New Year Archives - Impressions

Getting the Family Involved in the Family Meal

February 17, 2017February 22, 2017 Rachel Sherwood

Being an advocate for family meals, I support parents in getting quality food on the table consistently so everyone is eating well. It is important to remember that the core of the family meal is the “family.” And although the parents usually do most of the planning and preparing, it is never too early to start getting the kids involved and interested in food and the kitchen.

I am reminded of this as my 15-month old son Alexander helped me cook just this week for the first time. I was making scrambled eggs as I usually do with him in my arms, but this time instead of just waving his mini spatula around like he was stirring, he reached over and insisted on grabbing a bit of cheese and sprinkling it in the pan, then pointed and wanted to sprinkle in the salt. At such a young age, he was already aware of what was going on and the order of operations. My little boy is growing up so fast! Although the process of cooking with kids may tend to be a little messier and take a little longer, there are several benefits of cooking with kids.

Don’t miss out on creating these lifelong memories and essential skills with your children. You are never too old or too young to experience the joy and magic of a kitchen. Remember the kitchen can be a dangerous place. Pay close attention, keeping an eye on children at all times to ensure safety. Here are a few ways everyone can get involved in the family meal no matter what age.

Cooking with Babies

Yes, even babies can be involved. Most babies are quite comfortable in a carrier, swing or bouncy chair to start experiencing the sights and smells of the kitchen, aiding in their interest of future foods. When cooking, read through the steps of the recipe out loud or pretend you are hosting your own cooking show for the baby. Explain in detail the steps of the recipe, what you are doing and the flavors you are creating. They may not understand, but hearing your voice, new words and descriptors like delicate strawberries, scrambling eggs, fragrant garlic and delicious steak all contribute to language and brain development.

When they can hold objects, try letting them handle a small soft plastic or wooden spoon they can pass from hand to hand or chew on developing hand eye coordination. Be sure to keep baby out of the way from heat sources, falling objects and anything that may splatter. Never leave a baby unattended in the kitchen.

Cooking with Toddlers

Toddlers love to explore the kitchen. Give them child-size bowls to stack, spoons to stir and make noise with or little pans to pretend cook in. This lets them have something fun to do while you get a quick meal together. Plastic containers are loads of fun as they can learn how to put lids on and off or transfer cereal from one to another, all continuing to develop fine motor skills.

If they are interested in what you are doing, let them taste things even if you think they “won’t like it.” My Alexander loved chewing raw onions and lemons. Let them begin to explore and develop tastes to new and interesting foods. These are also great sensory experiences. Make sure foods are not too spicy, hot in temperature and of manageable sizes and let them taste things.

Try not to think of food as “baby” food. Let them eat what you are eating. This also creates a challenge for you to eat healthier and cleaner foods. Your child will always want and be interested in what you are eating; start setting good examples now.

Toddlers love to explore so this is time to make sure any places you want to keep them out of like under the sink, knives or cupboard with sharp or breakable items are out of the way and locked for safety. Consider giving them their own cupboard or drawer just for items they can play with.

Cooking with a Preschooler

Preschoolers can start seeing how a meal comes together. This becomes a part of daily routine: learning how food they eat gets on the table. Let them continue to see, taste and smell all the experiences of the kitchen.

They love to be helpers at this age. Let them help choose and find ingredients when shopping. Stirring and pouring simple items helps refine motor skills.

Let them be artistic by decorating plates with sauces, sprinkling cheese, herbs or candies on items. Practice naming fruits and vegetables and grouping items by color or similar characteristics like sweet or salty.

You can even explore sensory items like snapping beans, breaking apart cauliflower or broccoli and of course, kids love being official taste-testers.

Cooking with a Kindergartener

When cooking with younger kids, consider starting with simple dishes with fewer than five ingredients. Or try activities like Veggie Kabobs. Stay away from long and complicated recipes with steps that involve waiting. Children’s attention spans can be very short at this age so keep tasks simple, quick and interesting.

When you’ve chosen a recipe, think about which steps your child can do independently. A tossed salad, dip, easy muffin recipe or cookies can be good starter projects. Let them help measure dry ingredients talking about numbers.

