A child's hunger is fleeting. Challenge it with a spinach-speckled casserole and it will vanish, but greet it with some fun and it just might explode in excitement.

It is a cruel irony of my profession that the less I cook the better my three children like it. They reject without tasting anything sauced or leafy, but have praise unending for naked pasta (Is there cheese on this spaghetti?) and canned baked beans (This is the best you ever made, Dad!). For many years I resented every meal I uncanned for them, but then everything changed.

I started keeping track of what my children ate in a typical day: Cheerios, carrot sticks, yogurt, cookies, chips. Their diet was neither model nor criminal. All in all, it was quite varied, but with one over-riding theme. Almost everything my children eat is hand-held.

Last September we had the first of our pick-up dinners: Chip night.

My kids do not eat many vegetables eagerly, however they scarf down salsa and chips indiscriminately. I have never objected to this snack. In fact, I've encouraged it. Of the infinite junk food opportunities, this one seemed downright healthy by comparison.

We rounded out the salsa/corn chip core of our meal with bean dip (a big hit and a complete protein with the corn chips), guacamole (one thumb down; two thumbs up), and some shredded cheese.

Since then the cheese has turned into a warm cheese dip and we've experimented with different vegetable salsas. The dippers have expanded from corn chips to include crackers, triangles of pita, pretzels, and fancy vegetable chips.

Chip night has blossomed into other hand-held/pick-up meals. My children now eat sauce on pasta, as long as it's a dip. Boil up some ravioli, tortellini, ziti, anything that can be hand-held. After draining the pasta, run it under cold water until it can be handled. Serve with bowls of warm tomato sauce and cheese sauce, and watch how many ravioli a 7-year-old can pack away.

We have also tried sushi night, which has become my daughter's favorite food. Sushi is fun to assemble as a family. You can cook the rice earlier that day. Slice up the fillings and everyone can roll their own.

Although in restaurants my children have begun to eat raw fish sushi, I do not trust the quality of the fish I am able to purchase in retail stores for serving raw, so we only make vegetable sushi at home. I have tried sarimi (crab leg), but my children don't like it, which is not to say yours won't.

Traditional tacos have always been popular in our house, but for a super-fast meal that doesn't require turning on the stove, the following deli tacos are great. And the best part is your family ends up making dinner themselves.

*

Serve the following dips and salsas with a big bowl of corn chips, potato chips, vegetable chips, pita triangles, crackers and/or pretzels.

Mild red salsa

Makes about 2 cups

2 scallions (white part only), coarsely chopped

3 tomatoes, coarsely chopped

2 tablespoons olive oil

1/4 teaspoon minced garlic

2 tablespoons chopped parsley

1 tablespoon ketchup

salt and pepper to taste

In a food processor or blender process the scallions and tomatoes until finely chopped. Pour into a bowl and mix in the oil, garlic, parsley, ketchup, salt and pepper.

Slightly spicy corn salsa

Makes about 2 cups

2 cups canned corn

1/2 red bell pepper, stemmed, seeded and diced

1 tablespoon chopped cilantro or parsley leaves

1/4 to 1 teaspoon finely chopped jalapeno peppers

salt and pepper to taste

1 teaspoon ground cumin

Combine all ingredients. Cover and set aside for at least 20 minutes. Refrigerate if held for longer.

Black bean dip

Makes about 2 cups

1 15-ounce can black beans, drained

1 clove garlic, minced

juice of a half lemon

1 tablespoons olive oil

salt and hot pepper sauce to taste

Mash the beans with a fork. Mix in the garlic, lemon juice, olive oil, salt and hot pepper sauce.

Cheese dip

Makes 1 1/3 cups

8 ounces American cheese, in small pieces

1/4 cup salsa (any variety)

In a small microwavable bowl combine cheese and salsa. Microwave at full power for 30 seconds. Stir and zap another 30 seconds or until fully melted. Stir and serve.

During the meal, if the cheese should start to solidify, zap it for another 15 seconds.

Guacamole

Makes about 1 1/2 cups

1 small clove garlic, minced

1 tablespoon finely chopped onion

1 large California avocado, peeled, pitted and cubed

juice of a half lemon

1 teaspoon wine vinegar

1/2 teaspoon finely chopped jalapeno pepper

salt to taste

In a food processor or blender combine all ingredients and process until finely chopped, but not completely smooth.

If you are not going to use the dip right away, place the avocado pit in the middle of the sauce and store covered in the refrigerator.

