Recently, my good friend Eileen Kennedy suggested that I write a blog post about a typical weeknight dinner at home. I thought it would be interesting to feature different families and how and what they eat on a regular, no-frills weeknight.

The question of how do we work, mother, nurture a relationship, have “me time”, exercise, give back to the community, keep the house clean and make nutritious dinners at the end of the day is one that I know I am always asking myself! Are you too?

This is the first in what I hope to be several “peeks” into homes of friends and family to see how different people do dinner.

I have eaten many beautiful, tasty and healthy meals with Eileen and her daughter Eva over the past 3 years. One of the things that I always appreciate about the food Eileen makes is her attention to color, texture and variety. Eileen is a designer and a Feng Shui consultant and so the aesthetic as well as practical function are important to her and this carries over in to many aspects of her life. Food and cooking certainly being one of them.

While Felix and Eva played (they both enjoy playing in the brilliant mini kitchen that Eileen made out of cardboard that lives right next to the real stove!), Eileen prepared dinner for the 4 of us just as she would if Felix and I were not there. For her, that means not making unnecessary trips to the store (which cuts in on quality family time and the end of the day) for little things that she could either do without or substitue other things for. For example, she didn’t have parsley on hand, so I snipped some from my garden before coming over. It also means using what she gets each week in her Riverhill CSA box. This week it contained, carrots, kholirabi, tomatoes, potatoes, onions, garlic and eggs from Living Lands.

Offering several, to many small, simple options at dinner is a great way to not feel like you are a short order cook, letting people take a little bit of everything and pairing the foods in ways that please them. Eileen’s menu included:

White beans with onions, tomatoes and olive oil (beans soaked the night before and cooked in a hour on low heat)

Oven roasted potatoes

Poached eggs with garlic, lemon and parsley

Grated carrot salad cumin and lemon

Thinly sliced Kholrabi with a light dressing quickly made with olives oil, Dijon mustard and a hint of cumin

Plain yogurt

Sauerkraut

Kalamata olives

*Eileen said bread or toast would be nice with this dinner but she didn’t have any so she didn’t sweat it!

Dinner was fresh, easy and best of all, there were leftovers for Eva to take to pre-school the next day!

Having so many choices was fun! It inspired me to try this at home. I usually make a veggie stir fry or wrap on a busy night and cook everything together. As the summer continues to provide us with all of these flavorful veggies, why not let them shine on their own?

This is also a great way to introduce kids to new flavors, they are able to see and taste things individually first.

What is dinner time like for you and your family?

I am looking for other families to write about to offer other perspectives on dinner time. If you are interested in having me for dinner (but cooking like I wasn’t coming over!!), please send me an email!

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Uncategorized by Wendy Van Wagner