Can we start a quick and easy toddler friendly healthy recipe thread?

DH and I are always scrambling at night (we are not good meal planners) to come up with something quick and healthy to make fir us and DS for dinner. I thought it might be handy to have a thread, that we can all just quickly reference for fast, easy, recipes using fairly common ingedients that we are likely to have around.

Anyone care to contribute? I think if we had like 30 recipes, wed have one for everyday of the month and wouldnt have to dig through cookbooks, search the internet. It could all be here in one post.

So what have you got?

Message edited 7/24/2009 10:07:26 AM.

Re: Can we start a quick and easy toddler friendly healthy recipe thread?

Don't have a toddler, but me and DH liked this and I think a little one would too:

Chicken tenders:

I dipped chicken tenders in egg and buttermilk and then coated in plain breadcrumbs. Spray with a little olive oil or dab some butter on the top. Bake on 350 until cooked through.

Then I put a whole bunch of sauces in dishes and we just dipped away: honey, bbq sauce, honey mustard, sweet chili sauce, etc.
You could really dip them in almost anything

I also made sloppy joes for my DH.

I used lean ground beef and added shredded carrots and finely chopped onions, peppers, and zucchini to up the veggie content. When its all covered in the manwich sauce, you can't really tell

Re: Can we start a quick and easy toddler friendly healthy recipe thread?

Being that DH feeds DS when I am not home from work yet, I have to make things in advance and freeze them and HOPE DH feeds him what I made......which consists of:

Chicken cutlets
Individual baked zitis
Premade mini turkey meatballs (or a turkey meatloaf cut into slices and frozen)

When I DO cook during the week I make extra to carry DS through the week.
On the weekends I'll make a pot of sauce or chicken soup and portion it out and freeze it so I usually have something to fall back on to take out in the morning.

Now that it's summer we have been grilling a lot more.....pork tenderloins, hamburgers, chicken breasts, etc.

Re: Can we start a quick and easy toddler friendly healthy recipe thread?

Ok I have another idea. I don't have kids, so not sure if yours will eat things that "touch" each other.

i made this for DH after attempting homemade baked beans and ending up with a tremendous amount that weren't THAT great.

I made Hot Dog Casserole - I just made up the recipie and sorry but I don't measure.

I mixed my homemade baked beans (you can use canned) with sliced up hot dogs (I used fat free beef with only 50 calories each) in the bottom of a casserole dish.

I boiled macaroni noodles. While they were cooking, I put a small amount of butter (1 tbsp?) in the bottom of a saucepan and melted it with flour. Once this was absorbed by the butter I added milk - maybe 2 cups? Once this started to thicken, I added a few shakes of nutmeg, a squirt of dijon mustard, garlic powder, onion powder, and pepper. Then I melted in cheddar cheese (about half a bag). I dumped the macaroni into this and mixed.

Then I layered the mac and cheese over the hotdogs and beans. I covered with unseasoned breadcrumbs and a few little pieces of butter. I baked for 20 mins or so on 375.

I guess this isn't the most healthy of dishes, but it was good and def comfort food.

Re: Can we start a quick and easy toddler friendly healthy recipe thread?

These are usually my quick meals...

sweet potato nachos...
1lb g. turkey or beef
1/2-1 sweet potato
14 oz can of crushed or diced tomatoes
1/2- 3/4 packet of taco mix.

I make it the same way you would tacos, but with a little less water. I got the actual recipe from Jessica Sienfeld's book. It's very quick, and my son loves it.

I serve it over organic tortilla chips, with shredded cheese.


Pizza bagels or english muffins

I make my own sauce before hand and usually freeze it in portions. I use meat sauce, or regular sauce w/ chicken stock added to it, and of course extra veggies hidden in.

Mac and cheese with butternut squash or sweet potato.

I make the annie's box mix and add the veggie puree. I've tried making my own mac & cheese and my husband and son hate it. They will eat the box mix though... It works with any brand that has the cheese sauce.