Family friendly meal ideas

jessie2k1

I'm so tired of cooking the same thing. Any low calorie ideas that the whole family will enjoy?

andreagenther

One of our families favorite is Minestrone soup. I add meat, any is good: beef sausage, chicken. I don't add the pasta.
Sometimes i sprinkle Parmesan on top when I serve it.
It's as tasty as pizza but much healthier.

acpgee

Cheat's teriyaki chicken made with coca cola.

Joint a whole chicken or use a packet or two of skin on chicken thighs and drumsticks. Brown the skin in a large sauce pan or casserole dish, working in batches if needed. No need to add oil because fat will render from the chicken skin. When pieces are browned, toss in a few minced cloves of garlic into the rendered fat and fry under fragrant. Stop the garlic from burning by tossing in a tin of regular coke (you need the sugar to caramelize later), several large glugs of soy sauce and simmer with the chicken for 25 minutes, lid off, turning the pieces occasionally so everything gets coated in the cooking liquid. Taste for seasoning and adjust salt/sugar/acidity with soy/sugar/vinegar. Boil furiously the last 5 or 10 minutes at high heat so that sauce reduces to a thick caramelized mass.

Serve with rice which you can put on after you have browned the chicken and garlic. While the chicken cooks make some easy veg side such as steamed broccoli, frozen peas or spinach sauteed in a little butter.

londa916

My children love when I make shrimp scampi pizza.
-Mini Naan bread
-Teaspoon Alfredo sauce
-Sprinkle low fat mozzarella cheese
-Cooked shrimp that’s sautéed in garlic and I can’t believe it’s not butter/olive oil
-Spinach
-teaspoon of onions and bell peppers (yellow, orange)

About 300-400 calories each, depending on how much cheese/ toppings you put on.

pjuddesl2868

Taco salad! You can use chicken or ground beef on a bed of lettuce and vegetables (I like to add mini cucumber slices along with green onion and chopped pepper and maybe avocado / tomato). Add salsa and Greek yogurt (or sour cream) and cut some tortillas up and toast them in the air fryer or oven for a crunch.

I’m not a big meat eater, so sometimes I use black beans and corn heated in skillet with southwest seasoning mix instead of meat.

Kiwi2mfp

Tonight we are having steak...4 ounce piece for me, small to medium baked potato with only a teaspoon of butter, 1/8 teaspoon of garlic salt, and a side salad (fresh express Italian salad with 2 Tablespoons KRAFT Catalina fat free dressing and 4 tablespoons of small croutons.) Might make some steamed broccoli as another side. I usually load my baked potato up with sour cream, butter, salt and pepper....but now I am taking it a bit easy on the potato toppings. I love my croutons in salad so I have made room for some by cutting most bread out of my diet. At most I might have two slices of bread at lunch for a sandwich but that's not every day. Potatoes aren't every day either.

Kiwi2mfp

Sam's club has frozen bags of stir fry mix and I grab a bag of frozen, boneless/skinless chicken breast tenders. Foodlion has bottles of general tsos sauce, Korean BBQ sauce and other sauces for like $2.19 a bottle (was $2 a bottle two weeks ago 😒). I take 1.5 cups of Jasime rice and 3 cups of water and bake this in a glass 8x8 dish for about 45 minutes at 400 degrees (I use my toaster oven for this). Meanwhile I take two chicken tenderloins per person being fed and cut into cubes. Brown this in a little bit of olive oil. The I add the stir fry bag and a bottle of the sauce. Serve over a half a cup of rice for me (more for everyone else) and I try to strain out a bit of the sauce before serving a quarter cup to half a cup of meat and stir fry over my rice. You can top with sesame seeds and I used to add chow mein noodles but I am refraining from that for now. Yesterday we did a version of this using chicken thighs and legs we got on sale at Foodlion for like 59 cents a pound. I glazed the chicken with the sauce and baked it for 45 minutes at I think 350 F. Then made my rice and sauted the stir fry mix with only a drizzle of sauce and a teaspoon of olive oil. I then served myself a half cup of rice, a small scoop of stir fry and got the chicken leg that I had skinned before baking to eat with it. We did saute some asparagus in a tiny bit of olive oil and drizzle of sauce to serve with everything. This is our healthier versions of Chinese take out food. It doesn't taste quite as good but with fast food prices and calories...it's a whole lot better for us and our wallets. BTW, Foodlions general tsos sauce does not taste like general tsos but we like it in its own way....they should consider renaming it though.

