What do your kids like to eat for dinner?

[bisous]

Since I'm starting to cook just for kids, I'm looking for more variety in things that they eat and that they like.

My kids get excited about lots of stuff that just isn't the very most nutritious, although I try to use fresh ingredients, natural products, and cook from scratch where available. The stuff they like includes kid staples like chicken nuggets, pizza, quesadillas and hotdogs. I've convinced them to like a few more adventurous food items like pesto, orange chicken, and minestrone soup.

What do your kids like?

TIA!

[TwinFoxes]

Nothing. (ask me how dinner went tonight).

[barkley1]

My kids got all excited about a buffalo (yes! A little spicy!) chicken wrap the other night. Weird. I think it was bc it was wrap/burrito look and feel. Novelty maybe, but I'm going to look for other wrapped entrees now!

[MMMommy]

DDs love curry chicken over rice. Curry of any kind, so long as I make it mild and not spicy.

Skillet chicken is a hit with them as well - chicken drumsticks marinated in olive oil, the juice of two lemons, salt, pepper, and fresh garlic. Layer a cast iron pan with sliced potatoes and onions (salt and peppered), pour a little water over the potatoes, lay the chicken drums on top of the potatoes and bake in the oven. They love skillet chicken! I use this recipe as a base, but change the marinade and use all drumsticks.

http://www.people.com/people/article...743907,00.html

Fried rice is another popular dinner for the kids - ham or Chinese bbq pork, green onion, egg in the fried rice.

[Momit]

Turkey tetrazzini (I made it with Christmas leftover turkey and DS has been begging me to make it again, I might try it with leftovers from a rotisserie chicken and see how it goes over)
Crock pot lasagna
Hamburgers on the George Foreman grill
Soups like chicken noodle, split pea
Tuna melts
Aidell's sausage or kielbasa on the George Foreman
BBB salsa chicken

[rin]

Some of our sure-fire meals are: bean burritos, Mac n cheese, spaghetti n meatballs, and kind of pasta with red sauce and olives chopped in, fish sticks with tartar sauce or mayo and usually a side of sweet potato fries, most kinda of fish with a sauce (tonight they inhaled a miso-ginger salmon), seafood scampi, usually grilled chicken, quesadillas, salad with romaine lettuce (not baby or any other kind usually), turkey burgers with sweet potato fries, turkey meatloaf, very mild Texas chili with sour cream. They are typical preschooler/toddlers and occasionally just don't eat for whatever reason, but most of the above are pretty safe bets.

Eta: forgot sausages! They love the TJs ones; their favorites are the smoked Apple Chardonnay, the mild Italian, and the feta spinach ones. They also like the sweet chicken apple.

[bisous]

Cool ideas! Twinfoxes I have a lot of sympathy for you. I started this because I realized there are so many things that I make that the kids won't eat.

[twowhat?]

You mean in terms of healthy food? LOL. Very little.

However, both of my kids love avocado scooped straight out of the shell with a bit of salt.
DD2 LOVES roasted brussels sprouts. In fact tonight her dinner was half an avocado, applesauce, and a TON of brussels sprouts - like 2 adult servings. She walks into the house, smells them cooking, and GETS EXCITED. DD1 only likes the crispy roasted leaves.

CHEESE. Almost any kind of cheese! They love cheese so much it kind of makes me sick.

Roasted chickpeas. Both of them love these and they're healthy!

I honestly can't think of anything else healthy that they eat apart from fruit. And DD2 eats fruit while DD1 does not. Both girls eat VERY little veggies - DD2 will occasionally eat broccoli and DD1 will occasionally eat cauliflower. That's it. I make lots of smoothies in the summer where I can hide spinach in a smoothie with blueberries (blueberries hide the green color the best as long as the smoothie is fresh). I make leftovers into popsicles and will actually let them have a popsicle in lieu of a fruit/veggie for dinner.

Oh, I can think of something fairly healthy - fish. They like tilapia lightly breaded in panko bread crumbs and pan fried. But they only like this "crispy fish". They like chicken the same way ("crunchy chicken") - at least these can be made from scratch with wholesome ingredients.

[army_mom]

DD really likes thin boneless chicken breast or boneless pork chops seasoned with Penzey's spices (we rotate what type but I think she really like the ruth ann's spice and fox point). She also likes almost anything rolled and secured with a toothpick Cheese and eats a ton of it. Tacos (with ground turkey) in a bowl instead of the traditional shell.
Another favorite of her and DH is MIL recipe for stroganoff (ground beef based) and steak soup (also ground beef based).

We have been blessed with not such a picky eater and she has eaten SO much more this year since she goes to an in-home daycare/preschool where they always have to try new things. She comes home often and says I like this or that and is always asking to try new things off our plate!

We aren't really very adventurous

[specialp]

Excited about? Mac and cheese, chicken parmesan meatballs, turkey spinach meatballs, chicken sausage

Tolerate (80% chance will eat): tortilla pinwheel bites, crispy cheesy chicken, roasted sticky chicken fresh from the oven (not from the fridge the next day), a lasagna casserole (no noodles) made with ground beef and turkey sausage (I hide lots of veggies in this), and ground beef stroganoff. Breakfast for dinner is also well liked, but not without picky issues. For instance, I learned the hard way I can put spinach in scrambled eggs, but apparently it is junk on a plate if the same exact thing is in a quiche. Veggie wise, carrots, creamed spinach, and green beans made with olives, raisins, & almonds are my best bet without having to disguise them.

I do not make chicken pot pie, but my mother made it one time when we were visiting and that was well received.