eatdinner.org

Welcome!

2014-07-24T15:49:00.000-04:00

eatdinner.org is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping families make the commitment to eat dinner together on a regular basis. Blog for Family Dinner is one of our initiatives.

American families are confronted with many urgent social, economic and health challenges today, including obesity, teenage alcohol and drug use, tight budgets and time constraints. All of this is often made worse by economic concerns and feelings of disconnectedness among family and friends. Family dinner can be a solution to many of these problems. The simple act of having regular family meals has been shown time and again to have positive effects on children, teens, and their parents on a broad range of issues related to social, emotional and physical development. This blog and our social media presence on Facebook and Twitter (@eatdinner) are dedicated to sharing information and resources about how to best support parents, children, health professionals and policymakers to support more family meals for all.

Read more about our work here.

Thanks for joining us!

Grace R. Freedman, Ph.D.

Cooking with Helen for Food Revolution Day 2014

2014-05-16T08:00:00.000-04:00

One proud chef!

I was inspired by Food Revolution Day's theme this year of getting kids worldwide excited about good food. What better way than to get kids in the kitchen cooking, tasting, and learning about delicious real food? I was thrilled to be invited by Brianne DeRosa of Red, Round, and Green and Bettina Siegal of The Lunch Tray to collaborate with other bloggers on a Flipsnack virtual cookbook to celebrate the day. We each had our kids cook up different easy dishes at home and shared our experiences with photos and step-by-step recipes. Here's our story and a fun cookbook for you and your kids to get cooking at home in your own kitchen!

FOOD REVOLUTION DAY 2014: COOKING WITH KIDS

Click link to access free cookbook.

My daughter loves cooking but in the busy daily rush of making dinner, I often forget to include her. Sometimes I think after the fact, "Oh, she could have really helped with this one. Darn!" I am on a mission to teach my teenage daughter full-scale recipes and meals, but I have to remind myself to capture the energy and enthusiasm of my eight year old while I still can.

One afternoon I had hurt my hand and even doing simple tasks in the kitchen was challenging. Perfect time to call in the kids to help! My teenager diced the tomatoes, but my eight year old wanted to make the tomato bruschetta all by herself. With this simple recipe, she could do it! I just told her what to do, step by step, and--viola!--she did it. She was so proud and the result was a kid-friendly, good food snack that can be a quick bite or an appetizer.

Another great thing about this recipe is that it can be varied and amended in many ways to suit your budding chef's creativity. Add spices or fresh herbs, lemon juice or use a different cheese (just not too much!). Also, as long as you don't burn the bruschetta in the broiler, it is impossible to "screw up." Some tomatoes fall to the tray, not problem! They'll get roasted too. The rustic look doesn't stop them from getting gobbled up.

Tasting is the best part!

Roasted Tomato Bruschetta

(Time approx 15 mins)

This delicious snack was made entirely by my 8 year old daughter, except for help with dicing tomatoes and using oven.

Slices of thick, hearty bread, if large slices, half or quarter slices as desired. (Bread can be day-old and best to use baguette, country, wheat, sourdough-type bread that can hold weight of topping)
1 cup of diced tomatoes (must be fresh, not canned)
Olive Oil
Salt
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Optional: Lemon juice, balsamic vinegar, fresh herbs

1. Set oven to broil (low setting, if possible).

2. Arrange bread slices on baking sheet. Use a spoon or pastry brush to “paint” each bread slice with olive oil. (If bread is soft, it will not hold tomatoes well. You can lightly toast bread in a toaster if needed.)

3. Spoon tomatoes over each bread slice, piled high; it’s ok if tomatoes fall off toast as they will be roasted on tray anyway.

4. Sprinkle a bit of salt on each toast and also sprinkle with freshly grated Parmesan cheese.

5. Have adult or older teenager place tray in hot oven and broil for 3-5 minutes. Check to be sure it is not burning. Heat until tomatoes and cheese are lightly browned but not burned. Depending on the temperature of your oven, you may need to add 2-4 additional minutes.

6. Let cool a moment and serve. Any tomatoes that have fallen off can be re-piled onto the toast slices. Enjoy!

7. Optional variations: Add squeeze of lemon juice or a splash of balsamic vinegar to tomatoes and stir prior to spooning on bread. Fresh herbs can be added to tomatoes or sprinkled on finished bruschetta as a garnish.

------------------------------------------

Many thanks to the other great bloggers who contributed to this effort and of course to Food Revolution Day team which is tirelessly working to expand awareness about food choice and to teach and inspire kids and families everywhere to eat good food and to cook for themselves.

Participants in the Food Revolution Day Kid's Cookbook 2014

Bettina Siegal, The Lunch Tray: www.facebook.com/thelunchtray, @thelunchtray
Bri DeRosa, Red, Round, Green: www.facebook.com/redroundorgreen, @redroundorgreen
Sally Kuzemchak, Real Mom Nutrition: www.facebook.com/realmomnutrition, @RMNutrition
Mia Moran, Stay Basic Blog: www.facebook.com/StayBasic, @StayBasicblog www.staybasic.com
Lynn Barendsen, The Family Dinner Project www.facebook.com/pages/The-Family-Dinner-Project/229902527045870, @FDP_Tweets
Caron Gremont, First Bites: www.facebook.com/yourfirstbites, @FirstBites

Have you taken the Family Dinner Challenge?

2013-08-29T09:15:00.000-04:00

I have been promoting family dinner in this space for several years. I've thought about the hows and the whys, the benefits and the excuses, and the ups, downs, sideways and backwards of family dinner. I've wondered about the best ways to encourage people to give regular family dinners a try: I've quoted statistics and presented independent research. I've linked to recipes and other resources so that people would feel like there was support and help at their fingertips.

After all these posts, I can honestly say that I think it comes down to commitment. Simply making a commitment to family dinner, whether it is 3 times a week or every single night. Family dinner is really about setting goals for your family life and following through. Once you can do that, the proof is in the pudding. I find that families who start with the family dinner routine very quickly feel that it is worth the effort. Most families that "do family dinner" just wouldn't have it another way--it's that good.

That's why I love Aviva Goldfarb of The Scramble's new Family Dinner Challenge. In September she is encouraging families to sign up and make the commitment to family dinner 3 times a week for 4 weeks. She is hoping to get 10,000 families strong to join in committing to family dinner. It is easy, fast, free and with no commitment, other than the promise you make to yourself!

If you already have family dinner 3x a week or more, sign up and join the family dinner community. If you want help and resources to make the commitment for the first time, all the more reason to sign up! There are even some amazing prizes that you could win, but the real winner will be you and your family.

In addition to The Scramble, there is an amazing online community that has tips and recipes to help make family dinner a reality. Many of them have signed up as partners to the Family Dinner Challenge: The Family Dinner Book, Bri of Red, Round and Green, Time at the Table, Kia of Today I Ate a Rainbow, Gina of Feeding Our Families, Bettina of The Lunch Tray, Sally of Real Mom Nutrition, and the Kids Cook Monday. Some other favorite resources of mine are listed here.

Give family dinner a try; take the Family Dinner Challenge and join thousands of families making the commitment to family dinner this September!

You can also show your support for Family Dinner in a ThunderClap online event. Sign up with Twitter or Facebook, or Tumblr and you'll send out a message of support at the same time as thousands of others. It's a great way to call attention to the important of family dinner and the legions of families that are in support of family dinner and each other.

Family Dinner: A Stable Force in Times of Change

2013-05-29T10:00:00.000-04:00

School's ending, summer's coming: this time of year is a season of change and is often full of transitions. Honestly, this year for me is so full of transitions that my head is spinning. My son turns 18 in a couple of weeks and will graduate from high school. He will attend college over 1,000 miles away, making his journey away from home very real. My middle daughter is graduating middle school, preparing to enter high school. The distance she will travel is also significant. Instead of a short walk to school on a relatively quiet Brooklyn street, her commute to high school will be via subway to that "big city" in Manhattan. And my mother, who is recently widowed, is planning a reverse-retiree move from Florida to Brooklyn this summer, so as to be closer to her only family, me.

All these journeys to and from home, all these big changes, are exciting, but nonetheless a bit scary and unsettling. Change can be hard, especially when the family structure you've been used to for... I don't know, for-EVER, is changing. Add these emotions to the usual end-of-the-year chaos of school picnics, special ceremonies and extra performances, and you've got A LOT GOING ON.

Family dinner is the one thing that gets us through these upside-down times. We still try to have dinner together 4 or more nights a week, no matter how busy we get. It really grounds us all and gives us a center. Weeknights are the best times for us to eat together as a family, though mealtimes get shortened because the older kids need to do homework and the youngest must fit in bath and bedtime by a decent hour. We rarely get our 17 year old to the table on Friday or Saturday night anymore because he has usually has plans with friends.

