Kitchen Tips – Favorite Meals

In this series, I’ll share various kitchen tips with you that have made cooking for our family a little easier. I’m a list person, and this first kitchen tip has really helped me: creating a “family favorite meals” list.

(Skip down to our favorite meals list if you don’t want to read the intro…)

WHY MAKE A “FAMILY FAVORITE MEALS” LIST?

1. I’d like to say I always have our meals planned ahead and know what I’m making each night of the week…but it doesn’t happen that way often. So I can pull this list out that morning (or sometimes late-afternoon!) and get some quick ideas for what to make for dinner.
2. This list also helps because I almost always have the ingredients for these meals on hand and don’t have to run around the kitchen wondering if I have what I need. (When I pull the last of something out of the cabinet or freezer, I add it to my shopping list right away, because as all my friends know, my brain doesn’t remember much these days without my trusty palmer to help me.)
3. For Kent & I, the favorite part of our day (OK, 2nd favorite part…I hope Mom isn’t reading this…), is when nobody has to go anywhere that evening and all six of us can sit down together for dinner and each share our “high point/low point” of the day. If I have to be irritated because the kids won’t eat what I made, that tends to lower the “fun meter” for me at the table. I love having a list of what everyone will actually eat to pick from.
4. Anything that makes meal planning and meal preparation easier is something that is more likely to keep us from a quick run through the drive-thru. (This actually isn’t a temptation for us anymore because these days just the thought of it makes us sick, but I know it can be difficult when you’re a busy family, running kids everywhere, or even if you don’t have kids, but have a busy lifestyle.)
5. Not only does this list have what everyone likes, but the meals are also those that I’ve made a lot, and I’m comfortable pulling them together quickly, for some I don’t even need to look at the recipe anymore. This comes in handy when you’re multi-tasking – I often might be sorting the mail, quizzing someone on their spelling words, and keeping a couple kids from killing eachother, all while I’m making dinner. I’m sure any Moms out there know exactly what I mean.

HERE IS OUR FAMILY FAVORITE MEALS LIST

I’ll add to this list whenever we find a new favorite.  For some I have links included for the recipe, for others I haven’t gotten the recipe posted yet.

Wow, as I look this over I realize what carb-eaters we are. When meal planning for a family, this is a tough thing to move away from! You can’t tell from looking at this, but I have been trying lately to do more with some type of meat for a main dish, then filling in with veggies, this is easier in the summer. More at this low-carb post about why less grains are healthier, and some recipe ideas, too.

• Yakisoba
• Shepherd’s pie
• Burgers (homemade buns/grass fed beef) – I eat mine this way:  Bunless burger bonanza!
  
• Brats – from a farm with all-natural meats (homemade buns)
• Homemade macaroni & cheese
• Blueberry pancakes/waffles
• French toast – or we also make French Toast Frittatas
• Egg sandwiches on whole wheat bagels or toast
• Kitchen Kop’s Beef Stroganoff
  
• Chicken noodle soup
• Spaghetti (or other Italian dish: ravioli, lasagna, etc.)
• Traditional tacos or Easy Shredded Chicken Tacos
• Baked chicken legs
• Homemade Chicken nuggets
• Chicken enchiladas
• Chicken alfredo
• Homemade pizza (traditional, alfredo, cheeseburger, bacon cheeseburger, w/ barbecue sauce & pineapple, garlic and 3 cheese)/calzones
• Fajitas with grass fed flank steak
• Marinated pork loin, sliced and lightly grilled.
  
• Meat pie (with a delicious homemade crust; I’ll post the recipe one of these days)
• A whole chicken in the oven or on the grill/beer can chicken (this is a meal Kent makes a lot)
• Chicken & rice
• Chicken tortellini
• Tuna casserole/cheesy chicken
• Scalloped potatoes & ham
• Tortellini soup (Fr. Bernie’s recipe)
• “Ketchup” soup & grilled cheese
• Lyn’s Tortilla soup
• Mostaccioli
• Quesadillas (scroll down at this post for info on some better tortillas I found, use these with all-natural cheese inside – fry in butter on both sides – easy.  Update:  try making your own tortillas!)
• Potato soup
• Ham & Cheese calzones, or just grilled sandwiches (cheese, various meats, etc.), or sandwich fillings rolled up in a tortilla. You can also find pita breads at the store made with whole grains, no trans fats or high fructose corn syrup, etc.
• Easy crock pot meal (w/ round steak, gravy, & mashed potatoes)
• Goulash is another quick and easy one (the key to making this good, in my opinion, is getting the amounts of salt & pepper right, and serving it with buttered toast… a little carb heavy, eh?)
• Kitchen Kop’s Sweet & Sour Chicken
• Chicken Ala King(or pork, beef, whatever)
• Shish Kebobs
• “Chicken Hurry“
  
• Hotdogs
• Organic Sloppy Joes
• 5 minute meal:  Egg Drop Soup
• Grass-fed organic burritos
• Lemon Shrimp Linguine from Cheeseslave’s Menus by Mail #4
• Homemade sub sandwiches
• chicken salad
• sausage kebobs
  
• More main dish meals

Try this idea and let me know if it helps your meal-planning time and preparation go a little faster and easier.

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