My greatest parenting moment to date is the invention of the Carrot Law. You know, that well-known law in every legal book in America that states that when a child turns three, they must eat at least one vegetable a day. It's right there, in black and white, next to the laws governing bedtime, holding an adult's hand in the parking lot, and the binky laws that we still continue to break to this day.

The twins had been looking forward to turning three because it meant that they could try peanut butter, strawberries, and chocolate. Our doctor had recommended waiting until they were three due to other sensitivities and allergies so that birthday became this magical number.

Though they had loved vegetables as babies, they began turning their nose up at carrots, string beans, and spinach (please, I don't even want to tell you how they snubbed their old trusty friend, acorn squash) shortly before turning three. As their birthday passed and peanut butter was tried and chocolate was inhaled, I set down a carrot on their dinner plate.

"No carrots," my daughter announced. She quoted her favourite Charlie and Lola book. "Carrots are for rabbits."

"Oh...oh no. Remember that rule about peanut butter and chocolate?" I informed her, looking sufficiently worried and peering out the window. "Are there any police cars out there? I just don't want you to be caught. You see, there is also a Carrot Law. You know how I have to stop at traffic lights and I can't take something from a store without paying? Well, there's also a law saying that everyone over the age of three has to eat a vegetable every day."

They looked at me dubiously.

"It's not me," I assured them. "It's just the law. I don't want a policeman to come up to our house and arrest you. Or something. It would just be so sad."

The carrot was eaten. The battle was won, though the war still continues to this day, especially since entering school and discovering that others do not know about this so-called Carrot Law (perhaps they live outside the jurisdiction?). Our eating problems are compounded by the fact that my son only eats six things at any given time (if something new is added, a food is bumped from the list) and these six things never go well together. For instance, how does one make a meal out of grilled chicken, apples, goldfish crackers, cream of broccoli soup, chocolate chip cookies, and breaded fish nuggets?

My daughter is better, though, if given her way, she would eat nothing but noodles. Still, she can be steered towards a balanced meal though this meal almost never matches my tastes. My husband and I lean toward salads. We like tortilla soup and homemade ranchero sauce. We make pita and hummus. Vegetarian pho.

At first, I thought my only options were either to make three dishes for each meal or deal with one or two moaning children. That is, until I borrowed an idea from the flexitarian table and started making a base meal that could be embellished for each person at the table. Flexitarians are people who eat a somewhat vegetarian diet but will also eat meat from time to time, though Peter Berley uses the term to describe a flexible meal--one that can be kept vegetarian for the vegetarians or contain meat for the meat-eaters.

Our flexitarian table is more of the picky-eater variety since we tend to all eat vegetarian most days. For instance, my husband and I may have mushroom fajitas, consuming all the small dishes at the table whereas my daughter makes a meal of rice and vegetables and my son makes a quesadilla from the same ingredients we're using. I'll make goulash for my husband and I, but the kids eat the same vegetarian "meat" and potatoes that I've cut up to put in our pot.

I find that if the twins are included in the preparation of the meal--whether that means going to the local farm to pick our produce or cooking with me in the afternoon--and we eat together, they tend to be more adventurous and at least deign to lick an asparagus spear before rejecting it. Sometimes, I think they simply want their say--to have their choice represented in the meal just as every adult gets to pick what they eat.

On the nights when it is impossible to create a flexitarian meal, there are cubes of cream of broccoli soup that can be thawed, the ever-present option of yogurt, or peanut butter and jelly if it has not already been consumed at some point during the day.

But, of course, Carrot Law is always in effect.

Healthy family dinners is a theme currently being tackled by bloggers such as What's For Lunch, Honey who promises to post a roundup of all the posts she collects on the topic on February 15th. What's Cooking Blog is a fantastic site about involving children in the process of cooking to encourage them to try more foods. The Family Time Blog is taking charge of creating a healthy breakfast the whole family can eat.

What are some of the best tips you've discovered for cutting back on cooking multiple meals but having everyone in the family eat healthily?

Melissa is the author of the infertility and pregnancy loss blog, Stirrup Queens and Sperm Palace Jesters. She keeps a categorized blogroll of over 1600 infertility blogs and writes the daily Lost and Found and Connections Abound, a news source for the infertility blogosphere. Her infertility book, Navigating the Land of If, is forthcoming from Seal Press in Spring 2009. She is the keeper of the IComLeavWe (International Comment Leaving Week) list which is currently open for January.