Fast vegetarian or fish suppers for children.

[hellymelly]

I have two fussy dds, and struggle to come up with interesting healthy suppers that I can make quickly if we have come back from the beach late, or I haven't had time to do until they are home from school. What are your dcs favourites? I feel as though it is an endless sea of pasta with tomato sauce, pizzas made with pitta bread or home-made dough, and other variants of carbs with tomato and cheese. Any favourites in your house that maybe I've never thought of? Dcs are mainly vegetarian but occasionally eat some local fish. We do make dhal and rice sometimes too.

[BrieAndChilli]

If you have a slow cooker my kids love tagine with couscous. (we are veggie but it is mostly veg anyway)
Stir fry veg with noodles
Salmon with new potatoes and veg
Pesto pasta

[BrieAndChilli]

Arent veggie

[snowgirl1]

Do they like eggy dishes? Spanish omelette made with veg repared/cooked earlier in the day is one of my DDs favourites; quiche (made with ready-made pastry that I've dug out of the freezer at the start of the day); or thick tomato sauce (spicy if they don't mind spicy) in an ovenproof dish, make hollows, crack eggs into the hollows, sprinkle over a bit of cheese and bake in the oven until the eggs are just set.

[hellymelly]

Spanish omelette is a good idea. and I really like the tomato with eggs in idea too. Both those I could make for all of us (DH and I tend to eat later). I've also never made couscous dishes for them so that might go down well. They like different things which doesn't help, what one loves the other rejects as vile... I also need to get more organised about their meals, it always seem to be such a rush, as if I didn't realise there would be two hungry children to feed!

[Beehatch]

We do a similar egg dish to snowgirl and serve with cous cous or quinoa. Also have a similar recipe with white fish cooked in tomato sauce covered in breadcrumbs (from Nigel Slater). Mine like a salad made with tuna, white beans, onions and peppers and some pasta dressed in lemon juice. We eat a lot of soup - I do one called grated soup which involves grating whatever veg you have into a pot with stock, it cooks really quickly as it's grated. Veggie Fajitas using omelette cut into strips as the protein is quite quick. Steamed fish and veggies is also quick. Also cook salmon in silver foil with pesto on top - takes 20 minutes. Roast veg with rice and white sauce takes a bit longer, but you can chop veg in advance and let it cook while you get on with homework and so on.
Also nothing wrong with the odd meal of beans or scrambled egg on toast.
My two's favourite tea is 'snack plate' which is a plate of whatever I can find chopped up with some crackers/breadsticks/crisps and cubes of cheese.

[keely79]

My DD is very fussy, but will eat:

White fish poached in milk with a little onion and herbs and seasoning. Normally eaten with gnocchi.

Rice cooked with with sweetcorn, spinach and onion - fry onion in olive oil, stir in rice, add water, cook - stir in sweetcorn about half way and spinach at the end. Offer grated cheese to be added at table.

Salmon - panfried in butter.

[Frontier]

My Dcs absolute favourite dinner is pasta mixed with a tin of tuna, spot of mayo and some peas and sweetcorn.

Not gormet but tasty, nutritious and very quick. DS1 grates cheese on top

[hellymelly]

Lots of good speedy ideas, I am writing them down. I think they would eat the tuna salad (at least dd2 would). Beehatch-With the egg fajitas- do you dip in breadcrumbs and fry, or it is simply the omelette in strips? (Have never made fajitas of any sort).
I never think of gnocci, but that is a good idea that I imagine they would eat, and gnocci are probably quite easy to make at home aren't they? Or are they a faff? I have been a vegetarian since i was 12 so I am never sure of good ways to cook fish, but pesto salmon, or milk-poached white fish sound great. We have good local fish (we live close to the river and the sea).
Do you all try and plan meals well ahead?

[PhilomenaCunk]

I batch cook fish cakes and freeze then defrost in microwave and fry. 10 mins max.
Also freeze Yorkshire puds, serve with mash and veg and gravy (we sometimes do quorn sausages but the children love the yorkshires the best).
Bean chilli (mild as mine are wussy) with wraps/rice.

[hellymelly]

I don't have a microwave but fish cakes would probably not take too long anyway from frozen would they? Have never made Yorkshire puds! I can't eat them (the gluten) so selfishly have never bothered . Will hunt out a recipe as I think the dds would like helping make them. They like quorn sausages. I will try the grated soup too.

