This is a special weekly meal plan because over at Org Junkie, where bloggers from all over post their menu plans, Laura is reviewing and giving away Fearless Feeding. So check it out!
This week I’m trying a new pasta dish from Cooking Light Magazine along with a simple chicken stir fry and a salmon dish I haven’t made in a while.
What’s Cooking This Week
Monday: Kids eat out with Dad (Twitter Party to be announced on Facebook)
Tuesday: Shrimp Fettuccine with Spinach and Parmesan with fruit salad
Wednesday: kids’ choice
Thursday: Easy Chicken Stir fry with brown rice and egg rolls
Friday: Baked Salmon Topped with Veggies, salad and baked fries
More from Cooking Light
Superfast Kid-Friendly Recipes
The Family Dinner Challenge
I’m a big fan of family dinners. I know they aren’t always easy — or even possible every day– but the benefits are numerous. Studies show that families who eat together have healthier eating habits and weight levels and are less likely to result in risky behaviors like drinking and drugs in teenagers. The family meal table is also where kids learn about food and manners. It is one of their most important classrooms!
That why I am supporting and partnering up with the Family Dinner Challenge, launched by family dinner expert and advocate, Aviva Goldfarb of the The Six O’Clock Scramble. The goal is to get 10,000 families to commit to eating dinner together at least 3 times a week for 4 weeks between now and September (soon to be known as Family Dinner Month).
Even if you are already eating together as a family, take the challenge anyway (I did!). Aviva provides participants with weekly menus, recipes and grocery lists, a chart to keep track of your dinners eaten together and conversation starters. Summer is a great time to branch out with dinners because schedules are more relaxed.
You can also help spread the word to your community about the Family Dinner Challenge via Facebook or other means (you can get a button to post on Facebook on the Family Dinner Challenge page). Let’s get a lot of people to sign up and show that family dinners are not dead!
Links
Last week I wrote a guest post for Super Healthy Kids about the 5 Unfounded Fears of Feeding Children (and When Parents Really Need to Worry). I have found that parents often worry about the wrong things when it comes to feeding. So, in this article, I help decipher when concern is needed and when it is not. Knowing this can ease parents’ minds, making feeding more enjoyable for everyone.
In my biweekly WebMD post, I address common myths about wheat (and gluten). I have started getting questions from parents about whether or not they should cut wheat out of their family’s diet. I found this awesome review from Julie Jones, which goes point-by-point through the popular Wheat Belly Diet claims. I interviewed her for this article so check it out.
This got me thinking about something I wrote about a while ago — how to spot good nutrition advice from bad. It’s so easy with the internet and social media for people to get the message that food is scary. I often get comments and questions from people who are certain some food (or ingredient or preservative) is bad due to something they read somewhere. And I always ask them what research they are using to form their opinion.
Because eating is not just about nutrition, it’s also about enjoyment. If I am going to cut a food from my diet that I enjoy (as part of a balanced diet of course), I want to know there is a good reason for it.
What scares you most about food?
Since you posted about wheat, and discerning good nutritional advice from not so good, I’m wondering what you think about the info referenced here. It states that GMO wheat has been discovered in Oregon. Thanks for your feedback.
http://www.feedourfamilies.com/2013/05/unapproved-gmo-wheat-growing-in-oregon.html
Miranda — it looks like they found some GMO wheat and are investigating it according to the link she provided: The Agriculture Department said the genetically engineered wheat is safe to eat and there is no evidence that modified wheat entered the marketplace. But the department is investigating how it ended up in the field, whether there was any criminal wrongdoing and whether its growth is widespread.
More about it on CBS news: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-33816_162-57587196/genetically-modified-wheat-found-in-oregon-spurs-international-backlash/ I guess we will hear more.