Family friendly meals

[marnaeb]

My husband is not a healthy eater at all. I've already stopped cooking most of his favorite meals (cheesy pastas and anything with cream of whatever). I've tried cooking whole30 only meals the last couple weeks, he doesn't complain but I know he's not happy about it. My three year old complains and won't eat much, he doesn't like sweet potatoes or any squash so I'm worried he's not getting full. My 18 month old will eat whatever I put in front of him. And I refuse to make two meals.

 

So, I'm looking for recipes that can easily be converted. The only things I can think of is, Stir fry, they could just eat it with rice, and I would just eat the meat and veggies. Or Tacos, and I wouid eat the meat over a salad, and they can eat it with tortillas. 

[Dem]

I like to make a meat that everyone likes, then 3 or 4 sides. My family loves potatoes and broccoli, and I usually have salad. Baked potatoes are great because I can sub a sweet potato for myself. I used to read a blog called myprimalpassion,blogspot. She had lots of meal ideas like this. The meat would be something like crockpot shredded beef, hamburger, or baked fish, and the she would have a few sides.

[Sleeve]

Cream of whatever can be done quite well with coconut milk.  In the past, I made a dairy scampi loosely based on the Cheesecake Factory's.  It is and remains a family favorite, converted to coconut milk.  I wouldn't attempt an alfredo with it, but a ghee/tomato/coconut milk scampi works.  I generally sub it in for dishes that use half and half or heavy cream and otherwise have good or moddable ingredients.

[CaGirl]

Stick to your guns and don't make two meals.. The three year old will eat when hungry enough.. as for your husband.. he'll like it or go hungry too..

[kellysensei]

I'm having a problem with my sons, too. My husband will eat anything I make, and he has liked most of the Paleo/Whole30 recipes I've made, but my 4- and 2-year-old generally don't eat dinner anymore. Really- my 2-year-old will nibble at the meat and veggies sometimes, but my 4-year-old usually won't TOUCH anything on his plate if it's not mac n' cheese, chicken nuggets, or strawberries. So I'm guessing he fills up with carbs and gluten a day care. :-( Frustrating! But I'm not about to give him a PB&J sandwich or something just because he won't eat healthy food...

[pjena]

Your taco and stir fry ideas are great.  We also do pulled bbq pork or beef - the fam puts it on rolls, I put it on a salad.  Or ground meat and marinara sauce - the fam can put it on pasta, I put it on zoodles or a salad.  Soup is good - the fam can dip in crackers or rolls and I can skip that part. 

[MBC]

Each kid is different but mine love my meatballs in sauce.

[A_Whole_New_Me]

Finger-food platters with choices tend to go over well with kids, especially if you give them choices.  One mom mentioned that she had each kid take one tiny piece of everything the first time, and then they could go back & get whatever they wanted after they'd tried the bite.  Ex. baby carrots, cucumber slices, meatballs, hard-boiled eggs, etc. 

 

We used to call it "antipasto night' growing up, but in retrospect it was also an ingenious way to eat up any leftovers!

[bede0713]

I have a 4 year old and while she was pretty resistant at first she pretty much just eats what I eat now with the occasional beans and/or rice added in.  Just stick with it!  I totally agree on not making two meals though. 

 

In the beginning I did a lot of roasted chicken with veggie sides and when white potato was ok'd I started to incorporate those in as well.  I make my own mayo so chicken salad or buffalo chicken salad also seems to make everyone happy.