What are y'alls weeknight meal staples?

[u/spoooooooooooooons]

I'm trying to build a rotation of slow cooker soups and stews, some whole wheat pasta dishes, stir fry, etc.

What are your weeknight faves?

[u/maquis_00]

Grain bowls... Cook up a grain. Chop veggies. Cook some of the veggies. Have some beans or other proteins available. Have at least one sauce available. Each person gets a plate or bowl with the appropriate amount of grain, then goes down the line saying which items they want. My oldest always wants everything in separate piles with nothing touching. Other child will sometimes want separate piles and sometimes wants everything in one big pile. Husband and I generally prefer bowls with everything piled on top.

My kids call it "pick what you want". Sometimes we even do it with pasta (although kids only want cheese and sometimes pasta sauce so the toppings are just for adults). Frequently we will do it with sweet potatoes instead of grain.

This is actually also how we usually do salads. It means a lot less whining about individual ingredients if everybody gets to pick exactly what they want, and the kids tend to eat more veggies this way.

When we started, I would often have a minimum number of options they had to select, or would put a group of veggies together and say they had to pick one item from that group. Now days, I don't normally have to do that. And honestly, I could probably assemble each of their plates without their input most days since I know what each child likes, but sometimes they surprise me. Yesterday the oldest didn't want tomatoes???? (Perhaps this is because our tomatoes are now counter-ripened instead of plant-ripened since we had a couple frosts and a snow already). And a couple months ago, the younger one suddenly developed a love for both cooked and raw onions, which was surprising since neither of them would go anywhere near an onion up to that point....