Dinner Ideas for Families

[Tara2008]

I know this should probably be under the nutrition area but wanted to check here. Anyone have any websites that they like to get healthy dinner ideas/recipes when cooking for your family, including young children?? I feel like I always draw a blank and end up cooking the same old things then get bored, which leads to eating things I don't want to be eating.

[Emoore]

No websites, but there are a lot of family-pleasing recipes in Eating for Life. Pretty much every dinner we eat comes out of that book!

[rixatrix]

I like Eating for Life, too. That, and The Eat Clean Diet Cookbook by Tosca Reno. Lots of healthy stuff - but with flavor! It seems to me that cookbooks/diets with a bent toward weightlifting have the best recipes for healthy food that don't taste like bark. Both of the above cookbooks are great because they don't focus on calorie deprivation, but choosing healthy foods and making delicious meals with them.

[LWilson212]

We only have my boyfriend's daughters every other weekend, but they are extremely picky eaters and it really exasperates me. Here are a couple of recipes that they have liked and asked me to make again.

FamilyFun: Helen's One-Skillet Lasagna Recipe - and More Family Fun

This lasagne uses oven-ready lasagne noodles, so you actually have a very small amount of pasta in each serving.

Pan-Roasted Chicken with Lemon-Garlic Green Beans Recipe | Poultry | Quick, Delicious, Easy Recipes : RealSimple.com

[beach_plums]

I really like this site, mainly because it creates a shopping list for me too. We've got my boyfriend's son over every weekend, and usually I can find something here. He's a super picky eater too.

Healthy Low Fat Recipes, Diet Plans, Holiday Recipes, & Free Online Diets | Foodfit

[dragonflyjess]

Here is a website I kind of fell into a few days ago, I haven't had a chance to really read it in detail but the few I have seem good.
Linda's Low Carb Menus & Recipes - Home

[UConnJulie]

Here's how we do it in my house.

My family:
1. Me: healthy eater, balanced meals, controlled carbs, unrefined carbs, gluten-free, loves gourmet food
2. Hubby: minimal veggies, otherwise not particularly fussy, but prefers simple foods
3. Michaela: age 4 1/2, will try nearly anything
4. Hayley: age 3, somewhat fussy

Our meals are focused around a protein. So let's say I get salmon and I grill it with some olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper. We all eat that. Then I'll cook some quinoa for myself (no one else likes it). I'll make a pasta side dish for everyone but me. And I make a veggie that everyone will eat (broccoli, green beans, asparagus, etc). If I want a veggie no one else will eat (swiss chard, beet greens, brussel sprouts), then I make my veggie, and cut up tomatoes and cucumbers for the kids (and hubby is happy to go without any veggies).

This way I am not really making 3 different meals (which I used to do ... something kid-friendly for the girls, like chicken nuggets or mac and cheese ... some sort of pasta dish and meat for hubby, then the same meat for me with healthier sides), but rather one meal and several different sides ... of which we might not all eat.

The rule for my kids is that they must TRY one bite of everything. If they don't like it, they don't have to have any more, but they must have one bite. My kids are now great eaters (but it took about 2 weeks to get there). It is MUCH less stressful for me only making one meal ... and some nights we all eat the same thing (roasted potatoes, broccoli, and grilled chicken for example).

[feralBoy]

foodnetwork.com (aka foodtv.com) has tons of recipes. If you are looking for healthy, you can just search by healthy shows. I'm a big fan of ellie krieger.

Ellie Krieger Recipe Search Food Network

All of her recipes are pretty healthy.

Epicurious.com: Recipes, Menus, Cooking Articles & Food Guides is also a good site, but most of the stuff isn't healthy. You can search for just the healthy stuff though. They have a pretty good search engine.

Here is another good site that's dedicated to healthy food, and has a kids section.

Healthy Eating for Kids Recipes and Menus - Healthy Recipe Collections - Eating Well

[pursuingpurls]

I love Eating Well Magazine - I have a subscription and they have good recipes each month. They also have a great website with tons of recipes and I cook almost exclusively out of their cookbook - The Essential Eating Well Cookbook. I haven't made one thing out of that book that wasn't very yummy! HTH!!!

[afterburn]

Wat a good question! I have issues in this area because ( I used to be a grea cook ) A great BIG COOK !!! Everything tasted Yummy : Fried, buttered, floured, gravied, sugared, yummy! Well about 3 years ago my cooking went south !! I started eating clean & cooking that way. Those YUMMY tastes from a few years ago turn my somach within minutes of eating them... I a perfectly happy / w/ my new foods ! My family however does not lik anything I cook ( even if its good) But good to them is not tastey because they still have there buds nastified !!!! OH HOO HUM what to do???? I do have the 2 books listed above & I love them... My plan : Just cook like I have been because eventually they will get hungry & My brain can rest knowing I didn't contribute to their unhealthiness...... GOOD LUCK GIRLS AB