Category Archives: Family Meals

How To Cook With A Wok

Posted on by
Reply

There are few general things to remember when you are learning how to cook with a wok. First of all, keep in mind that you will be using high heat with your wok. That means you need to select an appropriate oil that can be heated without smoking, like soybean, corn, and peanut oil. Butter, olive oil, and sesame oil are usually not appropriate, as they tend to burn. This high heat also means that the cooking process happens fast, so it is important to pay attention. Here are some great ways to create authentic Chinese cooking and other great dishes in your wok:

How To Cook With A Wok

  • Stir-frying: Most people think of Asian woks chiefly as tools for stir fry cooking. This method involves quickly cooking ingredients in hot oil over high temperature. Common stir fry ingredients are broccoli, bok choy, ginger, garlic, mushrooms, peppers, and a protein source like chicken, beef, or tofu. It’s important to have everything assembled before you start cooking, as the process will happen very fast. Chop all your ingredients into same-sized pieces so they will cook uniformly. Heat the wok then drizzle it in oil and allow to heat for about 30 seconds. Add the ingredients in batches and cook until done, vigorously stirring to keep them moving. Serve warm.
  • Deep-frying: Woks can also be used for deep frying. Make sure to be careful, as you will be working with very hot oil. Its important for the temperature to reach 375 degrees in order to cook correctly, so use a deep-fry thermometer to check it before you add your ingredients. Fry ingredients in small batches, adding a few at a time and stirring, then removing and draining on a tray or a paper towel-lined plate.
  • Steaming: If you know how to cook with a steamer, than you basically already know how to steam with a wok. You can steam on a wok using either a bamboo steamer or a steamer rack. If you have a bamboo steamer, you can simply place it over your water-filled wok, cover it, then bring the water to boil and allow the ingredients to steam until ready. If you are using a steamer rack, similarly place the rack in the wok, fill the wok with water (it shouldn’t touch), cover the wok and bring the water to a boil. Place your ingredients on a heat-safe plate and put the plate on the rack. Reduce the heat to medium and steam until ready.

Source:

  • “Wok Cooking”, The Learning Channel

Food On The Table can make dinner easier. Learn how here.

How To Cook With A Kettle

Posted on by
Reply

Kettle cooking can mean two different things: cooking with a large cast iron or other sort of kettle, or using an electric kettle or tea kettle to heat hot water. Two very different methods, two very different results! Here is how to cook with both a cast iron kettle and a tea kettle:

How To Cook With A Kettle

  • Cooking with a cast iron kettle: These cast iron beauties are a great tool to have around. They cook evenly and can be used for a variety of different recipes. They can even be used over the campfire. Before you start cooking with your new cast iron kettle, you will need to season it. Wash it in warm water and let it completely dry, then coat the inside and lid with olive oil and place in an oven heated between 350 to 400 degrees. Turn off the oven and let the kettle cool inside. This gives the kettle a stick-resistant finish. Now you are ready to start cooking! These kettles are great for browning meat on the stove, making casseroles over a hot fire, making delicious Dutch oven desserts, and, of course, creating your own kettle fried sweet potato chips.
  • Cooking with a tea kettle: There is nothing quite like enjoying a hot cup off tea after a long day. But did you know you can do more with a tea kettle than make tea? If you have ever made noodles in a cup or poured hot water into a pre-made soup mix, then you will already understand how cooking with a kettle can work. Heat up hot water in your tea kettle or electric kettle, and pour over your soup ingredients. Some great things to try are combinations of finely chopped fresh vegetables, a protein source (cooked chicken, chorizo, or salami), a carbohydrate (couscous, chickpeas, or lentils), and some seasonings like soy sauce, miso, tomato paste, curry, or bullion cube.

Source:

  • “The quickest, easiest way to make a meal without a kitchen”, The Stone Soup

Ready to start smarter meal planning with Food On The Table? Start here.

How To Cook With A Smoker

Posted on by
Reply

Learning how to cook with a smoker can bring a whole other dimension to your culinary repoirtoire. Almost anything can be prepared in the smoker: meats, vegetables, fruits, cheese, nuts. The list is endless! Once you try salmon fresh from the smoker, treat your family to bbq smoked ribs, or successfully make your very own smoked beef jerky, you’ll never want to cook another way again! And contrary to popular belief, smoking isn’t just a summer activity. You can use your backyard smoker all year round.