This holiday weekend, though, many of his friends were away and it was all five of us at the table with no time pressures or places to run off to. We laughed together, shared a huge bunch of fresh lychee nuts,* and had longer after-dinner conversations than we've enjoyed in a while. Though he would never admit it, I can sense my son is already a bit nostalgic for these family times together. I certainly am.

Really delicious fresh lychee nuts

Knowing how much family dinner has meant to me and my children as I approach my 18th year (!) as a parent, I fully support Aviva of The Six O'Clock Scramble in the Family Dinner Challenge. Many of my readers already have regular family dinners, so it's a great way to show the numbers of people who live this lifestyle. For anyone who is interested in making the commitment to family dinner, but need help getting started (or help keeping your efforts going), The Six O'Clock Scramble is offering great resources including a checklist and recipes.

The Family Dinner Challenge

Have dinner together at least 3 times a week for 4 weeks by September 2013!

* The funny story behind the overwhelming amount of lychee nuts in our house: This holiday weekend we went to Chinatown to have dim sum as a family; it had been ages since our schedules aligned so we could go together. We got separated from my husband at one point because he left something at the restaurant and had to go back. As the kids and I maneuvered through the crowded streets, every vendor seemed to have fresh lychee nuts. The kids begged to get them, and I hesitated because they are quite expensive, but eventually I said, "Sure." Soon after we caught up with my husband; of course he had bought a big bunch of lychee nuts too! We all laughed about it as my middle daughter observed, "I feel like this would only happen in my family!" Anyone have any recipes?

Family Dinner & Food Revolution Day 2013: Cook It, Share It, Live It

2013-05-06T11:01:00.000-04:00

Celebrate real food on May 17, 2013 and every day! Join the movement!

I have been a big fan of Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution cause since he started the movement in 2010. This year's theme Cook it, Share it, Live it aptly sums up the enthusiasm for real food and it's a prefect metaphor for how family dinners can reinforce all the sentiments of the Read Food Revolution philosophy.

COOK IT: Real food begins at home with simple delicious and healthy home cooked meals. Did you know that convenience foods don't actually save that much time in the kitchen? According to a recent study, the time saved with convenience foods is minimal, but that "convenience" can actually undermine family dinner. Convenience food supports the notion that everyone can eat their own food whenever they feel like it, rather than having a family meal together. In short, it teaches kids and ourselves that processed food that's "our way" is better than a shared, cooked meal. Read more about it here: The Atlantic: Serving Convenience Foods for Dinner Doesn't Save Time, March 11, 2013

When you cook food for yourself and your family, you end up with healthier, fresher food, where you control the ingredients. If you are shopping and planning well, the overall price of better food is usually far less than a prepared food options.

SHARE IT: Family meals are not strictly about the food served. It is a time to talk, laugh and bond together as a family. Some research suggests that the conversations that happen around the family table are the key ingredient to a child's success at school and in life. By sharing meals, we remember to slow down and enjoy our loved ones. Food Revolution Day is a good reminder that the dinner table can create a shared community, be it with family or with friends and neighbors.

LIVE IT: The Food Revolution is not about a boring, strict regimen of food, with the idea of pushing food that's just "good for you" medicine you have to take. It is about the GOOD LIFE! Real food-- luscious, delicious, fresh and naturally nutritious-- it is the most wonderful stuff in the world and worth celebrating. Join the Food Revolution because you want to embrace the good life!

Celebrate Food Revolution Day on May 17th, 2013 with a great real food family dinner. Try some of these great recipes.

Check out the Food Revolution website and Facebook page to find special events near you.

The Family Dinner Conference, April 18, 2013: Join the Conversation!

2013-02-28T11:14:00.001-05:00

Family dinner can be a surprisingly hot topic of conversation. NPR is currently doing a series about family dinner that is generating a lot of buzz. Many of the profiled families fit a mold that suggests that family dinner nowadays is an impossible dream. Yet listeners and commenters have chimed in and overwhelming gave witness to how family dinner was indeed alive and well at their house. Despite juggling work schedules, kid's commitments and the just "too few hours in a day" issues we all face, many families are finding a way to make family dinner a priority.

So, clearly there's a lot to talk about. This spring, on April 18, 2013 the first ever Family Dinner Conference will be held at New York University's Kimmel Center, organized by my friend Billy Mawhiney from Time at the Table. It will be an excellent place to get the conversation about family dinner going. For parents and educators, this conference is a chance to learn about practical solutions and to forward new ideas. It will be a place to find kindred spirits in our belief in family dinner, while sharing evidence and telling stories about how it's done by busy, modern families across the country.

Starting with the keynote by Jenny Rosenstrach best-selling author of Dinner A Love Story, there will be an all-star line up of authors, bloggers, and nutrition experts, including Aviva Goldfarb of the The Six O'Clock Scramble and Pam Koch of Kids Cook Monday. (See the full schedule here.) The Blog for Family Dinner Team, including Kathleen Cuneo of Dinner Together, Billy, and me, will host a luncheon panel discussion. We will all be presenting and discussing real strategies to make family dinner work. It promises to be a great and inspirational day!

Participants will hear from the entire panel of speakers and will enjoy close-up conversations during the Q&As, lunch and afternoon networking sessions. In the admission price is included a light breakfast, lunch, and an afternoon smoothie bar. Sponsorship opportunities are also available.

Join us at the first Family Dinner Conference in NYC!

The Family Dinner Conference

Thursday April 18,

9:30am-4:30pm

New York University, Kimmel Center

60 Washington Square South

New York, NY 10012

www.familydinnerconference.com

info@timeatthetable.org

347-450-TATT (8288)

The Teen Solution to Family Dinner

2013-01-30T11:23:00.001-05:00

In preparing a presentation for high school educators recently, I had a "light bulb" moment. Teens are an untapped resource in the family dinner equation. When we think of family dinner, teenagers hardly even enter into the picture. This may be because they have busy schedules, just like their parents, or perhaps parents of teens have already given up on a family table! But the teenager years are a crucial time where family dinner can really help parents and older kids stay connected. Moreover, teens can help make dinner happen -- the Teen Solution to Family Dinner!

Real Benefits for Teens

Kids, teens and adults who have family dinner regularly report feeling more connected, happier and less stressed. This has a special resonance for teens. I was recently shocked and saddened to learn that 1 in 25 teens has attempted suicide and 1 in 8 has had some thoughts of suicide. Teen mood swings are typical, yet teen depression and other mental health problems are a very real threat that parents and educators need to be attuned to. Just the act of having a few meals together, at any time of day, can bring this crucial connection. Family dinner has been shown to be a positive behavioral therapy for teens with eating disorders, substance abuse problems, and other mental health issues.

Furthermore, teens actually like having dinner with their families, despite the stereotypes. They appreciate having a regular time with parents and they report eating more healthful foods with the family. As Tara Parker-Pope, reported in The New York Times Well Blog, a few years ago, even people working in the field can forget.

Despite her research, Dr. Neumark-Sztainer was surprised when her own son was interviewed by a local television station about the family’s regular Friday night meal. A senior in high school at the time, he told the reporter, “I like that my parents expect me to be home, because it makes me feel important.’’

Real Help from Teens

The number one complaint from parents about family dinner is the time it takes to put dinner on the table. The light bulb moment came when I read that one of teens' biggest frustrations was that parents did not let them help more in the kitchen! Clearly, this is a potential win-win for parents and teens. Depending on where you live, teens can help shop, prep for, and/or cook dinner for their families, in addition to the more traditional role of cleaning up. Even if it is just once or twice a week, letting your teen take charge of dinner could mean the difference between having dinner together or not. Actually taking responsibility for making the family meal can be a great way to bolster self-confidence and self-esteem. Teens hate doing "busy-work" and may actually be more willing to cook for the family (an important job) rather than taking out the garbage (easier, but a more menial task).

The teenage years are an excellent time to learn cooking as a real-life survival skill. Unlike grade school children, where cooking is solely "fun," teenagers will actually be cooking for themselves in just a few years. I cooked dinner for my family while my mom worked nights, and I think that's where my confidence in the kitchen came from. I cooked meals throughout college to save money and was often surprised that other people didn't know how to cook. Though I'm able to make much more sophisticated meals now, I started with serving my mom's pre-made crock-pot dinners and re-heating frozen vegetables.

As the mom of two teens, I know having your teen cook dinner might be a hard sell; it definitely depends on the personalities involved. You may even have to scale back your own expectations about what constitutes dinner. (In an article from last year, My Sons, the Sous-Chefs, a NYT writer humblebrags about her sons cooking full meals and manage to critique their technique at the same time!)

What do you think? Is it possible to have teens or tweens actually make family dinner? Would this help your family eat together more often?

New Year: Looking Forward on Family Dinner and more

2013-01-08T10:44:00.001-05:00

Goodbye 2012, you son of a bitch.
-- My good friend Julian Fleisher's Facebook reflection on New Year's Eve. Yes, it got a lot of "Likes."

