4 Easy Recipes Your Littles Will Probably Enjoy
I live with my partner, a teenager, and a 1-year-old. Surprisingly, the 1-year-old is the least picky eater of us all. On the other hand, my partner and stepdaughter can be difficult to prepare food for. They do not like vegetables and refuse to eat them. I will eat vegetables but don’t love them, unfortunately. Nonetheless, I almost always make a small batch of vegetables for Bebe, even if we aren’t eating them. Bless her; she eats pretty much anything we give her and is such a good eater.
Because of my picky eaters, I’ve come up with a few meal ideas over the years that I know everyone in our home will eat and I’ve made these meals repeatedly. Below are 4 of these meals, which are tried and true for us. Of course, you can modify them to fit your family’s preferences. These meals aren’t top-tier in the health department but they’re realistic, easy and quick to make, relatively inexpensive, and everyone will leave the table with a full belly.
You’ll notice I did not add measurements to any of the ingredients in each of my recipes. That’s because I don’t measure anything when I’m cooking. I kind of eyeball everything and follow my heart when it comes to making food. The only exception is when I happen to be dieting and need to cut calories. So, if you decide to make any of the recipes below, please don’t overthink it. Add each ingredient to your heart’s content.
Side note - I was a vegan for about two years (until I became pregnant) and during that time, I had to come up with some recipes that my meat-eating family would like so that I wouldn’t have to cook different food for them at home. So, the last recipe on this list is one of my favorite meals and is entirely vegan-friendly for those of you who are looking to eliminate/reduce your family’s consumption of animal-based foods.
Kielbasa & Velveeta Bowl: (our favorite)
Ingredients:
Box of Velveeta
Beef Kielbasa
Sweet Baby Ray’s BBQ Sauce
Cooking Spray
Instructions:
Put the Velveeta shells to boil, stirring often.
Cut up the kielbasa as small as you would like - I like to cut them down into small semi-circles.
Coat your frying pan with cooking spray and cook the kielbasa until the edges are crisp.
Squeeze as much Sweet Baby Ray’s BBQ sauce as you would like into the pan with the kielbasa and stir.
Once the shells and the kielbasa are fully cooked, add the kielbasa to the pot of shells and mix.
Add the Velveeta cheese and mix again.
Optional: add more Sweet Baby Ray’s BBQ sauce to the pot.
Serve warm and enjoy!
2. Breakfast for Dinner:
Ingredients:
Bacon
Eggs
Pancake mix
Chocolate chips
Syrup of choice
Butter
Salt
Black pepper
Cooking spray
Instructions:
Bacon:
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
Lay the bacon slices on the baking sheet.
Cook the bacon for 10 to 20 minutes or until it’s as crispy as you’d like.
Remove the bacon from the oven and transfer to a paper towel-lined plate.
Chocolate Chip Pancakes:
In a bowl, add your pancake mix and water together and mix until smooth (you can make the pancakes from scratch if you prefer but I always use pancake mix).
Add chocolate chips to the pancake batter and mix again.
Coat a frying pan with cooking spray and make as many pancakes as you’d like.
Top with butter and syrup as desired.
Scrambled eggs:
In a bowl, whisk together your eggs along with milk.
Add salt and pepper to taste.
In the same frying pan that you just made the pancakes in, pour in your egg mixture and scramble (this will save you from having to use another pan!)
Optional: add more salt and pepper, as desired.
3. Taco Night:
Ingredients:
Tortillas or hard shells or both - your choice
Protein of choice - my family loves Impossible meat (another favorite that we discovered during my vegan days), so that’s what we use. You can also use ground beef or turkey, chicken, or just beans as a plant-based source of protein
Cheese of choice - we use a Mexican-style blend for taco nights
Sour cream
Avocado
Sauce of choice - I love Taco Bell Mild Sauce (you can buy this at the grocery store; I have a bottle in my fridge)
Shredded lettuce
Black pepper
Taco seasoning
Cooking spray
Instructions:
In a large pan, add your protein choice and mix in the black pepper and taco seasoning. Stir until cooked through. Put it aside for now.
Mash up your avocado(es) in a separate bowl, and add salt and pepper to taste.
Heat your tortillas - I like to put them in the microwave for a few seconds.
Set out your cooked protein, the avocado mash, lettuce, cheese, sour cream, heated-up tortillas, and sauce of choice on the dining room table.
Enjoy!
4. Fried Tofu with Mac ‘n “Cheese”:
Ingredients:
Extra firm tofu (you will need multiple packs if you’re cooking for more than 2 people)
Cornstarch
Paprika
Salt
Black pepper
Oil of choice (I typically choose Canola or Olive oil)
Elbow macaroni
Vegan mayo (I love Follow Your Heart mayo - it’s as close to the real thing as you can get)
Nutritional yeast
Instructions:
Take the extra firm tofu out of the package and press for about 20-30 minutes.
If you happen to have a tofu press, this will be the easiest option.
If not, you can place the tofu on a cutting board over a clean dish towel, place another clean dish towel on top of the tofu, and then place another cutting board (or a heavy pan) on top. Then you will need to add some weight on top of all of that to squeeze the moisture out of the tofu. Before I got my tofu press, I used this technique. It’s a bit rudimentary but very effective.
A third option would be to press down on the tofu yourself with a clean dish towel but you may not get as much water out of it.
In a large pot, start boiling some water for the elbow macaroni.
Once most of the water has been squeezed out of the tofu, cut into cubes.
Add cornstarch to your cubed tofu pieces - this will give your tofu a crispy outer shell once it’s cooked.
Add paprika, salt, and black pepper to your tofu and gently mix.
By now, your water should be boiling so add in the macaroni shells. Stir often.
In a frying pan, heat your choice of oil and gently add in the tofu. Gently stir, making sure to crisp every side of every piece of tofu. Once they’re golden brown, set aside on a paper towel-lined plate. Add more salt and pepper to taste.
Once your elbow macaroni is done boiling, drain the water and add the vegan mayo and nutritional yeast. Stir well.
Enjoy!
Optional: you can toss the fried tofu into any sauce you would like. I have tossed it in teriyaki sauce, BBQ sauce, and buffalo ranch and they’re all delicious.