This article originally appeared in Cooking Light.
For parents, 2020 may be the longest year on record. The global coronavirus pandemic has completely altered parenting, forcing moms and dads to simultaneously take on the roles of employee, teacher, 24/7 entertainer, and cook. That is not an easy transition from what we until recently considered to be the "norm." So before we get any further, cheers to each and everyone of you out there fulfilling all of these roles with aplomb.
That being said, months of feeding kids at home has for many resulted in exhaustion and a dearth of kitchen creativity. After all, there are only so many meals a picky eater is willing to consider, and parents around the country are surely developing nervous tics each time their kid says they want chicken tenders...again. How, then, do parental units keep feeding their kids while ensuring a) what they're cooking is healthy, b) the kids will enjoy the meals, and c) so will they?