How To Cook With A Smoker

Different ingredients will need different care in the smoker, but here are some basic guidlines to use when smoking meat:

  • For best results, marinate the meat overnight. You can use either a dry or wet rub.
  • Determine what kind of wood smoke you want. Different woods create different flavors, so you may have to experiment a little to understand what you like and what you don’t like. Some popular woods for smoking meat are hickory, maple, mesquite, oak, and pecan. Once you’ve lit the charcoal in your smoker and allowed the fire to burn down, add your wood. Adjust the vents in the smoker to keep the temperature somewhere around 225 to 250 degrees.
  • Add your meat. Remember to keep the temperature steady and around 225 to 250 degrees.
  • Cooking times will vary depending on the size of your smoker and the size of the cut of meat. You can generally expect about 1 to 1.5 hours for every pound of meat. Turn the meat every 2 to 3 hours, but try not to open the smoker too many times while your meat is cooking. Repeated openings will increase the meat smoking times.

Once you learn how to cook with a smoker, you can expand your smoked food to smoked cheese, nuts, and fruits. It’s amazing just how delicious adding smoke can be!

Source:

  • “Tips and Techniques for Using a Backyard Smoker”, Armadillo Peppers

Ready to start cooking with a smoker? Try our great recipe for Garlic T-Bone Steak. Get more great recipes and more with our easy to use meal planning app.

Family Dinner Ideas for Colorful Children’s Dishes

Posted on by
Reply

Everyone loves a dish that integrates colorful and varied foods together for a beautiful presentation. However, researchers at Cornell University have also dictated that kids prefer a colorful meal, one with about seven different foods and six different colors! No wonder they love their Fruit Loops. Of course, there is (generally) a nutritional component to serving colorful dishes. The more colors you (and your children) eat, the more nutrients you’re taking in. Here are some family dinner ideas that will have your children licking their plates:

  • Stews: Soups and stews give you the opportunity to implement a vast variety of vegetables and flavors in just one bowl. Try cooking up a pork-based stew with a tomato and chicken stock base. Then, add mushrooms, red onion, carrots, and butternut squash, with greens like cilantro and green onions as a garnish.
  • Paella: Paella is the ultimate colorful Spanish dish. Garnished with precious saffron, this cast ironed rice dish has been making mouths water for centuries. Make your paella with chicken or seafood (depending on your kids’ tastes) and add some color with peas, tomato, paprika, green beans, and bell peppers.
  • Breakfast hash: Take all your leftovers and throw them in the pan for a hearty breakfast hash. Served with either sweet potatoes or regular potatoes as a base, add white and yellow cheeses, bell peppers of different colors, green onions, turkey bacon, eggs, tomato, and black pepper for the ultimate breakfast treat.
  • Pizza: Pizza is easy to make and personalize, giving you a blank canvas for any assortment of colors. Bake a pizza with bacon, artichoke, basil leaves, and onions, for a red, green, and yellow dish.
  • Salads: While most children recoil at leafy greens, a salad with tons of flavors and colors may change their minds. A salad with cucumber, red onion, pinto beans, avocado, chicken, dried cranberries, and a lime-vinaigrette could make any family member clean their plate, presenting greens, reds, yellows, and pinks all in one dish.
We’re working up an appetite just thinking up all these family dinner ideas! Make your kids’ dinner menus more appetizing by implementing more color and variety into your meals.

Meal Planning for Kid Friendly Recipes

Posted on by
Reply

Picky eating is a normal part of development, according to Dr. Leann Birch, Professor and Head of the Human Development and Family Studies Department at Penn State University. Dr. Birch explains, “Most children who are perceived as picky eaters probably have adequate diets. What parents often perceive as picky eating simply reflects their children’s normal response to new foods.” Learning and accepting that pickiness is a healthy phase could help you minimize stress when whipping up kid friendly recipes. So what recipes should we make that our little ones will devour without hesitation?

What makes a kid friendly recipe?

Kid friendly recipes need to have three things:

  1. The recipes can’t be that spicy: Avoid spicy ingredients like cayenne pepper, chili powder, red pepper, and jalapenos. Angel hair pasta with mushrooms or sweet maple pork chop are just two of many mild kid friendly recipes to choose from.
  2. The fewer ingredients the better: Meals should be prepared with six ingredients or less to avoid overcomplicating the dish or confusing children’s palates. The perfect ingredients for children’s meals are those commonly found in your pantry, like salt, onions, canola oil, sugar, and pepper. Try preparing a simple chicken dish, like Creamy Chicken Dijon served with a side of crispy carrot fries. Just keep it nice and simple and your child will love the meal you put on the table.
  3. Quick prep: Kid friendly recipes are typically prepared in around 10-20 minutes. Again, there’s no need to overcomplicate things with intricate, hard-to-prepare recipes. Dishes like zucchini cakes or turkey paninis with sun-dried tomatoes take under 20 minutes to prepare (and they’re delicious too!).