You also might set up a pizza-making assembly line where kids can choose their own mini-crusts, sauces, cheeses, and toppings.

When shopping, let them select a new fruit or vegetable to try. Talk about describing its taste, color, shape texture and different ways to cook it.

Its never too early to start talking about manners and basic kitchen safety and responsibilities like always washing your hands, helping set the table, folding the napkins, and cleaning their own plates. Start by demonstrating.

Cooking with School-Age Kids

This age is really fun as you will see the most growth, activity, and interest at this stage. Kids can now help guide the process and choose recipes. Get them more involved in gathering ingredients, washing produce, stirring, measuring, pouring, peeling, mashing, and even serving. They will develop their basic cooking skills but you can also touch on other learning like math skills, reading recipes and order of operations as they help combine. You could also talk about where food comes from, good nutrition and why you chose the ingredients you’re using. It can lay the groundwork for healthy eating later on.

Older kids can take cooking to the next level and work with you more closely on recipes. Under close supervision, you may let them start to cook near the stove and learn basic knife skills. Remember to stress safety but don’t scare them. Accidents may happen. Take precautions to create a safe environment and if something happens, handle it quickly and calmly.

Older kids can get more involved in choosing recipes they want to make but still try to keep them fairly simple to ensure success. If recipes don’t turn out as planned, use it as a learning opportunity to discuss what might have happened.

You can even discuss science like how yeast in bread makes it rise through chemical reactions and history about where food comes from and it’s significance to culture.

Kids all love tasting the food they make at this age. See if you can take the conversations a little deeper as to what they “like” or “don’t like.” Use this information to try and introduce new foods with similar taste or texture that they do like. Say they love apples they may also enjoy jicama.

Cooking with Teens

Teens are always looking for more independence. They might appreciate the chance to improve their cooking skills with a cooking class or try cooking a meal on their own. You could start involving them in meal planning and organization. Let them go to the store to buy groceries. All good preparation for when they’ll need to cook for themselves. This could also give you a night off from cooking! Still be there for guidance if requested.

Teens also might be interested in trying different cuisines. If they love Asian food, visit an Asian market and try to prepare something authentic. Search out an unusual ingredient and find a recipe to make with it. Even on busy nights all teens should be responsible for clearing their plate and helping to clean up: these are all important skills for future life development.

Cooking with Adults

Yes, even adults can use a little help in the kitchen. Take turns in planning meals or helping with shopping. Ask for suggestions or get creative with a part of the meal like creating a bacon lattice for your meat entrée. Plan a bulk cooking day to get Make-Ahead Meals in the freezer for those busy nights. Experiment and have fun. Recruiting the entire family in the cooking process can mean a little extra work, but it’s often worth it building healthy habits.

Set a good example by saying please and thank you. Have a good attitude, staying upbeat and pleasant as you prepare the meal. If you’re grumbling about the task at hand, chances are your family will too. Keep the atmosphere calm, fun and light. You’re showing how the family can work together and enjoy so many benefits of a meal together.

Cooking is more than just eating food. It is setting you up for a long happy life.

Here are some general safety tips. Click here for more ways to MAKE cooking with Kids Easy

Give frequent calm reminders about what’s OK to touch and which items can hurt them.
Talk about which kitchen tasks are for grown-ups and which are for kids.
Establish kitchen rules, such as washing hands and not touching stove knobs or knives until instructed.

Did you miss an earlier post?

Here are the earlier New Year, New You Topics:

Why New Year’s Resolutions Fail
Lose Weight by Eating More
Cut Your Grocery Bill Without Cutting Coupons
How Cooking Makes You Smarter
Pantry Makeover
Food Feeds More Than The Stomach

Food Feeds More Than The Stomach

February 8, 2017February 9, 2017 Rachel Sherwood

We talk a lot about eating well and wanting to cook but so often this does not happen consistently, we are all busy. This week as I start to bring my New Year, New You series to a close I ask you to think why you cook or why you want to cook more and what food really means to you. I know it’s a getting a touch deep but really even if you are buying all the best food and fining the quickest easiest recipes only gets you part of the benefits. You have to share the meal, eating in community.

