70 Comments Add your own

• 1. H  |  June 3rd, 2010 at 10:04 pm

  The 365 Days of Crock Pot Lady says you can make things like steak, baked potatoes and corn on the cob in the crock pot. I haven’t tried it but she has the recipe on her site. I’d recommend pasta salads you can make the night before unless those qualify as being “saucy”. We also make our own hummus and chop veggies or other fillings the night before for wraps that can be thrown together when you’re hungry. I work at home and even though I don’t have a toddler, the dinner hour is also a witching hour for me. For some reason, EVERYTHING falls apart and must be done between 4:30 and 6:30 so I try to prepare meals the night before if I can.

• 2. NGS  |  June 3rd, 2010 at 10:18 pm

  Have you considered eggs? I think we are freaks, but we eat eggs for dinner, ummm, a lot. Scrambled, hard boiled (with salad!), and frittatas (cheese! broccoli! what could go wrong?) are our standards. So if cholesterol isn’t a concern, eggs are quick and delicious.

• 3. little miss mel  |  June 3rd, 2010 at 10:25 pm

  Gnocchi from Trader Joe’s! Both boys, 5 and 2 LOVE them. (The red sauce kind.)

  As for adult foods? We eat after the kids are in bed at 7ish, so making food ahead of time isn’t always the case. I guess have everything ready, like defrosted/marinated meat ready for the grill while a salad is made waiting in the fridge from an earlier effort and roast some veggies in the oven for 10 minutes on 450. (have those prepped too.) ?!?!??!?

  Hang in there. Once she doesn’t need you as much, you’ll have more time in the kitchen. A video maybe?

• 4. jonniker  |  June 3rd, 2010 at 10:30 pm

  NGS: How lame is this: I’m egg-intolerant. I get incredibly ill if I eat straight eggs. Gross, right? Gross. I can eat them in things that change the chemical make-up of the egg (baked goods), but eggs in their purest form are … a bad scene.

• 5. Ginger  |  June 3rd, 2010 at 10:37 pm

  Roast chicken is our lifesaver around here. It takes almost no prep, but needs to cook for a while, so we can put it in right before the kid’s dinnertime, and it’s ready by the time we’re done with the evening marathon. We don’t do the whole chicken, we just buy legs (that’s the best part to me), but have done the whole shebang on occasion. That just leaves veggies/sides, which seem to me to be easier to whip up–steamed veggies take almost no time, or we (gasp) buy those microwave bags if we’re being really lazy.

• 6. Valerie  |  June 3rd, 2010 at 10:39 pm

  We eat pretty much the same thing (in variation) every night. Grilled meat (frozen, marinated chicken or salmon that we have bought in bulk and frozen with spices, 2 to a bag) – no clean up there. Roasted veggies (cauliflower, broccoli, speg. squash, bell peppers and onions, carrots, ect. usually with ground red pepper and garlic salt – roast in a foil lined dish – no clean up. Sometimes I saute spinach which takes about 3 minutes. These are all super fast and only the sauted sides require clean up. Sometimes we laugh about who gets to throw the foil away and put the plates in the dishwasher. I know it sounds kind of boring but in the summer the veggies are so fresh that it tastes great!

• 7. Sahara  |  June 3rd, 2010 at 10:49 pm

  I, too, do as much prep in advance (usually during the afternoon nap): marinate, chop, measure, etc.–even going so far as to get out the pans I will need. Is lame and planny, but true. Also, if you like to grill anyway, throw on extra chicken breasts or whatever floats your boat and you can add that protein to things for the next couple of days. This week we did that trick with a warm quinoa salad (it was posted online somewhere and now I can’t find it–Bodies in Motivation, maybe?) and a cold wild rice salad. Could also be added to pasta or a more standard green salad, of course.

  Sometimes in the summer I get all googly-eyed and wind up buying more produce than our family of four can possibly consume before it spoils, so we just have picnic-y snack foods for dinner.

  Also, if I am the opposite of excited about the produce on offer, we eat tuna melts or some other sort of grilled or toasted sandwich.

  Baby food ideas: I’m stuck on ideas there too. My baby eats a steady rotation of: TLC crackers, cheese, toast, blueberries, cottage cheese, beans (whole or refried, canned), pumpkin/cornbread/apple muffins, dry cereal, yogurt with hemp seed nuts, applesauce, etc. plus nibbles of whatever we eat. Sometimes I get all up in a snit because I can’t think of anything new to feed the child and then I look at him and see how excited he gets when I offer him the same damned mozzarella chunks I always give him and then I remember that he is doing FINE. And obviously Sam is just wasting away so you’d better get right on that.

• 8. Anyabeth  |  June 3rd, 2010 at 10:52 pm

  Kid ideas: ravioli, TJ’s potstickers, whatever you are eating . .

  For you: stir fry! make with chicken, beef, pork, shrimp and different vegetables. Makes up lightening fast and clean up is just one pan. I agree with the roast chicken suggestion. Also, pork tenderloin! Roasts up in fifteen minutes and is tender and delightful.

• 9. beyond  |  June 3rd, 2010 at 10:52 pm

  for a quick dinner i like to throw a fillet of fish (cod, salmon) in a pan, salt and pepper, drizzle with olive oil. in a hot oven for 10 minutes (usually under 10 minutes, DON’T OVERCOOK the fish!) serve with mixed salad (greens, tomato, cucumber, whatever is in the fridge and suitable.) i don’t even consider this real cooking.
  (as for your cute kid… i’m from europe where kids really just eat whatever adults eat. so no suggestions for that. but would she like the fish?)

• 10. Megan  |  June 3rd, 2010 at 10:56 pm

  Ah, ditto. To all of this. But you know that. I’ll show you the cabinets & fridge tomorrow (and I can make the kids quesadillas they can both toss on the floor, woo!).

  Tonight? J had class, and I had a salad with store-bought rotisserie chicken on it. No cooking needed. If he’s home, it’s the grill, or pasta, usually.

• 11. Sarah  |  June 3rd, 2010 at 11:03 pm

  Fuck pans, man, I cook a WHOLE LOT of our food in foil packets in the oven. Veggies, fish, chicken, pork… it *all* works in a foil packet! Just throw in some olive oil, salt, pepper and lemon (if appropriate) put it to 375 or 400 and you have yourself a meal in about a half an hour. Easy peasy.

  Also, for the kid, have you tried risotto? Easy as hell to make, very little standing-over-the-stove supervision, is great reheated and is really actually very healthy (discounting the white rice factor, of course). Plus you can make it with just about any meat or veggie you have on hand. And it only takes one pot. A winner in our house!

