Do they like salads, that might be something that you could fix.

Sue

How about some type of salad? You could make a traditional lettuce salad with cucumber, tomatoes and radishes or if you wanted to get a little fancier, Caesar salad with home made croutons is elegant. Other possibilities might be a coleslaw, pickled cucumber and red onion salad, mushrooms in a vinaigrette or a fruit salad.

With the noodles and the potatoes, I'd be looking for lighter sides to balance it out.

I started adding fruit in lettuce salads a few years ago and we love them. I'll use almost any fruit - but especially good are pears, roasted figs, pineapple, apple and orange segments. I make a simple vinaigrette of olive oil, mild vinegar (white balsamic or champagne), a bit of dijon and a pinch of salt. Add some candied nuts, chopped green or red onion, cucumber, grated carrot and/or shaved cheese (or crumbled goat cheese) or not. Doesn't seem like so much of a vegetable this way.

I love Dawn's idea of a mushroom vinaigrette. In addition to your green beans. Add a little dessert and you are good to go.

Family favorite and I always double, sometimes triple

Pineapple
Casserole

1 20 oz can pineapple chunks, drain, and reserve juice
3 Tbsp flour
1/4 cup melted butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup grated cheddar cheese (grate your own) Pre grated cheese doesn't melt
1/2 cup crushed Ritz crackers

Preheat
oven to 350

Combine
flour, sugar and 3 Tbsp pineapple juice. Stir in cheese and pineapple. Spoon
into greased casserole dish. Mix crackers with butter, and add to top of
mixture.
Bake 25 minutes or until
bubbly.

Can be prepared ahead of time, and top with crackers/butter before putting in oven

You have two starches, and they don't like veggies other than green beans. Then, green beans it is! Throw some almonds on them and call it a day.

I LOVE Glenda's casserole.

I would do green beans as well. If that's what the family likes. Go for it.

green beans with almonds and bacon.

How about a citrus fruit salad nestled in lettuce leaves? Fresh sections of oranges and grapefruit. Then you could green it up with slices of kiwi or avocado. Sprinkle red pomegranete seeds over it all for color or cherries. Use a nice vinegrette dressing, and if you are going to make it yourself, use some orange juice for one liquid in the dressing.

Coleslaw with cranberries.

I'd like to make a suggestion, but am taken aback that someone would serve mashed potatoes with noodles? Huh? I've seen chicken and noodles and creamed chicken over mashed potatoes, but never noodles and potatoes on the same plate. So, I'm wondering about it - maybe it's a misprint?

But to your question, I have good luck getting veggies into non veggie eaters by making a grated carrot salad. Sometimes with oranges and/or apples added, raisins if people like them, or pineapple if I have some. I dress it with a tiny bit of vanilla yogurt, sometimes thinned with a little orange juice (or not).

Phoggie, where do you live? Chicken & homemade noodles over mashed potatoes was one of my favorite dishes when I was a kid. I grew up in Indiana.

Canned corn? Doesn't everyone eat that? Lol!

Haha another starch, but okay!

Well, if someone else has eaten it, I guess it's not a misprint!

do the green beans and maybe a fruit salad, i make one with only oranges, pineapple and kiwi very simple and most people like it

Maybe it's a Midwest thing? I've never heard of it either but as a carb-lover I'm sure it's good!

It is wide spread over the Midwest. I too born and lived all of my life in Indiana. Still find them all over the place here, nothing better if using homemade ingredients, just salt and pepper to season them with. My mother was Polish and she made Kluski, the dough cut into wide strips after being rolled out, stacked and then cut into the fine noodles. On my Dad's side, German and Scottish and other, so we always had noodles with chicken and mashed potatoes. Maybe sometime you will get to try them. Using store bought is not the best tasting, but not too bad, if they do not add a bunch of other ingredients. Of course it has pieces of chicken added to it too. Hope this helps.

Sue in Central Indiana

Pistachio fluff always is a hit. 1 container cool whip, 1 small box Pistachio pudding, I bag of small marshmallows, 1 can crush (drained) pineapple and walnuts. mix well and chill.

https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/corn-bread-casserole

I would make the green beans the way they like them and I'd add a surprise strawberry spinach salad because its the right color for Christmas and would add something new and different and fresh and bright. They might not like it, but then again, they just might! And if there is a lot left over, its not bad if its a bit wilted the next day.

Spinach and Strawberry Salad

1K made it | 1226 reviews

Recipe by:JerJer"My family loves this all year round if we can find strawberries. Even the grandchildren love this salad. Quick and easy

2 bunches spinach, rinsed and torn into bite-size pieces

4 cups sliced strawberries

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/4 cup white wine vinegar

1/2 cup white sugar

1/4 teaspoon paprika

2 tablespoons sesame seeds

1 tablespoon poppy seeds

In a large bowl, toss together the spinach and strawberries.In a medium bowl, whisk together the oil, vinegar, sugar, paprika, sesame seeds, and poppy seeds. Pour over the spinach and strawberries, and toss to coat.

Yes, we live in the mid-west.. Kansas! Just about everyone in our area loves chicken & noodles over mashed potatoes! Try it , it is good! I live in an area where there are many Amish and they make them to sell and they are always good.

