Easy, Kid Friendly Dinner

We had guests over yesterday afternoon, and I didn't have time for any preparations for dinner.  I needed a quick, fix for dinner.  Voila! In a just a few minutes, dinner was served.

 Just a few simple ingredients:

1 cup of quinoa cooked with 2 cups of water in a rice cooker
1 lb cooked ground beef
Mrs. Dash Tomato Basil seasoning to taste (or only other preferred seasoning)
2 cups of frozen peas (Or any other vegetable that you have available that the kids like)

First, start the quinoa in the rice cooker so that it can cook while you prepare the ground beef and peas.  Brown the ground meat and add seasoning (It would also be great with some onions as well).  Then just combine all the ingredients in bowls to serve.

Any suggestions on what to call this dish?  It's similar to the hamburger hash that I had as a kid just with quinoa instead of potatoes.  Not sure, but the kids love it!

Meatloaf and Mashed Potatoes - Hold the Dairy Please

The results are in... Dairy is out! Through our trial elimination with dairy, we did discover that the kids appear to do better without dairy. I have to admit that I feel better as well. My son wanted meatloaf and mashed potatoes for his birthday dinner last week, so I made a trial batch of dairy-free meatloaf and mashed potatoes. My dad and his wife also came over for dinner, so I had a good set of taste testers. Let's just say that my dad is not exactly adventurous with food. I didn't tell him that the dinner was both gluten and dairy free until after the fact. He admitted that he didn't notice any difference. Success! I made my Quinoa Meatloaf with Silk Original Coconut Milk instead of milk.  For the mashed potatoes, I simply substituted Smart Balance Light Buttery Spread with Flaxseed Oil for the butter and coconut milk for the milk.  While coconut milk does a slight coconut favor, it was not noticeable in either dish.

So why coconut milk?  There are several milk substitutes available including soy, rice, almond, and coconut.  We chose to primarily use coconut milk because of it's antibacterial, antifungal and antiviral properties that can boost the immune system.  Check out the Health Benefits of Coconut Milk.  This is definitely a plus when you have a family with sensitive tummies and a host of other allergies that weaken their immune systems.  I cook with the original flavor and the kid's drink the vanilla flavor.  While soy milk does provide more protein along with the calcium, it also has many adverse health affects so I try to avoid it.  Almond milk may be an OK option too, but my kids wouldn't drink it.  I try to use rice milk in moderation because of it's high sugar content.