Kid Friendly Meals

My boys love this receipe. Not sure what it's called, but they call it Chip CHicken.

Ingredients:
boneless skinless chicken breasts
1/2 cup flour
1 package taco seasoning
1/4 cup melted butter
crushed tortilla chips

In a bag, mix the flour and taco seasoning

Dip the chicken breast in the butter and put in the bag and shake. Then, roll in crushed tortilla chips.

Do this with each breast and lay in a casserole dish. I usually like to shake a little extra taco seasoning on the top and put more chips along the top.

Bake covered at 350 for 45 min. uncovered for 10 min.

These are so yummy and smell great!

Hi A.,
One of our favorites around here is a black bean and salsa quesadilla I found in Parents Magazine. You'll need the following:
Whole Wheat Taco Size Tortillas
1 14oz can Black Beans
1/3 C salsa
1 Avocado diced
approx 1 C shredded Cheese- we use the quesedilla or Mexican Blend kind (the recipe originally called for Feta and my family just doesn't like Feta)

Take can of black beans and 1/3 cup salsa mash together with a potato masher. Spread on bottom tortilla add diced avocado and shredded cheese, top with additional tortilla. You can either spray them with a little oil and bake them at 400 degrees for about 8 minutes or until cheese is melted or you can heat them in a frying pan. I think they get crispier in a pan.

I have a few other recipes posted at my husband's site, http://brojo.notlong.com
Other than cajun beans, this is one of my favorites:

Poverty (because it's so darn cheap)

2 cans V-8 juice ( I use store brand)
1 can crushed tomatoes (or not)
1 big pack of elbow macaroni
1 lb of ground meat (I use turkey)
Seasonings for meatballs (italian, sage, salt pepper)

Make the meatballs and fry them (or bake - whatever does it for you). Combine V-8 juice and 2 cans of water. Boil. Add macaroni, tomatoes, and meatballs. Cook until macaroni is done (10-12 minutes). Stir often.

This makes a lot. I have four kids, and it's still enough for two days.

A few ideas:
1. English muffin or french-bread pizzas - let the kids top their own (hint - turkey pepperoni is lower in fat that regular and tastes exactly the same)
2. Pigs in a blanket with little smokies and croissant (use a pizza cutter to cut each croissant wedge into 4 skinny triangles.
3. Mac-N-Chili (I use Lean-beef chili or Turkey chili to make it healthier and top with 2% cheddar)
4. Oven baked kabobs, chicken, sausage, veggies, pineapple, etc. Make your own combo and brush with complimentary sauce. I've done chicken/shrimp/beef with mushrooms, baby corn, and pineapple and brushed it with teriyaki or duck sauce. Try meatballs, mushrooms, tomato wedges and serve with spaghetti sauce. You could come up with lots of different combinations.

First, let me say I have one of the pickiest eaters in the world... he'll eat anything really, as long as everything is separated... but these are some tested and LOVED recipes... I am a huge AllRecipes fan... I'm even considering ditching all my cookbooks.

Chicken Taco Soup (slow cooker, and yummy)
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Slow-Cooker-Chicken-Taco-Sou...

BBQ Chops (I shred this and scoop onto hamburger buns)
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Slow-Cooked-Pork-Barbeque/De...

Pasta Fagioli
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Andreas-Pasta-Fagioli/Detail...
(I make this one a little different each time. It's a great 'open-n-dump' recipe) -- Little one loves putting the pasta on his fingers first and eating them off his fingers..

Cucumber Salad -- sounds weird, but its sweet and yummy -- little one calls them pickles
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Cucumber-Slices-With-Dill/De...

This one is great for shaped sandwiches -- Veggie Spread
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Creamy-Vegetable-Sandwich-Sp... -- I just 'zwitdge' it all together in the food processor

Enjoy! Buzz me if you want more... I'm a recipe addict...

P.S. Don't forget to freeze leftovers in small portions -- makes it SUPER EASY to whip out anytime. We also freeze individuals of sloppy joes, muffins, etc.

My other favorite recipe site is this: http://www.eatbetteramerica.com/recipes/

First off -- YUMMMMMM to the other recipies!

One of our family favs is Ravioli Cassarole

Take 1 package of frozen ravioli (cheese or meat) and boil them while you brown 1lb of HB meat with Italian seasoning. When both are done combine them together with a bottle of spaghetti sauce, 1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese, and 1/2 a cup of Mozzarella cheese. Cook until heated through and serve with a salad and garlic bread.

