the liquid before it is cooked, add a little more stock
Remove from the heat and stir through the butter, cream and cheese
Mix through the smoked salmon and top with dill, if desired.
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mbmom11
Oh, my husband would love to eat at your table. You make such a variety of interesting food!
My go-to meals when I’m tired are tacos, French toast and bacon, grilled cheese, or spaghetti. ( And they usually get used multiple times a month!) Kids can always have a free night and scavenge, but some won’t eat enough food this way, so I try to offer something.
I don’t meal plan elaborately. I look at our schedule and the predicted weather to determine what’s appropriate to cook. I have the stuff I need on hand for basic, boring meals and go with that.
I think I wouldn’t mind vegetable fried rice weekly.
A simple hamburger can really satisfy!
My current kids like Kraft mac&cheese, but my older daughters wouldn’t touch it. It’s weird what some kids like/ despise!
Elisabeth
I really like stir frys but the kids HATE them, so that is a meal I grew up eating regularly that I rarely make now (though I will make stir fries for my own lunch).
Both my kids adore Mac n’ Cheese. In fact, we had homemade Mac n’ Cheese yesterday as part of our Mother’s Day lunch (I rarely eat it). But both kids dislike spaghetti. Which seems like the ultimate, classic Every Kid Loves This meal. Not my two…
coco
We have few staples that kids love and then I try new recipes from time to time to add more options to the list.
I love how you mix things up! a good variety of simple meals.
when tired, fried rice, mix of veg, chips, boiled eggs would do. For myself, I can eat oatmeal everyday.
Elisabeth
My kids adore oatmeal and have it for supper a few times each month. Usually when we’re tired or it’s late or we don’t have a lot of time. Oatmeal is filling and the kids add in peanut butter, fruit, and chocolate chips (which I will admit make oatmeal extra delicious).
Nicole MacPherson
You know what’s one meal my kids have never eaten/ liked? Mac and cheese. Isn’t that weird? It was such a staple of my childhood, yet neither of them like it. *shrug* I mean, they’d probably eat it now as they aren’t picky, but I just never make it. Also I only have one “kid” at home.
My go-to easy meal is DIY wraps. I just cut up veg, set out tortillas, toppings like cheese and salsa, and will throw a chicken breast in the air fryer for the guys to cut up and add. (isn’t “throw into the air fryer” a weird thing to say, imagine if I was literally throwing it).
I repeat a lot of meals weekly, but one I never miss is my Friday night favourite, Greek salad with hummus and pita (also, some thrown chicken) (lol) (sorry it’s early, my coffee hasn’t kicked in)
Your meals all look great, lots of variety there! I think you should make this a monthly segment!
Elisabeth
I know quite a few people who don’t like Mac n’ Cheese. Perhaps it’s more love/hate than we think? My kids love Mac n’ Cheese, but dislike spaghetti. Sigh.
Yes! We went through a period of time where every single Sunday lunch was scrambled egg and bacon wraps. They’re so good!
I know you love your Greek salad and now you make enough for leftovers. Shut the front door. Nicole eating leftovers!
I’ve been repeating lots of things from last month again this month, but when I think of it I’ll take pictures and will aim for some version of talking about food every month or two 🙂
Jenny
Yes, it’s always fun to see how other people are managing this dinner thing! My go-tos would be a stir fry, something with tofu (like gochujang tofu or peanut noodles) and, one night last week my husband made dinner for himself and my daughter, and I made myself a bowl of cereal! I’ll get out of cooking any way I can : )
I think I’ve made that smoky chickpea soup… it was good!
Elisabeth
One of my rules when the kids were younger and I was so stressed when solo parenting was that cereal for supper was fine. Ironically, we hardly ever ended up doing it…but just knowing that I had boxed cereal and it was there in a pinch really helped me feel less overwhelmed by the perpetual need to keep people fed.
That said, I sincerely wish we only needed to eat once a day. Thinking about food 3x/day is A LOT, even when I make a lot of the same meals over and over. So much shopping and all the dishes. But what a gift to have access to food. I have to remind myself of that as I’m prone to complain a lot!
M. Jean Pike
So many interesting meals, Elisabeth. Some are favorites of mine (Cheeseburger Soup, and lately I have been craving grilled cheese sandwiches like a pregnant woman — I’m 61, lol) Some I am not familiar with at all. Your plating is restaurant worthy 🙂
Elisabeth
I feel like grilled cheese is something I go without for months and then – BAM – I get a real hankering for one. My kids don’t love grilled cheese, but they enjoy them enough to not complain so they have become a more standard go-to lately because it’s easy to pull together when they invite friends over around mealtime!
M. Jean Pike
Yes for sure. After a long day at work the last thing I want to do is put a meal together. I don’t know how I did it on a regular basis all those years, and that’s not even counting the nights my son’s wrestling and football buddies would be at my table, lol. Grilled cheese and a bowl of tomato soup really hits the spot. I like it made with provolone, sometimes I tuck in a slice of fresh tomato, sometimes dill pickle slices. It’s a very versatile little sandwich 🙂
Elisabeth
Yes! It’s so good with a thin slice of tomato, and I’ve done it with thin slices of mushroom, too (for me, not the kids).
Colleen Martin
I’m very impressed your kids will eat salmon, I wish I had been better about introducing seafood because I love it but my husband hates it in all forms so I barely cook it just for myself. I almost always order it at a restaurant though! Your meals look great 🙂
Elisabeth
Both kids enjoy seafood (Belle ADORES it). They both love, love, love smoked salmon, too.
