we're stuck in dinner rutt hell, please come and tell me the dinners you cook and give us the joy of variety

[Eddas]

Please help, for too long now our dinner times have become stuck in one long huge rutt of the same things over and over and over again.

DD announced this evening that she's fed up of the same dinners she's right but I just can't seem to stop it. The problems really stem from a fussy ds who just refuses to eat much. He is getting better. Slowly and I feel now is the time to force the issue a little. Not too much, but to at least get him to try foods.

I need help ladies, please tell me the child friendly dinners you cook. I know they should eat what we do, but given the small variety they have at the moment I feel this is something to aim for, not dive straight in with. Dc are 6 and 3(very nearly 4).

TIA

Can you say what you already cook so that I don't repeat those?

or you could dive straight in by cooking grown up things they like.
my dd loves gratin dauphinoise and cauliflower cheese (anything cheesy in fact).

chicken nuggets (home-made) are good.

I'm making fish pie tonight, unfortunately I managed to break 2 of the eggs on the floor so we only have one hard boiled in it. Am expecting huge ructions as DS is uber fussy but am hoping to bribe with angel delight for dessert.

well, the I doubt you'd say anything we cook tbh. The dc seem to prefer everything plain, so things like spag bol that I cook they will just have spagetti and a side portion of veg dd will have cheese on hers but ds doesn't.

How do you make homemade chicken nuggets? Sorry to be a bit dim one of the few things ds will eat is chicken nuggets, and fish fingers, so it would be great to cook these for him.

Also, it would be good to know if things can be frozen too as I like dinners I can cook a big batch of and then freeze to give me nice homemade things ready in the freezer.

Thank you

How about one pot dinners like chicken ornery casserole? You can put in more of the bits they like and fish bits out for them.

This week, we've had chicken & mushroom supreme with rice, crunchy bacon spaghetti, sausage & mash, quiche, potatoes & salad and tonight we're having a tomato & courgette pasta bake. I always do a pasta bake to use up the odd bits that get left over in the fridge, so they're different every time.

Lasagne is easy to make and freeze, cottage/shepherds pie, marinated chicken legs with mash and veg, sausages and mash, casserole/stew, pasta bake

Omery? What is omery? I think that was supposed to read 'or beef'. Don't know what happened there! Damned iPhone!!

Another thing I have been toying with is gradually adding variations to pasta as DS loves pasta but will only currently have it with bolognaise or tomato sauce. I already add loads of veg to the spag bol and have recently started putting in sweetcorn which he will accept without fuss.
Horrid cooking though when it gets spurned

Oh roast chicken is very easy to do just bung it in the oven.

The problem I have is that the darn kids won't eat what they call 'sauce' ie anything that makes things taste nice IMO.

I just need to make them don't I? or they'll be destined to a life of plain pasta and rice!!

Homemade pizza- let DCs pick their own toppings.
Fish pie
Risotto
Moussaka (not made that for ages!)
Pasta, tuna, sweetcorn, mayo
Hotdogs

I cut out an article once where a mum used to give her DCs dinner and say "if you don't like it there's peanut butter sandwiches". by her own admission "A LOT of peanut butter was eaten" but they got so bored of it they tried every meal in the end.

So waht do they do then and we can try to build on that?

Last couple of weeks we have had (DD 20 months too):

Pasta with Boursin cheese meted in, peas and cooked cured ham bits, with salad.

Spanish omelette with goats cheese on top, mushrooms, red pepper and chorizo inside

Steak, chips, peas and corn on the cob

Basa (nice, non-fishy fish) fillets with cheese sauce, new potatoes and veg

Jacket potatoes with cheese and beans

Toad in the hole with veg and gravy

Ribs in Reggae Reggae sauce (DD had fish fingers)

Fish cakes with cheesy mash and veg

Thai curry with Quorn

Tuna plait / mushrrom plait for me (don't like tuna) - really easy, quite plain and YUMMY, let me know if you want the recipe

Veg and tomato pasta bake

Could you get them to make the sauces?

But yes, I think you have to offer it to them and allow them to go hungry if they refuse.

Adding cheesy stuff to other sauces might help, if they love cheese? Boursin is incredible stuff, and a simple handful of grated cheddar in an sauce will work a treat.

oh, and I don't know if this will work with yours who are a bit older, but DD wasn't fond of sauce on stuff so now I give it to her in a ramekin, and she dips stuff in. She now loves her "dip dip" and has to have some kind of "dip dip" most meals (even desserts!)

