wonderful weekends

Sometimes I think we’re busier on the weekends than we are on any weekday. This time of year the idea of the weekend always hits me hard. They seem to slip away. We’re trying to get together with some college friends, plan a night with the girls, invite some friends over one Saturday, a sleepover here or there, oh and there’s Halloween and block one Saturday out for Thanksgiving and two more for Christmas and New Year’s … what’s left, really?

What’s left is a Sunday morning with nothing penciled in. Maybe it’s this Sunday. The greatest thing about the weekend is that, in general, all five of us are under one roof – our roof – for enough time to do more than just sleep.

So even if it’s Pop Tarts and a CapriSun to your Toast and Coffee, sit together for a few minutes. Maybe you’ll share a pizza after the game Saturday. Put it in the middle of the kitchen table and ask everyone to sit down.

They might balk or roll their eyes. Your partner might let out one of those sighs that gets on your nerves so badly. Have somebody grab some napkins (It’s been my experience that pizza is best appreciated without a plate!) and sit down together. You might not even talk this time, but the table will be set for your future efforts. Good luck and have a wonderful weekend.

fast and easy

If I could convince people of something I would like to convince them that food isn’t just about refueling your body. I would like to convince them of the statistics: Kids (especially girls) who eat regular family meals are less likely to suffer from body image issues and eating disorders; less likely to fall prey to substance abuse and less likely to suffer from emotional illnesses such as depression. Fewer than one third of American families eat meals together regularly.

Yes, food is about powering the body. But meals can be about empowering your spirit.

I would like to convince people that sharing a meal is sharing yourself, and taking in what others share of themselves while you take in the food your body needs.

I was thinking about this late last night while watching a Seinfeld re-run. Kenny Bania and Jerry were arguing over whether soup at Mendy’s counts as the meal Jerry promised as payment for an Armani suit. Though I’ve seen this a hundred times, it still makes me laugh. And late last night it hit me with something that seemed so obvious I couldn’t believe I hadn’t seen it before … Kenny wants the conversation, the company, not so much the food.

So I share tonight’s strategy for gathering our family for conversation. Of course we’re off to karate, so dinner will come after and the strategy is this: Keep it Simple.

My friend Sylvia has a daughter in high school and another in middle school. Both are involved in music and sports. Sylvia works part-time and her husband’s job requires some nights and weekends. This family, like so many, is on the run. “I know I thought for a long time that to bring my family together for a meal I had to spend several hours preparing it,” she once told me. “That it had to look like something my mom made back in the ’60s. It really doesn’t have to be that way.”

Nope. Tonight at our house it will be Tony’s Pizza Rolls and a salad. Cheap. Easy. No arguments from the 5-year-old (or anybody else!). And when they aren’t arguing about vegetables they’re sharing their story of the day.

What we can do and how we can do it

It doesn't matter when they lived ... or where, for that matter ... people have had to eat. In most cultures and at most times in history they did it together. That said, it might be hard to believe that experts report this statistic: Fewer than one third of American children regularly eat meals with their family.

Today has been proclaimed Family Day in 45 states. This is the sixth annual effort to get families to eat together, sponsored by The National Center on Addiction and Drug Abuse at Columbia University (CASA), Family Day. One look at the numbers the center puts forth explains why the movement is growing. But there are other reasons to eat together, No. 1 being that it’s fun.

No. 2? It’s do-able.

The conversation I hope to share here might help you save some money, but that’s not what it’s about. It might get you eating more healthfully, but that’s not what it’s about. It might quell some of your fears of the kitchen, but that’s not what it’s about either.

It’s about connecting. I’m hoping the conversation here connects families who already share mealtime with families who want to – or who want to more – or who are looking for someone to say, “This is do-able.” Negative energy is out. This blog’s about what we can do and how we can do it.

You’ll need a table, some chairs and something to eat.

It can be slow cooked.

It can be simple.

It can be made ahead.

It can be takeout.

It can be any meal, not just dinner.

IT CAN BE AMAZING. So let’s do it together.

Tonight, like most weeknights, is karate night at my house. The five of us take classes, which means we’re on the go four nights a week. In an average week we eat dinner together five out of seven nights. We also share weekend lunches and weekday breakfasts, depending on who gets out of bed on time.

Today’s strategy for dinner is to make it ahead of time. I’ll put together the chicken and rice while the kids are at school. We have about an hour after the bus drops them off before leaving for karate, enough for a quick snack and an overview of school that day. After karate class we sit down together. Dad hears about school and we figure out what schoolwork has to be done before we hit the showers. So here’s a time-tested favorite from my house (from his mom, really :) with a few shortcuts that might get you around the table tonight. Can’t wait to hear how it goes!

Chicken Monterey
1 8-ounce package Monterey Jack cheese
8 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
¾ cup dry bread crumbs
margarine
1 chicken bouillon cube in 1 cup boiling water
½ cup chopped onion
½ cup chopped green pepper
2 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper
3 cups cooked rice
1 3-ounce can sliced mushrooms, drained
2 tablespoons chopped pimiento
1 10¾-ounce can cream of mushroom soup

Melt butter in frying pan. Dredge chicken in bread crumbs and cook in butter until both sides are brown. Remove from pan. Dissolve bouillon cube in water. Cook onion and green pepper in ¹/₃ cup margarine until tender. Add flour, salt and pepper and bouillon. Cook until thickened. Stir in rice, mushrooms, pimiento and soup; pour into shallow casserole. Top with chicken then cheese. Bake at 425 degrees for 30-40 minutes.

Making it easier:
1. Buy pre-cooked, pre-packaged chicken from the lunch meat section of your grocery store … the kind you might use to top a salad. Skip the butter, the dredging and the browning and stir the pre-cooked chunks into the rice mixture.

2. Get your bell pepper and onion already chopped from the salad bar in your grocery store. Skip the pimiento.

3. Whisk the flour into the bouillon BEFORE adding it to the vegetables. It makes it easier to dissolve all of the flour … no little lumps.

4. Buy grated cheese … It is O.K. if it is a jack/cheddar blend. Stir it into the rice and sprinkle a little on top of your casserole.

5. Microwave this version until heated through. Don’t microwave the original recipe … your chicken might not get cooked all the way.