Healthy QUICK meals...I need help

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whatevergirl

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I need some good healthy quick meal ideas, that will satisfy picky eaters like my 11 and 15 yr old. No broccoli though, please–I hate that veggie.:o We keep cooking the same tired meals all the time, and I just don’t have any fresh ideas, without the meal prep time taking forever…😦

Your ideas are appreciated!
 
having stayed with DD and her 4 kids for a few weeks, my observations

taco bar with toppings, make your own, they all help chopping and preparing the toppings and oldest (14) can now do the meat.

baked potato bar, ditto, this usually goes with a dessert that has some additional fruit in it

quesadillas, they got a machine that makes them the eat them so much, they also make filled pizzas (actually more like calzones, but the bread not as thick), it takes the large flour tortillas.

she buys the already made pizza crusts and they make their own pizzas since they have such differing tastes

they do grill a lot, she buys from schwanns (the truck pulls into the garage and loads her freezer every other week) so they get the frozen beef patties, chicken breasts etc.

they do a lot of pasta, varied by using different shapes and coming up with crazy names for them, but again only one likes tomato sauce, the rest all like different things–grated cheese, bacon and diced pepperoni with butter, chopped veggies

they also got pie irons (DD is a girls scout leader) and make those over the grille, just bread, with sandwich or pizza style filling

her idea is to get them involved in planning and fixing meals so maybe they eat more and better.

she also uses her huge crock pot a lot
she made a big beef roast one day, served with potatoes, gravy, veggies etc.
the next day, she pulled the meat for BBQ on buns with chips and salad
that meat went into tacos, and “instant pot pie”–mix a bag of frozen mixed veggies with canned gravy in a casserole dish, add the meat, top with instant mashed potatoes and bake.

they also eat a lot of chicken, little girls eat nugget type exclusively
 
Yeah, pasta is a good thing for quick and reasonably healthy eating. It doesn’t take much time… Say you want green pesto. You take oil, basil, walnuts. Whaaaam. A moment of grinding and you’re done. Something more serious? You fry some meat in the pan, through tomatoes in, some herbs to your liking, onion maybe, and you’re done in a quarter of an hour.

Ever heard of Polish potato pancakes? You grate potatoes, use some flour or not, up to you, take an egg or two (if you use a lot of potatoes), some salt… Just have to watch it when it fries. Can be good with pepper and/or onion and/or garlic. Some folks in Germany add grated carrots. It works with other vegetables, but sometimes it’s harder to get it right. For example, I can’t make perfect zucchini pancakes no matter how hard I try. 😃

For a small meal, toasts are universal. There’s no fat used in heating the bread. Just some ham and cheese comes with it. No unhealthy stuff. I love toasts.

And let’s not forget good old scrambled eggs. With ham, for example. Or tomatoes. Perfect traditional breakfast, not like it won’t work for supper.
 
puzzleannie said:
having stayed with DD and her 4 kids for a few weeks, my observations

taco bar with toppings, make your own, they all help chopping and preparing the toppings and oldest (14) can now do the meat.

baked potato bar, ditto, this usually goes with a dessert that has some additional fruit in it

quesadillas, they got a machine that makes them the eat them so much, they also make filled pizzas (actually more like calzones, but the bread not as thick), it takes the large flour tortillas.

she buys the already made pizza crusts and they make their own pizzas since they have such differing tastes

they do grill a lot, she buys from schwanns (the truck pulls into the garage and loads her freezer every other week) so they get the frozen beef patties, chicken breasts etc.

they do a lot of pasta, varied by using different shapes and coming up with crazy names for them, but again only one likes tomato sauce, the rest all like different things–grated cheese, bacon and diced pepperoni with butter, chopped veggies

they also got pie irons (DD is a girls scout leader) and make those over the grille, just bread, with sandwich or pizza style filling

her idea is to get them involved in planning and fixing meals so maybe they eat more and better.

she also uses her huge crock pot a lot
she made a big beef roast one day, served with potatoes, gravy, veggies etc.
the next day, she pulled the meat for BBQ on buns with chips and salad
that meat went into tacos, and “instant pot pie”–mix a bag of frozen mixed veggies with canned gravy in a casserole dish, add the meat, top with instant mashed potatoes and bake.

they also eat a lot of chicken, little girls eat nugget type exclusively
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TACO BARS?? That is an adorable idea!! And I can use turkey (ground) as opposed to hamburger kind…I love the baked potato bar idea too…these ideas are great. Thanks!! My kids love buffets.🙂
 
chevalier said:
Yeah, pasta is a good thing for quick and reasonably healthy eating. It doesn’t take much time… Say you want green pesto. You take oil, basil, walnuts. Whaaaam. A moment of grinding and you’re done. Something more serious? You fry some meat in the pan, through tomatoes in, some herbs to your liking, onion maybe, and you’re done in a quarter of an hour.