[BeginnersLuck]

I came on to say pitta bread pizzas but you're already doing that!
Eggy bread is another option.
Noodles can also be very quick - you can throw in peas, sweetcorn etc as well as egg or whatever, bit of sesame oil & a drop of soy sauce and away you go.

[Onykahonie]

I'm never too sure as to what 'supper' is...
Is is dinner/tea, or something else? I always think of supper as being a snack after dinner, but not sure after the replies so far!

Anyway, we're veggie and quick dinners include: veggie chilli in wraps, jacket potatoes with cheese and beans, veggie spag bol, falafel and salad in pittas, pittas and crudites with hummus etc.

[Onykahonie]

I also make Quorn/veg or paneer tikka kebabs in naan/chapatti/pitta:
wedonteatanythingwithaface.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/paneer-tikka.html

[Beehatch]

Veggie fajitas are easy - cut whatever veg into strips and stir fry, I find having fairly chunky mushrooms helps give some texture. You can serve as is or add some fajita spice at the end if you like a bit of heat. Cook a firm omlette separately, cool slightly and cut into strips. Serve with sour cream or creme fraiche and guacamole if you like it, or grated cheese and salsa etc. And with wraps of course - I keep them in the freezer, they defrost quickly if you separate them, then wrap in silver foil and warm through in the oven while you get everything else ready (can microwave individually if that's an option)

Actually I use wraps quite a lot add a quick lunch or supper option, you can fill them with so many things. If you warm one in a fry pan and add pesto spread around, grated cheese, sliced cherry Toms then add another wrap on top, wait for a bit of melting (don't let the bottom burn) then flip over and brown the other side. Allow to cool slightly and cut into wedges - yummy! If you like spice add some chilli flakes too.

Another idea is wholemeal pittas filled with grated cheese mixed with grated carrot and some cumin powder. Cook in the toaster for a quick and very yummy snack meal. My kids have loved these since tiny (nicked the idea from the BLW website)

As for gnocchi I've never made my item, does look a faff, but you can buy decent ready made stuff in the chiller section, or there is one variety that comes vacuum packed so you can keep in the store cupboard. I serve with a veg laden tomato sauce, cheese and steamed broccoli.

[hellymelly]

I think I would like to eat paneer tikka kebabs for my supper...yum. I love paneer. I am so grateful as there are lots of ideas here that I can do quickly, and also can get the dds helping with. Both of them like to cook, but when I'm in a rush I just want to get on with it, some of the meals here would be really nice to make all together though, without it driving me mad! I never do wraps, so that is something to do this week, as there are good suggestions here for tasty fillings. Am going to do a big shop tomorrow armed with this list!

[ShoeWhore]

Pasta pesto with green veg and salmon is really quick - chuck the veg into the pasta water half way through (my dcs like broccoli or peas) and microwave the salmon for a couple of mins.

They also like pitta stuffed with tuna mayo and sweetcorn - I usually add some pepper/carrot/cucumber sticks on the side.

We also had Hugh F-W's spicy chickpea and carrot stuffed pittas this week - which were a huge hit with my dcs even fussy dc3 (although he does like spicy food) - they are reasonably spicy so perhaps replace the smoked paprika with mild paprika if you think that might be an issue. We had salad alongside.

[Lovage]

Pasta, pesto, peas and cheese or cashew nuts

Filled pasta with pesto or gnocchi

Rice, cream cheese, peas and pesto (mine are pesto mad, can you tell?!)

Pittas with humous and grated carrot

corn of flour tortillas with grated cheese melted under the grill

potato farls fried in butter, with baked beans and scrambled eggs

[SoftSheen]

-Chickpea or paneer curry with rice or naan bread
-Vegetable stir fry with cashews, tofu or prawns and rice or noodles
-Potato rosti with poached eggs and salad or baked beans
-Vegetable fajitas (onion, peppers, mushroom etc) with guacamole, grated cheese and soured cream, maybe with a side salad
-Pancakes (or North Staffs Oatcakes if you can get them) with cheese and onion filling and salad
-Leek risotto (or any other variant)
-Warmed falafel in flat breads with tzatziki and salad leaves
-And yes, gnocchi with pesto, grated cheese and some rocket and cherry tomatoes on the side has to be the fasted dinner ever, less than five min.