• 12. Andrea Govender  |  June 3rd, 2010 at 11:13 pm

  We don’t have any kids, but I feel your pain. My husband and I both work till at least six, and two nights a week I have class after work. So fast dinners are important. What I try and do is double up. For example last night I made general tao’s tofu, which was really easy, I’ll link to the recipe if you’d like and served it over quinoa. I made enough quinoa to make fried rice tonight. My fried rice isn’t very fried or ricey, but it’s quick and easy. I basically just make stirfry and then add in the grain. Also, pizza! I make pizza fairly often and although not necessarily healthy is doesn’t have to be particularly bad for you either. Spending time doing food prep on the weekend when Adam is home could help too. Something that helps me save time is plan in advance what we are going to have. Having a list to consult makes things easier. The kids I sit for love quinoa, the two year in particular is a huge fan.

• 13. Carolyn J.  |  June 3rd, 2010 at 11:17 pm

  http://www.myrecipes.com
  It contains the entire recipe books of Cooking Light, Southern Living and others. I have built a hundred-recipe repertoire out of stuff we like there and Allrecipes.

• 14. JCF  |  June 3rd, 2010 at 11:21 pm

  I have a 2.5 year old and a 17mo, and we try to all eat together (and eat the same thing) around 5:30/6pm. My husband usually tries to be home around that exact same time, so I’m also stuck trying to cook dinner with screaming (and yes, frequently pantsless, for some reason) children.

  If I’m making anything that requires more than 30 minutes of cooking, I try to do as much prep work as possible during naptime. Some things we all like and are fairly easy to prep earlier in the day:
  -Fried rice
  -Cobb salad
  -Greek plate (hummus, tabbouleh, cut up veggies, whole wheat pita)
  -Burritos or tacos
  -Lasagna (I make the sauce in large batches and freeze it for later spaghetti/lasagna use. It is loaded with veggies).
  -Pancakes, eggs, and fruit/veggies
  -Grilled cheese, and some kind of oven-roasted veggie

• 15. Jennie  |  June 3rd, 2010 at 11:41 pm

  I’m going to come back and re-read every last comment because YES YES YES this is what my life is like too. Dinner is a clusterfuck of awkwardness and trying to saute while trying to keep the dog food out of Kyle’s mouth and while opening mail and all the while Kys going “uh uh uh” because he wants me to hold him and, my god, it’s a wonder I don’t order pizza every night.

  What does help — sorta, kinda — is that Kyle eats whatever we eat, the next day. So, for instance, last night we made this creamy taco mac from Annie’s Eats (which he LOOOOOVED, btw) and he ate it tonight. Tonight we made pizza and he’ll probably get a slice of that tomorrow night. So on and so on.

• 16. Chaya  |  June 4th, 2010 at 12:34 am

  I second Jennie’s comment about giving the kid leftovers! Barring that, two of our standbys are stir-fry, with vegetables prepped during nap, and pancakes. I know, pancakes, boring, but we make pumpkin, or cottage cheese, or banana, etc, and the baby and the toddler both eat them with fruit for dinner. Then they have our leftover stir-fry the next day.

  My other suggestion (and this is coming from a straight-up foodie who makes everything from scratch) is to lower your standards. I would love to sit down to dinner with my husband every night, but the kids’ bedtime kind of screws that up. So we have leftovers, or I make a big salad and throw in leftover beans or chicken, and we try to remember that in a few years we will be able to have a family dinner. Even if it still is just pancakes.

• 17. Kate  |  June 4th, 2010 at 12:38 am

  What about making a bunch of taco meat up for tacos, burritos, taco salads? It reheats well and if it’s not too spicy, Sam could munch it too or have it mixed with refried beans. Or how about paninis? Have a bunch of deli meats, cheese, veggies on hand and them grill ‘em up for a quick dinner. And with summer coming you won’t have to heat up the oven. Cold pasta salads, fruit salads, meat & veggie kabobs that you can have ready and just whack on the grill. For Sam, have you tried rice and soft steamed veggies? Breakfast is always good too…french toast, pancakes, waffles, sausage, fruit, hashbrowns. Or how about a big batch of meatballs (or is that saucy??) to have over noodles or as sub sandwiches?

  I work evening shift so I’m not home for dinnertime half the time and when I am home, I end up stumped at times too. Or completely unmotivated. And yet. The small ones in my house need food.

• 18. Brenda  |  June 4th, 2010 at 1:40 am

  When you say your husband doesn’t like stuff with sauce does that include curries? The crockpot is great for those. You can also make a nice satay chicken dish which has sauce but you can basically take as much sauce as you want. Also, you can roast chickens whole in the crockpot. Not to sound like I’m obsessed with the crockpot (but I kinda am since I work outside the home and have 2 kids to feed), you can make a lot of stuff that isn’t too saucy(!), like filling for tacos or enchiladas, roast lemon-thyme chicken thighs (delicious, we eat with mashed spuds and veges), and as I have already mentioned, lots of different curries. I usually make enough to last 2-3 meals (for 1 adult, 2 kids). You can also actually experiment a lot with the crockpot — it’s pretty hard to eff things up in there. And most of the recipes I use require very little preparation — basically chuck in the chicken thighs (whole) and whatever seasonings you require.

• 19. Kerry  |  June 4th, 2010 at 4:01 am

  I use the crockpot all the time, and I’m a vegetarian. There are more things you can make in there than you might expect. I remember when each of my kids were at that age, and we would have starved without it. Now they’re slightly older, but they gang up on me and trash the place around 5:15pm, so still don’t get much cooking time. I’m making a black bean torta (kinda like a giant enchilada) in the crockpot tonight, in fact.

  I agree too about lowering your standards. It’s okay to just toss something together. It’s okay to put the kid in front of Yo Gabba Gabba so you can make sandwiches. This period isn’t going to last too much longer anyway.

• 20. Ulrika  |  June 4th, 2010 at 5:16 am

  Check out:

  Aviva Goldfarb’s fabulous cookbook
  The Six O’Clock Scramble http://www.amazon.com/Six-OClock-Scramble-Delicious-Families/dp/031233642X

  RelishRelish.com (It costs $7 a month but is really worth a try)

• 21. Dr. Maureen  |  June 4th, 2010 at 6:25 am

  I’m joining the crockpot bandwagon here, Jonna. Crockpot! You can make many things in a crockpot! Alternatively, you could make casseroles which can be assembled early in the day and then only need to be stuck in the oven at 5:30 or whatever so that they’re hot at dinner time. And I second the whole “give Sam tonight what you had last night” idea of Jennie’s.

  And remember, this too shall pass. Which is to say, Sam is going to be a pantsless ball of need from 5:30 to 7:00 for a few months at most, and then she’ll start being able to entertain herself while you cook. Mostly. And have you considered TV? Jack usually watches TV while I cook. Nora, on the other hand, likes to yell and yell and yell until my nerves are a frazzled mess, but that’s another issue.

• 22. Suz  |  June 4th, 2010 at 7:29 am

  I like to make a big batch of pizza dough (it freezes well too), then pull blobs off for individual pizzas as needed. My current favorite is goat cheese, basil and fresh tomatoes but chicken + bbq sauce + red onions is a winner too. Sam could do just a basic cheese or smaller veggies. You can also use the dough for calzones.

