I’ve gotten into such a rut with the foods I cook for dinner. I feel like I make the same things over and over — for two good reasons. First, one of my kids is an especially picky eater, so sticking to foods that we all love results in a more pleasant meal time. And second, when one child is practicing her trumpet, one child is reading aloud, and one wobbly child is either hanging onto my legs or climbing the step stool, it’s just easier to cook something that I can make on auto-pilot without having to consult a recipe 13 times.
But as much as we love chili and chicken fajitas and baked macaroni and cheese, I’ve been getting pretty bored with eating — and cooking! — the same things all the time. So one of my goals for January was to make something new for dinner. And I did. Five times!
Here are the links to the recipes and image sources:
- sour cream chicken and mushroom pasta
- sweet and spicy pork tenderloin // My modifications: Baked at 375 for 40 minutes, covered. Remove foil and bake for additional 5 minutes. Let stand for 5 minutes. Brush sauce over the meat.
- Panera Bread broccoli cheddar soup
- crispy southwest chicken wraps
- venison chops // no specific recipe; I snapped a very quick iPhone photo while they were in the pan. A food photographer I am not!
The kids have been very good sports about trying all of these new things! I talk about it as an experiment that we’re all doing together, and I always ask for feedback. The crispy southwest chicken wraps were our favorite, but all of them are foods I would make again.
I’m planning to cook more new things in February, but I have no idea what they will be, so I’d love to hear your recommendations for kid-friendly dinner foods.