Easy kid friendly recipes meal planning will benefit the cook in the household in preparing an easy, organized, healthy, and delicious dinner. Having recipes handy will save time, energy, and food, while allowing mom or dad to plan ahead. Trust us, kid friendly recipes for dinner will make dinnertime much less hectic. Spend a little time making a meal plan with kid friendly recipes in mind. We’re sure you’ll be glad that you did!

 

“Play with your food!”: Table Games and Family Meal Plans

Posted on by
Reply

Studies show that traditions are critical to family happiness and bonding. In fact, family traditions encourage children’s social development and provide schedule and structure to everyone’s life. According to The Pfaltzgraff Co.’s national survey, comprised of over 1,000 married men and women, the daily ritual of eating together at the dinner table is the most important way to strengthen family ties. That’s why allotting one day a week to a fun dinner with a family meal plan, is a great way to bring the whole family together. Here are some games and family meals to go along with them:

  • Play the Critic: Make your kids your food critics when you’re trying out new recipes. Give a “review card” to your kids to get their opinion on new meal plans or create a thumbs up or thumbs down system. This works great with exotic dishes that you’ve never tried before.
  • Murder Mystery: Create a story of murder and assign everyone as the suspects. You can often find murder mystery plots and clues online to help you create your own murder mystery. This game is great for bigger families with older children.
  • Cooking Games: Cook fun family meals, like Smiley Face Soup (with ritz crackers as the eyes and cheese as the mouth), heart-shaped pizza, or dino-shaped grilled cheese sandwiches. All you have to do is cut out the dinosaur shape with an appropriate cookie cutter and make them green with pesto or mix butter with food coloring and put the dino to the grill. Whichever way you choose, you’ll have a green dino-sandwich ready to be attacked by hungry family members.
  • Guess Those Ingredients: Try to make your kids and husband guess the ingredients you put in a casserole, sauce, or sides. Tally up the points and give the winner a special price!
  • Dress Up to Dinner: Throw a theme night and have everyone dress up in costumes to dinner.  Add some meal theme ideas.  Everyone will have so much fun pretending it’s Halloween every Saturday night. Try matching your outfits to your meal plans. For example, if you’re having a Scooby Doo themed night, prepare Scooby snacks (cookies in the shape of bones) for dessert with a bit of ice cream and chocolate fudge.
  • Board Games for Dessert: If you’re not really the “play with your food type,” skip dessert and play trivia or board games after you’re done with your meal. Even a simple board game will promote family unity and make the whole family feel closer.

With theme nights, dress up, and cooking games your kids will be able to express their creativity, even at meal time. More importantly, after just a couple of fun game nights, you’ll feel closer with your family than ever before.

Preparing Easy Family Dinners Using Base Sauces

Posted on by
Reply

Studies show that Americans are now working longer than anyone else in the industrialized world. After a long, hard day at work, the last thing we want to do is cook a gourmet meal for our family. However, you don’t need a feat of magic to get dinner on the table in a flash. Dinner can be whipped up with little effort if you have a basic sauce to work with. That’s why you should always have basic sauces at hand (or in the freezer), so that you can make an easy family dinner in a flash.

Sauce-Based Easy Family Dinners

You don’t necessarily have to know how to saute, bake, and blanch to make a great dinner that the whole family can enjoy. Just pick a meat or veggie (depending on your personal tastes) and whip up and store one of these sauces as a base for the entire meal:

  • Spaghetti Sauce: Spaghetti sauce can be used on spaghetti, with meatballs, or as a base for Italian-style soups. Whether you buy a spaghetti sauce at the store, or make it from scratch, always have this basic sauce in your pantry or in your freezer so that you can whip up a delicious Italian meal in an instant.
  • Alfredo sauce: Alfredo sauce is another flavorful Italian sauce that goes great on just about everything, from pasta to cooked spinach. All it takes is butter, garlic, milk, and parmesan cheese. Add a half a package of cream cheese for an extra, cheesy kick.
  • Gravy: This southern staple can add some sustenance to a dinner that needs a little pizazz. Gravy is great for everything from biscuits to fried chicken. Add a dash of cayenne powder or ground chili to give gravy a little bit of a kick if your prefer spicier dishes. Luckily, gravy is one of the easiest sauces to make with minimal ingredients and cook time.
  • Creamy white wine sauce: Simply pick up chicken breasts or some scallops, boil pasta, and pour a white wine sauce over your dishes for a meal to die for. Heavy whipping cream, white wine, flour, salt, and parsley are all it takes to make a heavier sauce. This sauce only takes about 10 minutes to prepare, making it perfect for an easy family dinner.
  • Peanut sauce: Great for spring rolls, salad, dipping, pasta or noodles, or stir fries, peanut sauce is versatile and delicious. If you feel like doing something a little different this dinner, whip up a peanut sauce for a Thai-style feast.