Ever heard of Polish potato pancakes? You grate potatoes, use some flour or not, up to you, take an egg or two (if you use a lot of potatoes), some salt… Just have to watch it when it fries. Can be good with pepper and/or onion and/or garlic. Some folks in Germany add grated carrots. It works with other vegetables, but sometimes it’s harder to get it right. For example, I can’t make perfect zucchini pancakes no matter how hard I try. 😃

For a small meal, toasts are universal. There’s no fat used in heating the bread. Just some ham and cheese comes with it. No unhealthy stuff. I love toasts.

And let’s not forget good old scrambled eggs. With ham, for example. Or tomatoes. Perfect traditional breakfast, not like it won’t work for supper.
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Your ideas are great too…what do you mean by ‘toasts?’
 
chevalier said:
Toasted sandwiches.
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ah ha! (duh)😊 Do you have one of those flattening sandwich machines?? A friend of mine bought them for her whole family–she loves them! She says you can make paninis with them pretty easily?
 
forgot to add they also make what I would call panini and they just call grilled sandwiches in the quesadilla maker, which they do use almost every day. they like tuna melts especially.

they will eat salad but except for the oldest the only veggies they eat are dipped in ranch or catchup.
 
whatevergirl said:
ah ha! (duh)😊 Do you have one of those flattening sandwich machines?? A friend of mine bought them for her whole family–she loves them! She says you can make paninis with them pretty easily?
Click to expand...
No need to spend big bucks on a paninni maker. You can do this with stuff you have around the house.

If you have a grill pan, use that for the bottom - if not, use your biggest flat bottom skillet. Put the toasting sandwich in there (a bit of olive oil in the pan, butter on the bread - the oil keeps the butter from burning). On top of the sandwich, put a smaller flat bottomed pan, and put some thing heavy in the pan - even a flat bottomed sauce pan with water in it or a brick you have wrapped in foil 🙂
 
This magazine is available at any grocery store, you will love it - it is real recipes - none of that stuff you have to go to a specialty store to buy.

quickcooking.com/Default.aspx?r_d=y

Use your crock pot, put in a bunch of chicken, boneless skinless breasts and thighs and let them cook. The meat will just shread up with two forks, you can use it for BBQ, for Chicken Pot Pie, for tacos (add in some taco seasoning), for Chicken and noodles… do the same thing with shedded pork cooked in the crock pot.
 
kage_ar said:
No need to spend big bucks on a paninni maker. You can do this with stuff you have around the house.

If you have a grill pan, use that for the bottom - if not, use your biggest flat bottom skillet. Put the toasting sandwich in there (a bit of olive oil in the pan, butter on the bread - the oil keeps the butter from burning). On top of the sandwich, put a smaller flat bottomed pan, and put some thing heavy in the pan - even a flat bottomed sauce pan with water in it or a brick you have wrapped in foil 🙂
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Hey – that’s clever!😃
 
oooh I just remembered something delicious DD2 made, hot dogs wrapped in cresent rolls baked on a cooky sheet according to directions on the can of rolls (watch carefully, easy to overcook. took less than 15 min, she had already cut up carrots and tomatoes and had made slaw from a pre-cut mix. she uses good ballpark franks, they were excellent (she has real stadium mustard imported from Cleveland).

they had regular grilled hot dogs at DD#1 and granddaughter made her fabulous hot potato salad–boiled quartered new potatoes with peels, drained, she cut up and fried a pound of bacon, added it to the hot potatoes with a glob of dijon mustard and stirred. fantastic but not for the fat phobic. they just had it with the dogs and beans, and big sliced tomatoes from the garden.

she is becomming quite a cook, she also made french toast, scrambled eggs (they call them fluffy not stuffy, very dry) with sausage patties and sliced apples.