Mushroom plait does sound good LoopyLoops, would love the recipe please.

I have a sauce refuser here so do things like-
Meatballs
Tiny toads (little yorkshire puddings)- recipe on BBC Good Food website.
A thin cheese omelette cut in to triangle 'rockets'.
Lentil fritters
Chicken 'fajitas'- chicken marinated in spices and lime zest and served in wraps etc.
Steak

Oh and Friday night is always 'pizza night' (home made of course )

Rissotto- I just chuck anything that is hanging around the fridge in it.

Sausage casserole with mash

Tuna putanesca

Creamy pasta

Omlettes

Chilli

Spag bog

Sticky ginger chicken

Jacket pots

Gammon in coke wih cauli cheese

OK, I'll give it a go...

Plait
Chop an onion finely, along with a handful of mushrooms. (For tuna I put in a few mushrooms and a tin of tuna, sometimes sweetcorn)
Add salt, pepper, and enough mayonnaise to combine to a nice thick clump.
Roll out a pack of puff pastry, and cut diagonal lines from a quarter of the way from the middle, to create a fan effect.
\ . . /
\ . . /
\ . . /
\ . . /
\ . . /
\ . . /
/ . .

(Hope that makes sense, in my diagram the dos are only there because it won't let me have spaces, it should have some space in the middle that hasn't been cut IYSWIM)
Dollop the mixture in the middle section. Brush milk with a party brush over the fan bits. Plait the fan bits over the cintre, tucking in the ends, and brush all over with milk.
Stick in the oven at about gas mark 6, for around 20 minutes.

Yum!

thanks! Love the diagram- I know exactly what you mean!

I'll come back later to post a longer reply as dc demanding attention, but;

omelettes, hmm yes I think i'll give those a whirl tomorrow. They will eat, or at least dd will, homemade wedges so can do those with it. They're pretty good on the veg front although ds eats his very slowly. I might introduce a timed dinner for him

How do you make risotto?

Look for risotto recipes online, there are millions. Do you know how to do a Spanish omelette? Easier, tastier, and contains potatoes.

Another thing that might help I went to see a food consultant about DS's eating ( before anyone laughs about how hideously poncey that sounds it wasn't expensive and I found it useful). She advised having a goal of maybe 1-2 new meals a week and rotating those in until they are used to them rather than going gung ho and changing everything at once.

You could try:

pasta with bacon and peas, stir in a tub of creme fraiche

Lemon pasta - toss cooked pasta in juice of a lemon. Melt in a pan a tub of philly type cheese, small carton of cream and zest of a lemon, then stir through pasta. Season well with black pepper.

salmon pasta - add a pack of smoked salmon trimmings, 1lb of frozen peas, some lemon juice and either creme fraiche or boursin.

brush chicken drumsticks with a mix of honey, lemon juice and soy sauce. Roast with the lemon carcasses.

tuna pasta bake

cook pasta, add some sliced courgettes and chopped, fresh tomatoes. put in an oven dish and top with some torn mozzarella and basil leaves. Bake for about 15 minutes.

Slice some potatoes quite thinly and cook until tender. cook some peas as well. Mix together with a tin of salmon. Mix through a tub of creme fraiche. Pour into an oven dish, top with grated cheese and stick in the oven until golden.

hm soup
jacket potatoes with tuna and sweetcorn

mix cooked chopped chicken with some leeks and an onion (both softened in butter.) Add about 1lb of thawed frozen peas and a carton of fresh cream of mushroom soup. Season well. Pour into an oven dish. Top with a bag of potato wedges or hash browns. BAke for 30 minutes until bubbly and potatoes are cooked.

Top cooked pork chops with a spoonful of salsa and some grated cheese and grill until cheese is melted and salsa is hot.

quesadillas with refried beans and cheese with a side of salad.

pasta with hotdogs, cheese and sweetcorn.
cold pasta with tuna, sweetcorn, spring onions, chopped cucumber and tomatoes with mayo.

toasted pittas, cut into strips with tzatziki and hummus for dipping with salad.

Tortilla pizzas

Lamb in garlic
Chicken casserole
Spaghetti carbonara
Spaghetti bolognese
Fish pie (my favourite)
Meatballs
Steak with salad and coleslaw
Lentil soup
Chilli
Thai yellow (or green) curry
Roast chicken
Lamb hotpot
Tuna pasta bake
Chicken curry
Sausages in yorkshire puddings
Stir fried chicken