Stuck in a meat and 2 veg rut. Need ideas for alternatives please

[Monroe]

I try and meal plan every week and I noticed it always seems to be variations of the same I.e. beef casserole with potatoes broccoli and carrots, chicken pie with the same. Nearly always some type of meat with potatoes and then the veg is nearly always broccoli, carrots, peas or sweetcorn. This is often due to knowing what the dc's like and will eat but also because I'm not sure what else to do.

So I'm looking for inspiration. I'd like to introduce more variety so more rice or pasta dishes also any ideas on the veg/salad front. The dc's are pretty good at trying new stuff, I just need some ideas! Thanks

Macaroni cheese is usually a good one - and you could add tomato/mushroom/peppers for veg.

I like pea and pesto pasta - bow ties, pesto, mange-tout or sugar snap peas. DH adds Philly cheese too.

Mid week I often do gammon in coke with jacket potato, salad and corn on the cob (we are actually having it today!)

Stir fry
Vegetable lasagne
Quesadillas
Pasta bake
Risotto
Omelette
Pasta salad

This week:

Home made pizza
Nachos
Home made Chinese (crispy chilli beef)
Chorizo pilaf
Honey and mustard chicken (it's just stock, honey, mustard, onion, carrot and chicken) with mash and veg
Spag bol
Jacket potato beans and cheese
Vegetarian chilli

We also often have:

Oven baked risotto
Sausages
Pasta with bacon, mint, creme fraishe etc
Spaghetti carbonara
Tuna fish cakes
Chilli with jackets/wedges/rice

Starting to get milder so looking forward to some salads! Bbc good food is great for recipes I find

Pinterest could be you friend here - I found lots of good risotto/pasta recipes.

Caesar salad is nice with chicken and/bacon plus avacado.

My dc are quite little so I struggle with getting them to eat salad tbh

Meals this week will include beetroot and feta salad. Buy cooked beets but not the one in vinegar. Salad leaves, sliced radishes, cucumber, chop up the beetroot and crumble over the feta. Don't toss otherwise it looks a mess!

Jamie Oliver's mustard chicken with quick dauphinoise from his 30 min meals book. We're having it today with some french style peas cooked with lettuce.

Leek & potato soup with bread..

This is great, thanks. My 2 aren't great with salad either but I always try and encourage them. Though my salad generally tends to be lettuce, tomato and cucumber so could do with some help there too!

They like meals where I put lots of things on the table and they can help themselves (ds calls this a feast!) so they enjoy jackets with lots of fillings.

LtEve is the gammon in coke slow cooker friendly? Do you have a recipe?

spotty can I ask about your oven baked risotto and chorizo pilaf?

I do go on the good food website but get a bit bogged down with how much choice there is. I also get put off by a massive list of ingredients. We are shopping on a budget so can't really afford lots of fancy things or to waste food if the dc's don't like it.

I never thought of pinterest, thanks

I bought a butternut squash this week and have still to come up with a use for it

This week our menu plan is:

Lamb steaks with stuffed peppers
Roast pork with roast veg with added pineapple
Stuffed pasta with sauce (either vegetable or cheese, havent decided yet)
poached chicken breasts with baby potatoes, peas and carrots
Fish fillets with cheesy leeks
Spag bol
Spinach and mushroom omelette (veggie day)

Butternut squash makes a great soup. Or chop it in chunks and oven roast with other veg - parsnips, carrots, turnip. Add some chunks of halloumi cheese about 30 mins before the end of cooking time.

Our week will be along the lines of:

Monday - roast dinner with chicken for the carnivores and nut cutlets for me

Tuesday - veggie chilli with either rice or jacket potatoes plus homemade salsa

Weds - falafels, pitta, salad, hoummus, olives etc (picky meal)

Thursday - veggie burgers, homemade spicy wedges, salad

Friday - a curry of some sort

Saturday - homemade pizzas (bought bases)

Sunday - veggie lasagne

www.nhs.uk/Tools/Pages/5aday.aspx

DD2 is 17 and still not a salad eater, so if we have a salad type meal I do her a little plate of carrot sticks, cucumber, cherry tomatoes etc - as if she's still two!

My pilaf and risotto are both good food recipes I just adapt them to suit what veg I have in and what flavour risotto I want. I can't believe I ever used to stand over a pan for half an hour cooking risotto!

That all sounds lovely.

I think a big part of it is I was brought up on very plain bland food. Think fish fingers chips and beans as a regular meal choice. As a result there was lots of foods I didn't try or like myself till I was much older and I'm worried in a round about way I'm doing the same to my 2.

I would love to serve up these meals e.g the stuffed peppers, falafels, salads etc. but I'm not sure they will like them even though I know they would try them as they've never had them before. I'm worried I've left it too late and they are too stuck in their ways. They are 7 and 4

Not too late - they are still v young. And if they like 'serve yourself' type meals, it's a great way to get them trying things like felafels etc.

Remus you have just reminded me to stick a nut cutlet in the oven. I'm doing lamb and I don't eat red meat

Noodles are great with stir fry. Lasagna, pasta bakes and gnocchi are great.

Have a look at the good food website, it's full of ideas.

A butternut squash recipe we really like, although our dcs won't eat, is: cut squash in half. Scoop out the seeds. Put chopped garlic and butter in the hollow. Roast for 45 mins (ish) then scoop out the flesh and mash with some Stilton. Put it back in the oven for 10 mins.

Sorry, meant to say, put the squash and Stilton mixture back into the skin and roast for 10 mins.

I made paella a couple of nights ago. Itvwentvfiwn brilliantly (dc are 2 and 5). No idea how authentic is was, it was a recipe from a magazine).