You see I write this because so many people come to me struggling to eat well wanting to find solutions to get quality meals on their tables but they often suffer from being over-scheduled and stressed trying to “fit it all in”. This creates anxiety in all areas of life, affects mental focus, physical health of our bodies and emotional health of our relationships. We want to feel better, and for our families to be happy and healthy and you can create that all though food. Sadly it seems, we are all generally too “busy”. Americans today see cooking as more of a chore something that we don’t have the luxury of time to do.

I am so deeply passionate about food bringing friends and family together around it because it is not only good to nourish our bodies. We also gain so many benefits from cooking and sharing a meal with others. If we take the time and make a commitment to honor food and cooking the way we honor other tasks we all might just be a little happier, healthier and better off long term. It is not just about eating food – it’s about creating and sharing a meal together. This is where you get the most benefits from cooking.

Here are just a few of the benefits you receive when cooking and eating together:

Developing cooking skills makes mealtime easier for everyone.
Kids are more likely to eat what they help prepare.
Save money: meals purchased away from home cost two to four times more than meals prepared at home.
Consume fewer calories.
Create a sense of belonging. In a Columbia University study 71% of teenagers said they consider talking, catching-up, and spending time with family members as the best part of family dinners.
Eat more vegetables and choose healthier options.
Eventually as kids are older they can help cook full parts of a meal getting it on the table faster.
Less likely to be overweight.
Consume less sweets and stay fuller longer.
Kids do better at school. Teens who eat dinner four or more times with parents have higher academic performance than those who eat dinner two or less times per week.
Boost self-esteem.
Create strong relationship bonds.
Boost communication skills.
Create a sense of self-worth and a necessary skill of being self- sufficient.
Develop social skills.
Expand knowledge of food, and the world around us.
Improved mental health.
Overall happier and less stressed

You see we all say we want change but the question is, are you willing to make the commitment to change? The opportunity is right in front of us. It can be achieved. Perhaps seeing eating together not as another appointment on a busy schedule, but rather as an opportunity to de-stress, a chance to catch up with those whom we love then, could help our children do better at school, be less likely to abuse drugs and alcohol, get everyone in better shape, and be happier, less stressed individuals. I think we could all benefit from more home cooked meals.

If you need help with practical cooking solutions for busy days let me know. I am here for you. Stay in touch for next week for tips on how to get the entire family involved in creating family meals.

Did you miss an earlier post?

Here are the earlier New Year, New You Topics:

Why New Year’s Resolutions Fail
Lose Weight by Eating More
Cut Your Grocery Bill Without Cutting Coupons
How Cooking Makes You Smarter
Pantry Makeover

Sources:

8 Benefits of a Family Meal

January 7, 2016 Rachel Sherwood

With the New Year it never fails to hear people making resolutions for better health, saving money and finding love or improving relationships. You want to know the one simple magic act that can do all three? Something that can improve the quality of your daily life, increase the chances of success for your children, better your health and quality of relationships. It is something as simple and inexpensive and it’s well within the reach of everyone’s abilities, it’s a family meal.

If you have been following me for a while, you know that to me family meal is an act of dining together to creating connection and memories. This is one of the most important things to me. With a 3-month-old in the house, I have to be honest: our family meals look a lot different than they used to. I am not cooking quite as much but relying on previously made freezer meals and my husband Joey has been helping out which is a whole new cooking experience in it’s self. Even with the new challenges it is still important to me that we create a family mealtime. There are so many benefits of a family meal that it is worth the small amount of effort for the long-term benefits. I know currently my son does not know or care that we have family meals but it is never too early to start the practice and create a routine to take part in the benefits of a family meal.

8 Benefits of a Family Meal

Saving Money

Preparing meals at home costs less. You will spend less money and get higher quality food when eating at home. It costs about $25 for a family of four to buy a meal at a typical fast food restaurant. Averaging just two trips per week totals $50; continuing the pattern each week over the course of a full year comes to $2600.