Next time you’re exhausted after a big day, just grab one of your pre-made sauces and add to some pasta or a stir fry.  You’ll have dinner on the table in minutes. Just remember to defrost that morning, and your family dinner will be almost complete.

The Science of a Dinner Menu

Posted on by
Reply

We all know the order in which we eat a meal: appetizers, main course, and dessert. But do you know why we eat this way? What is the science behind dinner menus? Believe it or not, there is logical and scientific reasoning behind the way we eat our meals.

We get appetizers before our meal for a reason. “The drive to eat is massively stimulated by the start of eating,” said Gareth Leng of the University of Edinburgh, who co-led an appetite study with Louise Johnstone. “This shows the appetizing effect of food itself as hunger circuits are acutely switched on.” It’s not until we actually taste food that we’re really ready to eat. Simply looking at food or smelling food also provokes our appetite and helps our bodies release digestive enzymes necessary to process our meals. So what are the best foods to stimulate our taste buds and get us ready for the meal to come? Try foods that are particularly pungent or colorful for appetizers, like pickled and fermented foods, cheese, olives, and sausages.

A salad course usually prompts a larger serving of food in American culture, but in Europe it’s common to eat a salad after the meal. Which is healthier? There are benefits to each way of eating. If you eat a salad before your entree you can better control the amount you eat during the meal. However, eating salad after your main course supports stable blood sugar by slowing down the effect of the carbohydrates in the salad. If you have a wickedly fast metabolism, following your meat with a salad can help you control your appetite by creating a slow rise in blood sugar.

There are also considerations you should take when you’re eating your entree. Try to keep servings small so that your blood sugar doesn’t crash rapidly. “The problem is, the bigger the meal, the bigger the crash – and the higher your need for sugary snacks to refuel your body,” says nutritionist Natalie Savona. And it’s not just energy and sugar levels that stay stable if you eat many tiny courses during your dinner. According to the Medical Research Council’s Human Nutrition unit, measurements of fatty acids in the blood also remain stable when you eat little and often. Instead of gorging yourself during a meal and having one large entree, spread your meal out into small portions to keep your blood sugar stable.

Dessert has, does, and always will come last. Why is this so in almost every culture? Time Magazine blames our need for “variety” for the dessert craving after dinner.  “Even after eating a large meal, we often ‘make room’ for dessert, because a desire for sweets hasn’t been satisfied,” explains Ann Gaba, a registered dietitian at New York Presbyterian Hospital. Gaba recommends taking in a bit of fruit in a salad during a meal to curb sugar craving. You can also have cooked fruit as a dessert, which can satiate sugar cravings. Another option is to follow your main course with cheese or a hot milk beverage, rather than dessert. The French often enjoy a cheese course in between the main course and dessert because dairy products aid digestion.

After the dessert plates have been cleared, many cultures are comforted by tea or coffee. While this isn’t as common of a practice in the U.S., some people enjoy taking an espresso after an Italian meal when they’re out to eat. Tea, particularly ginger-based tea, serves as a digestive aid to those who have just indulged in a large meal. Ginger aids digestion, which is why it’s eaten after sushi in Japanese restaurants. Additionally, “Drinking green tea or oolong tea offers the combined benefits of caffeine and catechins, substances shown to rev up the metabolism for a couple hours. Research suggests that drinking two to four cups of tea may push the body to burn 17% more calories than normal for a short period of time,” according to WebMD.com. Caffeine can, therefore, help you metabolize your food quicker. The same goes for a cup of coffee or an espresso after dinner.

Next time you’re preparing a meal, keep in mind that different cultures order meals in varying ways, but that some dinner menus cater better to blood sugar and digestion better than others. If you want to keep your blood sugar stable and metabolize your dinner faster, simply prepare a dinner menu with little courses and enjoy nice, long sips of hot tea after your meal for an enjoyable mealtime experience.

 

Family Menu Planning for Movie Nights

Posted on by
Reply

Whether you’re on winter vacation or you’re lazing around the house on a warm summer night, movie nights can really bring the whole family together. Next time you want to spend some extra time with your kids, try hosting a movie night with a special movie night menu to really get everyone in the mood for a good flick and family fun time.

