What are we going to eat?

The question that haunts my brain CONSTANTLY!!  With 3 meals and 2 snacks to prepare everyday, I spend a lot of time in my kitchen.  With meal planning, shopping, and my general love of food I also spend a lot of time thinking about meals.

I am so thankful the 5 eat what we eat and they're not picky at all.  They all have their moments of not wanting some particular food, but nothing consistent yet.  And I'm all for redistributing, sharing, and trading food that's not being eaten, because what I decide to make is what you get!

Establishing healthy habits with my kids, as well as myself, is important to me.  I try to fit in all the appropriate servings of all food groups in a day- doesn't happen everyday, but it's what I shoot for.  I do let them have a dessert if they've eaten well and seem like they could go for a little extra something.

So, I thought I'd compose a go-to list of meal and snack ideas that the kiddos have liked.  Won't be everything we've tried because I've tried so many different recipes (I LOVE trying new recipes) and honestly, just don't remember everything.  I may add to this list in the future or I may start doing recipe posts, but I don't like to make such promises!

Breakfast
Pancakes- any kind, especially blueberry or sweet potato (use puree), and oatmeal pancakes
French Toast- plain or deceptive style with a veggie puree in the batter for a healthy boost
Oatmeal- overnight crock pot style- apple cinnamon, pumpkin, carrot cake- love it all or baked oatmeal
Muffins- just use a mix, or from scratch like pbj muffins, healthy banana muffins, really any kind
Omelet Biscuit Cups
Baked Eggs- plain or lunch meat style
Scrambled eggs- plain or with cottage cheese beat in- I sneak veggies in too
Eggos- my go to quick breakfast
Toast- butter, cinnamon, or cheese- they love it all
Biscuits

Lunch
Grilled cheese- I often sneak veggies in here, especially spinach and tomatoes
Quesadillas- they love bean and cheese, but I sneak veggies in and sometimes random leftovers I need to get rid of
Noodles and Special Sauce- not so secret family recipe of noodles, butter, plain tomato sauce
Corn dog muffins
Homemade lunchables- crackers or tortilla pieces, lunch meat, and cheese chunks
Artichoke bread
Tamales
Taquitos
Pizza- frozen, homemade, rolls, whatever you got they'll eat it!
Ravioli/Tortellini
Cans of soup drained- especially chicken noodle or anything else really chunky- super easy, go to quick meal!
Burgers- with or without cheese, beef or turkey or black bean- we love burgers!
Tortilla Wraps- whatever you can think of to put in them
Mac n Cheese- a staple here, also a great way to sneak veggies
PBJ- I spread greek yogurt on for my littles to give them an extra calorie/protein boost
Chicken nuggets

If I'm not already sneaking healthy stuff in the main dish, I'll add a side of veggies and/or fruit.  Mine like: frozen peas, frozen mixed veggies, homemade regular and sweet potato fries, zucchini/squash crisps

Dinner
*all of the lunch items I've also used at dinner- they're interchangeable to me
Crock pot chicken alfredo- I usually add broccoli
Crock pot pasta e fagioli
Crock pot red beans and rice
Crock pot fajitas
Tamale Pie (layer tamales, corn, chili, cheese, and fritos in casserole and bake at 350 until bubbly)
Parmesan crusted tilapia filets from Sam's
Turkey Veggie Meatloaf
Regular meatloaf
Lasagna
Enchiladas
Crock pot ribs- or any BBQ style meat
Tacos

*I love my crock pot and use it frequently!  The Crockin Girls Cookbook is excellent and where I get many of these recipes.

Snack
*some of these snack recipes I'll also use at breakfast time 
Smoothies
Toddler Muffins- I always have a stash of these in the freezer
Banana Roll Ups
Healthy Cookies- also good for a no guilt mommy dessert :)
PBJ bars- just peanut butter, jelly, oats, and a mashed up banana
Fruit- I always do a snack of fruit- fresh unless I'm out then I'll go to canned.  Mine love all fruits!
Puffs/Cheerios/Goldfish/Cheez Its/Graham crackers- you get the idea
Cheese chunks
Yogurt
Pudding

Dessert
Graham crackers
Popsicles (break off small chunks)
Special treats are regular cookies/cake/ice cream, etc.

Beverage
Milk- breakfast and dinner
Juice- VERY diluted at lunch
Water- any other time- sometimes with a little Crystal Light flavor :)

Well, there you have it!  How I feed our family.  Even though I usually eat my own separate breakfast and lunch because I don't mind making myself something different than everyone else ;)