Dinner Time Battles

Breakfast and lunch time are a non-event at our house. The kids willingly sit down and eat; there are rarely protests and it's generally quite pleasant. Dinner time, on the other hand, is the opposite of what I'd consider pleasant. It goes something like this:

"Camden, it's dinner time. Go sit in your seat, please."

[Camden continues playing or watching TV; he has become the victim of selective hearing.]

"Camden, go to the dinner table. It's time to eat."

The second request is typically met with some loud sighs and groans, and a very slow and sluggish walk to the table. He then surveys his plate, says some kind of variation of, "Yuck", and then the negotiations begin: "I will eat ___ but not ____." (Fill in two items from his plate; there's no real rhyme or reason to his selection.)

For the next twenty minutes, I have to constantly remind him to keep taking bites and we almost always end the meal the same way: anything green (think peas, green beans, etc.) are left sitting on his plate. I count out a certain number of bites for him and he begrudgingly (and very slowly) eats the green item in question.

For these reasons, I often end up making two dinners each night: one for Camden and Macey, and one for Matt and me. I know, I know-- there are many people out there that would never do such a thing. I've heard all of the arguments: "I'm not a short-order cook!", "If they don't what I cook, they don't eat", "They will grow up to be picky eaters if you don't make them eat what you eat", and on and on. And I don't necessarily disagree, but I'll be honest: this is just not my hill to die on when it comes to parenting issues. I'd rather my kids eat something healthy of their liking, even if it's not what Matt and I are eating, than not eat at all. Maybe I'd feel differently if I made babies whose weight hovered in the 90th percentiles instead of the 10 percentile range, but probably not. I can recall a time period when we had mashed potatoes with dinner almost every single night of the week because that's all my two-year-old brother wanted to eat. He's now one of the most adventurous eaters I know; he will try anything and everything. Kids can (and usually do) grow out of these phases.

However, this doesn't mean I'm finding dinner time particularly enjoyable at the moment. I'd like Camden to enjoy dinner the way he enjoys eating breakfast and lunch. I'd like to sit at the dinner table without negotiating. And I'd love to cook only one meal per night if possible.

So, I ask-- what kid-friendly meals do you make regularly? What are your children's favorites? Bonus points if these meals have hidden veggies in them!