Inspiration for Childrens Dinners!

Sometimes being so busy I lose inspiration for cooking, seems like I do the same things over and over, with 2 kids (3 and 1), I have to make it quite simple and fast!,
There favourites are
Spanish rice (tomatoes, rice and sausage)
Shepards Pie
Anything with pasta and cheese
BBQ Chicken

Any ideas, what do your kids love?

My daughter has a few fav's
Mushroom soup and rice.  All you have to do is make good cream of mushroom soup from the can with milk instead of water, after it's done, just pop in one can full of instant rice and let it sit for 5 minutes.  The rice absorbs the soup and it's really filling/yummy.  She loves it.

If you can find crescent rolls, the pop-n-fresh sort, that the dough is in a can and you pop it open and lay them out to bake, you can make a yummy one that kids love.  Just take the crescent roll dough and roll a hot dog up inside it, then pop in the oven until the dough is baked through.  Paige loves her with cheese added inside.

Meatballs are always a hit with her too.  I just buy frozen meatballs instead of making my own, its so much faster and no mess, pop them into the crock pot with spaghetti/bolognase sauce and let her munch on them by themselves or make her a mini-meatball sub with rolls if i have them.

I'll have a think and post some more.  I've had to find things really quick to cook that picky eaters don't mind as i work until dinner and have no time to cook.

Quesadillas and pasta with tomato and cheese are big around here. In fact anything with cheese!

meatballs
spaghetti
mac & cheese
Anything with chicken and mashed potatoes
Bangers and mash
Tacos
Sloppy Joes
Stew (you can hide anything in stew) 
Grilled Cheese Sandwiches
Carrot sticks
Celery sticks with peanut butter
Tuna melts
Chicken Noodle Soup

And the perenial favourite Dog Food and Worms (my standard answer when they say "What's for dinner?")

If you can find crescent rolls, the pop-n-fresh sort, that the dough is in a can and you pop it open and lay them out to bake, you can make a yummy one that kids love.  Just take the crescent roll dough and roll a hot dog up inside it, then pop in the oven until the dough is baked through.  Paige loves her with cheese added inside.

Piggies in a blanket!  That was one of my gran's specialities, but she made her own bread dough for them.

Ideas compliments of MIL & DH's childhood memories:

Bangers & mash hedgehogs -- you make a hedgehog on the plate using a mound of mash for the body, cut up the sausages & stick upright into the mound of mash = the hedgehog's spines.  Use green peas for eyes & peas around for the grass.  We made these for our friends' children & they *loved* it!

Fish finger trains -- the fish fingers are the carriages of the train, use sliced carrots for the wheels, little clouds of mash for the steam.  You could be creative with other veg to decorate them further, I suppose.

DH's mum also used to make him milk-jelly bunnies using some kind of pink/red jelly (jello) and with bunny molds (which we now own!).  She would also do green jelly cubes for grass that the bunny sat in.  If you could get mini-marshmallows (or maybe other candy?) & do tails, eyes, or whatever.

I don't have kids, but I have an idea. I remember making little pizzas out of english muffins (American kind), pasta sauce and grated cheese. They were quick and easy to make and so tasty.

Thanks for all the great ideas!  I will be using them!  Never even thought of making food look like a train or something!  Thanks to all...

I don't have kids, but I have an idea. I remember making little pizzas out of english muffins (American kind), pasta sauce and grated cheese. They were quick and easy to make and so tasty.

Oh we used to make these too, we'd get the little pepperoni slices to put on them too.  They were so good and so easy!!

My gram used to make us refrigerator cookes too, sort of a cheat.  You take graham crackers and put cake frosting on them and then another graham cracker so you have a sandwich and then put them in the fridge or freezer for a bit until they get cold.  As a kid we loved these!

Great post! I'm always searching for new ideas for my little ones (3 & 1 also) & I know their diet would be very different if we lived in the States! I do have to say that I try to avoid anything with tomatoes at all costs b/c of the mess & they tend to totally ruin their clothes!

I think jacket potatoes with different fillings are great - you can use baked beans, tuna, cheese, broccoli & cheese.  Avoid books by Annabel karmel because her recipes take AGES! If I use any, I'll compromise & use what I have & take shortcuts where possible.  Lorraine Kelly's book is easier & I find I like to read it when the kids are asleep & jot down quick food ideas then & have them to hand when 4pm comes the next day & I'm exhausted!

Great post! I'm always searching for new ideas for my little ones (3 & 1 also) & I know their diet would be very different if we lived in the States! I do have to say that I try to avoid anything with tomatoes at all costs b/c of the mess & they tend to totally ruin their clothes!

I think jacket potatoes with different fillings are great - you can use baked beans, tuna, cheese, broccoli & cheese.  Avoid books by Annabel karmel because her recipes take AGES! If I use any, I'll compromise & use what I have & take shortcuts where possible.  Lorraine Kelly's book is easier & I find I like to read it when the kids are asleep & jot down quick food ideas then & have them to hand when 4pm comes the next day & I'm exhausted!

This reminded me of another idea.  If your little ones are old enough, you can do a sort of potatoe bar.  Just bake a load of jacket potatoes and then put the fixings in little bowls and let them dress them up themselves.  Anytime the kids get to be involved in preparing their own meal they usually will eat better.  It works great for tacos or the mini-pizzas too.

Like the baked potato ideas, I do have another recipe
BBQ Cups
If you can find them, use biscuits in a can, push them into a muffin pan to make a cup shape, then cook some ground beef and BBQ sauce, pop it into the biscuits, top with cheese and bake.  Very good, kids loved them and you could use lots of different toppings.  Do you get canned biscuits over there?   

Do you get canned biscuits over there?   

Nope.
We can sometimes find the croissants in a can, though.

Nope.
We can sometimes find the croissants in a can, though.

I can't understand why someone over here doesn't make them b/c they seem to be soo useful & easy!

Biscuits are actually very easy to make from scratch.