16. Tacos

This is a common favorite meal with kids. Check out our taco recipes for recipes on ground beef taco mix and a chicken taco mix.My kids prefer the ground beef taco recipe included on the recipe page.

15. Potato Pierogi Recipe

These pierogi's are much like dumplings and are also called valeniki. They are stuffed with mashed potatoes and cottage cheese. However you can also stuff them with other ingredients. My family actually prefers ground hamburger and shredded cabbage. If you would like to make those just brown hamburger and drain. Add shredded cabbage and allow to cook until cabbage softens.

The potato pierogi are great served with sour cream and diced ham. That is what I did in this picture. After boiling them I sauteed them with butter and diced ham.
These are a little time consuming but you can make a large batch and freeze. When you are ready to use frozen pierogi don't unthaw just boil frozen.

Potato Pierogi Recipe

14. Lemon Teriyaki Chicken

Lemon Teriyaki Chicken Recipe.

Serve with rice, vegetables or salad.

13. Simple Hamburger Soup

Our 5 star simple hamburger soup recipe. We call this goulash although I realize it really isn't anything like official goulash.

It is quick and tastes great.

12. Omelets

Made to order omelets. These are great for kids to pick their own ingredients. We do this a lot for dinner because we usually always have the ingredients on hand.

11. Sloppy Joes

One of my favorite recipes but also a 4 and 5 star rating with the kids.
I puree whatever vegetables I have such as carrots, onion, pepper and add to the hamburger meat. You can find the actual sloppy joe recipe here.

This time I added hot dogs in with the hamburger and called it sloppy joes and toes. I don't usually do that but had some hot dogs to use.

10. Stuffed Chicken

Stuffed Chicken, sounds interesting doesn't it!?!

First flatten your chicken and then place stuffing on top. Then roll and place in a casserole dish. Bake until chicken is cooked through. This time we made stuffed chicken with a broccoli and cheese mixture. This idea is also great for doing chicken cordon bleu, which we will have up soon.


Chicken Broccoli Roll Ups

9. Hawaiian Haystacks

This Hawaiian Haystacks Recipe gets 5 stars at our house.

I love it because you can use whatever fruit, vegetables, nuts you have on hand and create a fun meal for kids and adults.

8. Minestrone Soup

I just love this soup! Sometimes we have enough to eat for lunches for the week and this soup also freezes well.
Minestrone Soup Recipe

7. Potato Bar

A four star meal, the kids especially like making their meals personal so any chance they have to fix their dinner however they would like they seem to enjoy the meal more.

This potato night we had a simple broccoli and cheese soup and chili to top our potatoes. Some people at our house just prefer their potato plain with a little salt and pepper, too.

Other potato topping ideas could be:
chopped broccoli
chopped onions
cooked bacon pieces
butter
sour cream
ranch dressing
nacho cheese

Here is our recipe for A simple Broccoli and Cheese Soup for topping your potato
1 Cup milk
1/3 Cup cheese, shredded
1 Cup chopped broccoli
1 Cup chicken broth

Cook your broccoli in the chicken broth until broccoli is tender. Stir in milk and cheese and stir until cheese melts. Pour over baked potatoes or eat as is.

6. Homemade Pizza

It seems obvious doesn't it pizza and "favorite meal" just go hand and hand with kids and many adults. (Including myself!)

You can find the recipe I use here on our homemade pizza recipes page. I create this at least once or twice a month so I have the recipe memorized!

I like to double the recipe and have the kids make little individual pizzas for their pack lunch the next day. I also like to make and freeze extra.

That is what I did this time. I baked the crust for about 8-10 minutes to make it a little crusty. Allow to cool and wrapped the crust in the freezer.


When I'm ready for our next pizza night I will take the crust out and add toppings. Bake in a 400 degree oven until cheese is melted and crust is browned. You don't need to unthaw your crust before cooking but you could do this as well.

Oh and everyone rates this a 5 at our house, especially when they can create their own to their liking.

Side Dish: Creamed Potato and Peas

Here is a great side dish recipe for cream potato and peas. I served it recently with our meatballs.
Yummy and wholesome!

5. Corn Dogs

Corn Dogs are a favorite at our house. Some of my kids like to take off the "corn" part and eat it separately but I guess it still counts. I have two versions of corn dogs recipes one is a bake in the oven rollup like the picture and one is a traditional fried corn dog. Find the corn dog recipes here.

4. Meatballs

It is super easy and cheaper than buying frozen meatballs to make your own. Using this meatloaf recipe, yes meatloaf recipe, you can create several meals worth of meatballs.

I flash froze a pan of meatballs for future meals probably a meatball soup because it is one of our 5 star recipes (coming soon.) Flash freezing is just placing the meatballs in the freezer separated on a pan for one hour until slightly frozen. Then they can be placed in a ziploc bag. Doing it this way makes it easier to take however many meatballs you need for the next meal.




Then I threaded meatballs on skewers and baked them in the oven for 15-20 minutes at 350 degrees. Make sure you flip over the meatballs half way. You can also brush them with Barbecue Sauce before cooking and again when you flip them over. Or just use sauce for dipping.

3. Garlic Sauce Pasta

This is a 5 star recipe at our house. We should have it more often then we do because it is so easy.

You can add a bag of frozen broccoli to your noodles that are cooking, about 5 minutes before they are done. Drain and pour your sauce over the top.

Making a white sauce is a lot easier than most people think. You can learn how to make a white sauce here.



You can find the step by step recipe for Garlic Sauce Pasta here.




The secret with this recipe is to serve it immediately. Once you mix your noodles with the sauce it is best right then don't let it sit and then eat it!

2. Lasagna

I guess the vote is split so it should be a 3 1/2 stars but only because one of my children doesn't like cheese otherwise he would rate it higher than a 3. Everyone else votes a 4.

You can change up lasagna by spreading your cheese mixture on a cooked lasagna noodle and rolling it up. Then place in casserole dish and spoon sauce over the top. This time I did a simple lasagna. You can also use the same ingredients and stuff the cheese into a manicotti shell or large shell noodles instead of layering lasagna noodles.

One of these days I'd like to try lasagna with a white sauce and skipping the cheese/cottage cheese mixture. (thanks to the "one who doesn't eat cheese") Has anyone tried this?

I love the layered look of lasagna, isn't it pretty? It reminds of sand art but thankfully tastes much better.

Here is the easy lasagna recipe.

1. Jambalaya

Kids Rated


Parents Rated



In no particular order here is our first favorite kids meal recipe. I love this recipe for the fact it is a one pot meal and includes a variety of vegetables.

I usually use whatever vegetables I have available. Fresh green beans work well also. On this occasion I had chopped yellow pepper, chopped green pepper and canned tomatoes.

I also love this dish because it always turns out so pretty with bright vibrant colors. Take a look at what color has to do with nutrition with this fruit and vegetable nutrition chart.

Okay you can find the recipe for jambalaya here. Try it out and let me know what you think.

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