  We also grill a bunch of chicken on the weekends, then use the leftovers to top salads or put in wraps. Summertime also equals easy meals to me – so we often just do a big plate of fruits, cheeses, breads, whatever else I can scrounge up.

• 23. Suz  |  June 4th, 2010 at 7:32 am

  PS – I like this pizza dough recipe, but I sub half whole wheat flour to make it healthier. All ww flour makes it too dense in my experience.

  http://annies-eats.com/2010/04/29/perfect-homemade-pizza-crust-tips-and-tricks/

• 24. Jenni  |  June 4th, 2010 at 7:43 am

  Meals that the whole family can eat are your best friend. A baked chicken and roasted veggies is your best friend (assuming your toddler eats chicken.) It reheats nicely, and you can make the leftovers into soup the following night. Will your toddler eat eggs? Maybe you could do quiche or fritattas. I also like to do a tomato-based veggie soup with carrots, corn, spinach, celary, onions, and I toss in some turkey meatballs. You can chop the veggies a day ahead, and it all cooks up in 20 minutes. The toddler can eat the veggies & meatballs and your husband can have the soup.

  For the toddler, try veggie burger, baked sweet potato “fries” (just chunks of sweet potato baked), baked polenta, baked tofu, home made chicken nuggets (chunk some chicken, bread, bake), turkey meatballs (you can make your own or Trader Joes has some pretty good ones), turkey sausages, pancakes made w/some pureed sweet potato or pumpkin and bananas, sunflower seed butter on WW toast (some weeks my boys solely subsist on this meal, little “pizzas” made on whole wheat english muffins and topped w/pizza sauce and cheese, Has she had watermelon? It’s messy, but I bet it’ll be a winner. What about giving her a yogurt smoothing with some tofu for protein and a couple of leafs of spinach?

  And, depending on how old she is, have the kid help you – cut veggies with a plastic knife, or set her up with a pot and a spoon and let her pretend to cook with you.

  Good luck!

• 25. Tessie  |  June 4th, 2010 at 8:16 am

  Oh, dude, I HEAR THIS. In fact this post reminded me that I ONCE AGAIN forgot to take meat out of the freezer for dinner tonight. Which pretty much fucks me, cuz NOW WHAT?

  My fallback dinner is tacos/burritos. I pretty much always have taco meat and/or refriend beans. I’ve been known to do the grocery store rotisseirie (OMG SP) chicken too, but it pisses me off when I end up doing that while I have, literally, 20 POUNDS of chicken in the freezer.

  We also like breakfast for dinner. I know you don’t do eggs, but pancakes/waffles/bacon maybe?

  I know I won’t be the only one stalking these comments. Uff. Dinner. SERENITY NOW.

• 26. H  |  June 4th, 2010 at 8:17 am

  I should add – you can also make things like salmon in the crock pot and it isn’t saucy or pulled at all. The 365 Days of Crock Potting Lady also has some of those recipes on her site. There’s a good one we have often with a spicy rub, wrap the salmon in foil, cook in the crock pot and it is actually better than most salmon prepared on the grill or in the oven.

• 27. Natalie  |  June 4th, 2010 at 8:23 am

  I may be repeating what the others have said because I didn’t read all of the other comments…

  How about baked potatoes in the crock pot? I put a little oil, S&P and wrap them in foil and place them right into the crock pot for about 7 hours and they are perfect.

  Drumsticks in the oven; chicken breasts already seasoned from Costco, etc. come in handy for last minute and quick meals; tacos (you can brown and season the meat during the day and have it all ready to go and the other prep is quick and easy);

  As for keeping your daughter busy during “cooking” time how about giving her some simple crafts at the table while “mommy cooks”…even a huge piece of poster board and some crayons on the floor of the kitchen might work; My kids always loved stickers and I had stickers with me everywhere I went for years! Or, maybe you can get her a little play kitchen set and she can “cook” along side you; Or, maybe fill the sink with some water and bubbles and she can play with some small toys in the sink standing on a chair (I’m not sure if that is age appropriate yet for you but my kids used to do that and LOVED it and it kept them busy for a very long time!)

  What about hams or roasts that can sit in the oven all day (of course, now it is almost summer but I still cook meals in the oven and just lower the air conditioning to compensate! lol)

  Kabobs of any kind are sort of a make-ahead meal that can sit in the fridge all prepped and ready to be thrown either on the grill or in the oven.

  Soups are also great in the crock pot and are super quick and easy…again, maybe not now that it is summertime.

  We make a lot of warm sandwiches…I usually use leftover pork or chicken and rolls and add a little mayo, some cheese and wrap the sandwich in foil and pop in the oven for about ten minutes until the cheese melts…we had this a couple of nights ago and I paired it with a simple salad, some carrot sticks, and the kids also had apple sauce. Now that it is warmer I serve a lot of fruit with dinner, sometimes instead of vegetables.

  Parmesan chicken…add a little salsa and Parmesan cheese to a chicken breast and cook in oven; I’m not a huge fan of casseroles either but sometimes they can be healthy and quick and EASY: I make one with whole wheat pasta, LF cream of whatever soup, some frozen vegetables, and leftover ham cut into chunks…cook for about 20 minutes, top with a little LF cheese and cook about 5 minutes more. You could easily make this in the afternoon and keep it in the fridge until you are ready to bake it; Meatloaf;

  Good Luck!!!

• 28. Gina  |  June 4th, 2010 at 8:28 am

  Ah! Baby feeding! It’s the worst! I’ve been making Eva’s food from the start and there are days when I’m packing her lunch, looking at my cubes of frozen veggies and fruits and feeling like a total failure because the poor kid! She eats a rotation of the same dang thing every week! But, she’s happy. She still likes everything. But, still., I’m right there with you on that.
  Right now, I have few suggestions on the adult food front as I’ve taken to eating just whatever. Oh! But, baked potatoes! Love those with broccoli and a little bit of grilled chicken on top. Also check out http://www.sparkrecipes.com. you can search by what’s healthy and what takes X amount of time.

• 29. Marianne  |  June 4th, 2010 at 8:44 am

  When I first went back to work after maternity leave I subscribed to Relish Relish and it was helpful. Now I get home with the baby at 5:45 and aim to have us all eating by 6:30 if possible. The thing that helps the most is just having the baby (13 months old) eat what we eat. She eats, has her bath, reads a book, then goes to bed by 8 every night.

• 30. Marie Green  |  June 4th, 2010 at 8:50 am

  I like the idea of big salads with (cold) (cooked ahead!) strips of chicken or steak, burritos (we do black beans, rice, and cilantro pesto, and I swear I could eat it until I burst), or even sandwiches and raw veggies.