Them is stick to your rib foods. A green salad will cut it in the summer for a meal, but not in the winter. Even in winter the salads are heartier, potato salads etc. Meals in winter are heavier. Especially if you work outside in the cold. Your body burns more calories in the cold and you need stick to your rib foods to keep your body heat generated. At one time all you had is what you were able to keep stored for the winter in your fruit cellar. Most of that was root crops such as potatoes.

I'm sorry, but chicken and noodles over mashed potatoes is not something I'd ever consider eating - that is just way too much starch and carbohydrates for me. And a fresh green salad is a year round meal accompaniment in my book - I have one 3 or 4 times a week, even in winter.

'Stick to your ribs' food is fine but that is 'stick to your belly and hips and arteries' food and is just not very healthy. Soup or beef stew are hearty as well and would have the same effect. Maybe every once and awhile or on special occasions. But it is still nothing I would choose to eat if there were any other options.

I don't see it much different than stew with potatoes with dumplings or bread. Roast with potatoes with popovers for another.

Oh yeah chicken and mashed potatoes. We usually have the noodles on the side, then all of it covered with gravy, mmmmmmm.

Anyhow, Glenda's pineapple casserole is delish!! Do they like any other veges, like maybe carrots, steamed w/butter, salt and pepper or glazed? Heck how about celery with peanut butter?

I make a dessert that is light and fruity and my kids will eat it. My kids don't eat a lot of junk (how did that happen!?!?)

Pineapple Pudding Dessert

1 sm. box instant vanilla pudding

1 20-oz can crushed pineapple

2 sm. cans mandarin oranges - drained

1 8-oz tub Cool Whip

Combine cool whip and dry pudding mix, mix well.

Add pineapple, juice and all, mix.

Add orange segments.

That's it. Easy peasy. You can put orange segments on top to garnish. Or add any fruit you want. You can buy sugar free pudding mix and light cool whip, etc.

Christmas is a really special occasion and I think the choice of a special dish of chicken and noodles and mashed potatoes is a sweet and thoughtful one to make the family happy, I know it would make me smile. Nobody would force you to eat it, Gardengal :)

LOL!! I am quite aware of that and if it is a favored dish, by all means enjoy. It would just not be a favored dish in my household or among my family. We eat a lot leaner than that. And nothing that involves either Cool Whip or a pudding mix. These are just not west coast sorts of dishes or ingredients.

My parents went out of their way to present me with a broad introduction to foods, during my childhood years in NYC. I am grateful for that, because I appreciate many kinds of foods.

This year, I'm taking stuff over to my son's house for Christmas. I'm thinking of Glenda's pineapple casserole. I wish I could make good home made noodles because I think the chicken noodle/mashed potatoes would be worthy of a Christmas dinner.

The improvement of the beef stew is in the incorporation of all of the vegetables. I love chicken and noodles and I love mashed potatoes, but not together. But if I were served these delicious foods, I would hope that I would have the option of filling most of my plate with simple, plainly cooked vegetables and/or crunchy, leafy salad.

Phoggie -- I, too, live in Kansas and chicken and noodles over mashed potatoes are NOT a thing in my part of Kansas/Missouri! Chicken and noodles, yes, but not OVER mashed potatoes.

Phoggie, one vegetable side that many have talked about in the KT is roasted Brussels sprouts. Several have said that even their picky children like them! Most who say that they've never liked this vegetable, feel differently about them when roasted.

I love the pineapple casserole and also a sweet potato casserole is good. check out these recipes HOLIDAY RECIPES

Rhizo, I tried the Brussel Sprouts last year because so many on here were raving about them...it was "never again" column.

I have never had the chicken/noodle/mashed potato combination, but I sure would be willing to try it! sounds yummy to me.

My DMIL was from the midwest and I found her cooking to be white,bland and boring. I want texture, color and taste to be part of any meal.

Seems that many of the suggestions other than the salads are in the yellow/white,beige range of color. I would find this so unappetizing no matter how the food tasted. I would serve a bright cheerful salad with this and I would be sure to plate the chicken and noodles on a colorful plate. Please, please not white or yellow plates. I say this as someone who loves white plates but I use color in my meals so the white is my background.

Nice winter salad using red apples,cranberries and/or grapes,mandarin oranges, almonds etc. and greens with a nice vinaigrette based dressing (preferably "Asian" with the fruits) would be my choice. Or if making cole slaw use red and green cabbage. Go wild. Add nuts, cranberries and a nice peanut sauce. Step away from the neutrals. Get the kids eating vegetables with a tray of fresh colorful veggies and dips. If all you are fixing is boiled green beans no wonder the family doesn't like vegetables.

I think since it is a special occasion, Christmas, you should fix just whatever you want and enjoy it and your company.

Sue

Sue, I would dearly love to sample those noodles of yours. You are right, of course, enjoying friends and family is the most important thing.

How about a green jello mold with cranberry relish, celery and pecans mixed in? Or whatever mixture you like.

We recently went to a local saloon for dinner and the special was chicken and homemade noodles over mashed potatoes. It was a hit with the customers. I had a burger. Husband had the special. He didn't love it but said it was OK. He's more used to chicken and dumplings, not that I've ever made that. His mother did.

I've never liked dumplings (Mother used to make them) but love matzo balls cooked in a rich chicken soup.