Family Meals Made Easy

Family Fun Idea
The next couple of months we are going to use dinner time as a way of establishing meaningful opportunities to talk with our kids. Using dinner time to engage in meaningful conversations with each other is an easy way to reconnect, share thoughts, and check the pulse of the family. This isn’t something that should be forced in the family. The ideas for conversation are just thought starters. Feel free to modify them as needed for your family’s tastes and ages. They are meant to be answered by both parents and kids.

Conversation Starter Idea
Talk about something that was hard or difficult for you either today or sometime this week. Why do you think it was hard? How did you handle it? What can we do to make it less hard in the future? How do you need mom and dad to help you?

Why this Question is Important….

Asking each other to talk about the difficulties in their lives helps family members release any built up frustrations. With the parents also participating, it shows the kids that mom and dad also struggle with things in life and that they don’t always have all the answers. It also gives kids a chance to feel important by giving them the opportunity to help mom and dad.

Great Recipes
One of our favorite meals in the fall and winter is a simple meal of soup and bread. I love making fresh made soups and usually designate Sundays in my monthly meal planner as soup day. One of our favorites is a chicken gumbo recipe from Recipezaar.com. It isn’t necessarily a quick and easy meal to make because of the large number of ingredients, but it does make a large quantity of which I freeze any extra and pull it out the following month when it comes up in the monthly rotation.

Mean Chef Chicken, Andouille, Ham and Okra Gumbo

Ingredients
1 cup vegetable oil
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 cups chopped yellow onions
1 1/2 cups chopped celery
1 1/2 cups chopped green bell peppers
1 lb okra, either fresh or frozen and cut into pieces
1 1/2 lbs hot smoked sausage, such as andouille or kielbasa, cut crosswise into 1/2 inch slices
3/4 lb smoked ham, cut into small cubes or ham, nugget cut into small cubes
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
3/4 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
3 bay leaves
3 quarts chicken stock or chicken broth
3 cups cooked chicken meat
1 tablespoon Pickapeppa Sauce
1 cup chopped parsley
2 bunches chopped green onions
hot sauce, to taste (optional)
4 cups cooked long-grain rice, accompaniment

Helpful Hints

To make this gumbo recipe easier to make, I usually fill my crock pot the day before we plan on eating the soup with chicken thighs, water, salt & pepper, and onion. I then use the cooked chicken (without the bone and skin) and the broth for the 3 cups of cooked chicken and the 3 quarts of chicken broth. To make it healthy, I let the chicken and broth sit over night in the refrigerator. This gives the fat in the broth a chance to settle and rise to the top and is very easy to skim off the next day.

When working with a recipe with a lot of ingredients, it is often helpful to have a quick way of checking for equivalent measures and possible substitutions. A good resource to use for this is GourmetSleuth.com’s Cooking Dictionary - Ingredients Substitutions and Equivalents

Make family meal preparation easy and less stressful with either our monthly family meal planner or our new weekly meal planner.

Pachelbel Bedtime

Thanks to Busymom for tipping us off to this all too true tale….

Wordless Wednesday - Potty Training

What’s Missing?

Start your family meal off right with the What’s Missing game. You can find this game as well as many others in the Original Family Dinner Games.

What’s Missing?

• One person closes his or her eyes

• Everyone else takes one item from the table (salt, napkin, fork) and hides it in their lap. Then the first person opens his or her eyes and tries to guess what’s missing.

• Alternative: Try having only one person take an item off the table and the others closing their eyes. The first person to guess what’s missing wins and gets to take the next item.

Angel Hair Pasta with Olive Oil and Sautéed Vegetables

Ingredients

Angel Hair Pasta

1/3 cup Olive Oil

1 Clove Garlic

1 Tsp Italian Seasonings

Salt to Taste

Vegetables of Your Choice: Chopped Tomatoes,Artichokes, Sliced Red Roasted Peppers

Cook the pasta according to the box directions. In a small saute pan, add the olive oil, garlic, salt, and Italian seasonings and sauté until the garlic is slightly browned. Add your vegetables and sauté for another minute or two until cooked. Mix with pasta and serve.