  Really, the thing to remember, is that this is just a SEASON. You are not going to be eating like this forever- or even for long in the big scheme of things- so just survive for right now. Eat easy, tasty, mess-free things. Soon Sam’s schedule or Adam’s schedule or Daylight Savings or SOMETHING will change things up for you.

  Also, I HATE cooking for toddlers. My kids did lots of cheesy bread (slice of bread topped with shredded colby jack and melted), lots of apples/pears/bananas/avocados… and that’s all I can remember.

• 31. Jess  |  June 4th, 2010 at 8:53 am

  This may fall under the “saucy” category, but do you own a pizza stone? This thing has been my saviour..we use it at least once a week, It’s cheap, easy, quick cooking time and home made pizza tastes pretty good, actually. I have a 9 month old and I find that most nights I don’t even attempt to start dinner until after she’s in bed, between 7-8pm…so I understand exactly what you mean.

  You can buy ready made whole wheat (or white) pizza dough at the grocery store and also the sauce. They sell “pizze sauce”, but I find any canned tomato sauce that you prefer works just fine. Heat stone in oven, spread out dough, add toppings, cook for 30 minutes on 450 and voila! Baby can even have a bit of it also…

• 32. Amie  |  June 4th, 2010 at 8:54 am

  Beans and rice are one of my son’s favorites (he’s almost 2). With avocado, and/or cheese, and/or yogurt/sour cream.

  We have just lowered standards, as another commenter suggested; I give up – it’s depressing to spend the 30 mins I have with baby before bedtime cooking dinner for adults. We can wait, we can eat cereal, we can eat leftovers. I actually cook things in the morning when I have more energy sometimes, for lunch and dinner. But mainly it’s just giving up this idea that we “should” eat dinner together and it should be nice and fresh and not store-bought.

  I’m also 9 mos. pregnant and if I eat after 7:15, I have heartburn all night, so if I prepare dinner after baby is in bed, I’m just in trouble no matter what we make. So for us, for now, it’s cold sandwiches or box-o-couscous plus sauteed spinach, due to how they take about 2 seconds to prepare.

• 33. Bananafana  |  June 4th, 2010 at 8:58 am

  I personally hate leftovers but my kids love them – is there any way that you can feed her the following night what you had the night before? Or are you already doing that for lunches or something? . . . we have some easy meals that take 15 minutes or so – london broil (season and broil done in less than 15), veggies in the veggie steamer are usually less than 15. tacos usually go pretty fast – I chop everything while the meat browns then simmers, a roaster chicken in the crockpot isn’t saucy so that might work . . . baked potatos in the microwave, GAH this is the most boring comment ever. I have lots of actual recipes that I would gladly give you but I’m sure you don’t want all that crap in a list here. We’ve been working on this for 5 YEARS so we’ve developed a decent stash of go to recipes

• 34. Sam  |  June 4th, 2010 at 9:06 am

  I know when I started cooking supper on a regular basis – for my husband who worked his ass off all day, doing really strenuous labor work – that’s when I started to utilize the big bad TV. I popped in Signing Time, stuck my child in his high chair if necessary to keep him out of the way of the hot oven, and that was the best way to get everything done. I totally know what you mean about getting supper cooked and dishes done and feeling like THAT’S IT? And I hate kitchen clean up, it’s just the worst, never-ending chore. A necessary evil.

  And toddler food? Oh lord. We NEED HELP. I feel good that what my child eats is all very healthy, but it’s a small rotation of food. I have created a monster!

• 35. daysgoby  |  June 4th, 2010 at 9:16 am

  Did you know you can cook salmon in your dishwasher? I’m not lyin’ – check YouTube and millions of recipe sites.

  Lazy nights when the husband is working the kids and I usually have baked potatoes with whatever is in the fridge as topping.

  I share your pain! I know you’ve gotten a ton of recs for this already but the Crockpot 365 site has things cooked in packets and so on. (so not saucy or pulled)

  Some days I would cheerfully PAY someone to come in and cook supper, JUST so I don’t have to think about it AGAIN.

• 36. Melissa C  |  June 4th, 2010 at 10:27 am

  Polenta is a hit with my 15 month old – slice it and cook it in a little bit of olive oil. Serve with veggies.
  I also make her a scrambled egg, toast and fruit for dinner at least once a week.

• 37. Amie  |  June 4th, 2010 at 10:39 am

  Dream Dinners! Once a month I go to their place and create about 12-18 meals of 3 servings and take them home and freeze them. I have been doing this for over a year and a half and I would never go back to the old way!!! They have locations in Massachusetts but I’m on the West coast so no idea if they are near you. There are other similar businesses that do this. Their meats are very high quality. The price can be offputting but trust me, the peace of mind, ease of cooking and no meal planning are worth so much more!!! We have liked every thing they make, some more than others but nothing we didn’t like. I was totally in a food rut and began to hate meal planning and shopping. Problem gone! I still have to go to Whole Foods to get fresh veggies, dairy & bread but all the other work is gone gone gone.

  It takes me about an hour to two hours once per month to build my meals depending on how many meals I bought. You can also pay a little extra and they make them for you. They give you all the instructions which are usually pretty basic. They provide all the spices and cut everything up for you and clean up behind you. It’s truly awesome. I will be doing this the rest of our life. Give it a try! I swear I don’t work for them.

• 38. craftyashley  |  June 4th, 2010 at 10:42 am

  First of all, here are some ideas for kid food:

  http://cookingconundrum.blogspot.com/2008/11/finger-foods-vol-1.html

  http://cookingconundrum.blogspot.com/2008/10/pita-pizzas.html
  (You can also mix it up at make Pita tostadas with a little refried beans and chicken on top (then regular taco toppings) – then bake the same time/heat as pizzas.

  Second of all, My husband doesn’t get home until 9pm most nights. So I’m on my own all day. When I’m making dinner, I usually have the kids sit at the bar and I hand them slices of food to nosh on, help me cook, or let them play play doh with forks and butterknives.

• 39. Christine  |  June 4th, 2010 at 11:03 am

  For you guys, I vote roasts. Chuck a chicken in the oven with some potatoes, or chicken parts and call it a day, mo, fo.

  For kids, when we were little we ate exactly what my parents were eating. So there would be pasta/soup for lunch, maybe a frittata, and dinner was usually ye olde standard Italian American fare: generally some roasted form of protein, a starch side and green vegetables.

  OH and for you guys too, sauteed shrimp goes over well with my husband, which is hilarious since I don’t really care for it. Also if you feel like splurging a little, good sized scallops are delish and cook up in minutes. Basically heat up your heaviest pan (I like cast iron – or grill), douse the scallops in olive oil, salt and pepper, cook on high til it releases from the pan and you have a nice crust (usually a minute or so), flip, give it another minute or so, and blammo! done!

