I love hearing other people's go to meals and recipes. This became such a big talking point in our school playground that Hubs and I set up a cooking blog that fellow parents might like:
http://www.FranglaiseCooking.com
It features every day French and English meals for all the family, including babies (Hubs is French, I'm English). We also put in categories for the things that matter to us - how healthy, how cheap, how easy and how time-consuming each recipe is.
Hope it helps others too!

This is a beautiful soup that adults and kids love. i put star pasta in it (stellette) and we call is star soup. my 4-year old son loves it.

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/ ... oup-238090

Huge congratulations Vivpidge, it's great to know that some of the recipes have worked wonders but most important, it's hopefully reconnected you with the delights of cooking and what fun it can be.

If you do get a chance to take any photos of your cooking successes, then please do share them on my facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/beespantryuk) - I'd love to see them.

Shout if you need any more ideas or recipes!

Briony

Founder
Bee's Pantry
www.beespantry.com

You probably aren't that interested...... but we've had success with egg fried rice, risotto, meatballs and spaghetti and various others. Some less successful - but I always think other things come into play - tiredness etc - so I'll try them again in due course as everything needs a few outings before I give up on them!! All in all a success, in fact they have only had sausages once this month !

Thank you for your help - you all inspired me to go back to the drawing board and reinvent our suppers.

I just about spat water at my screen at the thought of mozzarella in bowels...

This works well for your lunch too: 1 tortilla (wholewheat or plain), spread it with tom puree and a touch of olive oil, then add any topping you like (mozzarella doesn't really taste like cheese as such), ham, salami/chopped chorizo, herbs, mortadela, whatever you like and then place either in microwave or oven for a few mins. Result is surprisingly pizza like and delicious. Also, lamb mince kebabs are good. Just place lamb mince in blender with dried mint and shape into sausage long kebabs. Place on skewer if preferred. Grill for 10 mins, turning once. Eat either with rice (add sumac for variety for you) or pita bread with salad or humus and greek yog with cucumber (for your dinner ad dried cumin seeds). The filled pita pockets on a plate with the accompaniments really look appealing and fun. Tesco sell ready made in summer mnths

If they eat mozzarella I recommend doing a big batch of tom sauce (to freeze) with garlic, onion and carrot and celery sofrito (so it sweats with lid on in tiny bit of oil and disintegrates so they identify the veg but it packs flavour to the sauce). Then make pasta, add sauce and throw in ripped up moz once in bowels which will melt in situ. Finally, pulled pork in buns is a winner, as is duck & pancakes for a family treat.

I, too, had become a bit bored of finding things to cook that my boys will eat. I got a slow cooker just before Christmas and it is my new favourite thing. My 5 year old picky eater has proclaimed all new meals from the Crock Pot as "a bit tasty." Result! (The 3 year old is still a pain, and mostly eats beige carbs, but we are working on him!)

I think it must be down to texture of the meat (soft and tender) and also nice flavourful sauces. The trick is using fattier cuts (chicken thighs, pork shoulder, etc) so that the meat doesn't dry out. You can skim the fat.

So far, I have cooked Chinese pork, teriyaki chicken, bolognese, turkey chilli, whole pork joint with veggies, beef stew, etc. And we *all* eat the same thing now, so no more cooking multiple teas.

All of these meals can be served with rice/noodles/veggies/in wraps. I have been freezing the leftovers so I can take them out on the occasions when I don't feel like cooking.

http://www.skinnytaste.com has a lot of slow cooker recipes that are quite nice and also weight watchers friendly, if that is a consideration.

Also, the joy of the slow cooker is leaving it to cook for the day and you don't have to worry about it. Is a revelation!

zaza107 wrote:Hi instablonde,

Soup is a great idea. Maybe a silly question, but at what age did your kids start being happy eating soup? My almost-three year old might be a little inept with the spoon, but she's not really able to handle liquids too well yet...no doubt just a matter of practice and live with the mess for a while...

Thanks!

