Easy kid friendly meals

Due to a family illness it looks like I may have my nieces and nephew quite often over the next couple of months. The girls are 5 and 3, and their baby brother will be turning 2 in August. As I discovered a long time ago, cooking with three little ones running around can be tough! I'm looking for easy prep, kid friendly meals that I can make when I have them over. The oldest detests most vegetables, though I have been able to sneak them in a couple of different ways such as broccoli casserole or raw veggies with a low fat ranch dip. The middle child loves vegetables, I have to order extra vegetables whenever we go out to eat as she ignores her "kid's meal" and ends up sitting on my lap taking all of mine (that's my girl! ) The baby will eat anything, and I mean ANYTHING...healthy recipes and snacks would be great as he will eat more than his older sisters and on one or two occasions has put away more than me! Any suggestions would be great, thanks!

kids love cheeseburgers! if you're hellbent on healthy, use bison and lowfat cheese. you can let the kiddos play in the yard while you grill. eat outside on the patio with paper plates and that solves the cleanup problem as well.

buy some jarred marinara and have spaghetti. brown some ground chuck to stir in if you want. goes great with a simple salad. i remember mom fixing it for us at least once a week growing up. my brothers were very picky and they scarfed it down.

wraps are great for kids too. they can make their own and include whichever ingredients they like. you can use leftover cooked chicken, tuna salad, deli meats, taco or fajita filling...anything. set out some cheese, lettuce, maybe some veggies and some condiments and let them add what they want. make wraps in flour tortillas or stuff everything into a pita pocket. i like this idea because it gets the kids involved in the preparation of the meal.

this one's not so healthy...buy a roasted chicken from kroger and use the meat in a some penne with cheese sauce. begin cooking your pasta. a few minutes before the pasta's done, melt a few TBS butter in a wide pan and then add a cup or so of whole milk or half and half. barely bring it to a boil then turn down to a simmer for about two minutes. make sure to add some salt and pepper. drain the pasta and add it to the sauce. stir to combine and then add shredded cheese. i like parmesan but you can use whatever you like. keep adding in cheese and stirring until it's as cheesy as you want it. sneak in some broccoli or peas, etc.

Another easy one is what I call "Grilled Cheese Pizza"

Take your white bread and schemer a little spaghetti sauce from the jar on the bread and use sliced provolone and some pepperoni and cook in the same way you would make a grilled cheese! Kid's love it!

Also good for those nights when you've been out drinking and you have hungry house guests that may have followed you home!

One thought might be the Frittata ,the ever versatile Italian omelette.There is alot of good farmers market produce out now that would be great in a frittata. To tweak Dans idea a little bit I would suggest using a baguette from Blue Dog and Lotsa Pasta marinara.

I'm with Jessie... interactive meals always go over well with the little ones. Bars- tacos, baked potatoes, chilli, pizzas aren't just fun for the kids, either. I am always entertained watching my nieces' choices. For instance, Addie Mae will try to put 2 pounds of cheese on a cracker, tee-hee! Quite the mess, yet quite the memories.

I get them to eat veggies by adding sugar or chopping them so fine they can no longer tell they are veggies and adding them to meatloafs, burgers or stuffing chicken with cheese and veg mix.