Movie Night Family Menu Plan

Hit the lights, take your seats, and brace yourself for some great foods that are just perfect for family movie night:

  • Kick off your movie night with the entree (the snacks will come later so go ahead and skip the appetizers for this menu). Main courses should be fun, festive, and preferably something you can handle with your hands. Try panko-crust chicken tenders with honey dill dip. Beef sliders on toasted rolls could also make the perfect movie night entree because of their petite size. Just have one or two each and save your appetites for the snacks and dessert! Mini pizza poppers, made out of puff pastry dough filled with sausages, tomato sauce, and veggies, could also make the perfect entree because they’re not extremely messy, helping you avoid a potential couch mess.
  • No meal is complete without some veggies. With crudité, you can have raw veggies and a nice dip. Chef Craig Koketsu of New York’s Park Avenue Winter recommends pairing broccoli with Cheetos for a fun side that makes snacking a little bit healthier.
  • After dinner has been served and Cheeto broccoli has been devoured, it’s time to roll out the snacks. Nothing says “movie” like popcorn, so make sure you have your family’s favorite type of popcorn on hand. Heat popcorn in your Dutch oven on your stovetop with a little bit of vegetable oil and about 1/3 cup popping corn kernels. Caramel popcorn is also the perfect dessert. Make caramel at home by either melting your favorite caramel candies in a double boiler (the easier way) or, for a culinary challenge, make your own caramel from scratch. Include M&Ms over salty popcorn for a melted-chocolate treat.
  • For dessert, you’ll want to stick to the idea that finger foods are your best bet at keeping the couch in tip top shape. Try double chocolate chunk or macadamia nut cookies, munched over napkins, of course!

Now that you have your movie night menu planning all done, it’s time to scroll through that Pay Per View selection or hit Netflix to find some wonderful flicks that will entertain the whole family.

 

From Something to Nothing: Avoiding Waste with Quick Family Recipes

Posted on by
Reply

Each year, Americans spend about 5 billion dollars on food we don’t even eat. There’s something wrong with this picture! While we all try to live within our means, no one can deny that they’ve thrown out a perfectly salvageable product because it was a little wilted or the family just didn’t like it. You may have bought that package of expensive, organic turkey bacon for the kids, only to find that they wanted the regular bacon. Now what? Instead of just tossing a product in the trash, find ways to make it yummy by cooking it in a different way, or mixing it in with other things. Here are some ideas to get you started:

  • Bacon: Slightly aged bacon or bacon alternatives that don’t suit the palette of your family can be whipped up into a vast assortment of dishes. If your kids don’t like the taste of your new turkey bacon, simply coat the bacon in brown sugar, nutmeg, cinnamon, and walnuts. Preheat the oven and pop in your bacon, laying on a cookie sheet, with the walnuts. When you’re done, you’ll have candied walnuts and brown sugar bacon that makes any brand of bacon taste superb. You can also make bacon bits, crushing slightly overcooked bacon in a paper towel with a rolling pin. Bacon bits go great with baked potatoes or even casseroles.
  • Chicken: Day old cooked chicken is perfect for classic recipes like chicken salad, chicken pot pie, or chicken casserole. If you family doesn’t particularly take to the chicken you whipped up a few nights back, don’t just throw out the leftovers! Make it into a chicken pot pie. First, use the chicken carcass to make a chicken broth for your pot pie. Then grab your leftover chicken, an onion, peas, carrots, and even a potato and mushrooms and make a chicken pot pie to remember.
  • Bread: Bread goes stale in a flash and nine times out of ten we throw old bread right into the trash. Instead of tossing it out, make bread pudding, pulverize the bread to make breading for chicken or mac ‘n’ cheese, or make your own croutons. Six slices of old bread can be made into bread pudding, combined with eggs, milk, raisins, cinnamon, butter, and vanilla. If you only have a few slices of leftover bread,  cut them up into cubes and season with olive oil, salt, black pepper, dried herbs, and garlic powder. Then bake cubes until crunchy for your very own, homemade croutons!
  • Leafy Greens: You may have bought that huge container of spinach or lettuce only to find that no one in the family is reaching for the greens. We commend you on a healthy buy, but now your lovely greens are going to waste. Don’t toss ‘em in the trash. Instead, make an old-fashioned wilted lettuce salad with your day-old lettuce or make spinach artichoke dip with that old spinach. Everyone in the family will love these two options.

Next time you have an item that turned out to be an impulse buy, and no one in the family likes it, or that’s just wasting away in the fridge, get up and do something with it! There are plenty of quick family recipes out there that can help you turn nothing into something.