"Dinner ideas needed that my family will eat too!"

If you have a kid that is willing to eat everything, then you are very lucky, and I'm jealous of you.
I've tried the whole, "when he gets hungry enough, he'll eat" route and it just doesn't work for everyone.
Not that I support feeding your kids junk, but "diet" food just isn't going to cut it for a 3 year old.

I can see both sides to this issue. My bf is open to great healthy foods and loves how I cook, so we have little issue. My parents however, my mom uses cheap ingredients and doesn't always understand how to cook things well - like over cooked green beans slathered in butter. And my stepdad is crazy picky...vegetable is pretty much a 4 letter word to him.

I also think there is another issue that goes along with some of the "diet" meals - they aren't always real food and tasty. There's often recipes that use nasty substitutes (Hungry Girl recipes come to mind with fat free cheese, seriously she must not actually taste her food!) instead of healthy real foods. Plus, I think some people simply don't know how to cook.

Anyway, I agree with the basic assumption of the post, OP, we should be sharing healthy great foods with our families. By doing local organic foods, my brother has finally picked up on what good things there are out there. He even conviced our mom to get a basket from a local farm...so you can make an impact.

Yes I totally agree! And as a mother of 2 children who once were 3, one being an extremely picky eater I can say they will eat when they are hungry! I do not cook special for anyone! We all eat the same whole and healthy foods.

The ones that really bug me....is what should I get at "fill in fast food place" because I always feed my kids that. Or I have to keep "insert something like crappy cereal bars or cookies here" in the house as treats for my kids lunch. Uhm a treat to my kids is definately not part of lunch and treats are permitted, but they are a treat so they are gone out of the house to get...ie an ice cream at the parlour or a bag of chips from the store once in a while.

Why would you care about being healthy and still feed your kids crap....burns my *kitten*!!!!!

"diet" food just isn't going to cut it for a 3 year old.

Why not? Grilled fish, chicken, shellfish and veggies (steamed brocolli, carrots with a little ranch dressing, lettuce/salad, tomatoes - heck, even canned green beans are better than nothing). Find what they do like that's healthy and make it a regular occurance at the dinner table.

My son isn't fond of chicken, but he'll eat it. Because his choice is to eat it or not. There's nothing else if he chooses not to eat it.

The job of a 3 year old is to test/learn boundaries. If they're putting up a fight, the parent needs to fight just a bit harder to do what is right for the child. It's not easy - but no one ever said being a parent was always easy (or fun).

. My son wouldn't eat any kind of meat for 3 years.... which was weird b/c as a baby he loved meat.

My son is the same way! He won't eat meat, and he will love something one day and then decide he doesn't like it. But we manage. Actually he will eat turkey burgers and homemade chicken strips but that is it. Oh and he will not eat cooked vegetables either, he will eat any kind of raw veggie though.

I think it depends greatly on the child. I have a 15 year old that is high functioning autistic. If told that he could not eat unless he ate what was served and he didn't like it, the child just won't eat. For days. THAT is not healthy. But I refuse to not eat foods that he doesn't like, so we compromise. He can eat something other than what is served for dinner but only after he has tried it at least once. He is old enough to cook his own though. My 1 year old, on the other hand, will eat anything she can get into her mouth. The girl just loves food. Wish I had her metabolism though.

serve vegetable soup. i always loved that as a kid. 1 family sized can of tomato soup mixed with two cups of water. then three cans of mixed vegetables. then microwave one pound of lean turkey in three cups of water. then drain it out. mix it together and serve it. i alwasy loved it

Sorry I am in the "nothing else so eat up or go hungry"camp.

I have to girls of 4 & 2 and the youngest one eats anything (but we now found she can't have fresh tomatoes but is ok with cooked)
eldest is a little wary of mushrooms bcause it was the last thing she ate before coming down with a d&v bug, she still gets them mixed in to dishes, but I don't put them on her plate as a portion.
We also do not have pudding/desert everynight, much to her disgust - she is borderline underweight, so she does need to eat small meals, but I try to give her fruit and vegiges to nibble on, so she isn't taught bad habits for when she is older.

I had both of them fighting over brussell sprouts a few months ago, dd2 had stolen them off her sisters plate and eaten them while she got distracted. Daddy ended up giving his to her to stop her being so upset!

We also have a "no thank you" rule too, I don't like peas or beans very much but I have one tablespoon of them on my plate when I cook them, and hubby does the same with sweetcorn, and the girls do the same, anything they say they don't like they set a small amount which they are expected to eat - I do find with my eldest it is a faddy thing possibly because of other peoples reactions at school where they have a cooked meal.

They both still have chocolate in the fridge from easter last year!, I let them eat an egg on Sunday evening, they ate some of it and put over half of it away in the fridge, the next night they had some more but still haven't finished the first egg - only another 8 each to go! The only rule we have with regard to chocolate is never before lunch.

Seems to work well for us.

Amen!!

To each his own. Don't get all judgemental.
And, please don't assume that I feed my kid junk - I don't feed him burgers, tater tots, pizza bites, hot dogs, etc.
However, if the only way I can get him to eat meat or veggies is by mixing it in with pasta then that is what I do.

I am highly against the whole, only eat what I serve motto, because that was the rule in my house when I was growing up. I often went hungry, since I was a picky eater too. I ended up being anemic by the time I was 10.
Then when I started earning my own $ I couldn't get enough of the foods that weren't around in my house, which turned into a weight issue for me, until I learned moderation.
I don't want my child following my footsteps in that respect. There is a happy medium that can be reached with the healthy foods I eat versus what I feed my kids.

If it's something new I have my kids at least try it, usually they discover it's good...lol If they don't like it they don't have to eat it, but they have to fix what they want (with in reason) themselves. Sometimes I will fix them something similar to what we are eating, but a bit more kid friendly.