What's Cooking...for Dinner?

One of the biggest goals of What's Cooking is to empower families to spend quality time together through the process of cooking and eating.  We live in a busy world, where the attraction of a quick take-out or drive-through meal is a strong one.   It is easy to be overwhelmed at the thought of preparing a meal at home, especially with children clamoring for your attention.  What's Cooking offers both online and personal support for families looking for simple mealtime solutions.  Our Resources page includes recipes and information about cooking family friendly meals.  We also offer interactive classes for parents that can help you feel more comfortable in the kitchen, both with and without your children in tow.  What follows are some simple solutions and menu suggestions to get you started on the road towards preparing more meals for and with your family.

We thought that if we keep you informed about what we are making for dinner, we might inspire you to try some new dishes that your family will enjoy.

Before listing the meals that we are enjoying with our families this week, here are a few basics to get you started.

• First, take a big breath.  This is NOT going to be a painful experience!  We are going to give you some ideas that will make you feel more in control of your meal choices.
• Next, start keeping your eyes open for recipes that interest you.  If you read magazines, tear out the pages of recipes that look do-able for your schedule.  There are many online resources for recipes, too.  If you are interested, just say the word and we'll list some on this site.
• Set up a simple binder with dividers: appetizers (in case you have friends or family over for a meal), sides, salads, soups, main dishes (you can divide these further: fish, poultry, meat, pasta etc), desserts.  I use sheet protectors in my binder, so it is really easy to toss in new recipes.
• Now, you are ready to go.  On the weekend, or during a time when you have a moment to yourself, go through your binder and take out 4-5 pages.  This is what you will prepare for the week.  Consider variety when pulling out the pages.  Try to have at least one fish recipe a week, and sequence the recipes so that they have different qualities each night.  For example, you might not want to serve three Asian or Italian recipes in a row.)
• Once you have your recipes selected, it's time to make a Shopping List.  Our template makes your shopping trip fast and efficient!  Write down the ingredients that you don't have on hand.  Consider listing other ingredients that you might be running out of.  Don't forget about breakfast and lunch foods that you regularly buy.  It is always wonderful to have a loaf of bread in the freezer or an extra jar of jam in the cabinet in case you run out.
• You are all set!  Get yourself to the market and buy the ingredients that you will need for the week.  
• Once you are done, you will have recipes out for 4-5 dinners, ingredients and peace of mind!  No more wondering, "what's for dinner tonight?"
• In case you are wondering, I keep my recipes in a magnetic clip on my refrigerator.  Each day, I make the recipe that is on top, and at the end of the week, I replace the recipes into my binder and start again.

What's Cooking This Week?

Note: For health and ecological reasons, we will not be including meals with red meat in our menu.

If you have some simple and healthy mealtime solutions that you would like to share, we would love to hear from you.  Please contact Michelle and type the words: Mealtime Solutions in the Subject Line.