With the Hurricane Sandy disaster and the tragic killings in Sandy Hook, the end of 2012 has surely been one of the more difficult times in recent memory. I remember when 9/11 happened; it stopped me in my tracks. As the parent of young children, as a New Yorker, as a professional and political person (I was teaching Public Policy at NYU that year), 9/11 turned my world-view upside down, even though I wasn't "personally" affected. This fall felt a bit like a flashback of that terrible fall 11 years ago. Though I feel deeply lucky and grateful that my family and loved ones are safe and sound, I was still struck by a need to reflect, take stock, and brood over what next steps I should or could take in light of these events.

I haven't been posting very much, in part because I have felt torn. So many of my emotions and thoughts were tied up in issues that were only tangentially related to family dinner, if at all. As a country, we need sane gun control. As world citizens, we must confront and act on climate change. As members of our community, we must look for ways to keep making a difference and help each other, neighbor by neighbor. On a personal level, I knew what to do: give time, give money, give blood, share a political petition or two, give some more money. But, other than a prompt to discuss these matters at the dinner table, how would those topics fit into this blog on family dinner?

Promoting family dinner and spreading the word about healthy eating at home and at school is still at the core of my work and advocacy. But there's a wider universe of solutions that can improve public health and the well-being and resiliency of children and adults in my community. In addition to nutrition and access to good food, we can and should talk about ideas like livable streets, urban gardening, green infrastructure, and ways to support children and adults with better education, safe streets and more economic opportunity.

I am pushing back against my old habits of dividing my alliances, which started back in middle school. I didn't think my "nerdy" school friends could possibly relate my "cooler" neighborhood friends, so I always tried to keep them separate. I've been inadvertently doing that by keeping my community activism separate from my work in promoting healthy food and family dinner. Foolishness really; it is all more connected that we realize. As this world of expanded social networks shows us, more is more. More friends, more connections, more topics clashing is not something to be afraid of. Synergies and big ideas are only possible when you mash-up unexpected skills, talents, and interests. I hope to do more of that this year, both online and off; I'll just have to try to figure out how.

Here's my idea for new beginnings in 2013: I'll keep the Eatdinner.org blog and the Eatdinner Facebook page focused specifically on healthy eating and the benefits of family dinner. I'll not shy away from my opinions on more diverse topics on Twitter (@eatdinner) or in person. I hope you'll continue to follow me in all these venues and that we can continue our conversations and debates together and learn from each other.

Despite the heartbreaks of 2012, in this new year, I am looking forward. I am re-thinking how to best channel my passions and advocacy into making the world, especially my local community, a better place. I am actively seeking opportunities to improve my community in Brooklyn and New York City--if you live or work nearby, I'd love to connect with you to discuss specific projects, or maybe just have coffee. If we already know each other in the blogosphere or from the neighborhood, feel free to connect with me via LinkedIn. Of course I'd love to have you follow me here, on Facebook, or Twitter.

Here is to a bright, happy and healthy 2013!

Grateful for Our Urban Harvest

2012-11-21T13:49:00.000-05:00

I've been amazed and grateful for over the last few weeks to witness the huge outpouring of support for neighbors in need following Hurricane Sandy. I have always known New Yorkers to be generous and giving, despite the tough exteriors that we may show. What I've also been reminded of again and again is our flexibility, resilience and persistence. Inspired by Red, Round and Green's call for #SecondHelpings, I wanted to share this story about how small efforts can add up to make a real difference.

On Monday, my daughter's public school held its annual Harvest Day celebration. Originally scheduled for the week Hurricane Sandy hit, it was unclear if the event, themed "Our Urban Harvest," could even be rescheduled. The band couldn't make it, nor could the worm composters from the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. A few of the outdoor art projects also had to be scrapped because it could only be held inside. Would it even be worth it?

A key component of Harvest Day was a food drive which seemed especially needed in our community this year, so with the backing of the administration, we went ahead with a curtailed day. There were concerns about the hasty re-scheduling. Parents were only given a couple days notice (a backpack flyer on Friday for a Monday event (!)) and there was concern of donor fatigue (this would be week 4 of near-continuous asking for local donations). All those worries were washed away as the food and donations came pouring in that morning in the school yard. There was such a mountain of food, we weren't quite sure how to handle it.

The kids stepped in. Preschoolers and Kindergarteners sorted cans and older children actually put together boxes of balanced meals for the pantry. They were all beaming and filled with pride because it was clear that this urban harvest had a purpose. Their donations were not just being left in a big pile at the schoolyard gate to go some mysterious place; they were being actively organized and sorted to go to a real family's Thanksgiving table.

Parent volunteers drove over 40 meal boxes and many other bags filled with goods to the food pantry. One parent stepped in to rent a truck to bring over the haul, once it was clear that a couple of cars wasn't going to do it!

Parent volunteers.

Once at the pantry, they were welcomed. Another volunteer reported:

We just dropped off the food at the [food pantry] in Sunset Park. The gentleman who received us was so choked up - he said he was so worried because the shelves were bare. They didn't know what they were going to do for Thanksgiving.

The shelves had only a few boxes of cereal until our delivery showed up.

Some critical differences that made this food drive a success:

The school PTA worked closely with a local pantry and asked them what was needed. The pantry was able to refrigerate items and could distribute the ingredients for meals, not just canned or non-perishable goods.
Each class was asked to put together a Thanksgiving meal for a family. Rather than just ask for "anything," specific sign-up sheets were established so parents could donate a main course, fresh or canned fruits and vegetables, fresh bread and pies and all the other makings of a real Thanksgiving feast. This avoided duplication and made the bounty much more diverse. Fresh fruits and vegetables, fresh bread and pies are very rare but welcome commodities at food pantries, if they can store them.
The kids learned about healthy choices and balanced meals and then immediately put that knowledge into action. The food was arrayed into sections across the gym floor, and the children were encouraged to choose items to make balanced meal boxes.

Over 40 main courses (turkeys, chickens and hams) were donated.

As for the kids, I'm sure they probably missed not having a band or not having any take-home arts and crafts goodies. But they will remember being a small part of something bigger, making a difference by being part of the our urban harvest of generosity.

Happy Thanksgiving!

#Second Helpings
Red, Round and Green's Round -Up
The Lunch Tray's Round-up

Comfort Foods & Cash: Carrot Tzimmes for #FBS4Sandy

2012-11-08T13:23:00.000-05:00

Food Bloggers Support Sandy Recovery #FBS4Sandy

I am proud as ever to be a New Yorker and Brooklynite. I live just a few blocks away from flooded Red Hook and Gowanus and just a few miles away from some of the worst of Hurricane Sandy's devastation in the Rockaways and Coney Island. I can report from the field that the outpouring of support--goods, money and hands-on help--has been truly inspiring and almost overwhelming in this time of great need for our city.

One of the most pressing needs has been to help deliver hot foods to serve to flood-stricken survivors, to the elderly that are without electricity, to evacuees that are in shelters around the city and to the many volunteers who have been on hand to dig out, bail out or help out in any way they can. Something as fleeting and precious as a warm cooked meal has served to both feed hungry bellies and to show that people, strangers no less, really care.

I love #FBS4Sandy idea from Barbara at Creative Culinary's and Jenn from Jenn Cuisine to build food blogger support to raise money and awareness for Sandy Recovery efforts. I believe in the power of our online community. We can help with thoughts, prayers and dollars so that the "real-life" communities of New York, New Jersey and all the affected areas on the East Coast have the tools and support they need to rebuild.

Give to the Red Cross, or considering giving to one of the local on-the-ground sources I list below. Our local Brooklyn communities have doing tremendous work and have been in many ways more nimble and earlier on the scene that FEMA and the Red Cross.

Today I present my family recipe for Carrot Tzimmes; it is a wonderful, healthy comfort food that is a staple at our Thanksgiving and Passover dinners. I wanted to use a vegetable dish because unfortunately vegetables have been sorely lacking from the hot-food donations. If you are making or giving food locally, consider a vegetable dish like this or a healthy soup.

Carrot Tzimmes
Tzimmes means "with a lot of fuss" but this recipe is actually very easy. You can also use sweet potatoes or a mixture.

1-2 lbs of sliced carrots (depending on how many people you are serving)
2 Tbs of each Butter and Olive Oil
1/2-1 cup Orange Juice, enough to fill pan by 1/3.
2 Tbsps. Honey or brown sugar
1/2 cup Raisins or currants, more or less to taste
1 tsp Cinnamon, more or less to taste
Salt and Pepper to taste

Parboil carrots. Melt butter in microwave, add equal amount of olive oil. Then mix in orange juice, honey, and cinnamon. Drain carrots and arrange in 9x12 baking dish. Pour in orange juice mixture, adding more liquid if needed. Toss in raisins and cover with foil. Whenever the oven is free, place pan in oven for about 30 minutes or until hot. If you like the carrots to be more golden brown, remove foil and heat for another 15 minutes or more, until desired color.