  For sides, we like salads, particularly I make what is essentially the most stripped down slaw in the world: shredded cabbage, usually red, or whatever you have: I’ve thrown in Brussels sprouts, chopped raw brocoli, what have you…about a heaped teaspoon or so of mustard, a very small clove of minced garlic or half of a larger clove, and about a tablespoon of mayo. So easy, so delicious. Another fave that takes minutes, is drained chickpeas that I cook in a nonstick skillet over medium with either a small amount of butter or olive oil until they start to brown, toss in a bit of sliced garlic, and then some paprika, we like the smoked spanish stuff, but I’ve done it with regular old paprika and it’s still tasty, add salt pepper. Yum.

• 40. Jessie  |  June 4th, 2010 at 11:15 am

  I often make a cous cous salad, especially in summer. You can make it ahead of time, and actually that is preferable so the flavors can blend in the fridge. The beautiful thing about it is you can really tailor it to your particular preferences. I don’t measure anything, just eyeball it so these figures will be rough but here goes:

  2 chopped bell peppers (I prefer NOT green)
  1/2 chopped cucumber
  1/4 red onion
  1/2 can sliced black olives
  1/2 cup feta cheese
  1/2 cup toasted pine nuts
  1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

  add above ingredients to cous cous (I use Near East roasted garlic and olive oil but you can really play with this recipe). Stir everything together well and chill in fridge.

  My husband hates raisins in things but I like raisins in this recipe.

  Also, my husband often makes some curried shrimp to top the salad with and it is a great addition but it isn’t necessary – it’s great without it too.

  This always generates leftovers and they’re good for at least a couple of days.

• 41. Carla Hinkle  |  June 4th, 2010 at 11:15 am

  My husband really doesn’t do Crock Pot meals either … and the kids eat at 5:30 … husband usually arrives home around 8 … and oh, did I mention I’m a foodie perfectionist? So dinner is, to put it mildly, a challenge.

  I do pasta where I can cook the sauce ahead, then just throw in the pasta when husband gets home. Grilled meat is great, do all prep in the afternoon, including chop the vegetables for roasting, then throw them in but turn the oven off about halfway thru. They continue to roast and stay warm … win! Any kind of soup works, it can be reheated without damage. Basically just trying to do all the prep before evening meltdown, then the actual cooking around 7:30 or 8.

  And yes, we are often eating dinner at 8:30 or even 9 but it is blessedly ALONE. And we eat in front of the TV so we kill two birds with one stone (ha). AND you know what? I put the dishes in a sinkful of hot, soapy water and do them in the morning. Why waste my husband-tv-and-computer-time doing dishes?

  In a few years we’ll try and have family dinner, but right now it just isn’t feasible, and I looooooove grown up dinner alone with my husband even if it is 9 pm.

• 42. Deb  |  June 4th, 2010 at 12:04 pm

  My kids didn’t like quesadillas either, until I put a smear of pizza sauce on one side and called them “pizza pockets.”

  I am not sure how to get around the doesn’t-like-saucy thing, but I am an AVID freezer cook. Basically, I cook like mad for a week or two and then pull stuff out of the freezer for the next three months. I rarely cook anything before I freeze it, just do a lot of prep. Stuff tastes fresh, there are less dishes to do, and there is more time to spend with my remote, I mean husband.

  If that appeals to you at all, go to Amazon and search “freezer cooking” and you will get lots of cookbooks to choose from. I know it doesn’t necessarily sound healthy, but it can be. I rarely use Cream of soups or anything processed. Some things that I make are: Meatloaf, Chicken and Black Bean Chile, Chicken Tortilla Soup (knockoff of Q’doba’s Mexican Gumbo), Lasagna, Taco Meat, French Dip Meat, BBQ Meat, Premarinated Chicken, Chicken Noodle Casserole, Beef Burgundy, Quiche, Chicken with White Wine Sauce….

  A lot of my recipes come from a stint of using Dream Dinners, and then I went home and deconstructed them.

  The hours between 5 and 7 just suck, no way around it..

• 43. Carmen  |  June 4th, 2010 at 12:15 pm

  Okay, as a disclaimer I haven’t had time to read all the previous comments, so I’m sorry if I’m duplicating. Something that my kids like to eat is pizza. If I’m really organized, I’ll make the dough in our breadmaker and have actual pizza. But if I’m lazy, then naan or pita bread makes a pretty good pizza crust. You can use tomato paste with spices added for the sauce and then whatever veggies/toppings that Sam will eat. Although if she won’t eat quesadillas, maybe that won’t work. When Kieran was little, he really like tortellini & ravioli. I could also get him excited about “little sandwiches” — which are crackers (like, unsalted Premium Plus) with Garden Veggie Phildelphia cream cheese on them. If she likes avocado, you can mix some plain cream cheese with avocado for little sandwiches. Lexi will inhale those. Hmm, what else. My kids like couscous (but not quinoa – weird). Leo cures his own salmon (gravlax) and Kieran will gobble that up. Smoothies are popular too, but that’s not a meal, more a snack. But yeah, pasta or grilled cheese sandwiches are our go-to foods that they will always eat. When I have more time later I’ll be sure to read all the comments in the hopes of finding some ideas for us!

• 44. Angela  |  June 4th, 2010 at 12:23 pm

  We often have the same dinner problem, exacerbated by the fact that my husband and I both work so it’s not like I can prep stuff during naptime. I do often make a big batch of something on the weekend that we (and the baby) can eat leftovers from during the week. Mostly what I find helps is having some kind of meal plan during the week, and then getting started with prep while R eats her dinner.

  Toddler food for meals where we don’t eat together: beans (from a can) and rice or quinoa are a hit in our house. Scrambled eggs, sometimes with chopped spinach mixed in. Cottage cheese. Yogurt. Pancakes/Waffles (I like to put applesauce on them, or peanut butter). Sweet potatoes that I steam in the microwave and then serve in slices. Leftover bites of chicken or whatever from our dinner. I think it’s easy to get stuck in a Must Have “Dinner” Food kind of mind when it comes to the kid’s meals, but the fact is she doesn’t care if it’s meat + potatoes + veg, and a meal of cottage cheese, pear slices, and asparagus is actually pretty healthy.

• 45. Deenuts Dana  |  June 4th, 2010 at 12:40 pm

  Make all of the things that your husband does like on a Saturday morning and freeze them. Then, defrost the frozen meal the day you plan on eating it. Life is too short for a night’s activity to be accomplishing a meal. I say this with a high and mighty bravado, but it’s only because in this house it’s the same hot mess.

  And I don’t know if that “Saturday frozen meal” bs works–but all of the helpy women on tv have been singing that tune for years.

  As for your child: you can put anything in a muffin. And I mean ANYTHING. Cheese, fruit, meat, veggies. Seriously. Not at the same time, obvs. So, make some damn muffins and give her one each night. It’s the main meal AND the side dish. Add what’s missing-fruit, veggie, whatever, and call it a friggin’ day.

