fast teen-friendly foods?

[Leslie Vincent]

I'm a single working mom to a 13 year old foster daughter. She was raised in a velveeta & cheese/hamburger helper/box pizza world and came to live with a food snob -- but a food snob who was used to having an egg sandwich or bowl of cereal for dinner during the week when she was alone.

HELP! I'm looking for teen-taste-friendly, fast and economical ideas for dinners. Easy-to-fix, easy-to-follow recipes that SHE can make are especially welcome, since she is learning to cook -- inspired by the house policy of you cook, you DON'T have to do dishes (in a no-dishwasher house).

All suggestions are welcome!

[Lynn B]

Leslie,

I have a 16 year old DD... and some of her favorite things are...

PIZZA
(Of course!) :) But you can show your daughter that there's a whole wide world of pizza out there! Experiment w/ different crusts, toppings and cheeses... etc. CL is an excellent resource for fast, delicious, different pizzas. Two of my DD's personal favorite pizzas are Barbecue Chicken Pizza and Pesto Pizza.

PASTA
Just about ANY kind of pasta will do! Your teen will probably LOVE learning that there's much more to pasta than Kraft Macaroni & Cheese! :)

SANDWICHES
Experiment with different breads, rolls, pitas, and wraps. Kendra LOVES anything like that. Served w/ pretzels and fresh fruit, that's one of her favorite kinds of lunches.

How excited you must be to have her with you! Congratulations! What a wonderful opportunity for her to learn ALL kinds of things from you, including the magic and variety of food! Sharing food planning and food preparation with her can become a very special part of each day together. I know that my DD and I have some of our very best talks in the kitchen!

Enjoy - and have fun!

Lynn

PS We LOVE your area! We spend 2 weeks each summer at Bethany Beach - and always make at least one or two "day trips" to Rehoboth!

[SusanT]

Tacos or quesidillias

P.S. Bless you for being a foster mother!

[kima]

How about nachos- chips, onions, cheese, tomatoes- done under the broiler- great with salsa- and add some precut baby carrots and dip.
Macaroni and cheese- if she doen't want to make it from scratch I recommend the Annie's brand-all natural ingredients.
There are alot of healthy convenience foods- especially in health food stoes. Amy's products are great too.

[BlueMoose]

A couple of my favorite easy to make meals are quesadillas and bean burritos. For the burritos I just put refried beans and cheese on a tortilla and warm it in the microwave. Then serve it with salsa, lettuce, tomatoes and maybe sour cream.

As for pizza...I like using pita bread as the crust for making individual pizzas.

[Robyncz]

P.S. Bless you for being a foster mother!

First, let me reiterate the sentiment of an earlier poster. You are doing a wonderful thing!

Growing up I LOVED spaghetti pie (spaghetti, meat and tomato sauce, cream cheese, green onions, etc.) CL did a lightened up version about a year or so ago that took me right back to my high school years! I can't find the specific issue right now. maybe someone else knows? It's not hard to make and I bet she'll really like it!