Thursday, September 15, 2011

cheater dinner!

I like cooking for my family.
Especially when the boys are quietly playing together and singing Kum By Yah.

Umm. Yeah, that never happens.

Around here, dinner makes it to the table because I have planned a meal in advance, maybe offered up precious nap time moments to prepare it, or stirred a pot while simultaneously holding a screamer and building duplos with the three year old.

Some days, I am way too exhausted to prepare a real meal for my family.
That's where "Cheater Meals" come into play.

I have a handful of general meal items in the pantry/freezer/fridge and I can put a really quick meal together with them.

Last night I had two kids that desperately needed to play in the backyard (and they must be supervised). Good thing I also had these ingredients on hand:

more sodium than we usually eat...but way less than a drive-thru meal!

Box o'rice meal
Package of chicken sausage
Stocked veggie drawer

I quickly diced up my veggies - this time it was carrots, green peppers, zucchini, and onion.

Followed the directions on the box for water (2.5 cups), put it in a big pot to boil and then mixed in the box o'rice and my diced veggies.

Returned the pot to a boil, popped on a lid, lowered the temp to a simmer, set the timer for 25 min. and took the heathens dear sweet boys out for some fresh air.

lots of veggies!

I served it with strawberries on the side and everyone was happy!

 Even this guy, who is currently cutting his four canines at the exact same time. Poor bebes :(

nom nom nom

What's your favorite "go to" meal?

 Joing Family Friendly Food Week at Serenity Now!
Family Friendly Food at Serenity Now

8 comments:

Laura said...

Poor little guy! Both of mine had four teeth coming in at the same time, and I remeber the misery!

Our go to meal is a box of mac-n-cheese for the kids and ordering chinese for the adults. Yikes!!Well, that's more our "desperation" meal. Our go to is probably hamburgers or tacos.

I am so impressed that your kiddos will eat that yummy lookin' dinner. Mine are so much older, and wouldn't even consider touching it. Miss Mae is the pickiest, and she thanks God for the bread and strawberries during grace. Sigh...

Paula@SweetPea said...

This looks good!

I make a quick pizza with a Pillsbury crust, homemade (frozen) pesto, steamed broccoli, and sauted mushrooms and onions. It takes about 30 min. total time to make and we both love it.

AJ said...

I use that same mix sometimes. It's way easier than from scratch, and with all those veggies and lean meat you added, it's pretty healthy!

Go to dinner is probably spaghetti here, you can put a lot of diced veggies in the sauce and no one is gonna complain:)

Stephie said...

Quesadillas or Greek flat breads are my go to around here. I know BooBoo will eat the tortilla or pita and anything I shove in it! BTW, I think your back splash is pretty close to my mine....

Danielle Michelle said...

Rock on - I do that same meal!
Hamburger Helper also comes into play...sometimes...

Charlie and Kara said...

Okay, I'm impressed your little ones will eat those veggies! Patrick is anti-veggie....how do you do it?

Dawn said...

ouch-i hated when my kids were cutting teeth-hope they come through fast for him (and you!)

i just posted about my go to meal-chicken stir fry-yummy!

Amanda @ Serenity Now said...

I think that looks really good! Yes, it probably has a wee bit of sodium in it. But like you said, way less than some fries from McDonald's!! Thank you so much for joining my Family Friendly Food Week link-up. :)