Cooking for Two: Chicken Nuggets and Mac N Cheese again???

Is it just my daughter, or do all kids only want to eat chicken and mac and cheese? It is difficult to cook healthy meals for just the two of us, mainly because of the time and expense involved. It seems like we waste more than we actually eat, because she will not eat leftovers.  I try to cook a few times a week. But, she is so disappointed if I don't serve chicken or mac and cheese with whatever I cook. It is a major concern for me, as a mother, because I just don't see that her diet has the nutrients necessary for her to be healthy...yet she is perfectly healthy. How is that possible? If my diet consisted of chicken nuggets, ketchup, cheese, and pasta three or more times a week, I think I would be miserable.

Recently, I have resorted to fibbing to her about what she is actually eating. Tonight, for instance, I made lasagna. That is an unfamiliar word to her, so I said "We are having a new kind of spaghetti! It has different noodles, but tastes the same." I thought my claim would be met with a doubtful smirk, but instead she actually tried it! She ate two plates of this "new spaghetti", before I told her it was lasagna. Now, if I could come up with a way to convince her that vegetables were a new kind of ice cream, we would be all set!

Since it is just the two of us, it is my diet that has started to suffer. She will not eat the healthy meals I would prefer, so I end up making easy stuff that I know she will eat. Sometimes I wonder if I would eat healthier if I lived alone, or if I would live on ham sandwiches and tuna. Probably the latter, because if I think cooking for two is not worth the effort, then cooking for one definitely wouldn't be.

I have looked up healthy, fun recipes to try this week. So, tomorrow we will be making fruit parfait as a dessert after our homemade chicken pot pie (note the chicken). Then Wednesday, we will do fruit kabobs with our turkey club sandwiches. Still, no vegetables in sight. I don't know how to get her to enjoy salads, home grown green beans, and corn on the cob like I do. Any ideas?

Anyway, its bath time; thus, I must return to mommy-dom. Tata for now!