Toddler not eating dinner then hungry later

[ThankfulMama]

I'm looking for ideas for my 3yo DD who will occasionally refuse to eat dinner (or only take a couple bites) and then says she's not hungry.  She then says she wants to eat later.  I really don't want to tell her "eat x or x more bites more bites" because I want her to listen to her body, but OTOH, I don't want to be cooking and feeding her dinner as we are getting her into bed.  I know this is typical, but I need some ideas on how others have dealt with this issue.

[colsxjack]

What we do is try to have dinner early enough that there is an hour or som between dinner and bed time.

If our 3 yr old didn't eat much dinner then we have a bedtime snack of a pbandj sandwich or cheese, crackers and fruit or something.

Or, if I know she likes the food, and I know she is hungry but just distracted or being difficult, that I either offer to feed her like a baby (she likes that although we let her self feed as a baby) or I offer to have one of her teddy bears feed her. It usually works.

[Amy@STL]

If he didnt eat a good dinner, I give him a smoothie instead of bedtime milk. I put nuts, fruits, spinach etc in it and he drinks it up.