(Oven Temperature can vary, though 350 degrees is ideal. If oven is hotter than 350, decrease time and check more regularly so that it does not burn.)

Check out Creative Culinary's List of #FBS4Sandy contributors here. Remember these virtual posts of comfort foods for #FBS4Sandy will only help actually feed people if you give generously. Below I've listed links of local organizations as well as national ones. More details on the local resources are in my post from earlier this week.

Local Resources:
Occupy Sandy Wedding Registry on Amazon

Red Hook Initiative

Brooklyn Recovery Fund

Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City

National Resources:

American Red Cross

Salvation Army

United Way Sandy Recovery Fund

Feeding America

Resources to Support NYC in Recovery from Hurricane Sandy

2012-11-05T10:50:00.001-05:00

In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, I have been moved to tears and moved to action many times this week. My family was blessed to be unharmed and without damage. Neighbors less than a few blocks away were less lucky, but for the most part, the damage my close friends experienced is repairable. Many others, so many families that lost their loved ones or their homes, are really hurting.

It is heartbreaking to see the devastation of many of our cherished communities in Brooklyn, Red Hook, the Rockaways and other nearby communities of Staten Island, Long Island and New Jersey. The volunteerism and outpouring of resources (time, money and goods) has been amazing and overwhelming. It will be a long haul to rebuild, a marathon not a sprint, and we need sustained help and commitments from everyone.

I have listed a few resources for making contributions, mostly financial, but there is also an Amazon registry that you can purchase and send goods.

Thank you for all your help and support and please keep it up! For the love of our city and our country, many, many thanks.

Occupy Sandy Wedding Registry on Amazon

Where to Eat, Donate and Volunteer for Sandy Relief from The Village Voice

Brokelyn Blog, which has had amazing and repeatedly updated resources on the relief efforts

Red Hook Initiative

List from the NYTimes: Volunteers Flock to Disaster Areas 11.4.12

American Red Cross www.redcross.org/hurricane-sandy

Brooklyn Recovery Fund www.brooklynrecoveryfund.org

Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York Citywww.nyc.gov/html/fund/html/home/home.shtml

Salvation Army www.salvationarmyusa.org

United Way Sandy Recovery Fund uwsandyrecovery.org

B4FD Reflections: Fitting Family Dinner into Crazy Family Life

2012-09-27T06:00:00.000-04:00

This month, Blog for Family Dinner founders will reflect back on some lessons learned from our B4FD guest bloggers over the past year. This week, I share my reflections.

"Really? You have family dinner every night?!" It's a question I get asked quite a bit. I sense people feel I am lying when I say yes. That's one reason I love Jennifer Grant's Blame it On post for B4FD. Her post speaks to balancing the modern reality of crazy-busy family lives with the ideal of nightly family dinners. Let's just say, reality can be messy.

Blame it on my husband’s travel schedule.

Blame it on my four children’s soccer, lacrosse, and softball games.

Blame it on my daughter’s passion for viola or my son’s commitment to cello.

Blame it on whatever you’d like, but my family isn’t able to sit down and eat dinner together every night of the week. But, most nights, we manage to make it happen. The kids are given heaping bowls of Cheerios or Life cereal before they run off to sports or music lessons, but when we all return home, sweaty, tired, sometimes jangly and out of sorts after too long a day, we sit down to dinner together.

Read Jennifer Grant's full post, Blame it On...

Jennifer writes elegantly about what could be the story of my day...juggling the activity and homework schedules of three kids, husband travelling or working late, my own work commitments, random school meetings, illnesses or other minor emergencies that can throw even a well-planned schedule into chaos. Yet, we still manage to find time for family dinner most nights, because it is a touchstone and a center of gravity for all of us. I find when there's been too many nights without family dinner, because of work or other evening commitments, everyone is cranky and out of sorts. It's important to schedule in that little bit of family time to keep us all grounded.

So, while I laugh when someone mistakenly thinks our family dinner routine is "picture-perfect," I am also grateful that we have found a way to make family dinner consistent in our lives when our schedules are anything but.

As Jennifer counsels, when life is crazy-busy, the answer is not to give up family dinner all together. Instead find the happy medium that works for your family. Find that happy place and forgive yourself for not reaching some "made-up" ideal. Just remember the "real goals" of family dinner, finding a daily connection among you and your loved ones. Relax and enjoy it, even in the chaos!

Read Jen Grant's Blame it On and her other great B4FD post, Ordinary Pleasures.

B4FD Reflections: Family Dinner & Health

2012-09-24T06:00:00.000-04:00

This month, Blog for Family Dinner founders will reflect back on some lessons learned from our B4FD guest bloggers over the past year. This week, I'm offering my reflections.

Family dinner is a wonderful way for kids and families to stay connected; that's something we at B4FD talk about all the time. I believe that family dinner also has the potential to improve the broad health of society. Family dinner has been shown to be effective in addressing many health challenges ranging from childhood obesity to risky behaviors in teens to self-esteem issues to adolescent depression. Coming from a background in public health, that's one reason family dinner resonates with me. A positive health intervention that can change the lives of millions for little to no cost? Something that, once your family gets into the routine of it, can be fun, rewarding and good-for-you? Family dinner is the opposite of medicine, but it has the potential to bolster the health of our nation, especially our children. Yes, it's that important.

So, my B4FD reflection centers on Elizabeth Brotherton's (PreventObesity.net) post, Keeping Kids Healthy, One Meal at a Time. Her post captures the "touch-feely" reasons for embracing family dinner as well as citing the scientific research that backs this "gut" feeling many of us have. She writes

...it's often those memories of time at the table with my own family that keeps me motivated. In my gut, I know that people are more likely to have a healthier relationship with food if they spend time with it —preparing it, serving it, taking time to eat it (rather than just shoving it down from the drive thru).

As it turns out, my instincts are backed by scientific research. A growing body of evidence shows that children who regularly eat meals with their family are less likely to be obese.

In one major national study, 4-year-old children who ate dinner with their family six or seven days a week had a 25 percent lower risk of obesity compared to kids who ate dinner with their family less frequently. Other studies also have found that adolescents who regularly eat family meals are less likely to be obese.

Read Elizabeth's full post here: Keeping Kids Healthy, One Meal at a Time

Today, Monday September 24, 2012, is also CASA's Family Day, established over a decade ago as a way to remind parents that family dinner was an effective way to stay connected with their kids. CASA research has shown many times over that frequent family dinners reduce the likelihood that teens will engage in risky behaviors, as well as improving family relationships and performance at school. CASA's Family Day is an important campaign we champion at B4FD, though we know reducing illegal drug and alcohol use among teens is just one of the important benefits of family dinner. Family meals can mean happier, healthier families and a healthier society as well, and that's something to celebrate!

Summertime Meals and Family Dinner

2012-07-19T07:00:00.000-04:00

I'm thrilled to be guest-blogging on The Lunch Tray today. I share many of Bettina's passions, embodied by her motto "Kids and Food, In School and Out." Eatdinner.org is part of my own advocacy efforts for reclaiming family meals, despite our busy schedules, improved access to good food for all, and more support for healthy habits for kids and adults.

* * * * * *

Summer and the living is easy...it seems that way at our house. Longer days, later schedules, no homework to do in the evenings, just happy stories from the camp day, frozen juice pops on the porch and watching for fireflies (whilst battling mosquitoes!).

Of course, parents still have to work, but even work schedules seem a bit shifted. Everyone seems to have conflicting vacation schedules that can make deadlines more flexible and lengthen out the cycles of "must-do" assignments. Skipping out of work a bit earlier (or merely on time!) once or twice a week may be more do-able now that in the hectic autumn days.

So why not use this time of relaxed bedtimes and looser schedules to re-think family routines, and in particular, family dinner? During the summer, there tends to be less pressure to get children to bed early in order to be awake for school. My daughter's day camp starts at 9am instead of 8:40am, and even that 20 minutes gives us a little more breathing room in the morning than seems to last all day. Take advantage of this to stop looking at the clock at dinner time. Schedule family dinner time a bit later so that everyone can be there.

Summer is also a prefect time for simple dishes or cold food that requires little or no cooking. No one wants to eat fussy food when it's hot outside. I've included a recipe for chicken below that is so easy; it's like not cooking at all. Maybe making a few simple summer meals will take the pressure off thinking of family dinner as a big elaborate to-do. Keep it simple and focus on what really matters, setting up some regular time together to enjoy each other's company and be a family.

5 reasons why summer meals can help start your family dinner routine

Less time pressure for kids and adults, so dinner can start later.
Simple or no cook meals, like salad or sandwiches, are welcome.
Kids tend to be more hungry after camp and all-day play, so they may be more open to trying new foods
Meals taste better outside, if you can manage to eat in your backyard or a picnic at a park
More relaxed bedtimes and no homework can mean more time to sit and linger after dinner, play family games or even play outside or take a walk after dinner.