Fish is definitely a love/hate relationship. We enjoy it, but I can very much understand why it’s not for everyone!
NGS
We 100% meal plan every single meal and if something goes awry, it can really send us into a tailspin because we don’t have a lot of emergency one-day options. Sometimes we can get away with things like peanut butter crackers and scrambled eggs in a pinch, but because we meal plan so carefully, we frequently run into issues with running out of basic ingredients (like eggs). Oh, well. It’s how we live our lives.
There is no too tired to cook in our house because there are no alternatives, although I have to admit that I rely a lot on nachos when I am just over the day.
I would eat scrambled eggs and pancakes/waffles/French toast every day if allowed. There’s nothing wrong with that as a meal if you ask me!
Elisabeth
I know you have to be very careful what you eat because of Dr. BB’s dietary boundaries and that requires a lot of planning.
Some sort of breakfast food is almost always going to be my fall-back plan. It’s all so good!
Lisa's Yarns
I love getting a peak into what other eat! Eating is a loaded topic at our house because of our selective eaters. Like Paul won’t even eat a grilled cheese sandwich, even though he likes cheese and bread. It’s maddening!
Recent meals the adults have eaten are seared ahi tuna, grilled asparagus, and rice w/ peas. Will actually requested a few bites of my tuna and liked it! He is a FAR better eater than Paul. We also grilled brats when we had friends over the next night (the tuna meal was for guests as well) and Will ate a hot dog. Last night I made a soup using the ham bone from a ham we made after Easter.
My go to meal for myself is scrambled eggs + toast. For the kids, it’s a bowl of cereal!
Our kids do not like spaghetti either. Will used to love it but wouldn’t eat it last time I made it. There are very few meals that we all eat in it’s intended form. 3/4 of us eat tacos, Paul will whine excessively about eating a cheese quesadilla on those nights.
As far as planning, I plan to make about 3 meals that the adults will eat. Will might eat part of what I make.
I would happily eat tacos every week. And if the weather was cooperative, I would eat something on the grill every week!!
Elisabeth
The tuna and asparagus sounds SO good.
Kids can have such different palates. In general our kids are pretty diverse eaters, but they definitely have some strong opinions. There are a few things I generally don’t make them eat – mushrooms, bell peppers. Beyond that, I try to make things they will tolerate (they both HATE mushrooms, though sometimes I chop them up very small and of course then they don’t notice and are fine with it).
I know so many kids who adore spaghetti, but mine complain big time!
Suzanne
Love to see what other people eat for dinner! I am so impressed that your kids eat such a wide variety of food. (My kid will not even eat Mac n Cheese, or grilled cheese, and has never eaten soup in her life.) I meal plan, pretty much every week. I don’t know that I have any specific go-tos (maybe ground beef tacos?), but I do love various types of tacos, stir fries, and salads.
Elisabeth
We all have different preferences! I will admit, my kids would love to be pickier but I have never had the energy to make a lot of different options. It was a case of “you get what you get and you don’t get upset” – though they have chosen to skip some meals over the years. I TRY not to make things they actively dislike (and there are some meals, like stir fry, I only make for John and I since the kids really despise it) or at least have portions of the meal they like. But they are naturally pretty adventuresome eaters.
My kids seem to like soup, which seems odd, especially given they dislike spaghetti!?!
Katie
Your food looks so yummy!!
My kids love Change Your Life chicken from the Lazy Genius so we eat that quite a bit. I’m not crazy about it, but it’s a well balanced meal they’ll eat so that counts for a lot in my book!
I could eat a big salad with feta or blue cheese and balsamic vinegar every day.
I meal plan for a few weeks, get burnt out, wing it for few weeks, then cycle back to meal planning. 🙂
Elisabeth
I’ve heard so much about that chicken but have yet to make it. It’s on my list.
A big salad with all sorts of fixings and a nice, tangy sauce really hits the spot.
Jan Coates
Our go-to these days – bowls. We have a delicious peanut sauce that we make (lots of fresh lime juice), then we toss in whatever we have in the fridge, plus cook some rice/quinoa. Peppers, zucchini, mushrooms, cooked sweet potato, cuke, tomato, julienned carrots, onions, etc. My fave!
Elisabeth
You had me at peanut sauce. Yum. And versatile for whatever you happen to have in the fridge!
Alexandra
I’ve cooked everything from my fav cauliflower soup to chicken teriyaki to beef bourguignon, to eggs or beans on toast. And yes, we quite often have breakfast for dinner, anything from oatmeal to bacon sandwiches, to sausage and beans. And, as a last resort when I’m too tired to cook, we order in.
I plan my grocery so that I know on any given week what veg and meat I have in stock, and also, what staples I have to hand so that I can wing a meal on short notice on a busy day or, when I have time, be more creative and put something in the oven.
As for a dish I could eat most nights? I do love me a good hearty beef stew or beef bourguignon. And you can do so many great things with left overs too.
Bijoux
Every Sunday, we do Big Salad Sunday. I mix it up every week with things like Chinese Chicken salad, Greek Salad, Chef’s Salad, Taza Salad, Grinder Salad. It’s amazing how many recipes you can find for salads.
I do low carb, but substitute cauliflower rice for long grain rices and zucchini spirals for pasta. I meal plan and try new recipes most nights but go back to favorites on a long rotation. Tonight, we are having a cheesy chicken sausage, cauliflower, and broccoli dish.