re: Mix and Match Meals

Hi Elizabeth,

If you're looking for a cookbook, here is one you may find helpful:

Healthy Mix N Match Meals: More 100,000 Combinations

Also, this is a wonderful cookbook for cooking with kids:

Disney Family Fun Cookbook

and sections of our site for you to explore:

Cooking with Kids/Cooking for Kids
Menu and Meal Planning Resources

One suggestion I have is to make up a 'family menu' listing the titles of family favorite dishes by course (have fun designing it together using fancy fonts, clip art, etc.) you can even name your 'restaurant'. Set up an 'untested recipes' binder of printouts and pointers (cookbook/page number) to recipes you'd like to try with dividers of the same courses as on the menu. Ask everyone in the family to add to that binder as they find new recipes. As you try the recipes, add the 'keepers' to the list on the family menu and move the recipe to a 'tried and true' recipes binder divided by the same courses, noting any changes you would make for next time and what you served with the dish. Then you'll have your own customized 'Mix and Match' meal planning system.

Happy Cooking,

Betsy at recipelink.com