Unlike watermelon on the porch or catching fireflies, a summer meal tradition can be one that you can hold onto into the fall and throughout the year. What better time to enjoy family dinner!

"No-Cook" Slow Cook Whole Chicken

I just discovered this recipe when it was to hot to roast or even grill a chicken I had bought. Not wanting to waste it, I searched my slow cooker cookbook for ideas. The result is very much like a poached chicken. There is literally no water added, but it works!

Adapted from "Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker" by Beth Hensperger and Julie Kaufmann

1 whole chicken
Salt and pepper
5-6 garlic cloves (optional)

Salt and pepper whole chicken inside and out. Place in crock-pot. Add garlic cloves if desired. Cook on LOW setting for 4-6 hours depending on size. Test chicken for doneness with a thermometer. Inside the thigh reading should be at least 165 degrees.
When chicken is fully cooked, remove it to a platter. The skin should be removed and discarded. (It will look pretty bland and awful). There will be a concentrated sauce that you can use to make gravy or just save for stock.
Cut the chicken off the bone to be served separately or used in any recipe with cooked chicken, such as tacos or chicken salad. At our house, we used the chicken to make delicious make-you-own sandwiches with good crusty bread, fresh tomatoes and a side salad. Enjoy!

Real Food Dinner: Oven Grilled Asparagus & Homemade Garlic Mayo

2012-05-17T23:55:00.000-04:00

Welcome to our Food Revolution Day Virtual Dinner Party! I hope you have been enjoying the delicious offerings of my friends (hop over to their blogs listed below). Wonderful, delicious real food, perfect for family or friends, and I can't wait for Bettina's dessert!

Here is the full menu with links:

The Real Food Dinner Menu (#foodrevdinner)
Appetizers:
Bacon Wrapped Blue Cheese Dates by Billy at Time at the Table

Roasted Tomato and Pepper Soup by Brianne of Red, Round, or Green

Main Dish:

Grilled Tilapia with Mango Salsa by Jeanne of The Jolly Tomato

Sides:

Grilled Asparagus and Homemade Garlic Mayo by Grace of EatDinner.org

Simple Lemon Quinoa with Peas and Carrots by Eila of the Full Plate blog / Meals in a Snap

Dessert:
Lemon Buttermilk Pudding Cake with Berries and Cream by Bettina of The Lunch Tray

_____________________________________________________
Real Food Dinner: Oven Grilled Asparagus with Homemade Garlic Mayo

On Mother's Day, my good friend hosted a fabulous brunch and part of the menu was amazing oven-grilled spring vegetables with homemade chipotle mayonnaise. It was a wonderful assortment of spring vegetables: sweet red peppers, baby eggplants, cherry tomatoes, leeks and fava beans! I was inspired and decided to oven grill asparagus for our Food Revolution Day Dinner and try to make my own homemade mayo for the first time.

The Inspiration!

Oven-Grilled Asparagus
This recipe is shamelessly easy, but amazingly good!

1 bunch of asparagus (can substitute almost any tender vegetable)
Drizzle of Olive Oil
Sprinkle of Sea Salt
Squeeze of Lemon (optional)

Preheat broiler to High. Arrange asparagus on a single layer on a baking tray. Drizzle with olive oil and shake to toss. Sprinkle with Sea Salt. Broil on high for 3-5 mins (watch carefully to avoid burning). Turn veggies over and broil 2-5 mins more, if needed. Cooking length will depend on your taste and variability of your broiler. You can let them get pretty dark and then they will really look and taste "grilled," though your kids may prefer them only "lightly browned."

Step 1:

Step 2:

Done!

My kids, who will eat many vegetables, don't really like asparagus, but they devoured this version. Delicious even without the mayo! (You can give a squeeze of lemon when plated.)

Next for the real challenge: homemade mayo! I remembered seeing Jennifer Perillo's super-easy recipe and method for mayo, using a stick blender and decided to give it a whirl. Here is a video below that I first found on her website.

Garlic-seasoned Homemade Mayo
(Adapted from Jennifer Perillo (In Jennie's Kitchen) and Mark Bittman)
Adding garlic gave it a robust flavor so it could hold up to the other grilled fare, and also made it a bit fancier for our dinner party!

1-3 cloves of garlic, depending on taste
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon of Dijon Mustard
1 cup canola oil or other neutral oil, or you can use olive oil for richer taste
1/4 teaspoon of salt
juice of half a lemon (approx 2 tablespoons)

Soften whole cloves garlic by boiling in water for 10 min. Smash with fork or garlic mincer. Then add to mayo recipe.

Mayo:
Place egg yolk, lemon juice, salt, mustard an oil in a tall container, mixing cup, or bowl with high sides. Let ingredients settle for one or two minutes so that yolk settles to bottom. Place immersion blender in cup and slowly pulsate the mixture. In a few seconds, the mayo will begin to form; keep moving blender around the container to fully mix all the liquids. Stop as soon as it reaches the desired consistency, not more than one minute. Serve immediately, or can be save in refrigerator for up to one week.
(Jennifer has a low-fat version too; check here.)

Yum! Homemade Garlic Mayo

What a great way to celebrate Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution Day! I hope you enjoyed it and feel to share your favorite recipes or real food blog posts in the comments section or via Facebook or Twitter (@eatdinner).

Get into the kitchen this weekend and make some real food to enjoy with your family!

Join us for a Food Revolution Day Dinner Party! Our Virtual Dinner Party starts Friday May 18!

2012-05-17T10:05:00.000-04:00

Jamie Oliver is having a huge celebration for Real Food. On May 19th, he's hosting a Global Food Revolution Day and encouraging folks to have dinner parties, send in videos, and tout all the good things about real food. The power of this movement is in your hands! We as shoppers, as parents, as eaters, as cooks, all need to take a stand to demand real food.

This past fall, a group of bloggers held a progressive virtual dinner for CSPI Food Day. We were all pleased to offer a dish and a virtual entry into our homes and kitchens. This time, we are thrilled to do it again with a few more friends.

We kick off the party early on Friday May 18, so be sure to check in and join us. Here is the outline of our Real Dinner Menu.

appetizers hosted by Billy Mawhiney of Time at the Table
soup and salad hosted by Brianne DeRosa, of Red, Round, or Green
entrée hosted by Jeanne Fratello of the The Jolly Tomato
side dishes hosted by Eila Johnson of the Full Plate blog and Grace Freedman of EatDinner.org
dessert hosted by at The Lunch Tray.

Join the conversation! Post your own real food recipe on your own blog, on Facebook, or you can even upload it to Jamie Oliver's site. We are using #foodrevdinner on Twitter.

Take action! Choose Saturday May 19th to be a real food day in your house. Cook a family meal, host a real food potluck, or get involved in any of the activities in your area. Check out Food Revolution for more details or follow them on Facebook or Twitter @FoodRev #foodrevolution.

Thanks Sheryl Sandberg for Taking Family Dinner "Out of the Closet"

2012-05-01T15:43:00.000-04:00

Family dinner has come up again in the news, this time thanks to Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook COO, who has come out publicly to declare that "Yes," she makes time for family dinner. It is interesting that she said she's been doing it for years, both when she was at Google and now at Facebook, but has only recently "come out" for family dinner publicly. What a powerful statement! First, that you would have to "come out" to say that you leave the office at 5:30pm so you can have family dinner (and that it is big news with over 1,000 shares on Huffington Post). And second, that one of the leading business people in America can say that finding regular time for your family is important and priceless, and that it is important for women, and men, to agree to do it.

Sheryl Sandberg: Leaving Work At 5:30pm

I often get distinct reactions when I talk about family dinner. Some people treat my advice to try family dinner as something akin to suggesting they build a spaceship and take it to the moon -- it just seems like an impossible task! Other people whisper to me in hushed tones, "We have family dinner most nights a week, but I never really talk about it. It's great that you are actually talking about it." Their tone suggests that they are slightly embarrassed about making family dinner a priority and actually pulling it off regularly. There is a (genuine) concern that if you are committed to family dinner you must be

hopelessly old-fashioned,
willing to commit career suicide,
have live-in help,
have a lot of time on your hands.
Or maybe all of the above.

I know from talking with dual-income working families across the country that family dinner is a way of life for many and not rocket science. But in certain circles, family dinner is totally "in the closet" and is some kind of mystery that men and women are reluctant to even discuss. I'm glad Sheryl Sandberg's statements are bringing out more discussion on family dinner so we can talk about the hows and whys to make it a reality. (Some of my own tips are here and Blog for Family Dinner is a great resource for stories about how real families are making it work.)

I applaud Sheryl Sandberg for coming out for family dinner. Will you? The first step to making family dinner a reality is the commitment. Talk with your family about what small steps you could take. Can you try for family dinner 2 or more nights a week? Can you build up from wherever you start? What would it take to put that together? Talking to your boss, doing more meal planning, reducing out some after school or evening commitments? Make the commitment and follow through. Just like you do at work everyday.

