Filling Family Meals in the heat that aren't salads!

[MonkeyTennis34]

I would happily eat salads every night but the teens wouldn't!
DS217, particularly, likes something more substantial.

Any ideas?

Wow!!

Thanks all, so many great ideas. My mouth is watering!

So tonight I'm doing a sort of buffet/picky bits dinner.

Chicken drumsticks
Rosti
Quiche
Parma ham
Cocktail sausages
Olives
Pesto mozzarella
Salad
Crackers
Dips
Red pepper and carrot sticks
Tortilla chips
Pesto and Parmesan salad
French fries cooked in the air fryer
Corn on the cob
Sausage rolls

I got a bit carried away at Asda 😂

I will have a proper look at all the lovely suggestions later.

💐💐

I’ve just seen a recipe on the Bored of Lunch Instagram page for a chicken curry filled jacket potato that looks delicious and has gone into my meal plan for this week. We also like to buy breaded chicken steaks or chicken goujons, and have them in wraps with salad and Mayo and/or sweet chilli.

what is their objection to salads? Is it that it's not filling enough? doesn't have enough protein ?Are cold?

eg I've done the Jamie Oliver pork belly and roasted pineapple noodle salad a couple of times recently and its' gone down really well - delicious bits of meat, lots of noodles etc. similarly, a regular here is a big chicken salad made with loads of different lettuce/herbs, avocado, feta cheese, pine buts and cucumber and then served with garlic bread on the side. But it needs lots of chicken and lots of garlic bread for the hordes to feel satisfied after.

We like things on flatbread/tacos/tortillas. This week we did steak with fried mushrooms and pickled veg. Hallloumi with chargrilled greens and a quick "sauce" of honey, garlic and lemon (in the pan so it sort of caramelises) is another popular one. I've previously done nandos style roast chicken with corn and a salad on the side.

today I'm cooking wedges in the oven and then quickly frying thin crumbed chicken breasts with a bit of salad on the side.

Fast pastas (vs ones that need to be left on the stove for hours) are good too.

SpaceOP

Your offerings sound delectable.
Especially the halloumi one.

They don't really have an "objection " to salads. They're just not keen on them, in the same way that I'm not keen on shepherds pie.

Quiche, new potatoes with sweetcorn or asparagus
chilli with jacket potato or rice
steak and prawn stirfry
meat or veggie burger
chicken in breadcrumbs with couscous ( with chopped mint, coriander , pistachio nuts and lemon juice ) And roasted veg?

If it's the heat of cooking your trying to avoid then we often use our slow cooker. Currently got sausage casserole in it

That makes sense. My suggestion then is for less salady options (like the pork/pineapple one) or, to reduce the hot cooking effort for you, things on bread/pitta, light pastas etc.

Or foods where the salad is on the side - we do a lot of quick BBQs served with salads and that generally goes down okay. And sometimes, if we don't want a trditional salad I'll put veggies on the BBQ - currently loving slices of aubergine on the BBQ turned into a "salad" with some olive oil, chilli, sherry vinegar, garlic and mint and topped with mozarrella or feta cheese. Asparagus is great too (wrap in parma ham to make it even MORE delicious). Sometimes I do corn on the cob on the stove and then chargrill it on the BBQ.

I wouldn't make a risotto in this heat if my life depended on it frankly - way too much time spent standing over the hot stove stirring things.

I think it’s definitely about reducing the “hot cooking”. I’m melting enough as it is 😂

I might give your aubergine dish a whirl this weekend, it sounds fantastic!

Appalonia
Your couscous sounds great,..I used to make a similar dish with pomegranate seeds to go with a chicken tagline but I guess it would go with anything.

*tagine

We are spontaneously having a BBQ with some friends this weekend... I might use some of my own ideas from this thread!

Bahn xeo, Vietnamese pancakes, delish.

Vietnamese salad rolls.

super easy. And can build your own, so amount of green to noodles are by preference. And no cooking if you do a cold soak for the noodles and buy pre cooked shrimp or lunch meat.

Slow cooker for a chicken then serve with pasta, noodles or something quick!

Pittas,meat and salad

Pasta/rice salad.
Cold potato salad
Gammon joint cooked and cooled with new potatoes.

Ooh yes, pomegranate seeds would be great in it too. You can also use veg or chicken stock for the couscous to add more flavour.

carb based like pasta with a bit of pesto, cheese and bacon, stir fry, burgers, fajitas, nachos

Salmon filllets with orzo pesto pasta and loads of chopped peppers/olives/rocket/feta and people add their own, chicken tacos, lamb kebabs with flatbread and salad bits, risotto with chorizo and peas, tuna steaks and new pots, sausages and finger rolls and salad on side.

We eat the same the whole year 🤣
roast
fajita
sweet n sour
curry
chilli
chicken n chips
fish n chips
ham egg chips
urgers
and more!