Some tasty recipes that your kids actually liked

I don’t know about you, but predicting my children’s culinary tastes from day to day is a nearly impossible task that often ends in tears. (Mine or theirs.) Those granola bars they loved last week that I bought in bulk? They hate them now. The same goes for the Bolognese I made several batches of and then froze for quick weeknight dinners I thought they’d happily gobble up. Joke’s on me. “It’s repulsive,” said my 9-year old, as she scraped the sauce from the noodles and ate — you guessed it — just the noodles.

This list of dishes includes some that my daughters have eaten and loved, others that I plan to make. So in sharing it to you, I do so with a hopeful heart but no guarantees that your kids will truly love them. (Or maybe they will — at least today, if not tomorrow.) They are easy, adaptable, delicious recipes with just-exciting-enough flavors. Many of them also have an interesting history or inspiration, so there’s something fun to learn here, too. If you have the time, cook these recipes with your kids, because they’re more likely to at least taste a dish if they help prepare it — even if they don’t actually eat it — and that’s a step in the right direction.

Recipene: One-Pot Broccoli Mac and Cheese

It’s a marvel of a dish, this mac and cheese from Ali Slagle, and it comes together in about 25 minutes and all in one happy pot. Everyone gets along: the noodles and broccoli cook together in the milk, the starch thickens the milk and the pasta absorbs the seasonings.

Recipe: Potato Chip Omelet

Potato chips in an omelet?! Absolutely. Alexa Weibel adapted this three-ingredient recipe from “The Family Meal: Home Cooking With Ferran Adrià” (Phaidon, 2011). Mr. Adrià was the chef at El Bulli, the now-closed Michelin-starred restaurant, but this dish, reminiscent of a Spanish tortilla, could not be any simpler or more fun to make. Whip the eggs into a frenzy, fold in the chips, then sizzle in a little olive oil, flip and cook until set. (It scales easily, so reduce the eggs and chips as you wish.) Serve with something crunchy and green, like this cucumber salad from Martha Rose Shulman.

Recipe: Mozzarella in Carrozza (Fried Mozzarella Sandwiches) Ali Slagle calls these dreamy grilled cheese sandwiches “mozzarella sticks in sandwich form,” and that’s a very good thing. The dish is known as mozzarella in carrozza (the Italian word for carriage) because the strands of gooey melted mozzarella resemble a horse’s reins. To make, just tuck slices of low-moisture mozzarella between two slices of bread, dip in egg, then coat in bread crumbs and fry. Serve with warm marinara sauce for dipping.

Recipe: Salt and Pepper Shrimp Rolls

The inspiration for Kay Chun’s 15-minute delight is jiao yan xia, a classic Chinese dish of fried shrimp finished with a Sichuan or white pepper salt seasoning. Here, she calls for a simple milk-then-cornstarch breading, frying the shrimp until they’re super crunchy, seasoning with plenty of salt and pepper, then tucking them into mayo-slathered hot dog buns.

Recipe: Ritzy Cheddar Chicken Breasts

Tender chicken breasts coated in a cheesy-crunchy combination of Ritz crackers and Cheddar? Sign us up. A quick dip into a mixture of sour cream, egg white and Dijon before breading helps keep the chicken moist while baking. It seems right to serve this dish from Eric Kim alongside a pile of Tater Tots, but a crisp green salad would be nice, too.