What young people really like to eat

Working parents spend a lot of time trying to figure out what to serve their kids, but if you ask a group of young people what they’d like to eat, the answers might surprise you.

Last weekend, I chaperoned a group of 12-to-13-year-old girls from different schools, one of who was my daughter. I annoyed them (I’m told) by asking them to tell me one homemade dish that they really enjoyed and wouldn’t mind seeing repeated. I wanted to know what other families were successfully serving up, and I wanted to hear it from the kids’ mouths.

A few answers weren’t surprising. Three girls said tacos—the standard, ground beef sort with all the trimmings. But one offered up flank steak tacos with grilled scallions and homemade Pico de Gallo as her favorite meal, proving that variations on a theme can work well. Two girls said they loved the beef Stroganoff that each of their moms had recently made, and two more said they liked making homemade pizza.

• Smothered pork chops and rice
• “Homemade Cane’s”: breaded chicken fingers baked or pan-fried served with mock Cane’s dipping sauce (ketchup, mayo, garlic salt and Worcestershire)
• Chicken pot pie in puff pastry
• Brisket with mashed potatoes
• Chicken and sausage gumbo
• Chicken and sausage jambalaya with coleslaw
• Spaghetti and meatballs

The beauty of all these dishes is their versatility. They can all be confected from the hip, and most don’t require a ton of ingredients. Spaghetti and meatballs is one of my favorites because it can be made from pantry and freezer staples, enabling me to actually put it together without running to the store. My sauce is made from canned whole tomatoes run through the food processor and cooked down with nothing more than fresh, chopped garlic, dried oregano and salt and pepper. The meatballs rely on ground beef, grated fresh Parmesan, an egg, breadcrumbs, chopped parsley, and salt and pepper. To cut down on grease, I bake them until firm, then throw them in the pot with the sauce before serving.