Helpful Hints and Tips

Save time by buying the pre-minced garlic in a jar rather than the whole cloves. This will save time by avoiding the peeling and chopping. You can usually find the pre-minced garlic in your vegetable aisle.

Make family meal preparation easy and less stressful with either our monthly family meal planner or our new weekly meal planner.

Summer Memories Picture Frame

By Rondi Hillstrom Davis

Use this picture frame as a Father’s Day gift or to showcase favorite photos from your summer vacation.

Ingredients
Compact Disk Case
Salt Dough (see recipe below)
Saucepan
2 Photos
Scissors
Paint

Directions

• Trim your photos to 5 inches square.

• Place the photos, back to back, inside the CD case and close.

• Use the salt dough to make a standing base for your frame.

• Stir over low heat until thick and rubbery.

• Remove from heat. Turn the dough out onto a sheet of wax paper until cool enough to handle.

• To make a base for your frame, roll out a piece of dough about 6 inches long and 1 inch thick.

• Press the edge of the CD case halfway into the dough to make a standing base.

• Use the remaining dough to decorate the edges of the frame. You can also press beads or sequins into the dough.

• Allow the frame to air dry. Depending on the humidity, this may take several days.

• When dry, paint the frame.

 

Salt Dough Recipe

1 cup flour

½ cup flour

1 cup salt

3/4 cups warm water

About the Author: Rondi Hillstrom Davis is the co-author of the award-winning book Together: Creating Family Traditions. To check out her website that’s jam packed with family ideas, visit http://www.togetherparenting.com

I’ve Become One of THOSE People

I like to pretend I’m laid back and easy going. You know the kind, the person that doesn’t sweat the small stuff, worry about deadlines, or doesn’t need a “do list” to get the most basic things in life accomplished. And every year I pretend I’m one of the laid back cool people by scoffing at the people in Target buying school supplies at the end of July. Saying to myself in my cool laid back way, it’s only July! School doesn’t start for another month! These people are crazy! Are they really that busy that they have to buy school supplies a month in advance?

And so I wait in my cool laid back way until a week before school starts and causally stroll into my local Target with four kids in tow to buy school supplies which are probably going to end up costing me $200. And suddenly my cool easy going demeanor slowly melts to the floor as I become overwhelmed with the crowds of parents and kids clustered around the very depleted and picked over bins of school supplies. Everyone of us trying to read through our lists, keep track of kids, and maintain a sense of politeness. Grabbing whatever we can that is even remotely similar to the “suggested supplies” provided by the school, calling our friends on our cell phone in a panic over glue sticks hoping they bought enough for both of you, and trying to convince your 10 year old daughter that the Barbie folders they have left really are cool. Every 5th grade girl will have one!

And so this year I finally admitted that I really am one of THOSE people, you know the kind, the uptight, “do list” or die kind of people. And humbly walked into Target along with the other uptight, “do list” or die kind of people a full 40 days before the start of school. And we very calmly and casually (well as calmly as possible with four kids in tow) bought our supplies. There were no mom melt downs in the store, frantic calls to my friends, or arguments over the Barbie folders. Just peace, calm, and the sad realization that I really am one of THOSE kinds of people.

Raves, Craves, and Not So Faves - Dramatic Fanatic

This week I am raving about Dramatic Fanatic, a whodunit mystery theater kit for birthday parties, classrooms, or just fun. Each kit comes complete with a mystery game in which each child plays a wacky character involved in a silly crime. Each child acts out an assigned role and the object of the game is for the kids to figure which one of the characters committed the crime. The kit comes complete with a script and roles for up to 16 children and are available for either boys or girls. A minimum of 8 children are required for the game.

