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Parents Panel: What's the one dinner everyone in your house will eat?

Spag bol? Shepherd’s pie? Pizza? Our panel share the family dinners that have everyone clearing their plates.

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AS PART OF TheJournal.ie’s weekly Family Magazine, we wanted to create a space for parents to share their views. A place where mums and dads could share their experiences, lessons learned, and even mistakes along the way.

Cooking to please both adults and kids is no easy task, particularly if you have little ones of varying ages at the table.

It’s all about trial and error, and if you’re lucky you’ll eventually happen upon the goldmine: a meal that all parties will happily gobble up.

This week we’re asking our panel…

What’s the one dinner everyone in your house will eat?

Here’s what they had to say…

Parents Panel All 7 - Copy - Copy - Copy Top L-R: Olly Keegan, Alan Dooley, Denise, Ken Hyland. Middle L-R: Ríona Flood, Ross Boxshall, Marta Lisiecka, Denise Cumiskey. Bottom L-R: Kait Quinn, Susannah O’Brien, Derek McInerney, Suzie Kelly TheJournal.ie TheJournal.ie

The beef stir fry that was originally a kids-only recipe: There are a couple of meals that we’ll all eat together. One of our favourites is a sesame beef stir fry. It is an Annabel Karmel recipe that was originally just for our son, but we all like it so much that it’s become a family favourite! In a wok, stir fry garlic, matchstick carrots and courgettes and quartered baby sweetcorn for a few minutes. Add finely sliced beef fillet and stir fry for another five  minutes. Mix cornflour with water and add to beef stock. Add to the pan, along with tabasco, sugar, soy sauce and sesame seeds. Simmer and cook until slightly thickened. Serve with rice. It’s just gorgeous and sticky with lots of colourful vegetables.

- Olly Keegan

There’s one big favourite in our house: Homemade chicken korma. We all love it – it’s a winner every time!

- Denise

Mince, mash and veg: A guaranteed pleaser is lamb mince, mash and veg. It’s easy for young kids to eat and is real feel-good food… We are having it tonight! We are very lucky as our children are all pretty good eaters so what we eat, *they* eat (or leave behind if their mood takes them that way).

- Ross Boxshall

shutterstock_349236962 Shutterstock / Tanya Yatsenko Shutterstock / Tanya Yatsenko / Tanya Yatsenko

Veggie lasagne for a meatless meal: My husband has recently started following a vegan diet, I’ve cut out meat (exc fish) and we’re trying to reduce the amount of meat Charlie eats so meals are in flux at the moment. However, vegetable lasagne went down well this week and there’s a lentil and root vegetable stew that we all like as well. It’s an easy, healthy one pot.

- Kait Quinn

Polish turkey broth is a family winner: Tymek is not a bad eater although, like everybody, he has his likes and dislikes. Spaghetti bolognese, shepherd’s pie and Polish turkey broth with noodles will be gobbled up by everybody in our family!

- Marta Lisiecka

The occasional takeaway pizza keeps all parties happy: Dinners are always a battle in our house. With a mix of ages at the table (22,17 and 3), it’s very hard to find a meal that will keep everyone happy. If I really want everyone to eat the same thing, it’ll be pizza, spaghetti bolognese or anything else that you can order in. It doesn’t say much for my cooking!

- Denise Cumiskey

Homemade pizza for sure: If you offered them a homemade pizza, they’d bite your hand off for it. We make our pizzas out of wholemeal wraps plus some passata, cheese and ham. For dishes with sauces (curries, chilli, spag bol), we use pureed stir fried vegetables, so the kids are not aware they are eating healthy vegetables – meaning nearly all our meals are a hit.

- Alan Dooley

Fancy two nights of chill (and dinner!) at the Radisson Blu Hotel & Spa Limerick? Enter here – and don’t forget to subscribe to our Family Newsletter for more updates! 

More Parents Panel: Readers share their tips for protecting kids from winter bugs and colds>

More Parents Panel: Readers share the differences between their first and second pregnancies>

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