NYC Blogger Potluck: All Kind of Families #B4FD (with recipe for Red Cooked Pork)

2012-03-21T10:00:00.000-04:00

Way back in February, I had the pleasure to meet with many NYC Bloggers and to celebrate with them at the NYC Chinese New Year Potluck, organized by Jackie Gordon (@divathatateny) and Ken (@HungryRabbitNYC). Because my husband loves Asian food and has made a very nice hobby of learning Asian cooking (nice for me and the whole family), this was a must-attend event for us. We even booked a babysitter.

Even though I'm very belated with writing this post, I realize the blogger potluck story is actually a great match to the "All Kinds of Families" theme on Blog for Family Dinner this month. Potlucks are about making new connections, trying new things, taking leaps in both foods to try and conservations to start. I knew many of the people in the room only from social media, so we were "twitter-friends" or acquaintances at best. Yet, it was a warm and open group of folks, with everyone ready to share a table, talk about their passions, share tips of places to get obscure ingredients or trade stories of great restaurants to try in far-flung corners of New York City.

In the past year, I've been to potluck parties with people of every stripe: with parents from my kids' different schools, with local community gardeners, with close friends and family, and of course, a few blogger parties and cookie swaps, both for fun and charity. Sometimes these gatherings are about solidifying friendships and catching up with old friends; other times, it's awkwardly meeting people you may only have a tenuous connection to. Still, there is something about a communal table that gets people talking, and that's one reason we turn to them as a culture again and again.

I dare say, a blogger potluck is unlike a community or neighborhood potluck in one significant way: the food is a whole lot better! Potluck, by its very definition, is a hit or miss type of meal. Unless you go in with serious organization or a theme, you can easily end up with a buffet of pasta or multiple repetitions of the same appetizer (hummus and chips for dinner, anyone?) And you can almost always count on the desserts outweighing the actual food. You are usually lucky if you have two or three killer cooks contributing to the meal.

Hosting a potluck of food bloggers seriously changes these odds in your favor! Food bloggers bring their A-game to these affairs, and their dishes can be a signature or a calling card. (Oh I loved your won-tons!). But mostly, just like any community gathering, a blogger potluck is about food, conversation and connections.

I relish any opportunity to sit down with the people who love food and talk about the benefits of family meals, no matter how you define family. My message of the power of "family dinner" is a pretty easy sell with the food blogger crowd. Whether they have children or live alone, whether they cook only at home or also in restaurants, food bloggers understand the power of food and connection.

-----------

We don't usually include daikon, but it was too beautiful at the market to pass up!

So what did we bring to the Asian potluck party? Michael made Red Cooked Pork, adapted from an old, Sichuan cookbook. This is a perfect potluck meal because it tastes better once it sits and it can be served warm, as opposed to piping hot and fresh, which is more typical for Asian cooking. We have had great success serving this at dinner parties, and many non-Asian friends say they have never had anything like it. I think it is a bit of a "meatloaf" type dish though, to Asian foodies. The best compliment of the day (other than the empty pot) was "This tastes just like my mother's!"

Star Anise

Red Cooked Pork
Adapted from Mrs. Chiang's Szechwan Cookbook, by Ellen Schrecker

2 lbs. pork, 2 in cubes (we use pork shoulder)
4-5 medium carrots, peeled and cut into chunks
3 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
1-2 large daikon roots, cut into chunks (or any other root vegetable)
3 scallions, washed and tied together in a bunch
2 inch piece of fresh ginger
5 cloves of garlic, whole, peeled
2 tablespoons of canola oil (peanut oil is more traditional and can be used, but adds a strong flavor that you may or may not like)
1 tablespoon sugar
4 whole star anise
2 Tablespoons Chinese rice wine
6 Tablespoons soy sauce
3/4 cup water (or chicken stock if you have it)

Heat wok or any pan that can take the heat over a medium flame for 10 seconds, then add the oil. (For this recipe, we usually use an enameled pot we received as a wedding gift. Traditionally, you'd make a few other dishes as well, so it's nice to reserve your wok for other things.) Let the oil get warm, but not as hot as you would if stir-frying. Add sugar and stir in for 20 seconds to turn it brown, without burning.

Turn up the flame (you want it as hot as you can get it, but work quickly so you don't burn the sugar) and add ginger and pork cubes. Stir-fry them for 1 minute, scoping and stirring them with metal spatula. Add garlic cloves and continue stir-frying for another 1-2 minutes.

Toss in vegetables, including scallions, plus anise, rice wine and soy sauce. Bring liquid to a boil and let cook for 3 minutes, without stirring, (the soy sauce mixture will become very concentrated) then cover the pan and continue cooking pork for 7 more minutes.

Add the stock or water. Bring to a boil over a high flame and boil vigorously for 5 minutes, before covering the pan and lowering the heat. Simmer the pork got 1 hour, until pork is very tender. Can be served immediately or reheated to serve later.

At the Chinese New Year Potluck we served the Red Cooked Pork in a Crock Pot, but we would never cook this is a slow cooker. The meat would get too mushy!

The NYC Chinese New Year Potluck 2012 hosted a truly amazing spread. Check out the full list of dishes here.

Sichuan Wontons in Red Hot Oil by Margaret Sweet Savory Living

Chinese "Sushi" by Jessica @foodmayhem Food Mayhem

Asian Pulled Pork made with Tiger Beer by Andrea & Jeff @highlowfooddnk http://highlowfooddrink.com

Many lovely desserts too.... My favorites were Japanese Custard Pudding (sweet) Lillian @sweetsillianah Sweets By Sillianah and Auspicious Walnut Cookies by Ken

Thank you Jackie and Ken for a wonderful potluck! Please visit Ken's website and photo gallery of the event for some "beauty" shots of the day.

Call Me a School Gardens Convert

2012-02-21T10:10:00.000-05:00

I have a confession to make. It is hard to publicly admit this but, I think I'm ready and here is goes. I have been skeptical about school gardens. (Gasp! I know). True, I advocate for healthy eating for kids and basically support, any and all strategies to encourage them to eat more fruits and vegetables at school or at home. But I have not been a fan of school gardens (more on that below). Yet, I have been inspired recently by the work of Stephen Ritz of Green Bronx Machine and by Edible Schoolyard NYC. I dare say I am so impressed that I might become a school garden convert.

(Note: Applications are now being accepted to be an Edible Schoolyard NYC Showcase School. Find more details here. Deadline is soon!)

School gardens are feel-good stories in the making, for sure. Furthermore, it makes sense that they would make a difference. Gardens provide hand-on lessons that show kids where carrots come from, "from the earth and not aisle 9 in the grocery store" as Stephen Ritz would say. School gardens provide chances for kids to eat leafy greens that they grew themselves, while learning about science and nature. And it's hard not to love the images of smiling kids holding up vegetables freshly pulled from the earth, or chomping down on a kale salad for maybe the first time. So what's my issue?

Let it be said that I am a gardener myself, and this maybe why I am skeptical. Gardening is hard, especially in the urban environment with poor soil (often filled with lead and other chemicals) and lack of easy water access. (Water access probably doesn't even cross the minds our suburban garden counterparts.) Gardening can have significant start-up costs. (My grandfather talks about the $300 peach he grew one year. That's how much he invested in caring for the tree that yielded just one fruit.) Gardening, like farming, can be plagued by failure, as it is dependent on so many vagaries in weather and soil that you never know what you are going to get. This is the life of a gardener--thorns as well as roses.

Furthermore, school gardens work against the growing season calendar. Just when the gardens need the most care, school is out for the summer. Just when the plants need the most water, no one is home to water them. In a typical urban schoolyard, the sun beats down on the blacktop and dries up that garden in no time. In my neighborhood in Brooklyn, I have unfortunately seen many a dry and neglected school garden. All these reasons have lead me to be a school garden skeptic.

Recently, at the 2012 TedxManhattan conference, I learned about a two projects that are restoring my faith in urban school gardening: Green Bronx Machine and Edible Schoolyard NYC.

Stephen Ritz's talk about Green Bronx Machine at TedxManhattan was a true revelation about the power of gardening in young people's lives. If anyone can make you a believer, it is him. Just watch, enjoy and cheer.

Working in the Bronx, "in the poorest Congressional District in the county," Ritz is not just growing seeds, he is truly growing lives. For him, gardening is a stepping stone to broader skills that the middle and high school students in his school desperately need. I love that his program is not just about "little kids." It is mainly targeted at teenagers who are often overlooked as potential change-agents in their own lives. These are kids that need a break and urban gardening is giving it to them: job skills, math and science skills, the chance to care for something that grows and can be tended for without judgement or fear, and most importantly, an opportunity to see themselves differently. Teenagers are very close to living on their own, making life choices now that will follow them forever, for better or worse. Stephen Ritz's program is showing at-risk kids a path that they perhaps never knew about. They are learning carpentry skills, marketing skills and skills in the kitchen that can help them cook everyday meals for themselves or start a career in culinary arts. Plus these kids, who are at very high risk of dropping out, have an incentive to come into school everyday because there is something living and growing in that classroom that they care about and are interested in. Plants are not abstract; they are right there, growing in front of you, needing your care. That's a powerful message of hope.

