Cheap, easy and nutricious food for kids!

As a single mother for years, I had to feed my kids on a tight budget. I had my kids before child support was a percentage of the other parent's salary. I got what we agreed to which was $275 a month for 3 kids and I didn't get that as often as I should have.

But, I always kept those kids well fed. I learned to cook many dishes that the kids liked and that were good for them. As a working mother, I also had to cook easy, quick dinners as well as nutritious dinners. These recipes fit the bill just fine.

All but the pickiest of children will like these recipes. If you have any economical recipes that are easy to prepare and tasty for the kids as well as nutritious, please feel free to post them in the comments below this post.

Easy Tuna Casserole

1- box of macaroni and cheese (prepared)
3/4- can of peas
1- 6 ounce can of tuna fish (drained of water or oil and then flaked with a fork)

Prepare the macaroni and cheese as directed on the box. Then, stir in the tuna and the peas. Mix well in the serving pan or bowl and serve just like that!

You could also sprinkle a bit of cheese on top of the casserole, or even some crushed potato chips. If your kids like tomatoes, dice a few and throw them in. You can personalize this easy dish for your family. It won't take anymore than a half an hour to make and the kids will love it!

I have to go to a meeting for work right now but later on, I'll add a couple of other quick kids recipes.

Grandma's Simple Southern Sausage Gravy

I know this blog is called "What's For Dinner" but occasionally I will post a breakfast recipe or heck, even a lunch recipe. I used to love breakfast for dinner so maybe this will be a dinner recipe. Whatever you call it, it sure is good. I used to watch my grandmother cook and I learned so much from that.

One of the best recipes that she ever taught me was something that I never saw growing up in Chicago...it was sausage gravy that you pour over biscuits. Of course, you can always pour it over toast, but down in the South, they use biscuits.

I have used this sauce as an Eggs Benedict sauce as well, pouring it over English Muffins, fried eggs and a slice of ham or a sausage patty. This recipe is very simple, don't make it tough on yourself. One pound of sausage will make enough gravy for 4-6 people, depending on how much they eat.

1 lb. pork breakfast sausage
3 heaping tblsp. of flour
About two coups of milk added slowly

First, fry the pound of sausage in a frying pan, crumbled up. Leave the fat in the pan when you're done. Once the meat is cooked all the way through, add the flour and stir it up until it's dissolved. Then, add the milk, a quarter cup at a time, stirring it into the flour/sausage mixture. Let it simmer until it's at the consistency that you like and then season with a bit of salt and pepper. It doesn't need much seasoning because the sausage is usually seasoned itself. But, a bit is always good.

Be sure that you don't use hot sausage, mild works the best.

Pour the sausage gravy over biscuits, toast or English Muffins and serve alone or with eggs. I fry an egg and put it on top of the gravy but you don't have to do that. This is a meal in itself and quite filling. I wouldn't want to serve it everyday, but a nice weekend morning is a great time for this meal. A true man's favorite, all of my husband's like this meal!

Meg Kelso