As the kids head off back to school, often life tends to get busier….or at least in my house. I have two very active children who are very involved in school activities and sports. Unfortunately fall tends to be the worst, as far as schedules go for our family. Getting kids to and from school, then one off to soccer and the other off to football practice or games gets a little hectic and exhausting. But the worst part of it all is by the time we get done shuffling the kids from place to place – it’s late and everyone is hungry. So then begins the mad dash to create something nutritious….QUICKLY…so the kids can get their 8-9 hours sleep (at least!). Does this sound familiar to anyone? I sure hope so – because I don’t want to have to think that I’m the only person in this predicament!
So this month as I began developing recipes for Glutenfreeda.com, I knew I wanted the focus of the recipes to be “kid friendly” since this is our Back to School issue, but as I dealt with my own schedule challenges, those “kid friendly” meals soon became “Quick & Easy Kid Meals”…and hence this article was born.
We all know that making dishes ahead of time, like on a Saturday or Sunday when you have extra time, and then freezing them, is the best of all worlds. Take the dish out of the freezer the morning you are going to need it, thaw it, and then when you get home and are ready to eat, simply pop it in the oven and re-heat it. Great meals for “make-ahead and freeze” that will delight your kids are:
Now, if you haven’t done a great job with prior planning (like myself, this past month), there are some great meals that you can prepare that are quite quick and easy to prepare and your whole family will enjoy them. To make things even quicker, try to squeak in a few minutes of prep time in the morning or lunch, and you will find your meal will come together even faster at dinnertime. Below I’ve prepared several meal menus that served us well over the course of the past month. I hope your family enjoys them as much as we did:
Quick Kid Friendly Meal #1:
Steamed Artichoke served with either melted butter or mayonnaise as a dip
Chicken Stroganoff served over gluten-free Fettuccine noodles
Simple Salad with Peppers, Greens, Cucumbers, & Carrots with a Balsamic Vinaigrette
Quick Kid Friendly Meal #2:
Twice Baked Potatoes (prepare ahead of time up to 2nd baking, then bake to rewarm and melt cheese right before serving)
Grilled Steaks
Steamed Broccoli
Quick Kid Friendly Meal #3:
Chips & Salsa
Steak Tacos
Quick Kid Friendly Meal #4:
Pork Loin Chops with Italian Sauce served over gluten-free noodles
Green Salad with favorite gluten-free dressing
Quick – Kid Friendly Meal #5:
Mac –n-Cheese with Chicken & Veggies (one dish meal…really don’t need any sides – speed this one up by prepping ingredients in advance, if possible.)
Quick –Kid Friendly Meal #6:
Oven Fried Pork Loin
Snap Peas & Carrots
Mashed Potatoes
- Chef Jessica |
