Here’s a mostly complete list of what my children, ages 5 and 7, eat for dinner:

Plain pasta (spaghetti and farfalle only), rice and beans (any kind but lima), chicken (roasted thighs, nuggets), salmon, avocado rolls, hot dogs, pizza, slices of steak. They do eat some green vegetables, but they don’t do tacos, meatballs, dumplings, baked saucy dishes or, really, sauce of any kind. Soup, as an entire category, is a no.

My older kid is the far more adventurous of the two, and you can count on her to actually taste new things, though I still can’t convince her to try lasagna. (Lasagna!)

I know I’m opening the door here for some unsolicited parenting advice, and that I’ll receive at least one email from someone whose children absolutely love Brussels sprouts. It comes with the territory whenever you bring up kids and food.

But I’ve been asked a few times lately what mine eat, and the hopefully reassuring reality is that they don’t eat everything under the sun, even though their mom is the food editor at The New York Times. My professional life hasn’t instilled in them a love of capers or a yearning for minestrone (at least not yet).

Recently, I got an email from a reader named Elly asking for fast meals “with a slant toward kid-friendly.”

No problem, Elly! The recipes here are dishes that my own children like, with simple modifications. A tip if you’re just getting started cooking for kids: It really helps to have a few basics down, which make it easy to get dinner on the table — things like seared boneless chicken thighs, microwave salmon, baked sweet potatoes and lemony steamed broccoli.

And if you aren’t cooking for kids, you’ll still find something to make here — these are great recipes for anyone at any age.