This week’s weekly meal plan recommendations are here, and we’ve found some easy meals to get you through the rest of the week with recipes your kids can help cook too—you know, since they’re so bored.
So grab a pen, make your shopping list, and stock up on ingredients before the weekend’s over to make your weeknights that much easier.
And if it’s even easier for you to do all that planning from your inbox, be sure to sign up for our weekly meal plan emails. You’ll love them, promise.
At top: Pizza Pinwheels at Cool Mom Eats
Related: 5 foil pack recipes that make dinner fun and easy
My family raised their eyebrows when I told them that we were going to be cooking Shrimp Boil Foil Packs at Damn Delicious on our last campout, but they’ve become a favorite because the kids each get to DIY their own foil pack. They pick the veggies and protein they each want, and then we place them in the oven — or over the grill on the back porch — and everyone gets their own little mini-meal that’s full of flavor and nutrients.
One of my kids’ favorites is breakfast-for-dinner, and since they’re the chefs this week I’ll suggest these Two-Minute Microwave Egg Bakes from Babble. They literally take two minutes, which means they can spend the rest of their time whipping up some blueberry muffins or pancakes too.
This quick and easy recipe for pizza pinwheels is still a favorite around my house. Pro tip: Be sure to roll the crust as thin as possible, because it will puff up. The recipe makes a lot, especially if each kid wants to make their very own, so I recommend serving these for dinner with a big side salad, and letting the kids eat the leftovers for lunch the next day.
Related: 6 summery slow cooker and Instant Pot recipes
One of the safest ways to let kids hone their cooking skills is with a great slow-cooker recipes. They can dump everything for Slow Cooker Gourmet’s Slow Cooker Caribbean Jerk Pork sandwiches in the crock pot and start it in the morning, then older kids who are responsible enough to use a knife can make the mango salsa closer to dinner time.
Of course, my kids like chicken nuggets, but it’s not exactly the dinner parents are craving. But this simple recipe at Delish dresses up chicken tenders into Chicken Parm Sandwiches — brilliant! Elementary aged kids and older can easily cook the nuggets and assemble the sandwiches on their own, while younger ones can help scoop fruit or arrange veggies for the sides. (Photo by Ethan Calbrese for Delish)
Kids who’ve had some practice in the kitchen — you trust them with a knife, and they know how to follow a recipe — can make this delicious Irish apple crumb cake at The Every Kitchen for dessert this week. The rustic style means you don’t need to be an expert with the piping bag to make this one perfect. Or, if it’s a little too complicated, check any of our other easy sheet cakes kids can make themselves. From chocolate cake to tres leches, we’ve got lots of ideas!
Thanks for including me in your round-up!
Thanks for creating such amazing recipes for us all!