The best kids dinner idea

Last Updated on November 18, 2023 by theosteomum

Looking for a fresh kids dinner idea?

Ah, the relentless struggle to come up with ideas for your kids’ dinner.

It’s so hard to find inspiration for a meal they’ll actually eat- that isn’t nuggets and chips.

Enter this hidden veg bolognese sauce.

If you’re looking for a kid’s dinner idea that’s:

• tasty
• healthy
• budget-wise, and
• freezer-friendly

…. Well then you’ve come to the right place!

I know the struggle of trying to come up with kids dinner ideas that everyone will eat, and that you can feel confident in the knowledge that it’s actually healthy for your family.

The long-time family favourite of spaghetti bolognese has had a healthy makeover.

This hidden-veg sauce packs a punch with 5 different vegetables (big tick for the 5-a-day, anyone?)

We serve this with a traditional good-quality pasta, however, if you really want to up the nutritional quality, you could serve it with a wholemeal or alternative pasta.

Winner winner your kids’ dinner:

There’s another bonus to this recipe.

It takes only about 20-30 minutes of your time to actively prepare, and then you can leave it to blip away on the stove. It only requires occasional stirring during the cooking time.

Best of all though, this quantity makes around 3-4 meals for my family of 4.  We’ll eat one, and freeze the rest in meal-sized portions. That way there’s always a healthy meal in the freezer, ready for those nights where we don’t have time, or we’re just out of kids dinner ideas.

If you’re looking for a healthy kid’s snack idea, give this recipe a try.

What you’ll need:

Using a food processor makes light work of chopping all the veggies for this recipe.

It took me a while to start doing this, mostly because I get a weird satisfaction in seeing all the veggies really finely and evenly diced.

I still don’t love the fact that using the food processor means that the pieces aren’t all the same size, but in the end it was a case of De Quervain’s tenosynovitis (a painful condition of the wrist that’s especially common in new mums) after the birth of my youngest that forced me to find new ways to do things, and now I’m not turning back!

Using a good quality, heavy bottomed pot like this Le Creuset will help enormously in allowing you to sauté your veggies and simmer this sauce without it sticking. It’s an investment, but we’ve been using ours consistently since we moved into our first home 13 years ago, and it’s still as good as new. You really do get what you pay for, and investments in your kitchen that will last a lifetime really can change your whole cooking experience.

Making your kid’s dinner easier:

Here are a few helpful tips to ensure your kid’s dinner is as stress-free and tasty as possible!

Preparing your veggies:

• Speed things up by using a food processor to finely chop your veggies. If you don’t have one, you can also use a grater and do the job by hand, or finely dice them with a knife.
• Chop or grate the veggies in the order listed, and add them to a large, heavy-bottomed pot as you go. That way, the harder veggies will begin to soften as you continue to prepare the softer ones, which speeds up the cooking time.
• Sweating off the veggies increases the flavour and will help ensure your finished sauce is not watery. A lot of moisture is released from the veggies as they cook. Continue to sautè them until they are relatively dry and just beginning to brown.
• I love including mushrooms in this recipe. They’re chock-full of B vitamins and have been described as “meat for vegetarians”. Mushrooms would easily be my favourite vegetable, and my youngest daughter loves them too. My eldest, though, can’t stand them. But, when they’re finely diced in the food processor and mixed in among the minced meats, she doesn’t mind them at all (even if she’s seen me put them in).

What to buy:

• Using a mixture of minced meats also enhances the flavour and texture of your sauce. I aim to use a roughly 50:25:25 mix of beef:pork:veal mince, but there’s also been plenty of times when I’ve only had beef mince available, and this sauce has still been delicious.
• Use the best quality tomato puree (passata) you can find and afford. There are some cheaper varieties around, but in my experience these tomatoes are more acidic and less flavourful. A high quality Italian passata works best.
  We’re so lucky that my Italian in-laws, who came to Australia over 50 years ago, have kept up their tradition of bottling tomatoes at the end of Summer. It’s a lot of work, but you just can’t beat the taste of home made!
• Use a heavy-bottomed pot, like this one. This will ensure your veggies won’t stick as you’re sautéing them, and that your sauce will happily blip away for 2-3 hours to ensure maximum deliciousness!

How will I know when this kid’s dinner recipe is done?

• You’ll know the sauce is done when it has reduced by around third, and is no longer watery on top. It will have a thick consistency, and the meat will be tender. How long this takes depends on your pot and the intensity of the heat, but it’s usually somewhere in the range of 2-3 hours.
• A quantity this size makes approximately 3 dinner-sized portions for my family of 4. This sauce freezes beautifully- I find that a sandwich-sized zip lock bag is a good portion for my family. I divide it up into these and lay flat in the freezer for up to 3 months.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this recipe!

Kids dinner idea recipe: hidden veg bolognese sauce

Ingredients:

2 tbs olive oil

1 brown onion

2-3 carrots

2-3 celery sticks

1-2 zucchini

300-500g mushrooms

2-3 cloves garlic

500g beef mince

250g pork mince

250g veal mince

3 bottles Italian passata

3 bay leaves

1 tablespoon dried oregano

Cooking salt, to taste

Method:

1. Place heavy-bottomed pot on moderate heat and lightly cover base with olive oil.
2. Using the chopper attachment of your food processor, finely chop the brown onion, carrot, zucchini, brown mushrooms and garlic. You can try chopping the celery this way too, but in my experience, celery works best if you chop this by hand as it avoids any stringy bits ending up in your sauce.
   Add the ingredients to your pot as you go, to begin the sautéing process.
3. Season veggies with salt to taste. This also encourages water to be drawn out of them, making your finished sauce thicker and richer.
4. When veggies are looking relatively dry and just starting to brown, add minces to pot. Add a pinch of extra salt. As the mince start to cook, break up into fine pieces using a spoon. Allow to cook until any water that comes out of the meat evaporates.
5. Once the mince is browned, add the passata.
6. Add bay leaves and oregano.
7. Once sauce has come to the boil, turn heat down to low. Allow to simmer gently for 2-3 hours, stirring occasionally.
8. When the sauce has reduced by approximately 1/3, the meat is tender and the flavour is concentrated, the sauce is cooked.
9. Serve with your choice of cooked pasta, or allow to cool and freeze in serving-sized portions as required.

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