I need meal ideas please, but must meet these requirements...

[jenniferturkington]

My family of me, dh, ds (2.9) and dd (13 months) always try to eat together in the evening. I generally cook during the week and don't want to make different things for everyone, but i don't mind slight variations within the same basic meal e.g. jacket potatoes, beans & cheese for one and jacket pot, tuna, cheese for another.
So, DH doesn't like pasta with sauce (he does like it cold in salads though .
DS likes things to be separate on his plate- he hates stuff like sheperd's pie. He does like sauces though. He is a carb junkie- loves rice, cous cous and potatoes.
DD likes eating with a spoon (despite never having puree as a little baby ) now she can try to do it herself. So basically things like risotto or cauliflower cheese are great for her but ds wouldn't entertain them.
I'm not fussy!
So I'm after ideas for meals that could work for all of us...

How about a simple, homemade chicken curry? It's not spicy for the kids- can be eaten with a spoon (if you cut the chicken small), can be seperate to the rice and isn't pasta! This recipe is a good one- www.eatthechef.com/recipe.aspx?id=73 and really quick. Hope it helps!

I'd run with the separates idea. Lots of dishes on table so people can build as they like. This works with:

fajitas
jacket potatoes
deli style cold meats, olives, cheeses etc
crispy duck

Thanks for ideas. Curry is indeed popular with all (I have to pick the chicken out and put it in a separate pile to the sauce for ds!). I'm liking the idea of fajitas and crispy duck, ds likes making wraps for lunch so would def like this.

Roast dinner?

Do a nicely seasoned whole chicken or a joint to be the centre piece (in the slow cooker, if this is a weekday supper)....

... and then do whatever is eash for trimmings. Tuck a couple of carrots in with the roast, microwave some frozen peas. ...

... Serve with mash. At the table, you can adulterate your dd's mash with veg and chicken. The gloopiness of the mash will hold it together on her spoon, so she gets a balanced meal on a spoon.

Mash can be made fresh/ bought fresh or frozen ready made or made in bulk and frozen in portions.

On similar lines, I'm making a moroccan leg of lamb in the slow cooker tomorrow night. I serve this next to big pile 'o' cous cous and cucumber salad. Cous cous makes an awful mess with a 'learner' eater though....

Kif, yes a roast dinner always goes down well here, exactly as you describe with the mash holding it on the spoon
Morrocan lamb sounds lovely, ds would love that meal, do you have a recipe? We don't mind the mess of couscous, blw all the way here (which is why I find it a bit odd that DD now just wants to eat with a spoon!), but you are right, it gets everywhere!

Also funny that you mentioned roasting carrots. DS hates carrots,until we roast them and he thinks they are sweet potatoes

I'd have to look up the details (it's from Tana Ramsays family food cook book).

You kind of start with onion/celery/leek/garlic blended to a paste and fried. Then you add some fried aubergine, some tins of chopped tomatoes and some harrissa and coriander for flavouring. Then stick in your leg of lamb and sloooow cook it. The veggies kind of melt together (apart from the odd aubergine skin the texture of the sauce os very uniform) and the lamb becomes very soft and flavoursome... nice with some yoghurt on the top. .. perhaps some bread for dunking.