When we moved from New York to Toronto last year to create a less hectic life for our kids, one of the things I was most excited about was eating family dinners together every night.
There are many lessons to be learned in moments from our pasts. Teach your children well and remember that food can be your tool.
This is my take on Pollo a la Brasa, the delicious spit-roasted chicken made popular by so many Peruvian restaurants. The chicken is first marinated in olive oil, lime juice, garlic and spices, and then oven-roasted until tender, juicy and crisp-skinned.
Tolstoy was right. Happy families do have certain things in common. Today we finally have the knowledge to know what those things are.
This year, instead of the usual resolutions, why not make gathering the family around the dining table -- working on manners and proper eating etiquette -- top of the list?
What are we going to eat in a world without pasta or bread? Have no fear: a world without wheat can be perfectly delicious!
If you're not feeling connected to your spouse after work, if family dinner in your house has disintegrated into a chaotic free-for-all, then it's time to make some changes to your evening meal routine.
Sunday dinners are a hallmark of black life. (Cue "Soul Food" closing scene.) And while psychologists have touted the family meal's beneficial affect ...
If we and our children are eating hot dogs every day, what are we learning and teaching? We certainly aren't teaching our taste buds very much and we likely are not hitting half of the nutrition notes we need every day.
Gather your loved ones and escape from the busy chaos of the back-to-school season with this simple, kid-friendly Sunday supper.
When my boys were little, my idea of vacation was any place where the sun shone and my children could not break anything. In their middle years I wanted to show them things, add culture and breadth to their world. Now that they live away from home, I just want to have meals with them.
Send every celebrity chef in America to a local convenience store to create a healthy meal for less than five dollars. Maybe that's the recipe we need to get Americans eating healthy.
I'm a big believer in the family meal, in sitting down at the table and breaking bread together. I ate in front of the TV growing up and look how I turned out. I want my kids to have a better upbringing. Or at least a better sense of the place of family and food.
Even if it's only once a week, even if the meal is as simple as a box of pasta and a jar of sauce, we know instinctively there's something to be gained from gathering together and breaking bread.
Should a 5-year-old walk about the bookstore sucking pureed food from a pouch? Toddlers should be enjoying the food that their parents are: real foods with lots of flavors and textures.
Family dinners are a practical, tangible way to send a clear message that you care about what is going on with your children and that they are part of a family.
The magic that happens over shared meals can help preserve the American family, strengthen all of its members and enrich their lives. I'm sure America's Republicans and Democrats both agree that more families should be sitting together at dinner.
Meals don't just address our biological need to feed ourselves. Cooking and eating together have united humans since we first gathered around a fire to prepare the spoils of a successful hunt.
Dinner will taste twice as good when it's eaten outside. Four times as good when eaten in an outdoor space surrounded by white string lights and with a view of any body of water.
Teens who do not have dinner with their families five to seven times per week are twice as likely to have used alcohol and 1.5 times likelier to have used marijuana, as compared to teens who do participate in family dinners.
While we've all been stuck in our chicken ruts, these recipes should break the "Chicken, again?" spell, at least for a while.
Your assignment: Try committing to some healthy routines, like aiming for at least two family meals a week to start. I'm sensing a reality show in the making: The Biggest Saver, anyone?
Your kids will not only benefit from family mealtime -- they'll remember their experiences fondly into adulthood and will pass the tradition on to their children. Here is a four-step guide for parents to bring mealtime back and include their children in the process.
Is your wallet lighter after Tax Day? Replenish with five nights' worth of family-friendly dinner menus for less than $20 each.
Spring is a time of renewal, of first plantings and pea shoots. What better time to clean up your family's food habits? Here are four simple changes that I'm trying to bring into my own home this spring.