A second project, Edible Schoolyard NYC had caught my attention earlier this year, but I didn't understand the full extent of their programming until recently, when its name came up again and again at TedxManhattan. Based on Alice Waters' famous Edible Schoolyard Project in Berkeley, CA, Edible Schoolyard NYC (@ESNYC) is the first of its kind in New York City and is set in PS216, a Title I elementary school in Gravesend, Brooklyn. Unlike the school graden programs I've seen, Edible Schoolyard doesn't just put in some planters, plant some seeds and call it a day. They have a rich and fully integrated curriculum that teaches kids in an age-appropriate way and incorporates New York State standards of science, math and English. They are in it for the long-haul, setting up a kitchen curriculum, establishing evaluation standards (are kids eating better? are grades improving?) and thinking about how their students will develop from ages 5 to 10, exploring and learning from the garden.

As an advocate of family dinner, Family Cooking Nights and Harvest/Market Days are the parts of the Edible Schoolyard program that excite me the most. It is crucial to connect with parents and get them as excited as the kids are about good food and healthy eating. To truly make a difference, school garden programs must work with parents so that the lessons from school come home. No one wants that kale salad a child enjoyed at school to be the first and last of his life. That salad should be the first of many and part of a long-lasting change for the whole family at mealtimes. School gardens can start a dialogue between parents and kids, spurring the kids ask for vegetables at the grocery store, not just junk food.

Edible Schoolyard NYC is expanding to have showcase schools in all five boroughs of New York and will provide this incredible program at no-cost to the schools. The exciting news is that applications are being accepted now for Title I schools in the Bronx, Queens, Manhattan and Staten Island. If you know a school that could benefit, please pass it on. (My kids' public schools are not eligible as they are in Brooklyn, otherwise I might be keeping this to myself!)

Learn more about the fabulous program at Edible Schoolyard and spread the word about their new grant, deadline February 28, 2012.

You can support the wonderful work of either Stephen Ritz, Bronx Green Machine by buying a cool T-shirt or Edible Schoolyard NYC with a donation.

The Power of Parents in "Changing the Way We Eat"

2012-01-27T14:10:00.000-05:00

Last Saturday (01.21.12) was the 2nd TEDxManhattan conference: Changing the Way We Eat and I was honored to be in the audience. I learned so much, met many amazing people and, as cliche as it sounds, I was truly inspired. My goal in attending was to try to get a handle on how parents and family dinner can fit into the bigger conversation about changing the food system. It's not too far a stretch, really. Laurie David, noted environmental activist and author of The Family Dinner book was the host again this year. She argued eloquently at last year's event that family dinner can indeed be an important step in the right direction for systemic change. I feel like parents are an untapped resource in the battle for better eating, better nutrition and a better food system.

The TedxManhattan talks were live streamed that day and there were over 4,000 viewing parties all over the world. Twitter followers can find many great quotes from the day under the #TEDxMan hashtag (Here's one compilation from Buckybox on Storify.) The actual talks are set to be posted online within a month or so. In the meantime, over the next few posts, I'm going to share my thoughts and big "take-away" messages.

Big Take-away #1: The Consumer
Many speakers talked about how the consumer could or would lead the way in changing the food system. By demanding high quality food, by being more knowledgeable about where food comes from and by understanding the true costs of food, consumer demand could help "move the market" so that healthier foods would be more available. I totally agree. (Statistics on the growing market for organics alone are here.) Yet, no one came out and talked about who the most powerful consumers in this game are: the parents.

Let's make it clear about who our consumer audience is for the good food movement and reach out accordingly. Families, by and large, spend more money at the grocery store than any other segment and are a huge market. Parents (and kids) are the targets for multi-billion dollar advertising campaigns, mainly pushing overprocessed, unhealthy foods. There is a huge tidal-wave of misinformation that we have to combat. There are many factors in the childhood obesity epidemic, but the proliferation of fast-food, kid-food, and sugary soda and drinks aimed at kids and teens are a huge part of the problem. Parents must be engaged and enlightened on their role in demanding better food choices. Parents should not be the "elephant in the room," but instead empowered to be the first line of defense.

Two people at the conference did talk about parents directly, although one was just on video: Urvashi Rangan from the Consumer Union and Jamie Oliver in his Ted Big Wish Award talk (February 2011).

Urvashi Rangan, a parent herself, made a persuasive and impassioned case for how food labels need to be better regulated. Consumers do read labels and generally want to purchase healthier food, but they are often confused by labels, and rightly so (from Fooducate). As Rangan presented, the term "natural" means nothing, but some parents think it does and even report thinking "natural" is better than "organic." Organic is not a perfect label, she reasoned, but hundreds of pages of federal standards are behind it. We need more clarity.

Update: Urvashi's Rangan's TedxTalk added 2.13.12

So, parents do care, but are easily tricked. (Not to suggest that parents are stupid or uneducated, it's that millions of dollars goes into the "science" of misinformation.) In my experience, even well-educated parents can fall for the "Pop-Tart" trap. Almost every parent knows that pop-tarts are a "treat" at best. But it's easy to think "Hey the label says 'Made with Real Fruit,' how bad can it be?" Or maybe a parent might think, "Oh, these have been improved and are healthier now." Labels should be helping consumers, not setting them up for a bad-food trap.

I fell in love with Jamie Oliver all over again seeing his talk on the big screen of the TEDx stage, even though I've seen it before. Singing to the choir with me obviously, but it is a pity and a shame that we can't get home-cooking more in favor. Family meals can be at the core of widespread change. "Mums and dads," as Jamies would say, have got to realize they they are part of this change movement. He actually has a movement afoot. If you haven't heard about it, sign up here.

I'll leave you with Jamie's impassioned speech. What do you think about the power of parents in the good food fight?

Family Dinner and "Changing the Way We Eat" TEDxManhattan Conference 2012

2012-01-18T15:49:00.000-05:00

I'm honored to have been chosen to participate in the TEDx Manhattan conference "Changing the Way We Eat" this weekend, January 21, 2012. (It's a bit crazy that a "real food" conference would be so popular they have to select who can attend!) I'll just be in the audience, but my goals are to learn, to connect, and to represent the perspective of regular families who are trying to do the best they can.

I firmly believe that the dinner table can be at the center of change, both for your own family and for the world. (I know, grand thinking.) I've written about this before, but today I want to hear from you: What questions or thoughts would you raise with the audience or presenters of the TEDxManhattan conference if you had the chance? What would you say about the role of parents or educators in improving access to good food or changing viewpoints? How would you "connect the dots" between family dinner and the food system?

I'm taking inspiration from the title of the conference itself: Changing the Way We Eat. Change begins with the way we eat: how and when we eat, preferably around a table at home. This stands alongside the broader issues of changing the food system: what we eat and how it got to our kitchen, our table, our plate, or our take-out bag.

What do you think? Please share in the comments below or join my Facebook page.

You can watch the conference Live-streamed at home or, even better, there are TEDx viewing parties all over the country where you can connect to people in your area and discuss these issues.

Can Family Dinner "Trend" in 2012?

2012-01-12T12:09:00.011-05:00

The year started off right as family dinner was cited by The Hartman Group as a leading trend for 2012. I am all for "rediscovering" family meals as a simple but powerful step toward better health and wellness. It is what I truly believe in and advocate for everyday. Yet, I have to think: How can we make "family dinner" a real trend, not just an empty marketing slogan?

First, let's keep it real and inspire and support families to make this commitment to family meals, not just set up more guilt or blame for busy families. Just start where you are and resolve to make it work for your family, even if you have to start with super-small steps. Time at the Table has a family dinner pledge you can take and just once a week is a starting point!

With that in mind, I am proud to join with Blog for Family Dinner as we encourage families to recommit to family meals in the new year. B4FD will be posting articles all month to inspire you and give advice about how to make family meals a meaningful, and manageable, and part of your life.

A few more places to find New Year's inspiration:

Spirit Magazine (the in-flight magazine of SouthWest airline) has a great article, Tell Me Something, with lots of fun tips and advice on starting the new year out right, including a long quote from me about the benefits of family dinner. Scroll down for section: Is there a Simple Way to Keep My Family Happy and Healthy?

The Lunch Tray, Bettina Elias Siegel: My 2012 Food Resolutions

New Year, New Beginnings on Family Health Habits, Guest Blog by Connie Evers, TruthOnHealth.org

She Know Parenting: Family New Year's Resolutions

New Year's Resolutions for Your Family, About.com Tween Guide by Jennifer O'Donnell

Please share any posts or ideas about recommitting to family dinner in the new year in the comment section or on the Facebook pages for EatDinner.org or Blog for Family Dinner. We are creating a broad community to chat about these issues and would love to hear your voice.

