I have been a vegetarian for 14 years (hence Mrs. Broccoli). I love to eat fresh, colorful, nutritious, delicious food. My husband, on the other hand, is a picky eater. He has an aversion to textures. For the most part, he prefers simple meals without food mixed together. The only vegetable he will eat is green beans.
And our 4-year-old? Oh, Leo, Leo, Leo. Can a child survive on grapes, cheese and bread? It seems he’s on a mission to find out. I’m exaggerating of course, but not by much. The good news is, he will actually try most foods — sometimes even making the request himself. The bad news… he doesn’t like it. The first bite is the last bite.
On a typical night, we all sit down to eat our own separate dinners. Or worse, Leo eats dinner and then Mr. Broccoli and I eat dinner after both the boys are in bed – a habit that surely isn’t helping the situation. For the life of me, I cannot figure out how to plan a family meal. Sometimes we have success with variations of choose-your-own-ingredient dinners — pizza, tacos, stir-fry, and even omelettes. But I want something — one thing — that we can all enjoy together.
I’m starting small. I’m on a quest to find a handful of go-to meals for us to share once a week. Here is what I have come up with to try so far. Do you have any suggestions? I would love to hear them!
Easy lentil meatballs from The Minimalist Baker
Thai peanut sauce spaghetti squash from LeelaLicious
Broccoli and feta pesto from The Kitchn
Strawberry, basil and balsamic pizza from Cookie and Kate
Cauliflower cakes with brown rice and cheddar from Naturally Ella
Butternut squash mac and cheese from Kitchen Konfidence
Sweet potato nachos with smoked cheddar and black beans from ¡Hola! Jalapeño
Baked cheesy apple sandwiches from A Beautiful Mess
guest
Check out the blog Oh My Veggies! We especially love their cheddar apple caramelized onion pizza thrown on a quick Trader Joes herb pre-made crust. Pretty easy to throw on a green or two onto the pizza too!
hostess / cantaloupe / 6486 posts
I’ve tried that strawberry pizza before. It’s amazing!
guest
I’ve been a vegetarian for 20 years and my carnivore husband graciously eats my veggie cooking. My toddler lives an almost veggie lifestyle if it weren’t for my husband always offering him some meat when we go out or at family holidays. I find Mexican dishes to be the most satisfying for the family. The beans fill them up and I make my hubs dish extra spicy to satisfy him. Our favorites include sweet potato enchiladas, taco night with MorningStar Farms crumbles as the ground beef alternative, burrito bowls with rice, beans, and avocado and sour cream on top.
blogger / nectarine / 2043 posts
My husband is a lifelong vegetarian, but a picky one with a very limited range of tastes. I eat meat, and so does Baby C, and I prefer to have meals made for her in advance, so we do tend to have a few different things on the table at one time but thankfully Baby C is a pretty open minded eater, so I’m trying to build a little more variety, especially in the pre-made meal category. I recently joined CookSmarts, based on a blog post that another blogger did a few weeks back, and it’s been great for meals I can pre-cook. It’s costing me $8/month for great vegetarian ideas.
blogger / coffee bean / 43 posts
Thanks for the ideas Priya and Julie! And I can’t wait to try the strawberry pizza, @Mrs. Sunshine.
blogger / coffee bean / 43 posts
@Mrs. Carrot: Great tip! Thanks. I will check out CookSmarts! I’ve looked into something similar before, but sometimes those type of things don’t seem very vegetarian-friendly.
blogger / nectarine / 2043 posts
@Mrs. Broccoli: Totally agree. I was really surprised by how vegetarian friendly this has been so far, and I even got my husband to eat tofu, so I consider that a win!
pear / 1696 posts
I’m excited to try the Thai peanut sauce spaghetti squash!
Here is another spaghetti squash recipe you may like, we love it, you could easily take out the chicken and use tofu instead:
http://meljoulwan.com/2011/05/08/paleo-pad-thai/