Travel with Just Your Taste Buds: 4 Foreign Meals to Make at Home

Cooking dinner every night can become a burdensome routine. You are exhausted from a long day of work and out of ideas for what to cook. Your kids are antsy, so hot dogs, tacos, and mac and cheese have been worn out since last month. If you’re tired of your repetitive menus, give your taste buds a new sensation by preparing an easy international dish.

Beef Stroganoff

Beef stroganoff is a creamy Russian dish sure to please. The classic Russian preparation is served with strips of tender beef tossed in a creamy sauce. Modernly, mushrooms or onions are often added to the recipe. The sauce and beef is served over thick egg noodles. For best results, prepare the dish in a cast-iron skillet.

Margherita Pizza

Hailing from Naples, Italy, this classic pizza dish is sure to be a lighter, fresher alternative to the same old pepperoni. The pizza is easy to make and only has a few simple toppings—tomatoes, mozzarella, and basil. Making a pizza is a fun activity for all family members. Kids that learn how to cook with their parents are more likely to adopt healthier eating habits. Homemade pizza is also a lot healthier than the greasy takeout.

French Onion Soup

French onion soup is an easy international soup that doesn’t require many ingredients and is a welcome change from chicken noodle. All you need are onions, broth, and a few spices and French baguette loaf slices and cheese to finish it off. You can also serve the French baguette to the side for soaking up all of those delicious morsels. If you are crunched for time, try cooking the soup in a crockpot through the day because the onions will take a long time to caramelize. The aroma of the sweet onions will fill your entire home, and you’ll get to come home to a bowl of hot soup on a cold day.

Jamaican Jerk Chicken

A spicy Jamaican jerk will give your chicken a taste of the tropics. Serve the chicken with rice and coleslaw to tame the heat. You may have to cook this dish several times to get it right, because the jerk is a process rather than just a simple marinade. Jerk is an amazing Jamaican tradition.

stu_spivack [CC BY-SA 2.0]

Cooking from different corners of the globe will excite your palate and your family. Remember that you may need practice before you master unfamiliar dishes from another country. Try having an international night once a week. Many recipes can be adapted to be kid-friendly, and you can use the meal to teach your kids a little bit about different cultures as well. You will soon become a well-versed chef in the comfort of your home.

Author Bio

Anita is a freelance writer from Denver, CO. She studied at Colorado State University, and now writes articles about health, business, family and finance. A mother of two, she enjoys traveling with her family whenever she isn’t writing. You can follow her on Twitter @anitaginsburg.