Happy New Year and here's to a happy and healthy 2012 with a "family dinner" at every table!

A Year in Family Dinner

2011-12-19T12:56:00.010-05:00

I'm thrilled to look back on this year and realize that it's been a busy year for family dinner. The topic of family dinner has been in the news more than ever. It has been profiled as a way to promote healthy and enjoyable eating at the table, which may in turn help prevent childhood obesity and eating disorders. Family dinner has been touted as one solution to social disconnection among teens and tweens and a way to reduce bullying, alcohol and drug use in this group. Perhaps most importantly, the ongoing topic of family dinner has been a reminder that it is a great way to re-connect with the people in our lives on a regular and meaningful basis. I'm grateful to have been a small part of this family dinner movement!

Here are a few family dinner highlights from the past year:

The Family Dinner Book by Laurie David was published late last year. It really inspired a nation-wide conversation about the benefits of family meals. The weekly Family Dinner Table Talk on The Huffington Post has helped provide great conversations for family dinners through the year.
EatDinner.org (my organization) launched a Family Dinner Survey in the Spring of 2011 and has had over 500 respondents. The more we learn about what really works for busy families, the better we can promote and encourage the commitment to family dinner. Some preliminary results are here.
Blog for Family Dinner was created as a collaboration of Billy Mawhiney, Time at the Table, Kathleen Cuneo, Dinner Together and myself. In the month of September 26 to October 24, 2011, we had over 30 writers contribute stories and advice about family dinner. It has been great to connect with a community of bloggers from all different backgrounds who all agree on the importance of family dinner.
CASA's Annual Family Day received wide attention, and was profiled on ABC news. CASA updated their annual study about the effect of family dinner to prevent substance abuse among teens. The new study added detailed questions on frequency of family dinner, the quality of family relationships and likelihood of teens using alcohol and illegal drugs.
Food Day, founded by CSPI, was a nationwide event October 24, 2011 that encouraged us to "Eat Real America!" Blog for Family Dinner was proud to be part of its NYC Times Square event.

Other great organizations that highlighted family dinner this year:
Prevent Obesity

The Family Dinner Project at Harvard University

The Kids Cook Monday

Other Food Policy News:
Andy Bellatti of Small Bites put together an exhaustive (and a bit depressing) Year-end Round-up of Food Policy News. Worth a look.

Not a Year-end Review, but some recent links from one of my Favorite bloggers
The Lunch Tray by Bettina Elias Siegel

Grateful on Thanksgiving

2011-11-18T11:15:00.023-05:00

Ahh, Thanksgiving--the most marvelous food and family holiday of the year. Of course, I am excited about the big get-together of friends and family (we usually have 25 or more at the table) and about the wonderful foods, both traditional dishes and new things to try. If you need inspiration, check out one of the many great Thanksgiving round-ups (to name a few, The Food Network, FN Blogger's #PullUpaChair, Food 52, The New York Times and One Hungry Mama). But I also find myself wistful as we approach the holiday season. Rather than wait until New Year's, Thanksgiving may be the perfect time to step back and reflect on what really matters, and how best to hold and cherish those priorities beyond the holiday season.

As I have previously argued, family dinner should not be just a once-a-year Thanksgiving event, but an everyday joy and blessing. If a fraction of the energy for the big T-Day could be somehow banked and re-invested into everyday dinners though the year, that would be a more healthy balance for everyone. Nonetheless, we might as well use the big day to inspire us and help us resolve to carry the spirit throughout the year. You might call it the "plan-ahead" method to new resolutions!

Looking past on this year, I have a lot be grateful for. First and foremost, the good health of my family and close friends, which can never be taken for granted. I am also grateful that I have met so many fantastic and like-minded people who care about good food and family dinner through EatDinner.org and Blog for Family Dinner. I am grateful to be a part of Blog for Family Dinner with my colleagues Billy and Kathleen and for all the bloggers who contributed to the effort and made it "easy" with their contributions of wonderful stories, tips and advice. I am grateful that the message of family dinner is one that keeps resonating and growing with more attention the important of good food and more impatience with the politics get in the way of important efforts to provide healthy school lunch and to establish fair and reasonable farm and food policies. Mark Bittman recently provided a great list of folks fighting the good fight.

So here's my small, grateful round-up in honor of Thanksgiving 2011: Thank you for your involvement and support of EatDinner and Blog for Family Dinner. Thank you for your friendship, enthusiasm and good work on good food and family dinner.

Grateful for:

All the #B4FD Bloggers: List of Featured Bloggers

Co-Founders of the #B4FD Project

Billy Mawhiney, Time at the Table

Kathleen Cuneo, Dinner Together

Supporters and Friends:

Laurie David and The Family Dinner Book

Food Day

Bettin Siegel, The Lunch Tray

Aviva Goldfarb, The Scramble

Stacie Billis, One Hungry Mama

Kia Robertson, Today I Ate A Rainbow

Jennifer Grant, Love You More

Food Day Dinner Party! A Virtual Progressive Dinner

2011-10-25T12:21:00.040-04:00

Welcome to Brooklyn as we continue our Food Day Dinner Party!

I was thrilled to be invited to host a side dish in this virtual, progressive dinner party to celebrate Food Day with my real friends (though we all met virtually): Bettina (The Lunch Tray), Bri (Red, Round or Green), Jeanne (The Jolly Tomato), and my Blog for Family Dinner colleague Kathleen Cuneo (Dinner Together).

Today, Kathleen and I are hosting side dishes and together we are offering a Blog For Family Dinner T-shirt and the "Eat Real" Recipe booklet from Food Day as a prize.

I've been pretty excited about Food Day, which was Monday, October 24. Our Blog for Family Dinner project marked it as the culmination day for our Month of Family Dinners and a couple of us were able to represent B4FD in Times Square. More importantly, I think that family dinner is a gateway to the broader benefits of eating good food, namely, eating better for yourself, your family, and the planet, as I have noted here. Laurie David's post Family Dinner and the Food Movement, which was on her site and Blog for Family Dinner on Monday also hits many important points about the interconnections.

But enough about politics. This post is about the delicious benefits of real food and of sharing the table with friends and family. So far, this progressive dinner, first suggested by Brianne DeRosa of Red, Round, or Green, has featured a spinach salad appetizer from Bettina, lovely lamb chops and braised kale from Bri, and Kathleen is offering a side dish of sweet potatoes today on her blog. Please check out the amazing dishes and recipes. I love that we have all contributed dishes that have feature fresh vegetables: spinach salad, braised kale and sweet potatoes. The dishes, all unwittingly reinforce the statistic that families that cook and eat dinner together at home tend to eat more fruits and veggies!

I have one more veggie dish to add to this menu, and it's a family favorite: Broccoli with the Flavor. This side dish is both dinner party-worthy and easy enough for a weeknight meal, once you get the technique down. I find that many people have never had properly stir-fried vegetables and are amazed by the freshness and the "wok hay" (or breath of the wok), if you get it right. You need a good, well-seasoned wok (not an expensive one) and don't be afraid of the high heat! (Grace Young is a favorite cookbook writer to try.)

Broccoli with the Flavor
1 Head of Broccoli, sliced into florets, retaining some stem
2 Tablespoons Canola Oil
2 cloves of garlic, sliced thinly or minced
1 teaspoon of soy sauce

Parboil broccoli: Cook in boiling water for 3 minutes. Promptly remove and run under cold water, spin dry in a lettuce spinner, if you have one. Otherwise, pat with paper towels to remove excess water.

Stir-Fry: Heat wok or saute pan until HOT. Add canola oil and quickly saute garlic for 10 seconds, careful not to burn it. Toss in dried broccoli, scraping up the bottom to mix garlic, oil and vegetable. Cook this way for maybe 1 minute. Lower heat and add soy sauce. Toss for another 30 to 1 minute and serve.

Step by Step:

1. Wash the Broccoli well. Boil Water.

2. Finely Chop 2 cloves of Garlic.

3. Parboil Broccoli for 3 minutes. Spin Dry before stir-frying!

4. Heat Wok to HOT on High Heat. Add Canola Oil, quickly saute garlic for 10 seconds, being careful not to burn it. Stir-fry dried Broccoli, scrapping pan and tossing with garlic for 1 or 2 mins. Lower heat and add soy sauce. Toss and cook for approximately one more minute.

5. The Beautiful Broccoli with the Flavor!

I hope you enjoy it. It is my youngest daughter's absolutely favorite thing to eat (it took a while to get there) but it's true.

Add your own favorite real food recipe below or share any thoughts about Food Day, family dinner, or creative ways you get more vegetables onto your dinner table! You could win!

The winner will randomly drawn from commenters on either this site or the Dinner Together site.