cwolfman13

This largely comes down to portion control for the individual. Not everyone in the family is on a diet and calorie needs vary. I eat larger portions than my wife, as do my two boys. If my wife is trying to cut weight she might skip the grain or starch and have extra veggies with dinner...stuff like that. If we have pizza she usually has a slice and a salad...I usually have 2-3 slices...my boys often will eat 4 or more.

themommie

I love to do burrito bowls, I can add lettuce, tomatoes, avocado, black beans, salsa to keep calories down my family can add more meat, cheese, etc. I also like to do chicken teriyaki bowls and add alot of broccoli and carrots sometimes c as cabbage to mine, taco soup or chicken breast grilled with roasted potatoes, onion, bell peppers, mushrooms and zucchini and yellow squash another favorite is chicken curry over rice, I only do a little rice and add extra veggies to mine, red bell pepper, yellow bell pepper, mushroom and yellow squash , these are my go tos

wakegrrl

This is one of our family's new favorites: https://www.evolvingtable.com/mexican-stuffed-bell-peppers/

hesn92

The best way IMO is to make meals that you can portion out each piece of the meal individually... so like, a protein, a starch and a veg. You can just eat more of the veg and less of the starch than say, your husband or whoever needs to be eating more calories.

I find that works better than making meals that are all in one "pot" because then my portion ends up being too small

stir fry, served with rice. So I just use less rice.
meat of some type with potatoes and a veg.
bowls of any kind. (burrito bowls, teriyaki bowl, sushi bowl etc) with rice and veggies

cwolfman13

I grilled cheeseburgers last night and made baked beans. My wife had her burger sans bun and had a salad instead of the beans. I had my burger with a whole grain bun and beans. My boys had the same plus French Fries from the air fryer plus desert, and then some cereal about an hour later.

forestdweller46

@jessie2k1 I'm thinking you may have the typical 2 adult, 2 chunky children family that has been created by the pandemic/home schooling/"don't go anywhere" situation.
Steak and shrimp recipies aren't affordable for the average family right now. Minestrone & any other kinds of chicken-veggie-bean soups are great, with a side of salad (grated carrot-raisin-a bit of low cal mayo], [ shredded cabbage-vinegar-sugar] , plus a homemade muffin or bread. Fresh fruit is a good dessert, morphed into apple dumplings, grilled peaches or plums...just imagine.
The way I keep my carb count low is to go ahead and have my BBQ pork loin, cornmeal crusted fish, grilled shrimp, rib eye steak...and to serve them on a plate of greens instead of polenta-pasta-rice-potato. And to have my 2 servings of veggies FIRST, before cooking the main course.
When the "fast food cravings" arrive...I make a "Big Mac" salad. Cover a dinner plate with broken Romaine lettuce ,[iceberg is NOT in ANY food group EVER] add a chopped small tomato, maybe a sliver or 2 of onion, sear a hamburger pattie, flip, add cheese, cook til the burger is done to your liking, plop it onto the salad. If you are a cheese fan, add a handfull more, cover the plate with a micro lid & nuce for a minute til the cheese melts and the lettuce wilts to the texture of a Mickey D burger that has been waiting on the hot plate for 10 minutes for you to order it. Drizzle with Ken's low cal 1000 Island ...Guaranteed to NOT be 1000 calories, even if you add dill pickle slices.

happysquidmuffin

Mini Chicken Parmesans:
Bake breaded chickie nuggies until done. Top with marinara sauce and mozzarella cheese. Stick back in oven until cheese is melted.
Serve with angel hair or spaghetti with marinara or alfredo sauce (alfredo is great bc it's an additional flavor profile to counteract the acidity of the marinara).
Add a veggie side, et voila! Delicioso.

You also get the fun of saying "chickie nuggies!" throughout the meal. Optional of course.