What’s for Dinner?

What are your kids having for dinner?
After posting a recipe for Spinach Dip Chicken on Facebook last week, I got a few friends asking “Will your kids really eat that?”

And the answer is….
             Yes, My kids will really eat that.
             Because that is what I made for Dinner.

So I took up the challenge of documenting our meals for all of last week.  Taking a picture every night of our kids’ plates before we sat down to eat.  

So, yes… My kids will eat this for Dinner.

Spinach Dip Chicken and Bowtie Pasta, Corn and Bread
They especially love this dish,
and I especially love that I am getting them to eat spinach!  

French Dip, Ranch Macaroni, and Salad
One of my Favs and a Big hit at our house.  Charlotte is currently my only Salad lover, but we’re working on Carson.

Helen LOVING her French Dip.
This is not just an adult Sandwhich!  Wait until Roast Beef is on sale
in the Deli, and plan a meal around it!

Ravioli and Italian Sausage, Broccoli
(with a little cheese to help it all go down)
And they’ll eat this too.
Helen Especially LOVES anything in the Pasta food group.
She is my one that is not a big meat eater.

Pork Tenderloin, Sugar Snap Peas, and Mashed Potatoes
They Love Pork Tenderloin… especially when Daddy calls it
“Pig nuggets”.  He really needs an intervention.
Carson is not the best Veggie eater… hence only 2 snap peas.

Chicken in Wine Sauce over Egg Noodles with Spinach Salad
(Fruit for the kids)
And they really love to eat anything off a “real” plate. 
I am in love with this dish and the chicken is SO tender. 

 

So how can you get your kids to eat real food?

• Start early offering new and different foods, seasoning, and sauces
  
  
• Stop making multiple meals for your kids.  Make one Dinner.   Let me encourage you again…. STOP making multiple dinners for your kids.  
  
  
• Eat as a Family.   It is easy to make “kid meals” if Dad doesn’t get home until 8:00.  But as much as you can, try eating together as a family, or still making a “real” dinner for everyone, and saving him a plate.
  
  
• Offer options at lunch, but NO option at dinner. I will make 3 different lunches (Chicken nuggets, PBJ, Turkey) But at Dinner, we eat what Mommy Made.  This helps kids to feel ownership at lunch and that they have a “say” or opinion.
  
  
• Give small and reasonable portions of foods you know they don’t enjoy as much.
  
  
• Bribe, Reward, Praise them for their eating of real foods.
  
  
• Barter---no more milk until you eat 1 snap pea.  Once you finish you milk, you can have a little juice. 
  
  
• Know your kids--- Know what they hate, and know what they love…use this to your advantage.
  • Carson is my picky one with Veggies, but he could eat a loaf of bread by himself.
  • Helen is very finicky about meats, and pretty particular about veggies but LOVES pasta and fruit.
  • Charlotte is pretty adventurous.  She is my meat lover and pasta/carb/side lover.  She loves seconds. 
    
    
• Sauce it up!  While I am not a big fan of putting ketchup on everything, if ranch or cheese or (gasp!) even ketchup makes it “go down” better, then sauce it up. 
  
  
• Have your kids cook with you.  Kids are going to be more interested in tasting something that they helped make with their own hands
  
  
• Let them serve themselves. Something about them getting seconds themselves makes them feel very grown up
  
  
• We don’t have a “clean your plate” rule. We understand that they may not eat what we offer.  But if we stop offering, they will never try it.  So we keep offering.  We ask them again to try. We barter, we bribe.  But at the end of the day, Helen wants more pasta, and leaves the meat.  Carson wants more meat and and leaves the veggie.  We encourage good eating, but don’t require clean plates.
  
  

So….
What are you making for Dinner tonight??

