The Family Table
Eating dinner together can reinforce good nutrition
and family values.
by Barbara Beery
PARENTGUIDE News January 2006
With over 40 percent of school age children
through 8th grade involved in one or more
afterschool classes, weekday afternoons from
3-6pm are likely to be the most fast-paced
and hectic segment of a parent and child’s
day. Stir-in a sprinkling of assorted errands
for the parent and homework for the child,
and the day may not end until the sun has
gone down.
At some point amidst this afterschool hustle
and bustle, another bell follows the dismissal
bell— the dinner bell. Where will you
be when the dinner bell rings? Maybe you’ll
be in the car, maybe you’ll be watching
your daughter’s soccer game or maybe
you’ll actually be at home with your
family, seated around the dinner table. Now,
that’s a nice thought isn’t it?
Here’s how you can transform that nice
thought into a home-cooked reality. The equation
is fast and simple; the answer, immeasurable:
Good ingredients plus group effort equals
a wholesome family dinner.
Your meals are only as good as the ingredients
with which they are made. Love, of course,
is the most important ingredient of all, and
diversification among the other ingredients
is the name of the game.
•Keep foods which allow you to quickly
create a wide selection of family friendly
meals and kid-pleasing snacks.
•Always buy seasonal fruits and vegetables;
they have the best taste and the best price.
•Stock your pantry with a variety of
pastas, rice, nuts, dried fruits, broths and
stocks. Canned tomatoes and beans are also
invaluable staples.
•Have a supply of whole grain bread,
rolls, pitas, bagels, tortillas, won ton wrappers
and puff pastry in your freezer.
•Keep boneless, skinless chicken and
turkey breasts along with ground turkey and
lean ground beef in your freezer.
•Make sure to have bags of frozen fruits
like strawberries, peaches, blueberries and
bananas in your freezer, too. Used frozen,
such fruits are perfect for smoothies and
flavored milks. Heated with a little honey,
they make an excellent topping for oatmeal,
pancakes and frozen yogurt. Frozen corn, peas
and your favorite veggie mixes will round
out any meal, and may be used to cook up a
fast homemade soup or batch of pot pies.
•Make dinner and snack time an enjoyable
adventure for tweens and teens by involving
them in the process of meal and snack planning—
and creating. Let each child chef choose one
night to plan the family dinner and choose
their study or bedtime snack.
•Parents can take on the role of the
“prep chefs” by buying and having
all the ingredients ready and waiting. Younger
kid chefs may do the simpler tasks like slicing
soft fruits and vegetables, tossing together
salads and making the recipes that do not
require knife or stovetop techniques. Entice
and involve the older kid chefs by allowing
them (under your supervision) to tackle more
advanced components of the dinner. Let them
hone their culinary skills by using specific
knives to slice and dice dense vegetables
and meats. Encourage them to use the stovetop
to practice sauteing skills, as well.
•Let your kids be the role models. “Monkey
see, monkey do” works both ways. Kids
can influence parents to make healthy food
choices just as easily as parents influence
their kids. It’s twice as empowering!
•Cook it once, serve it twice. Cook
up a pot of pasta. Have spaghetti and meatballs
one night, serve the pasta as Thai noodles
the next. Bake seasoned chicken breasts. Serve
the chicken with rice and vegetables the first
night and use chilled chicken in a main dish
dinner salad the next.
The most important benefit of cooking with
your kids is spending quality time at home
with your children. It is highly creative,
non-competitive and gives kids a big helping
of self-esteem. Children who are encouraged
to help with meal planning and preparation
will take a personal interest and ownership
in whatever they help make. They will be more
receptive to sampling new and different foods
well into adulthood if they’ve had a
hand in meal preparation early in their lives.
Motivating children to cook also gives them
nutritional knowledge, enabling them to develop
good, lifelong eating habits.
Set a goal to prepare one or two family dinners
a week. Before you know it, you’ll be
planning and putting meals together all the
time! Just imagine, night after night of meal
planning and preparation together, you’ll
be able to relax while savoring delicious
dinners with those you love. After all, that’s
what family dinner is all about.
To get started, below are some unique and
fun-to-fix, family recipes. The first is for
a tasty, nutritional main dish while the final
three are for hip, wholesome anytime snacks
Ingredients:
•8, 6-inch wooden skewers •8 ounces
cheese tortellini, cooked and drained •2
to 3 sticks of string mozzarella cheese, cut
into ½-inch chunks •8 cherry
or grape tomatoes •16 pitted kalamata
or green olives (or combination of both) •Drizzle
of olive oil (optional garnish)
•Grated parmesan cheese (optional garnish)
•Chopped, fresh flat-leaf parsley and
fresh basil (optional garnish)
Get Cooking:
On each wooden skewer, thread the cooked tortellini
(sideways, not through its hole), tomatoes,
olives and chunks of string cheese. Garnish
and serve immediately, or store covered in
refrigerator until ready to use, and garnish
before serving.
Serves 4-6
Ingredients:
•1 cup blueberries or blackberries •1
cup strawberries or raspberries •1 cup
nectarines or peaches •½ teaspoon
vanilla extract •¼ teaspoon cinnamon
•1 pinch grated nutmeg •1 tablespoon
honey
Get Cooking:
Spray saute pan lightly with nonstick cooking
spray. Place fruits in pan and turn on heat
to medium. Stir the fruits with a wooden spoon
for three-five minutes, or until fruit is
slightly softened and completely heated through.
Remove saute pan from heat and pour cooked
fruits into serving bowl. Add vanilla, cinnamon,
nutmeg and honey. Stir to blend flavorings.
Makes approximately 24 crisps
Ingredients:
•1 package won ton wrappers (You will
use about 8-10 squares) •4 tablespoons
maple syrup •¼ teaspoon cinnamon
Get Cooking:
Preheat oven to 375°. Carefully remove
won ton wrappers from package, one at a time,
and place on cutting board. Using cookie cutters,
cut out won ton wrappers in assorted shapes.
Place cutout won ton wrappers ¼ inch
apart on prepared sheet pan. Lightly brush
each won ton cutout with a small amount of
maple syrup and lightly sprinkle with cinnamon.
Place sheet pan in oven and bake for about
four-six minutes. Watch carefully— these
brown fast! Remove sheet pan from oven (with
help from a grown-up assistant) and cool crisps
for five minutes before removing from pan.
Makes 1 quart
Ingredients:
•½ cup fresh lemon juice (6-8
lemons) •½ cup honey •½
cup warm water •½ teaspoon vanilla
•3 cups chilled sparkling water or club
soda •assorted fruit sorbets, such as
lemon, lime, orange, raspberry, strawberry
Get Cooking:
Combine fresh lemon juice, honey, vanilla
and warm water in mixing bowl. Use whisk to
blend ingredients. Pour lemon juice mixture
into a large pitcher and add chilled sparkling
water or club soda, whisking to combine all
the ingredients. Set pitcher in freezer for
five minutes to fast chill. Meanwhile, remove
sorbets from freezer and choose your flavor/s.
Take pitcher out of freezer and pour lemonade
into glasses. Using a melon baller or measuring
teaspoon, scoop out four or five mini sorbet
balls and place on top of each glass of lemonade.
Garnish with fresh fruits, a straw and float
away to luau land!
Barbara Beery is the founder of Batter
Up Kids Culinary School in Austin, TX. She
has appeared on Food Network and is the author
of two children’s cookbooks: Delicious
Desserts and Sensational Snacks (Gibbs Smith).
Batter Up Kids is nationally franchising and
will be opening cooking schools across the
country in the spring of 2006.
