What's your favourite family meal?

[sparkle789]

I am stuck in a meal rut and need some inspiration.

What is your family's favourite meal? There is 4 of us the kids are pretty foot eaters but I'm on a bit of a budget.
Thanks

Homemade meatballs - chop and lightly fry 2 onions cool then mix with 1 packet of lean beef mince with one packet of lean pork mince, a grated carrot , salt, pepper, pinch of paprika, any herbs you have knocking about and 3 cups of breadcrumbs and an egg if mixture seems a bit dry. The mixture freezes well provided the meat hasn't been frozen before so easy to make some for next time too.

Shape into meatballs and bake in oven for 25 mins or so.

For sauce sauté diced onions, garlic, peppers, celery or any other veg you have (courgette/aubergine/ spinach etc also work well but it is fine with just onions and peppers. Add tinned tomatoes and when cooked stir through a tin of Philadelphia ( own brand equivalent is absolutely fine)

Serve with pasta. Firm favourite here!

Pesto chicken stew and Parmesan dumplings! Best dinner ever!

Brown some chicken thighs with some garlic, put in slow cooker. Dry some pancetta/ chopped up bacon, Sweat some leek and onion (and more garlic if you love Garlic like us) and stir in a few tbsp of flour. Cook for a few minutes, then add a little splash of white wine. Let this evaporate. Stick it all in slow cooker and top up with chicken stock. Leave for 4 hours ish, shred chicken if using bone-in chicken thighs and re add to slow cooker. Stir in half a jar of pesto and some frozen peas.

Mix together butter and flour. Stir in Parmesan and a splash of warm water with a knife to make dough. Form balls and add to stew. Stick it all in the oven for half an hour until dumplings are golden brown on top (the best bit)

Don't need mash as the dumplings are very rich but absolutely delicious. My favourite ever dinner!! DP loves it too. Too salty for the baby but sure she will love it when she's a bit bigger.

If you don't have a slow cooker, could always just cook it on a low heat on the job. HTH!

Fry some bacon, not dry

ooh yum!

That sounds lovely sammy can you tell me what proportion of flour to butter and parmesan-do you just grate it? I have never made a dumpling!

140g butter
250g self raising flour
100g Parmesan

Yep, just grate it. Enjoy!

Just to say I cooked the pesto chicken last night, I enjoyed it, and DH loved it

do you have ethnic shops in the area?
get a bag of white kidney beans (name taken from the label in turkish shop)

Turkish White Beans Recipe

2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion (or 2 medium onions), chopped
Turkish red pepper flakes, also called Aleppo pepper, to taste (or whole chiles, or both)
2 tablespoons tomato paste or a can or chopped tomatoes
2 cups dried dermason beans, soaked in water overnight
enough water to cover the beans by about an inch, or a bit more
salt, to taste

In a deep sauté pan, melt the butter with the olive oil. Add the chopped onion, and saute until transparent and soft. Stir in the red pepper, if using, and then the tomato paste. When combined, add the beans and the water. Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer. Cover the pot and cook until beans are tender, adding more water if needed. The beans should have a little broth when finished cooking, and have a buttery texture. Add salt to taste.

Happy to hear that Kaz!

My family's favourite is lasagne. Boring but loved by all.

Ooh that chicken pesto thing sounds nice!

Favourites here are:
-Chicken or Turkey fajitas, or same mix(Turkey, peppers, mushrooms, courgettes and cheese) on toast or on a jacket potato
-Chicken thighs or drumsticks baked in oven with chorizo, tinned tomatoes, roughly chopped veg, serve with baked potato, baked sweet potato or mash and greens
-Lasagne/bolognese pasta bake, I use pork and beef or beef and lamb to make the bolognese and plenty of veg, mix of meat adds to taste
-beef stew with roast veg, jacket potato or dumplings
-Salmon fillets, fried with brocolli, green beans and sugarsnaps(whatever is in season) and sweet chilli sauce, can add rice if want to bulk it out.

Most of these things except the salmon are made in bulk and frozen so always have them to hand.

My children love sausage, mash and peas - we put mash on the fork and pick the peas up loaded on the mash, and call it hedgehogs! brings fun to dinner time