Family Meal Ideas

Last Updated 4/22/2016 • Posted in The Honest Mom, Real Food, Recipes, the nourishing home, the nourished kitchen, against all grain, realfood, whole life, wellness mama, Real food recipes, Family Meals, real food meals, REAL food

Recently, I had several people ask for some examples of meals I prepare for my family. I am working on writing up my own recipes, so until that is done, I hope this will help. Below you can see a list of well-known meals that are already (or close to it) REAL-food meals. They've been hiding under our noses the whole time. Maybe you can rediscover a classic and try it out this week. If you do I would love to hear about it...

Meal Ideas:
-Beef stroganoff, served with buttered peas and brown rice (of course the sauce is made from scratch, no canned cream of mushroom)
-Broccoli/Beef stir fry with brown rice. Try making your own sauce, instead of buying a packaged mix.
-Chili with or without meat. Make sauce from scratch, but to save time you could use canned beans.
-Chicken Cacciatore
-Roast chicken with veggies
-Meat-loaf with mashed potatoes. Use oats instead of breadcrumbs to thicken and bind meatloaf. Go ahead and use butter and cream to make the potatoes.
-Jambalaya with brown rice. Use uncured bacon or ham.
-Chicken pot pie. Make your own crust and use real-butter or lard.
-Quiche or fritata. Use real-cream, real-butter, and good quality eggs.
-Stuffed peppers. Filled with yummy veggies, raw cheese, ground meat and brown rice.
-Pot Roast with potatoes and carrots. Use beef stock and wine to flavor sauce, steer clear of the packaged soup mixes.
-Chicken or beef stew
-Any fish or shrimp with herbed butter sauce.
-Minestrone soup. Use homemade or good quality beef stock.
-Shepherd's pie. Use real mashed potatoes with cream and butter.
-Paella with brown rice
-Grilled meats and veggies

I could go on and on with meals, but I think that is a good start. If you are ever unsure about whether a meal is a REAL-food meal, ask yourself this one question...Are there any processed foods or modern convenience foods needed to complete this meal? If so, then it's not a REAL-food meal, however not all hope is lost. Try to either substitute for another ingredient that is a REAL-food ingredient or make it yourself. And occasionally we do our best with most of the ingredients and choose to compromise on one or two. Check out my Resources page for what qualifies as REAL-chicken, eggs, beef and dairy. Happy cooking!

And for even more ideas, check out a few other bloggers I follow who offer lots of Real-food recipes: Real Food, Whole Life, Against All Grain, The Nourished Kitchen, Wellness Mama and The Nourishing Home