Pick-up pasta

Makes 4 servings

2 dozen ravioli or 1 pound tortellini

2 cups jarred spaghetti sauce

Cook the pasta according to package directions. Drain and rinse in cold running water until cool enough to handle, but still warm.

Meanwhile heat the sauce in a small saucepan over medium-heat, or microwave in a microwave-safe bowl for 2 to 3 minutes at full power.

Serve a small bowl of sauce to each diner for dipping.

Sushi rice

Makes 8 cups (enough for 8 rolls of sushi)

3 1/2 cups short grain sushi rice (available in Asian groceries)

4 cups water

1/2 cup rice vinegar

5 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon salt

In a heavy saucepan mix the rice with the water. Cover the pan and bring to a boil over moderate heat. Boil for 2 minutes. Lower the heat to very low and allow the rice to simmer gently for 15 minutes, until all the water is absorbed. Remove the pan from the heat. Remove lid, place a towel over the pan and allow to rest for 5 to 10 minutes.

While the rice is cooking, combine the vinegar, sugar and salt in a small pan and heat until the sugar and salt dissolve. Set aside.

After the rice has rested turn it into a large bowl. You must now toss the rice with the vinegar mixture while it is cooled by a fan. You can either set the rice before an electric fan set on low, or you can enlist the aid of a helper to fan the rice with a paper fan or a newspaper. While the rice is fanned toss it with a large wooden spoon or a rice paddle using horizontal slicing movements. This motion will cool the rice quickly and will not break the grains.

Add the vinegar mixture in 3 or 4 additions as you toss. Continue to toss the rice until all the vinegar mixture is incorporated and the rice has cooled to barely warm. The whole process will take about 5 minutes. The finished rice will be sticky but separate grains will still be visible.

Cover the rice with a damp towel until you are ready to form the sushi. Use the rice within the day it is made. It will not hold well in the refrigerator for any length of time.

The vegetables in these sushi are ultimately variable. Choose from what your family likes and what you have on hand.

Sushi rollers are available in Asian grocery stores. If you don't have one, a flat-weave kitchen towel works almost as well.

Sushi rolls

Serves 5 to 6

1 large carrot, peeled and cut in thin strips

8 sheets toasted nori seaweed (available in Asian groceries)

bowl of water

1 recipe Sushi Rice (see recipe)

3 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds

1/2 cucumber, cut in strips

2 scallion (white part only), cut in strips

2 jarred roasted peppers, cut in strips

small pile of pickled sushi ginger (available in Asian groceries)

soy sauce for dipping

Cook the carrot strips in a pan of boiling water for 2 to 3 minutes until slightly softened. Drain, cool and set aside.

Place a sushi roller in front of you on a flat surface with the bamboo sticks running horizontally. Place a sheet of nori on the sushi roller.

Dip your hands into the water. Pick up a handful of rice and pat out a 3/8 -inch thick layer of rice, covering the 2/3 of the nori closest to you. Keep dipping your hands in the vinegar water as necessary to keep the rice from sticking to them.

Arrange several vegetable strips (about 1/8 of what you have; in any combination) in a line running down the center of the rice parallel to the bamboo sticks of the roller.

With your fingers, moisten the exposed strip of nori with a little water.

To roll, keep the vegetables in place with your fingertips and with your thumbs lift the edge of the roller up over the central core of ingredients so the edge of the nori closest to you meets the opposite edge. overlapping as much as necessary.

Press the bamboo roller around the roll for about 30 seconds. This will firm up the rice and make it easier for slicing, and seal the edges of the nori together. The trick is to get the core of ingredients exactly in the center; This takes practice.

Continue rolling up the remaining ingredients in the same way. When all the rolls are made, slice them into 1 inch thick slices with a sharp knife dipped in a little water.

Arrange on a platter and garnish with pickled sushi ginger. Serve as soon as possible with a small dish of soy sauce on the side.

*

Unlike traditional tacos that take some cooking these are exceptionally quick and easy to assemble.

Deli tacos

Makes 4 servings

3/4 pound deli meats (any type), cut in strips

3 cups chopped lettuce

1 large tomato, seeded and chopped

1/2 pound mild cheese, shredded

1/2 cup Italian or Russian dressing or salsa

8 to 12 taco shells or wheat tortillas

Assemble meats, lettuce, tomato, cheese and sauce in separate bowls.

Warm the taco shells or tortillas in a microwave or conventional oven according to package directions.

Diners assemble their own tacos.