A new school year is upon us and it's back to structured routines and busy schedules for everyone. In my house we go from constant summer togetherness to trying to squeeze as much quality bonding into dinnertime as possible. I know I'm not the only mom who has struggled with dinner from meal planning to getting everyone around the table. That's why I've partnered with Revolution Foods to share my best tips and tricks for making family dinner a success.
Keep it simple. Weeknight dinners shouldn't be elaborate affairs. Nutritious meals with protein, whole grains, and veggies should be the aim. Develop a repertoire of simple dishes and meal planning will become a lot easier. I often just shop by grabbing what protein is on sale, what veggies are in season, and rely heavily on my pantry for the rest. Revolution Foods Dinner Hero is my new favorite secret weapon.
It takes whatever protein and veg you have on hand and makes it into a delicious complete meal with the perfect amount of starch and tasty, natural seasonings. Dinner Hero comes in four delicious flavors, such as Coconut Curry and Sesame Chicken, that you will love as much as your kids, especially because it means dinner doesn't require tons of separate ingredients and is complete in thirty minutes.
Have the kids help. From building important skills to encouraging healthy eating, I am a huge advocate of getting kids involved in meal prep. I have a few suggestions to make kids helping a low stress proposition. One trick I got from the Montessori approach is to give children appropriate tools for the job. They don aprons to give importance and specialness to the task. They have kid-safe knives and are trusted with simple tasks such as chopping veggies and measuring ingredients.
Jude, being a second grader, gets to help a bit at the stove, learning important cooking safety and ensuring I don't accidentally burn the chicken. This sort of kid involvement is easiest to wrangle with a simple dinner, once again making Dinner Hero a great choice. Jude was able to cook (with mom's help) a very tasty dinner without having to follow an elaborate recipe.
Spark dinnertime conversation. Once dinner is complete, it's time to enjoy it as a family. Many studies have emphasized the importance of the family meal on children's development, but I love that it gives our family a chance to catch up and converse with little distractions. My first tip would be to minimize distractions, no phones at the table and no TV on in the background. My favorite dinnertime trick is to create a gratitude ritual. Each night we play "Three Bests" where we go around the table and share the three best things about our day. When Ronan was a baby we used to have fun guessing what his three bests would be, now he can share along with the rest of us. It is something that we all look forward to and it helps make dinner feel like a special time where we connect with one and other.
I'm always looking for more ideas on how to win at meals, especially during the school the year. Revolution Foods also has Breakfast Hero, three flavors of premixed pancake batter that make a warm weekday breakfast a reality, and Lunch Bundles full of healthy, fun lunch items that take the chore out of packing school lunch. I love that they use natural, recognizable ingredients and give 1% back to support healthy food in schools. Click here for a chance to win a month's supply of Revolution Foods. Revolution Foods is helping me be a hero this school year, how do you hero?
This post was sponsored by Revolution Foods. Thank you so much for supporting the brands that make this blog possible.
