Our Journey to 30 Successful Meals!

I'm sure I'm not alone when I say that sometimes I just don't want to cook.  The reasons vary from time to time. Sometimes the thought of dirtying all those dishes just horrifies me.  Sometimes I just feel uninspired by my ingredients on hand.  Sometimes (and this probably happens the most often) I'm just out of energy.  So to cure me of this horrible affliction we are embarking on a journey.  I've set out to make a list of 30 successful meals that our family enjoys and that are easy for me to go to should I fall into a cooking rut.

Now in order for a meal to be "successful" the majority of the family members have to give the meal a thumbs up.  Since we are a family of 5, this is pretty easy to achieve.  The other criteria is it has to be fairly easy to make.  I'm talking about one skillet meals or meals made in under an hour (30-45 minutes preferred).  And of course there is the healthy food quota that we have to meet...

So here are the first 6 meals on our list, in no particular order:

1. Loaded Baked Potatoes
2. Baked Pork Chops
3. Chicken Fried Chicken (which is not very healthy nor is it made in under an hour, but dang is it good)
4. Tostadas
5. Homemade Pizza (with whole wheat crust)
6. Chili Frito Pie 

Now all of those are just the entrées.  We of course add things like rice or potatoes, salad or fruit to the side. These have all been tested on my kids and they approved (or the majority of them did, at least).  But this menu looks to be heavy on the meat side of things (we are still doing a high calorie, high protein diet for Isaac).  So if you are of the vegan/vegetarian persuasion, there's a menu for you as well.

1. Minestrone with Kale
2. Asian Stir-fry with Edamame
3. Loaded Baked Potatoes (I usually sauté a bunch of veggies to put on top and leave off the bacon)
4. Homemade Pizza (I don't like vegan cheese, so this one is vegetarian for us)
5. Creamy Lentil Soup (I sub the cream with coconut milk)
6. Taco Salad with Cumin Lime Cilantro dressing 

Troy tends to like to eat less meat than we do since his cholesterol runs a little high.  I usually don't cook two meals a night.  I will alternate or make a simple meal for the kids (e.g. Chili Frito Pie) that allows me time to make another meal.  

We are all pretty happy about our eats these days.  Maybe because I'm taking special care to make things that everyone will like.  I would hate to make a meal that I couldn't put on the list.  Waste of time.   That, and we are happily eating leftover wedding food at the moment.  Oh, you should have tried the Pastalaya...  The kids loved it.  Maybe I'll try to make it on my own and then put it on the list.

So what's on your Successful Meal/Go To list?  I'd love to hear about it.  My kids would probably love to eat it for dinner.  Let us know!  And if you are interested in any of the recipes for the meals above, just ask.