  My kid eats like 4 things, but do you know I serve those four things in 25 different ways making me think it’s new and creative and her think, “same old shit–wouldn’t want things any other way.”

• 46. Shin Ae  |  June 4th, 2010 at 12:42 pm

  Lame comment ahoy! because I can’t help, but I feel your pain. I haven’t been able to get dinner together, oh, these last nine years. Husband is a chef (read: sick of food) and his schedule is wacky, to say the least. I’ll be reading these comments to get some ideas.

• 47. ZestyJenny  |  June 4th, 2010 at 12:46 pm

  I’m gonna read all your comments and hopefully find all the answers, but I just wanted to say holla. We have the same nights. I get home from work at 6:30 and play with my boy. He’s in bed at 8, dinner at 830-9, one epsiode of something on the Roku, then bed. The end. Our evenings consist of dinner way too late, and one show I barely make it through, then back to the coal mine in the morning. W. T. F.

• 48. jonniker  |  June 4th, 2010 at 1:31 pm

  I’m AGHAST and THRILLED and COMMISERATING with all of you. I love you. Thank you.

• 49. Jen  |  June 4th, 2010 at 1:42 pm

  Another vote for roasted chicken and veggies! But, if you really want to save time, just pick one up already roasted at Whole Foods (or the like), and you can eat from it for two days — salads, sandwiches, etc. Another super awesome protein we eat a lot of is pork tenderloin. Coat with salt, pepper and fave herb rub, saute all sides in a cast-iron skillet, finish in the oven, slice, ENJOY. One of my fave meals that takes almost no time at all. We also have tacos once per week, with lean ground beef or turkey, and black beans (from a can) on the side. Seriously, this dinner takes me 10 minutes, tops. Ditto ground chicken lettuce wraps.

• 50. Natalie  |  June 4th, 2010 at 1:58 pm

  There are also great cookbooks that have you cooking on “one or two days” and you fill your freezer for a week, two weeks, a month, etc. A lot of those recipes are super easy and really good but the concept might work for you as well…spend a lazy Sunday when hubby is home and prepare several meals, pop them in the freezer, and then you don’t have to think about it at all during the week.

• 51. kakaty  |  June 4th, 2010 at 2:10 pm

  My new go-to recipe is Lemon Pasta with Roasted Shrimp (I half the recipe): http://tinyurl.com/36nah9k
  If you can boil the pasta earlier in the day, you can have this on the table in less then 10 minutes. Better yet – make the pasta for Sam (with butter and parm – no stains!) and use the rest for you and Adam. Of course I come across this right as shrimp prices are set to skyrocket. Pricey but easy and delicious; I get the frozen peeled and deveined shrimp from Trader Joes. Also, has Sam tried shrimp? We introduced them to M at around age 1 and she LOVES them! She eats 10-12 in a sitting now …dumb move on our part as they are expensive.

  I am also a huge fan of roast chicken. Prep it during Sam’s nap, then throw it in the oven an hour before Adam gets home. Serve with a quick salad or some steamed veggies. Left overs for days…

  Also, Taco Rice is a staple in our house…M has loved it since she started eating solid foods. Recipe here: http://tinyurl.com/ykjf4yx

  As for just Sam – give her your leftovers from the night before. Also, I used to throw a handful of black beans (canned – drained and rinsed) on M’s highchair tray along with some veggies and call that a dinner. She could have had that every night for all she cared.

• 52. Slim  |  June 4th, 2010 at 2:22 pm

  What Dr. Maureen said, about nothing saying loving like something shoved in the oven:

  Chicken Marbella (or is that too saucy?)
  Cornell marinated chicken — leave out the egg. Can grill or can cook at 400 for 30-40 minutes (until skin is brown and crispy). I like it with slices of potato in the bottom of the pan and chicken on top, but it sounds as though you’re still in the phase were peeling and slicing a couple of potatoes is not practical.

  Pork tenderloin and muffins, assuming you have an eggless muffin recipe. They both cook at 425 for 25-30 minutes, and then you have leftover muffing for breakfast the next day.

• 53. Blythe  |  June 4th, 2010 at 2:47 pm

  Dinnertime is crazy time. Now that my kid is old enough to become zombiefied by the television, that’s when he gets his screen time. He watches WonderPets, I cook and try not to stab myself everytime they sing the theme song.

  I’m glued to these suggestions.

• 54. Slim  |  June 4th, 2010 at 2:48 pm

  Also, meatloaf. Cook’s Illustrated. I like the high-fat one, but they have a couple of recipes if you’re a ground turkey-loving type.

  I won’t judge you if you are.

• 55. saly  |  June 4th, 2010 at 3:15 pm

  What about soup and sandwich? This is a standard go-to in our house, since I don’t usually get home ‘til between 6 and 6:30. There are some decent canned soups out there, or you can easily throw one together with canned broth, leftover meat and fresh veggies—even some rice if you’re feeling overly ambitious. I like a hearty rye bread and some ham or turkey. It takes like, 30 minutes—15 or less if you’re using canned soup.

  Or what about frozen pierogies? I like to sauté the mini ones in butter with chopped garlic and onions. The kids like them too—“it’s like ravioli with MASHED POTATOES inside!!”. We have a cute deli inside our local farmer’s market that sells their own fresh ones, but the boxed frozen kind are good too.

  I’m also real big on feeding the kids canned ravioli or whatever and just foraging for scraps myself on nights when Hub isn’t home. It usually ends with an empty ice cream carton and a dirty spoon.

• 56. robyn  |  June 4th, 2010 at 3:20 pm

  Weekend prep is my savior. I buy tons of veggies – broccoli, sweet peppers, snow peas, onions, garlic, carrots, asparagus, etc. – and chop them all up into pieces that can be used in a variety of dishes in the week ahead (salads, stir fries, pasta, pizza). I store them in tupperwares in the fridge and can pull out when throwing together a quick meal. I do the same thing with meat, where possible – either cutting the raw meat into bite-size pieces and freezing it until ready to use (works beautifully!), or grilling up chicken breasts/flank steak that can be sliced, diced, or reheated and eaten whole. I also pre-grate/crumble cheese for tacos, pastas, etc.

  I a BIG fan of keeping it simple and using really good ingredients. If you start with really fresh, tasty basics, you don’t need to add a bunch of complicated crap. Buy the imported parmesan. Pick up lots of fresh herbs ( they’ll stay fresh if stored upright in a glass of water, and they take 30 seconds to chop – and add SO much flavor). I would recommend Nigella Lawson’s ‘Forever Summer’ cookbook for great, simple recipes.