Do you have any tips to help picky eaters, or to instill good eating habits in your kids?   What if you are already in over your head in Chicken Nuggets and don’t  know to stop? 
         Please share and ask questions!! 

~~~
CONFESSION (updated at 2:30)
We are having Hot Dogs and Macaroni & Cheese
tonight for dinner.

But…but…but… before you give up on me, and delete me from your blog reader… I am still following my rule of only cooking one meal.   AND…. they are angus beef hotdogs, and nice mac and cheese.   Meals don’t have to be elaborate…so for us, Hot dog night it is. 

A Little Cinco de Mayo Grub

In honor of Cinco de Mayo, I thought I would share one of our favorite Mexican dishes.    Though it certainly isn’t authentic Mexican.    Only in North Carolina could there be a way to put Cream of Mushroom soup in a Mexican dish… but I digress. 

Stay with me… ignore the fact that you ever read about C.O.M.S. and I promise this will knock your socks off. 

I was given this recipe by my Mother in Law in a fabulous cook book with all sorts of family recipes.  So… if for some reason this post disappears in the next few hours,  it is because I probably found out it was a top secret recipe that I wasn’t supposed to share with the whole world.  

But here goes.

Hombres  (literal translation ---man)
Really, they are enchiladas.  But Hombres sounds way better.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 lb of ground beef
Salsa
8 oz sour cream
1 can cream of mushroom soup
Monterey jack and cheddar cheese (I usually just use cheddar)
Package of flour tortillas (large)
1 1/2 Tbs of chili powder
onion (I used about 1/2 cup max..maybe less)

Instructions:

1- Sauté the ground beef and chopped onion
2- Add in 1 1/2 Table Spoons of Chili Powder

3- Drain the grease out of meat mixture

4- Spray/grease a large glass baking dish

5- Pull out your Tortillas—begin filling them with the mixture

6- And roll them up…then place them in the glass dish

You must make sure you don’t fill them too full, and hold them together as you are rolling.

And you will end up with a beautiful tray of Hombres
like the one above.

Next comes the fun part of pulling out the rest of the ingredients
7- Mix the Sour cream and Cream of Mushroom soup

Forgot to take that picture until after it was all used!
Ignore that there is Cream of Mushroom soup in the mixture
You can try just sour cream…But I promise—It won’t be as good.

8- Next, smother the whole tray with salsa,
covering the Hombres and getting into the cracks

9—Spread the creamy mixture over the Salsa.

10- Then cover with Cheese.  Lots and lots of cheese.  YUM!

You’re going to love the profile view…

Then just pop it in your fridge until you are ready to cook.  
Great for busy moms who can assemble during nap time, but cook later in the day.  Also a great new-mom meal (sans onions)

 

11-  Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes or until sauce is all bubbly and cheese is gooey and melted.

And can you believe that I didn’t get a shot of it cooked? 
                      I am such a Pioneer Woman drop out. 
This whole recipe post/ photo play by play is not easy stuff.
But I am sure you all understand that come 6:00 the natives were restless and the last thing on my mind was grabbing my camera to capture the cheesy ooey gooey goodness. 

But trust me…. this Mexican dish will WOW you.  
Everyone always asks me for the recipe.   No one ever believes there is Cream of Mushroom soup in it.   And honestly, no one ever knows unless I tell them.  The salsa, creamy mixture and cheese blend to make the best enchilada sauce ever.   

** Serving can be a tad tricky… especially the first one.  (hint..check the side of the dish to look for the break between tortillas)  I use an extra large spatula to serve, or two spatulas

 

So…. Happy Cinco De Mayo! 
            Let me know if you try the Hombres!

What’s in YOUR Crock Pot? Tortilla Soup

Don’t get excited honey, we aren't having Tortilla Soup tonight… sorry ~~~
I must admit, I am not the best crock pot cooker. 
But when I do come across a great treasures of a recipe I hold on to them for dear life. 

Here is my recent fave from my friend Kelly Shay.

1 Word… YUMMO!

Slow Cook Chicken Tortilla Soup

4-5 chicken breasts (put them in whole)
1 jar of corn and black bean salsa
1 can of black beans (drained and rinsed)
1-2 cans of white corn (undrained - you get more liquid if you put 2 cans)
1 can of green chilies (I leave out if serving children)
1 can of diced tomatoes with green chilies
tortilla chips
sour cream
shredded cheddar cheese

Mix first 6 items together in slow cooker. Cook on low for 8 hours.
Just before serving use two forks to shred the chicken.
Serve over tortilla chips. Top with cheese and sour cream.
Serves 8-10.

I am linking up with Smockity Frocks who is hosting this little
What’s In Your Crock Pot Link Up…
Hop on over to get a WEALTH of crock Pot recipes! 
I am Bookmarking her page!

My only Question… Why didn’t She run this little link-up in the fall…
When it was getting cold??  I am starting to think “grill” not “crock Pot”.

PS- don’t miss my Cure for the Winter Dry Skin Blues!