Meals: Quick and Nutritious

OK, so as I sit here wondering what exactly to cook for dinner, I am reminded of my mother's building blocks for a "good meal":

• colorful
• one meat
• two veggies
• one starch
• maybe a bread (depending on the starch)

I know that I have about an hour to prepare the meal in order to get it on the table in a time that is conducive to my son's 9:30p bedtime.  So I run down the list of things that are in the house that are possible...frozen pizza, hot dogs, burgers (again), or tacos.

All of these would rank high on the list of "kid favorites" in my house, but only one has the nutritional value that I am seeking--tacos.   They combine all of the four food groups--meat (beef or chicken), fruit/veggie (lettuce, tomatoes, olives), milk (cheese, sour cream) and bread (the shell). Not to mention that they also are fully compliant with my mothers building blocks.

On top of all of this, they are quick.  Browning the meat only takes about 15 minutes, chopping veggies about 10 minutes, and making the plate 5 minutes.  That gives me an extra 30 minutes!  I covered all the basics and still have time to spare.  Now that is my idea of a "good meal".

Did I mention that my kids LOVE them?  So as you can see, nutritious meals don't have to take forever to prepare.  After all, for the most part, kids are pretty simple.  You just have to know how to work inside their realm.

These are my observations about my life. If I am not Me, no one else can be. If I don't give you Me, no one else will so until next time, I'm...

Just Nedra