It's so good.

Hey A.,
A great website to go to is kraftfoods.com. They have tons of recipies to choose from and they are all super easy and very tasty. I would also add that the Tator Tot Cassarole is a great one.

Hi A.,

One thing you can do, especially in summer, is make a grazing tray. Take a muffin tin and put cut up carrot sticks, celery sticks, grapes, and other healthy items in each section. Put some saran wrap on it and put it on the bottom shelf of the fridge so everyone can reach.

I always recommend Juice Plus+ gummies as well which put 17 fruits and veggeis in a gummy treat (or capsules for adults). Email me if you'd like to know more about that.

____@____.com

Taco Mac n Cheese is a hit at my house:

Cook 1 lb of Ground Beef - Drain
Add 2 Cups of water and noodles from Kraft Mac N Cheese box
Bring to a boil and then reduce heat and simmer with lid for 7 minutes (or until water absorbed and noodles done).
Stir in 1/3 cup of sour cream and cheese pack from the mac n cheese.

I add chopped lettuce, chopped tomatoes, and little sour cream on top for the adults (your kids might be into that too) and serve with some tortilla chips! Yummy!!!

A very simple one my kids love is, what they call, Gooey Noodles. In a casserole dish I start off with a layer of cooked macaroni noodles, diced ham and then a layer of shredded cheese (we like gouda).I continue this until I end up with a layer of cheese on top, there's usually about three layers. I cook this in the oven at about 380° until the cheese is melted on top or crispy which is how my kids like it. For my side of the casserole I also alternate in freshed diced tomatoes, but my kids don't care for that. I make a brown gravy mix to go with the noodle casserole, bake a garlic baguette and make a side salad. It's fast, simple, and cheap but delicious!! Good luck and I hope you like it :).

One recipe my husband brought with him to the relationship was tater tot casserole. I'm sure it's not the healthiest thing in the world, but it's yummy and kids like it - just serve a veggie with it!

- 1 lb. hamburger meat
- chopped onion or onion flakes (I don't know the amount to use, I just sprinkle it in)
- garlic powder, salt, pepper (same with onion, just sprinkle it on - we use a lot of garlic cuz we like it)
- 1 can cream of mushroom soup
- 1 bag frozen tater tots
- shredded cheddar cheese (or any kind of shredded cheese that you like)

1. Brown meat in a skillet - while cooking, add onion, salt, pepper, and garlic powder.
2. Drain the meat, and put into a casserole dish.
3. Mix can of soup with meat, and spread evenly on bottom of dish.
4. Dump bag of tater tots on top, and bake according to directions on tater tot bag. I usually cook it a little longer to get the tater tots nice and crispy.
5. Sprinkle cheese on top, then put back in the oven for a minute or two to melt the cheese.

Hope you like it!

1 pound ground beef
1 chopped onion
1 tablespoon minced garlic( i use garlic powder)
1/4 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
1 (14.5 ounce) can stewed, diced tomatoes
1 (12 ounce) package uncooked egg noodles
1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of chicken soup

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Cook noodles,drain and set aside.
Cook ground beef, onion, and garlic in a skillet over medium heat until meat is browned.
Butter a 9x13 inch baking dish. Place half of the cooked noodles in the bottom of the dish. Cover them with half of the meat mixture, then half of the tomatoes. Spoon half of the cream of chicken soup over the tomatoes, then sprinkle half of the shredded cheese. Repeat layers, ending with cheese on the top.
Bake for 1 hour in the preheated oven, or until cheese is browned and bubbly.

My husband and son like to add cottage cheese. I just put the tub of cottage cheese on the table as a condiment. After spooning casserole into their bowls,they'll add about 2 full spoonfuls of cottage cheese and mix it into the casserole.

I take my little guy to a daycare and they have all kinds of cool lunch ideas.

Hamburger Tot Casserole - Hamburger meat, tater tots and cheese all baked together.

BBQ Beef Cups - Put biscuits in a muffin pan, make a small indention and add BBQ Beef or hamburger with cheese. (Really whatever you want in there).

Ham Tetrazini - They use cut up ham, cheese, and bowtie or alfredo noodles.

Hope those help a little. ONly ones I could think of at the moment.