she also made a recipe from girl scout camp, which I will try to remember, maybe any girl scouts can correct me
pepperidge farm white bread slices laid on a buttered baking dish to cover the bottom. fry either bacon or crumbled sausage (or both I guess would be fine) and diced onions with it, drain and sprinkle over the bread. beat up a dozen eggs (this is for a deep 9x13 pan) with a glob of cream (milk would be okay I guess), and pour it over the bread and meat. bake and here I am not sure, i guess about 325 since it is eggy, it will puff up like a souffle in about 15-20 min, but still be a bit runny in the center. at this point sprinkly lightly with grated cheese, and put back in the oven for 8 to 10 min. turn off the oven and let it set for 5 minutes then take it out and it should set in the time it takes to get it to the table

time and temp are hard to estimate because we do this on campfire.
 
Don’t mean to be rude, but try:

www.google.com 😃

I always do some online searching for recipes when I try cooking up something, there are so many great recipes and they are like all free :cool:
 
I love my crockpot. You can put some stew on in the morning, and come home to a great home cooked meal. I also do chicken thighs in it, and when I get home, shred the chicken, throw a little BBQ sauce in & have pulled chicken sandwiches.

My son’s favorite is smoked kielbasa, layered with onions & cooked with BBQ sauce (here I like something sweet, rather than spicy).

Gordon’s Food Service meatballs, cooked with equal parts chili sauce & grape jelly.

I work til 7, and don’t want to do much at night, so my crockpot is my favorite appliance. 🙂
 
whatevergirl said:
ah ha! (duh)😊 Do you have one of those flattening sandwich machines?? A friend of mine bought them for her whole family–she loves them! She says you can make paninis with them pretty easily?
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I have both kinds! 😃 The “traditional” run of the mill fifties-style that pops brown slices out when done, and the flattening one. Sometimes I use the flattening one with cheese and ham (and herbs and veggies or a paste sometimes), sometimes I use the pop-out one to heat two slices and then I put some meat and/or cheese and vegetables in between the bread. It’s like a panini sandwich but a bit different. Very tasty. You can also use the flattening one to heat just the bread (or meat too if you aren’t using cheese), then take the bread out and stuff it with veggies. Done that too. 🙂 I even remember making funny sauces to go with that kind of sandwich. Go wild! 😃
 
my kids liked to make English muffin pizzas for a quick snack, contadina pizza sauce w or w/o meat, and grated parmesan, baked on a cookie sheet briefly to melt the cheese, or microwaved for a few seconds to melt the cheeze (in this case, toast the muffin in the toaster before assembling the pizza)

they also liked kangaroo pocket sandwiches, any filling, mixes like tuna salad work best, made with pita pockets and assembled taco style, in layers (filling, chopped lettuce, tomato if they like it, pickles, grated cheese whatever)
 
**I guess it depends on your definition of healthy. To me that means no processed foods. So, almost every recipe given so far would be out for me. I don’t see a big difference between hot dogs in a crescent roll and McDonald’s;). One just takes more time and clean up, lol.

So for us here it’s simple boring things… I am starting to use my crock pot more, which I LOVE but am running out of ideas that don’t use ingredients that are full of unnatural things AND that don’t take forever to prep. Oh, and eating healthy and quick costs so much more!

So, we end up eating McDonald’s too much:o. But not my DD…I refuse to do that to her, lol.

malia**
 
Feanaro_s_Wife said:
**I guess it depends on your definition of healthy. To me that means no processed foods. So, almost every recipe given so far would be out for me. I don’t see a big difference between hot dogs in a crescent roll and McDonald’s;). One just takes more time and clean up, lol.

So for us here it’s simple boring things… I am starting to use my crock pot more, which I LOVE but am running out of ideas that don’t use ingredients that are full of unnatural things AND that don’t take forever to prep. Oh, and eating healthy and quick costs so much more!

So, we end up eating McDonald’s too much:o. But not my DD…I refuse to do that to her, lol.

malia**
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Crockpot recipes…those would be good…I love making things in the crockpot, but also find my ideas to be a bit boring.:o

I too think that ‘healthy’ is more organic, more fresh veggies, and the like…but, how to make them where everyone will be pleased, in a reasonable amount of time is the challenge.
 
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