Assembly Dinners

GF Meals that can make everyone at the table happy

I started off this year declaring I would only make one-pot dinners. How idealistic! I would only cook meals that created very little mess, that I could prep early in the day, and that would make my whole family happy. Well, shockingly, that did no go according to plan.

I have one GF semi-picky eater, one extremely picky eater, and a husband who is currently a fat free vegan. I not only make my kids breakfast, lunch, and dinner (unless we go out to eat), but I am typically making 2-3 iterations of any given dinner. Takeout lately has felt like a legit vacation.

I realized I needed to streamline this process if I ever wanted to enjoy cooking again. Enter, the Assembly Dinner. For most of us, Taco Night is the quintessential assembly dinner. This night is such a breeze, and I wanted to apply that same format to more meals. While this can use more pots and pans than I’d like, the end result is a plate that each member of the family is happy with from the same basic ingredients.

Before I begin I want to share the Kid Sides I’ll include for each of these meals. I’m always looking to round out kiddo meals with fruits and veggies. I’m trying desperately to make green veggies more appealing, but as you can imagine, that’s a work in progress..

Popular Sides
Avocado
Kale Chips or Seaweed
Sliced Apple
Sliced Pear
Chopped berries
Applesauce
Yogurt
Cheese stick

1. Monday: Spaghetti & Meatball Night

   This one is pretty straightforward, with a few tweaks. I boil a big pot of water and cook an entire package of GF spaghetti (I love Barilla). My picky eater will not touch pasta, so I omit the spaghetti on his plate. He gets only meatballs, while my GF big kid gets spaghetti and meatballs. (If you want to make this even easier, try the GFKC Instant Pot Spaghetti & Meatballs). The kids get two sides with their meatballs and pasta, typically one fruit and one veggie. I sometimes make my own meatballs, but lately have relied on frozen GF options. I warm those up in a little tomato sauce.

   
   For the adults, I’ll simply make my husband a bowl of pasta with his fat free tomato sauce, and whatever green veggie I’ve made - typically a salad. I personally love to add a Mediterranean flare to my dish to pump up the flavor to make it a little more ‘grown up’. I’ll dirty just one more small pan by sauteing garlic, and throwing in jarred olives, artichokes, roasted red peppers, and a little tomato sauce. This only takes a couple more minutes, and it makes me 10x as pleased with my own meal! I add in my share of pasta to the pan, squeeze in some lemon and top with red pepper flakes and parm.
   
   (For the record, we were trying broccoli with parm here and it did NOT go over well.

   No One Asked, But.
   how do you do it!?)

   

   

2. Tuesday: Taco Night - One of my favorite nights of the week! I make

   Caroline Chambers
   Cheesy One Pot Rice and Beans (which is DELICIOUS and I’m actually currently eating leftovers as I type). It gives me leftovers for days. This dish is one pot, GF, fat free for hubs, and totally packed with flavor thanks to the jar of salsa, tomato paste, and garlic powder. I then brown some ground turkey meat with Siete GF Taco seasoning, and round out the kids plates with shredded cheese, chopped fruit and avocado. If I’m willing to dirty another pan, I may cook some sauteed or steamed veggies for my husband and I to add to our rice bowls, or maybe just a simple salad.

   (Of course I didn’t actually *take* the photo of my bowl, but it was a bowl of rice and beans, a little cheese and sauteed kale).

   

3. Wednesday: Burger Night - For this dinner, we each choose a burger (meat or veggie), and use a GF bun. It’s nice to do these in the air fryer to avoid making a mess on the stove, but you can of course use a saute pan, or grill outside if you’re lucky! We’re big fans of Ore-Ida frozen potato products (fries or tots), but if I have time I like to do some oven or air fryer sweet potato or russet potato fries. This way I can omit the oil for my husband. As always, we’ll round out the meal with something green, and a veggie/fruit side for the kiddos.

   

4. Thursday: Sheet Pan Night: This is as close to one pot I get these days, and it’s great. I make BBQ chicken tenders (just chicken and Bachan’s GF sauce), and place it on some parchment paper. I will also include spiced chickpeas, sans oil, and whatever veggies we have on hand to roast for about 30 minutes. This week is carrot and cauliflower. Typically this will use two sheets to allow proper spacing. If I don’t have a grain already made in the fridge, I’ll cook some rice or quinoa in the instant pot. Last but not least, mom and dad might get a small salad, and the kiddos get chopped fruit!

   
   To note: I used raw chicken tenders here, but you can certainly make this easier and just toss pre-made sausage or nuggets on the pan (or use any protein you like). I plan to riff on this a lot this spring and get my kids more interested in fish. I put it all in at 400 degrees and started monitoring for doneness at the 20-25 min mark. I can’t live without my meat thermometer.

   

5. Friday: Pizza/Frozen Food Night! Aka Mom’s favorite night of the week, after Taco Night :) My GF big kid looks forward to ‘pizza and a movie’ night, even though they don’t stay up late yet. My husband and picky kiddo don’t like the pizza, so usually my GF kiddo and I have that (I’ll add a salad to mine). Mr. Picky gets chicken nuggets and a side of fruit and vegetables, and maybe a yogurt. My husband will either make a vegan pizza with a plain Banza crust, or use up some leftovers from the week, paired with a salad. The great thing with taco night or sheet pan night is you can make extra to have leftovers. This is the easiest meal of the week and I love it!

   

Some of these meals are no revelation (like frozen pizza) but the ability to tweak each meal to everyones liking sure is. I realize some people are in the take-it-or-leave-it camp when it comes to serving dinner, and I respect that! But at this age, and given the various dietary restrictions going on, this is where we’re at and what works for our family. If you are also juggling GF eating, allergies, or any other restrictions, I hope the outline of these family dinners will be helpful to you. It may take a little more time, but everyone being happy with their meal at the end of the day feels like a huge win. IYKYK.

What meals have been working for your family? Does anyone have any hidden veggie recipes or favorite veggies sides their kids actually eat? We’re still trying to find more we like! Lmk in the comments. Happy GF cooking!