• 57. Nic  |  June 4th, 2010 at 4:25 pm

  So, I love to cook, but I hate the day to day drudgery of coming up with something for dinner. I also hate dealing with raw chicken so that’s usually out for me. A couple of things:

  -If I had a grill, I would do fish and vegetable foil packets all the damn time.
  -Have you ever watched Quick Fix Meals with Robin Miller on the Food Network? She takes three recipes for three days and shares the prep time over the three recipes and still makes it different. Here’s an example. http://www.foodnetwork.com/shows/low-and-slow-game-plan/index.html
  -I make pizza dough and flash freeze it in individual sizes pie shells. Pop them out of the freezer, top and toss in the oven for 10-15 minutes and you have a perfect pizza.
  -Do you have an indoor grill? You can do paninis easily.
  -I LOATHE cleaning after cooking. Therefore, I cook mainly on parchment paper. I’ll put asparagus in the oven to roast and only use half the pan and then throw a piece of fish on the same pan midway through and let that roast (salt, pepper, olive oil and lemon juice). There’s not much to clean up once you toss the paper.
  -I buy frozen shrimp from Trader Joe’s. Defrost them under running water in a pinch and toss with salads or cous cous or just eat as a shrimp cocktail.
  -eh, just feed Sam lunchables.

• 58. Life of a Doctor's Wife  |  June 4th, 2010 at 5:11 pm

  I’m not sure if this will work for you if your husband doesn’t like sauces (WTF? I ONLY like sauces!), but stir fry is quick and easy. You can buy pre-cut veggies, or chop a bunch of them on a Sunday, and just toss them into a wok with some sauce for a few minutes. I also make a big batch of rice one day and you can eat from that all week. If you like meat in your stir fry, grill a bunch up one day and you can toss in some pieces with your veggies. Then you’ve got two bowls, two forks, and a wok to clean up. Breville has a wok you can wash in the dishwasher, which is amazing. There are endless variations of sauce/veggie/meat combos. Or tofu or beans. Whatever floats your boat. Easy. Quick (after the initial chopping – or bag ripping). And pretty healthy.

  I do the same thing with salads. Buy a bunch of lettuce and veggies on Sunday, wash/chop everything. Then just throw those together with different dressings/cheeses/meats for the week.

  Clearly I have no problem eating pretty much the same thing every day. BUT it doesn’t have to be like that.

  Good luck!!

• 59. monkey  |  June 4th, 2010 at 6:37 pm

  Try Middle Eastern. Baba Ghanoush and hummous with pita and veggies for the baby. Either roast a chicken (morning) or pick up a rotisserie chicken and stuff into pitas with tahini or hummous or tzatziki for you and Sam’s adventurous palate, plain salad veggies for Adam. Tabouleh can be made (really really cheaply) or purchased and kept as a side.

  The next day keep the condiments but slap some tandoori spices on the chicken.

  Fish tacos (with no condiments for Adam).

  Don’t have a kid /husband…but I did have a really long L.A. commute and was single and would work long hours. What worked for me was definitely doing prep on the weekend-so, like buy a big piece of salmon, cut it up and make the marinades then and then dump it in the fridge. It sucks and eats up fun weekend time, but I found it was the only antidote to eating out all the time. This way there’s minimal prep to do on the weekdays. Example: Pesto Lemon Salmon. Buy big piece of salmon, cut into appropriate sizes. Dump into several different plastic baggies covered in lemon juice and pesto. Take out the morning I want to eat it and stick in oven right after I get home and getting undressed. Served with spinach salad on side.

  Also, i was not very green in using plastic baggies for my freezer full of quasi-prepped food-I’m sure you can think of better options.

  Again, it totally sucks to do this on the weekend where I’m sure you want to spend time as a family. But with two of you, it would probably get done faster than it did for me.

• 60. scantee  |  June 4th, 2010 at 7:25 pm

  Do you have a rice cooker? Get one with a steamer, chop up veggies and put the rice in during Sam’s nap, and then turn it on half an hour before mealtime. Then all you have to do is saute some meat with seasoning and, voila, a complete meal.

  Make a big batch of tamales and freeze in meal-sized portions. My son loves the sweet corn ones.

  On grocery day, prepare three or four salads with veggies and store in separate containers so that you just have to pull one from the fridge come mealtime.

  For roast chicken, buy thighs and legs (which, as a plus, are also the most affordable, and tasty) place on a foil lined sheet, with chopped up potato, season as you like (I like the seasonings from Penzey’s), cook at a high temp for about 25 minutes, add broccoli, cook for another 20 minutes, sprinkle with lemon juice when done. Throw the foil in a trash and no clean up.

  Get a pressure cooker. You can do meat, beans, rice, veggies, almost anything, super fast. You’ll probably need to get a special pressure cooker cookbook and practice a bit since it takes a bit of getting used to.

  Breakfast is the easiest meal in my house. What my son wants to eat (eggs, yogurt, fruit, toast) is the same as what I want him to eat, so, yay for that. Lunch he gets his toddler approved beige foodstuff of choice. Dinner I make one meal and no short order cooking, he eats what we eat. We started this when he was around Sam’s age and it has worked really well. Some days he barely eats anything at dinner and if he chooses not to eat then he gets a piece of bread. If you decide you want to avoid short order cooking you probably need to start being strict about this now because it just gets harder and harder as they get older. Since Sam eats earlier then you, set aside a small portion of what you eat for dinner and serve it to her the next day.

  I also think Adam needs to work on being less picky! In our house the person being cooked for does not get the privilege of being picky. There are some great ideas here, I may need to print this thread.

• 61. alimartell  |  June 4th, 2010 at 7:45 pm

  wait…what is a pulled meat?

  When gabe is in town – 2 weeks of the month – he cooks, so that’s, um, awesome. But for the other two weeks of the month, I am flying solo with three youngins in tow. Dinnertime is nothing short of a disaster.
  i am a big fan of making baked mac and cheese, roast chicken and couscous/rice/broccoli, stir-fry (SO QUICK!) over rice noodles (SO QUICK!), we do make-your-own taco night which is always super quick and the kids love it.

  hrm. that’s all I’ve got.

• 62. SwingCheese  |  June 4th, 2010 at 10:34 pm

  I used to try to cook while my son screamed in the living room. Then I took down the baby gate, moved the trash (nothing garners interest like dirty diapers and cat litter, apparently), and opened the cupboards. (I do a lot of green cleaning, so I don’t have to keep a very close eye on boyo as far as chemicals go.) The pots and pans and cheese grater are big hits, and as long as he is in the same room as I am, I can usually accomplish whatever it is I’m trying to accomplish as far as cooking prep goes.

  But, as far as toddler foods go, well, boyo eats pretty much the same things. String cheese, yogurt, bananas, cereal, peanut butter and jelly, peanut butter and honey, etc. When he was younger, he’d willingly eat pureed versions of whatever we ate, but that all changed about two months ago. Now he won’t touch a vegetable if it isn’t potato (or mixed in with mashed potatoes – we’ve gotten sneaky that way), and he prefers to eat from our plates rather than his own. So he drinks quite a bit of V-8 vegetable juice, and eats a lot of bananas, and I keep offering him whatever we’re eating. But he loves homemade mac and cheese (another easy place to sneak in summer veggies), and it’s pretty easy prep, insofar as you choose what you want to include (I even threw tuna in it the other day, and it was a huge hit). It’s one of my standby recipes, as is lasagna (again, I just throw in whatever happens to be on hand). But boyo goes to bed later than Sam, so I have a little more time to play with, too.

