101 Easy 10 Minute Recipes for Family Meals

Way back in June the New York Times published what may have been the least helpful guide to making family meals I have ever read. It was something to the effect that mom should spend her weekends organizing and shopping and cooking meatloaves and roasts and other boring, but noncontroversial food. The real kicker was that even with this so called plan, the author recommended eating out towards the end of the week cause you deserve a break.

Nobody needs help figuring out how to spend their weekend cooking or how to order take-out. We need ideas that keep us from having to do that. Good thing I'm a very busy person because by the time I got around to calling to cancel my subscription it was the next week and they had the most glorious article entitled 101 Simple Meals in 10 Minutes or Less. Now that's my idea of a family meal plan - beautiful, easy, delicious and healthy meals you can whip up when you walk in the door and feel like the SuperMom or Dad that you are.

Now, I know there are many kids out there who are not going to eat half the recipes in this article, but there are certainly enough recipes in the other half to give you a nice variety, especially if a little creative recipe tweaking were to go on. But just for kicks let's see how many of our own simple 10 minute recipes we can come up with that are truly kid friendly.*

So here we go. The Mommy Poppins Kid-Approved Simple Dinners 10 Minute Recipe List:

1. Brush salmon with soy sauce and sesame oil and broil. Serve over steamed asparagus.
2. Pesto: Blend basil, garlic, oil pine nuts and Parmesan and serve over pasta.
3. Dredge flounder fillets in flour and fry in olive oil with a touch of butter. Serve with favorite veggies.
4. Make omelets with your own acceptable toppings.
5. Make a sauce of 1/4 cup of peanut butter with a teaspoon of sesame oil, a tablespoon soy sauce, a clove of garlic and a dash of chili oil. Thin with water if needed and serve on soba noodles.
6. Fill a whole wheat burrito wrapper with leftover rice and beans, meat and cheese.
7. Fritatta: Make like an omelet with acceptable fillings (I like potatoes and chorizo), but instead of folding, once eggs are set, top with mild cheese and bake in a 400 degree oven until brown.
8. Fried Rice: Scramble eggs, add a tablespoon of oil to pan, leftover rice, frozen peas, a tablespoon of soy sauce and fry.
9. Make shells or other shape pasta. Add a can of tuna fish, mayo, curry powder, and peas.
10. Salade Nicoise: Grill Tuna Steak and serve over salad with hard boiled egg, capers, green beans, cherry tomatoes, boiled potatoes and olives. Serve with vinaigrette, but smaller children can have theirs on a plate with nothing touching if necessary.
11. Fry pork chops. When they are just done, braise with jam and cook for another minute on each side to caramelize. Serve with potatoes and green beans.
12. Brush flank steak with balsamic vinegar and olive oil, salt and pepper and broil. Serve on baguette with salad. (Grown ups can brush and broil some onions with the meat for their sandwiches.)
13. Creamy Broccoli Soup: Boil potatoes and broccoli in chicken stock. Add a touch of butter and salt and pepper to taste. Blend. Top with cheese or sour cream.
14. Boil shrimp and serve with cocktail sauce and salad.
15. Fry some bacon or prosciutto and chopped onion (if allowed). Chop bacon and return to pan. Add a cup of cream or milk, a touch of butter and frozen peas. Simmer to reduce, add salt and pepper to taste and serve over farfalle (bow tie pasta).

Those are my standards. If everyone who reads this adds one recipe we'll have our own 101 family friendly 10 minute recipes in no time. If you are reading this in a feed reader or other place make sure to click through to the site to see the recipes people are adding and add one of your own.

*Kid-friendly defined as what my kids will eat with a little prodding. If you have a truly picky eater you can usually swap their preferred meat or vegetable for what's listed here.

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