Here's my favorite make-ahead-of-time food that my kid is guaranteed to eat. It looks like a lot of work, but it's really not.

Macaroni and cheese (adapted from epicurious.com):

For topping
50 g unsalted butter
2 cups panko (coarse Japanese bread crumbs) or bread crumbs
100 grams coarsely grated Cheddar (I buy it in the coop in blocks)
40 grams grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

For macaroni and sauce
100 grams unsalted butter
6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 liter whole milk
400 grams coarsely grated extra-sharp Cheddar
40 grams grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
450 grams elbow macaroni

Make topping:
Preheat oven to 205 C with rack in middle.
Melt butter, then stir together with panko and topping cheeses in a bowl until combined well.

Make sauce:
Melt butter in a heavy medium saucepan over medium-low heat and stir in flour. Cook roux, stirring, 3 minutes, then whisk in milk. Bring sauce to a boil, whisking constantly or not really if you're busy, then simmer, whisking occasionally, 3 minutes or until it gets frothy. Stir in cheeses, 2 teaspoons salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper until smooth. Remove from heat.

Make Macaroni:
Cook macaroni in a pasta pot of boiling salted water about 1-2 minutes less than it says to. Reserve 1 cup cooking water and drain macaroni in a colander. Stir together macaroni, reserved cooking water, and sauce in a large bowl. Transfer to two shallow baking dishes.
Sprinkle topping evenly over macaroni and bake until golden and bubbling, 20 to 25 minutes.

notes: topping can be made ahead. Actually, the whole thing can be made ahead, then throw half in the fridge and freeze the other half in a baking dish (I even freeze the topping, in a separate bag), then throw it in the oven, covered, wait until it's just starting to bubble, and add the topping and bake the rest of the way. It's about 35 minutes in the oven from the fridge, 45 from the freezer.

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Coop might call it Cheddar . . .

Yeah, but for mac and cheese, it wasn't bad. I have also made this with a sharp cheddar from the british cheese center in the viadukt market, and it was excellent! I did it as a kids' dish for Thanksgiving and all the adults ate it too!

Here's another one we do often: pasta with "homemade tomato sauce"

three cans of tomatoes (not the huge ones, the smaller size), simmer in a pan until reduced by about 30-50%

in a separate small pot, put in 8 cloves of garlic (more or less) that you've peeled and smashed a bit, a package of basil (stems and all) and olive oil to cover. Simmer on low until the tomatoes are done. Add olive oil ONLY to the tomatoes.

Boil some fresh pasta and add the sauce. If you're feeling all chef-y, "finish" the pasta in the pan (meaning you finish the cooking there, the last 30 seconds or so with the sauce, which supposedly infuses the pasta with the sauce and tastes better).

It's easy, and surprisingly better than packaged tomato sauce. Plus it makes you feel all accomplished when really you've only opened a can and boiled water

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Yeah . . . it's the sharpness I'd be mainly concerned with for mac and cheese.

Some Swiss cheeses work very well for it too . . . have a go with some Vacherin Fribourgeois.

OK, here's my super easy, zero effort, amazing tomato soup.

take 6 or so tomatoes (riper is better). Cut into quarters and put in roasting tray (whatever tray you want really). Take 4 onions, peel and quarter, put into tray as well. Put head of garlic, whole, into tray. Put a few large lugs of olive oil, grab everything and pull around tray until well coated. Roast at 180C ish until everything looks a bit roasty.

Take out. Cool a little and take head of garlic and slice and squeeze to get the soft garlicky paste out. Add salt, pepper and basil leaves (whole). Put in blender until smooth. Done.

fancy home made bread and hummus in 10 minutes, start to finish?

hummus:

In blender put one can of drained chickpeas, one tablespoon tahina, juice of one whole lemon, tsp salt, tsp cumin powder, two tablespoons olive oil. Blend until smooth.

bread:

take flour of choice, mix with very slightly warm tap water and a bit of salt and a quarter teaspoon of baking powder until you get a dough (mix with your hands for 3 minutes. Heat frying pan with a very little olive oil, on low heat. put dough, 1 cm thick, in frying pan and cook for 6 minutes on the first side, 3.5 minutes on the second.

Freshly baked bread and hummus. Yum.

Where does one find tahina?

Tom

Actually, that's why I don't go to restaurants much (unless I'm in Alsace, got my favorites there, know some good ones in Oslo, too).

I usually only go to places that make things I don't, or make things better than I do (not many), or because I have to (i.e. not at home, though I have made dinner in hotel rooms when tired of going to restaurants, beef or fish tartar or carpaccio, for example).

Tom

Jelmoli or Globus. You can probably get it in "ethnic" shops but honestly, it pretty much lasts forever (I could probably get 15 kilos of hummus from a large jar of tahina) so the price doesn't phase me.

What's it called in 'Swiss'?

Or could I just make some by grinding up sesame seeds?

Tom

No translation.

Get a few cups of sesame seeds. Toast in oven for 10 minutes, lightly - shaking often so they do not brown. Put in food processor with good amount of olive oil. Blend until very smooth. Goal is to get a thick/pourable consistency like honey so add oil until you get that. Put into jam jar, cover with a layer of oil and it'll keep in the fridge for 4 to 6 months or so.

I bought tahina in Globus and made hummous with a recipe very similar to the one you have written out and it was foul But the tahina was weird .. really really gloopy and actually not very much taste at all ... but I didn't put in cumin powder ... can that have made all the difference??? also hummous I've eaten before is a bit garlicky .. should that come from the tahina or am I wrong and there is none?

Help. Homemade hummous is a brilliant idea for a quick and easy snack but I was so disappointed with the results ...

For one can of chickpeas, a quarter of a clove of raw garlic can be added, or a clove of garlic that's been boiled for 5 minutes.

How much Tahina did you use? If too much (probably) it will taste a little like peanut butter and be pretty disgusting. Try starting with a teaspoon, blending, and adding to taste. Cumin gives a wonderful smoky, meaty flavour but your hummus will be fine without. Thin your hummus out even more by reserving a tablespoon of water from the chickpea can and adding to the mix.

Thanks! I'll give it a go but I'll have to go buy another jar of tahina as I threw the last lot out in disgust!!

The tahina was almost certainly fine - it's meant to be gloopy and thick - just go very easy on it.

Tahini is also available in your local Reformhaus (sesampaste)!

But, DON'T get the tahini from your local coop (if they have it), it has frischkäse (fresh cheese, kind of like cream cheese) in it. Ugh. My daughter loves it. But she's two years old.

Yes it is quite good - a friend bought it for my OH. Called The Swiss Cookbook (not very imaginative- but hey it's Swiss) - with typical recipes from each Swiss region.

Usually I use U Tube for recipes.
I search by ingredient or name of a good chef.
I find the videos very useful.
Hope that will help you!

Thanks to everyone, bit more of a response that I bargained for. I will definitely try and put some of the tips and suggestions here to the test. Otherwise frozen pizzas and pasta will continue to be the backup.