A daily fast food lunch runs at least $5; in a typical five day workweek, that’s $25. Over the course of a year, $1300. Just for lunch. Just for one person.

Better Manners

Coming together provides adults a chance to set good examples and teach about social skills, table manners and essential life skills like being kind to others, how to have basic polite conversation and setting and clearing the table.

Healthy Communication

Sharing a meal together helps foster healthy communication studies show that teens who share in a family meal are less likely to be depressed and more likely to be motivated to learn.

Healthy Habits

Eating meals together means you are more likely to eat healthier foods. Families that eat together are less likely to dine out consuming less fried food and sugar-filled beverages and are more likely to consume fruits, vegetables and other healthy foods during dinnertime (Marino & Butkus, n.d.). Some researchers found that eating meals together reduces the risk for being overweight (Forthun, 2008a; FY1059). You can also use this time to introduce basic cooking skills. See benefits of cooking with children.

Healthier Children

Research shows that children who have regular meals with their parents do better in every way: they tend to have better grades, are more motivated in school, and foster healthier relationships. They are 42 percent less likely to drink, 50 percent less likely to smoke and 66 percent less likely to smoke marijuana. Children and youth who do not eat family meals together are also more likely to report feeling depressed or having trouble at school. (CASA, 2011).

Stronger Relationships

Sharing a meal together provides time and space to share about your day, inquire about actives, feelings and daily events fostering healthy communication and stronger family bonds.

Weigh Less

You are more likely to weigh less if you eat at home. USDA researchers have found a positive association with patterns of eating out and body weight due to the higher calorie count and poorer nutritional quality of away-from-home meals and snacks.

Family Togetherness and Well-being

Creating a family mealtime strengthens the family bonds, for young children it helps create a sense of security and belonging. Eating together allows a space to share in ethnic and cultural identity sharing in traditions. A study from Emory University found that children who knew a lot about their family history, through family meals and other interactions, had a closer relationship to family members, higher self-esteem, and a greater sense of control over their own lives (Duke, Fivush, Lazarus, & Bohanek, 2003).

Family mealtime can look many different ways and does not have to mean dinner. If weekend lunches or breakfast work better for your schedule take advantage of those times. They key is to gather people together and sit down to a meal together without distractions. Stay in touch next week: I will share tips on gathering the family together and How to Host a Meaningful meal.

References

Duke, M.P., Fivush, R., Lazarus, A., & Bohanek, J. (2003). Of ketchup and kin: Dinntertime conversations as a major source of family knowledge, family adjustment, and family resilience (Working Paper #26). Retrieved July 25, 2008, from http://www.marial.emory.edu/research/

Forthun, L.F. (2008a). Family nutrition: Parenting and family life. Gainesville, FL: Cooperative Extension Service, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida. Publication number: FCS8869.

Marino, M., & Butkus, Sue (n.d.). Background: Research on family meals. [22 March 2013].

The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) (2011, Sept.). The importance of family dinners VII. Retrieved December 22, 2011

USDA Food Away From Home, October 29, 2014

Simple Techniques to Upscale Appetizers

December 18, 2015December 25, 2015 Rachel Sherwood

(Some class participants making homemade raspberry sauce for plate garnish: simple techniques to upscale appetizers)

Last week I had a great time sharing presentation secrets at a hands-on workshop. Participants learned simple techniques from The Pretty Plate to make their meals look like they came from a high-end restaurant. With Christmas and New Year right around the corner I thought I would share my favorite easy holiday appetizer and some simple techniques to upscale appetizers.

This Walnut-Crusted Cheese Canape, better known in my family as a cheese log, is so simple, very tasty and can even be made in advance and frozen ready for any last-minute guests or party. This recipe is an old family favorite that I re-worked using one of the 5 Elements of the Pretty Plate. By rethinking the shape and how to serve this item, it went from an ugly mess to an upscale appetizer.

See how simple techniques of the Pretty Plate can make all the difference. Learn how to use the 5 Elements of the Pretty plate to make your everyday meals magnificent! Get the book here.

My favorite holiday appetizer: Walnut Crusted Cheese Canapes

(Walnut crusted cheese canapes)