Zaza107

I started weaning at 1 year old with so called soups- veggies and meat/fish steam in babycook and blended in puree.
At 2 yrs old I chopped all in little cubes like for minestrone.

I don't want to sound like we eat only soups, but it always very convenient to have some in fridge when it is not enough time to cook some evening

For those very busy/lazy mummies (myself included!!) The frozen pie/stews available at Doves are great for providing an easy supper for parents and kids. The meat is great quality and if you do some mash/veg to bump it up a bit then you can easily feed two adults and two little ones. The chicken/leek pie, catalonian lamb stew and beef bourginon are all excellent.

Dandielion's parmigana is another favourite!

Hi, for my little two (3 and 1)

Mini Pancakes
- Eggs, Honey, Grated Carrots, Orange or Lemon Zest, Wholewheat pre-sprouted flour (make a thick cake batter). Add tablespoon amount onto frying pan on med heat with a healthy fat (ghee, coconut, olive, pasture fed dripping etc)

Raw Red Sauce with Tuna and Veg Chips
= RED SAUCE: Tomatoes, Onions, Garlic, Celery in a Blender and allowed to ferment for 4 days
= Tuna Steaks
= Veg Chips, potatoes and sweet potatoes mixed fried in Beef dripping
I serve the raw sauce on the side, kids love it

Do you have a slow cooker? i love them, so easy to use for the cheaper meat cuts from the waitrose counter

Also try different whole pre soaked whole grains, like bulgar, brown rice, quinoa, (pre-sprouted) lentils etc = that you cook in a homemade stock (not water as there no taste)

Actually happy to email you my weekly food plan excel document if you wish ?

For a very quick, very simple alternative to pasta or rice, get some dried cous cous, pour into a bowl (pasta sized) and stir in a tub of dolmino sundried tomato stir in sauce (not pasta sauce). Top up with a good slosh of boiling hot water and stir again. (Mixture should be custard or gravy consistency) then cover with a plate and leave for 2-5 mins. Fluff with fork and stir in any additional items you wish (ham, olives, etc) then serve either as a side dish or alone.

(if liquid hasnt completely evaporated after 2-5 mins, give it a quick zap in the microwave.. works every time for me!)

Another vote for roasting a chicken at the weekend and using the leftovers; and also for white bean and chorizo stew/soup. I have mixed success with other soups to be honest, I suspect my kid has been "ruined" by Heinz tomato at nursery, or something!

A friend, who is an excellent cook, does this blog/website thing which some people might enjoy. Lots of pictures!! http://www.toysinmykitchen.com/

Sorry, I know you said an after school quick recipe, so just to add that the roast chicken I do for us all at the weekend when I have time and then the pasta using the leftovers takes 5 minutes after school in the week.

My kids as a general rule eat much better if we eat with them, so we try to have a really nice family meal at least once a week. It sometimes is pizza express or similar but a failsafe is also roast chicken, roast potatoes and loads of veg. M&S do a rotisserie chicken which turns out gorgeously moist and delicious, and you literally just stick it in the oven in the bag. If we all sit down together to eat it, my kids cannot get it down their necks fast enough.

The leftovers I turn into pasta later on in the week mixed with some bacon, frozen spinach (which I put into everything my kids eat anyway - I was brought up believing it's the key to eternal life for some reason) lots of garlic and a bit of cream cheese. They absolutely love that too.

I also do chicken or pork or prawn (or all three) satay noodles which is half stolen from an Annabel Karmel recipe I think. It's just the meat/prawns plus whatever veg you have around marinated (if you have time/remember) or just cooked in a bot of soy sauce, peanut butter, honey and garlic. Served with noodles.

My daughter (and I) loves the "Nigella Express" Minestrone in Minutes. It could not be easier and is so yummy I have to stop myself from devouring the whole pot. I use the Waitrose tomato and garlic sauce and the Knorr stock melts. Not really, cooking, cooking,but quick, easy, tasty and not too bad.

http://www.nigella.com/recipes/view/min ... inutes-100