Recently used at my daughter’s 9 year old birthday party, this was a huge hit. The girls loved coming dressed in character, acting out the mystery, and solving the crime. A truly original idea that offers loads of fun.

He Misses Me

While at home and going about our busy lives, my husband often takes the time to quietly complain about my compulsiveness. My need to have order, control, and a chaos free life he does not always appreciate. How I can’t go anywhere with dishes in the sink, how I can’t leave for vacation without the house being clean (this is a major point of contention with him), or how I take great pleasure in organizing a new cabinet or drawer. But since being on vacation since Saturday, my husband has actually admitted to missing some of these Bree like traits. Since being on vacation for the last 3 days, I have taken the fact that WE are on vacation seriously and have not made much effort at keeping the small 500 square foot cottage all 6 of us are staying in order. I am leaving dishes in the sink, letting the kids eat on the couch, and have made no effort whatsoever to sweep the sand off the floor. After all, WE are on vacation.

So today after sleeping into 9:00am (this is rare for me), I happily declared, “Aren’t you proud of me? I have totally relaxed and not made an effort to get this cottage in any kind of order. Don’t you love the mess?” Fully expecting him to hug and kiss me and echo my cheers of pride, he grumpily replied (after stepping in a pile of sand), “Yeah I guess. But I kind of miss it….” (aka “please take some time to clean up - it is now inconveniencing me”). Men!!

More Summer Boredom Busters

Summer has begun and many parents are scrambling to find new and interesting alternatives to beat the summer blues. Here are some ideas to get you started.

• Organize a family Olympics for the families in your neighborhood. Get the kids involved from the very beginning in the planning and organizing. You’ll be amazed at all their incredible ideas. For inspiration, Watch Cheaper by the Dozen 2. You can rent it from your local library or buy it online at Amazon.

• Set up a backyard obstacle course. Give the kids the lead in designing and setting it up. Visit FamilyFun.com for some great ideas.

• Organize a book group and incorporate short day trips, crafts, science experiments, and other activities to reinforce the book’s message. Use books like Great Books for Girls and Great Books for Boys to help you choose the perfect book.

• Take an hour each week to watch a part of the BBC miniseries Planet Earth. This astonishing 11-part BBC series is brilliantly narrated by Sir David Attenborough and sensibly organized so that each 50-minute episode covers a specific geographical region and/or wildlife habitat (mountains, caves, deserts, shallow seas, seasonal forests, etc.) until the entire planet has been magnificently represented by the most astonishing sights and sounds you’ll ever experience from the comforts of home. Now available on DVD, you can rent it from the library, video store, or buy it online at Amazon. Bring the messages of the miniseries home by incorporating trips to the zoo or local museums, science experiments, and books.

• Take the time over the summer months to do the fun activities in Cranium’s Fun Folio. Jammed packed with over 50 activities there is plenty to keep them busy all summer long.

• Do nothing and just let the kids figure it out on their own. At first it will be hard (there will probably be a lot of crying and complaining), but after they realize you aren’t going to help them out, their imaginations will take over and they will have great fun

For more great ideas, read through our prior year’s summer boredom buster ideas or the suggestions from some of our blog visitors (scroll to the bottom of the page).

Raves, Craves, and Not So Fave’s - Bucket Blast

With the summer months upon us and my rising worries on how I’m going to keep my kids from getting bored this summer, I thought I would include one of my kids’ favorite summer games, Bucket Blast, in this week’s issue of Raves, Craves, and Not So Fave’s. Containing 24 bean bags, 6 buckets, 6 bucket straps, 4 boundary cones, and 6 blind folds, it offers kids a choice of 15 different games for either indoors, outdoors, or with water. For example with Beanbag Basketball , kids strap the buckets to their backs and run around trying to get the beanbags in other people’s bucket. At the end of the round, the child with the most beanbags loses. It’s a great and fun way for kids to get exercise and have fun doing it. A definite rave with the kids.

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