What to cook when kids' friends come for supper.

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My kids eat more or less anything so not usually a problem to feed (this is not a snobby thread btw - they get their fair share of fishfingers as well as nicer stuff!!) but I often find that their friends are quite fussy. Its esp difficult when both ds and dd have a friend over at the same time - either 1 is veggie but eats fish, another hates fish and won't eat veg, one likes pasta but only a certain kind .....It usually ends up being pasta with tomato sauce but we've had it so often recently that everyone is sick of it. Without getting too Annabel Karmel about this and hiding vegetables in purees etc., does anyone have any foolproof recipes that kids tend not to turn their noses up at? TIA oxo

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shepherds pie, spag bog or roasted chicken drumsticks seem to go down OK. Raw carrots and a bit of mayo on the table to start which they absent mindedly pick at while I am serving up and broccoli and rice with the main (if it is chicken)

I tend to play it safe with sausages or chicken fillets plus chips and 2 vegetables. All dry so there's no contamination of sauce etc.

How about home made chicken goujons, sweet potato mash and peas?

Or sausage, mash and peas

home made pizzas (I'm saying home made cos your kids sound like good eaters and I'm thinking you might me a home cooked type of a mum)

what about enid's homemade nuggets with homemade chips & some veg.

How about getting the kids to make their own pizzas. Have the bases, the sauce and all the ingrediants in little bowls ready for them to make them up themselves. They can then choose what they like and ignore the bits they don't like.

LOL re: sauce contamination!

Soupy how true that 'contamination by sauce' thing!! It is amazing how many kids are like that. My dd2 doesn't like sauce Except ketchup

I know. DS said to me the other day "I don't like this sauce mummy, it's tomato and I don't like tomato" and ketchup is?

(guess it's the added sugar)

Pizza - universally liked. Don't bother with fancy "good" food, just hate teh idea of kids going hoem and saying that they're hungry

Home made pizzas sound a good idea. I'm really surprised by what some kids refuse to eat TBH: last week I did a non-spicy chicken fajitas (sp?) type thing with grated cheese, guacamole and bought tortillas with baby toms and thought the 'guest' would have fun making up little parcels. She hated it . She said that she didn't like the tortillas or cheese or tomatoes('I only like big ones!), the chicken (I only eat chicken with skin!). I even offered ketchup as a last resort but couldn't win. She only cheered up when I made pancakes (although she only liked a certain brand of milk!)

Will do a search for Enid's chicken nuggets which sound yummy. The kids' parents are usually really sympathetic by the way and realise their kids are fussy. They are usually please their kids are being put in a situation where they are offered different foods but I hate to see kids squirm because they hate something or are too scared to try. Think it will end up being pizzas Thanks all

you can buy lemon sole goujons which are a nice alternative to fish fingers and serve those with some sort of potato, maybe potato waffles and baked beans.

cheesy scrambled eggs with beans and maybe a sausage

boiled eggs and cheese on toast cut up into soldiers

cheese and tomato omlette (could serve with oven chips?)

yeah the ketchup thing is crazy isn't it. If someone tried to feed my DD she would look at them as if they were totally mad and announce "I don't like tomato" and then need ketchup with everything!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I try not to think about the amount of sugar in it

baked potatoes with cheese seems to please everyone

I do sympathise. DS1 had to be gluten free when younger and now won't touch pizza, probably the only kid in the world who won't!!