• 63. Trope  |  June 5th, 2010 at 12:13 am

  Wait! Song quote = Dessa? Or is it something else, that I’m not cool enough to know?

  For dinner we often do “insta-fish”, which is pretreated salmon or white fish fillets that are frozen and get popped in the oven. Insta-fish + couscous + microwave broccoli = quick dinner. But it does take some prep work, and I so remember that stage where the kid does not let you go. If it helps, that stage lasted about six months with us and now he’s happy to go play trains or something while we do prep work.

  We have a meal subscription program and we did delivery a LOT in those six months of wailing. Whatever it takes to get you through is okay. This is temporary.

• 64. Rosie  |  June 7th, 2010 at 3:50 pm

  Song is Jay Z, I believe…

  I second/third/ tenth the idea of pre-prepping stuff when the other adult is around. I totally stole the method from those pre prep dinner places, but it works great. I don’t even have a child, but I use this method especially for nights when we both have a soccer game and get home at like 9:30 starving for dinner.

  I love the idea of left overs for children the next day! Brilliant!

• 65. Kirsty  |  June 7th, 2010 at 7:07 pm

  I guess it must be an American thing, this kids-going-to-bed-so-early thing… I’m British, but live in the south of France, and even when my daughters (now aged 8 and 6) were babies, they were never, ever in bed at 6 (or even 7 I shouldn’t think). I’m afraid I won’t be much help for the dinners thing – I have the same problem (sort of), except that my aim is to get dinner finished by 8.15 and the girls in bed before 9 (rather than trying to find ways to eat at 5.30 – unimaginable for me, as we’re barely home from school at that time: school finishes at 5). Also, the girls get their main meal (with meat, or protein at least) at school, so dinner is almost exclusively vegetables, pasta, wheat, boulgour… and soup in winter.
  Can anyone explain why you guys all eat so early? I’m intrigued – dinner for me is an evening meal, eaten slowly, with conversation… If it were all over by 6.30, say, what do you do for the rest of the time? Watch TV? Read? I’m mystified… (but absolutely not critisising, promise, just curious).

• 66. jonniker  |  June 7th, 2010 at 7:20 pm

  Kirtsy: It’s definitely cultural. My understanding, too, is that in some parts of Europe, kids just eat their dinners in their PJs and go right to bed, yes?

  I think it’s a combination of many different cultural differences converging on one thing — school here finishes MUCH earlier, and kids go to bed earlier. Work starts super-early for some people (Adam goes to work at 7 some days — if we ate at 8 or 9, he’d be apoplectic and exhausted).

  For us, after dinner, we unwind — Adam and I eat together (although sometimes, like tonight, we eat with Sam), and we definitely talk and relax, then there’s bed/bathtime for the kiddo if she’s eaten with us, then we relax, watch TV, talk, read, whatever.

  If your kids didn’t go to bed that early, what time did they get up? Sam goes down between 6:30 and 7, and gets up between 6 and 7.

• 67. New regime : one n jen&hellip  |  June 8th, 2010 at 11:50 am

  [...] struggling with more than anything else is weekday lunches. Jonniker recently posted about being in a family dinner rut (really, really great suggestions from her readers in the comments) — well, I’m [...]

• 68. Kirsty  |  June 8th, 2010 at 3:37 pm

  Thanks for answering! Yeah, it must just be cultural – my girls are usually in bed by about 8.45 (on a school night) and get up at 8, with school starting at 8.30 (yes, it’s a rush, a terrible rush). School finishes officially (ie, the bell rings) at 4.45 but it’s easily 5 by the time we leave the premises. Another yes, the girls have always had their bath (shower now) before dinner – they have free time when we get home (or activities – Lydie had a dance class from 5-6 at school tonight, Carla goes to circus school once a week from 5.30 to 7), Carla does her homework at about 6.15, they have their shower at 6.45 and we try to eat at 7, though I usually fail miserably now that I’m a single parent. In reality, dinner usually hits the table at about 7.30 and is finished at 8.15. They then have a little wind-down time (HA! HA! Acrobatics on the sofa! Screeching!), brush their teeth, get a quick story and get into bed. In theory, they then don’t get up again till the morning. In reality, Lydie (the most sleep-resistant kid EVER) usually finds some pretext for getting up till about 10.
  Of course, whilst this sounds arduous, you have to add in the fact that there is NO SCHOOL AT ALL ON WEDNESDAYS (hell, I tell you, for a working mother, HELL) and seemingly endless school holidays… Whatever, they’ve adapted fine enough and love school, so it can’t be too heavy. Sometimes (though not so much recently) I’ve felt that Carla has had too much homework this year – she’s only 8 (3rd grade). But, apart from multiplication tables, she generally doesn’t mind doing it.
  I love learning how other people, other cultures live! It’s fascinating! Today I also learned what “biscuits and gravy” is – it still sounds pretty gross as a breakfast thing, but less gross than what I was imagining (to a Brit, a biscuit is a sweet, often chocolate-covered or flavoured thing you eat with a cup of tea, and gravy is the juice/sauce around a roast joint of meat).
  What would we all do without the Internet?!

• 69. Kacey  |  June 26th, 2010 at 11:13 am

  I second the not being a short-order cook. I always made Brady’s baby food by mashing whatever veggie/fruit I was having then as he got older I’d save out a portion of whatever I was making before I added strong seasonings and then I slowly added spices to his portion until he could just eat mine. Now at 2 he loves spicy foods and will try anything. Also, when he was a newborn and had colic and he and I were away from home 60 hours a week (I was a nanny and took him with me) I survived mostly on big batches of soup/chili I could make on the weekend and reheat, I’d also make a big batch of egg salad and throw together sandwiches(maybe you could do chicken salad? served with fruit or veggies and dip). Another one that keeps well is 7 layer dip (beans, sour cream w/taco seasoning, mashed avoocado,cheese,tomato, onion,olives, peppers if you want) that can then be eaten with tortilla chips or served as burritos. I make a big green salad on Sunday and use that as a side for several days. If you use cherry/grape tomatoes and seal well everything stays pretty fresh.

• 70. mrsound  |  October 16th, 2010 at 1:03 am

  Whew! That must be really hard. Balancing taking care of the baby, having “me time”, and cooking for dinner. I suggest you go with quick and easy recipes. Or better yet canned goods like Spam maybe.:D

  Anyways, here’s a food site that has quick and easy recipes. Maybe you can try them out: http://www.foodista.com/search?query=quick%20and%20easy&type=recipe&cat

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