You can hate to cook and still love family dinner
By Nancy Ludwig, MS, RDN, LD, Head
Start Consulting Nutritionist
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In my role as a consultant nutritionist to
Siletz Tribal Head Start, I offer information
for families. This topic of family dinners is
an important key to health. This article is
extracted from drgreene.com/perspectives/
you-can-hate-to-cook-and-still-love-family-
dinner/. Check out the easy stew recipe to
take the pressure off preparation.
Of course, it’s food that gets everyone
to the table, but isn’t it the conversation
and the stories that keep us there?
The many documented benefits of
family dinners – lower rates of depres-
sion, substance abuse and stress, and
higher achievement scores, positive mood
and self-esteem – don’t derive from how
many hours you spend cooking the dinner
and it doesn’t matter if you use heirloom
parsnips. No, it’s almost certainly the con-
versation around the table that we have to
thank for all those benefits to our health
and well-being.
Conversation comes in several differ-
ent flavors – questions that ask about the
day, storytelling and games.
Questions about the say
A steady diet of “how was your day”
questions can be tedious for both asker and
responder, like being served chicken night
after night. Just as it’s interesting to switch
up your menu, here are a few questions to
add some variety to dinner talk.
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Rose, thorn and bud – Ask each family
member to share something positive
or funny (the rose), something nega-
tive or challenging (the thorn) and
something they hope will happen
tomorrow (the bud).
Two truths and a lie, (or a wish) – Ask
each family member to share two
things that actually happened during
the day and one that either didn’t hap-
pen or they wish had happened. The
other family members try to guess the
one that isn’t true.
•
Conversation jar – On slips of paper,
write a whole slew of questions.
Then stuff them in a jar that sits in
the middle of the table. Each person
can pull one out and answer it. Other
family members may want to answer
the same question or pull out another
slip. Here are some examples to get
you started: What character in a book
or movie would you like as a friend?
What are two things you feel grateful
for today? If you are feeling sad, what
can someone do to make you feel
better? If you had three wishes, what
would they be? What is your favorite
thing to do outside? If you could be
one age for the rest of your life, what
age would that be?
For many more examples, check out
thefamilydinnerproject.org/conversa-
tion-2/conversation-starters/.
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How your family first came to this
country, city or neighborhood
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A love affair or where and how your
parents met
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Something funny or ridiculous
•
When you learned an important life
lesson
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How you learned a family recipe
Don’t be afraid to tell stories about
failures and mishaps, especially if they
were ultimately overcome. Making a silk
purse out of a sow’s ear or lemonade out
of lemons are often the most powerful
family stories.
Playing games at the table
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Telling stories
No matter what age we are, telling sto-
ries, often with the input of others, is the
primary way we make sense of the world.
Families used to have lots of opportunities
to tell stories – around the fire, while doing
needlepoint or in long letters.
But in 21 st century America, the pri-
mary place where families get to share
their stories is at the dinner table.
According to several studies, storytell-
ing has a positive connection to children’s
well-being – kids who know stories about
their family history have higher self-
esteem and a greater capacity to bounce
back from the slings and arrows of every-
day life. Kids who know family stories
feel connected to something bigger than
themselves.
You can tell stories about:
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How you chose your child’s name
A holiday or celebration
When you were the same age as your
child
A pet’s mischief or “humanness”
Overcoming a challenge – a first job, a
mishap at an interview, a work success
•
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If you have not sent in an application for your child to attend Siletz Tribal
Head Start, it’s not too late. Call 541-444-2532 or 800-922-1399 to request that
an application be sent to you.
Applications also are available on the Tribal website (ctsi.nsn.us) and at the Siletz,
Salem and Portland area offices.
All of Siletz Clinic is tobacco-free
The Siletz Community Health Clinic property is 100 percent tobacco-free.
The policy prohibits all tobacco use by everyone – no smoking in your car, in
the parking lot or on clinic property.
We do not provide any cigarette disposal units, so please keep all of your
tobacco products in your personal vehicle.
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•
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We do not have designated smoking areas!
No smoking in the parking lot!
No smoking in your car in the parking lot!
No smoking behind the building!
No littering of cigarette butts!
We appreciate your understanding and willingness to help keep our clinic
tobacco-free and clean.
6
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Siletz News
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January 2016
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Twenty questions about a family mem-
ory: Have one family member think of
a family memory, like the time our dog
ate 49 chocolate chip cookies. Then,
everyone else asks yes/no questions to
try to guess the memory. Did it hap-
pen during a holiday? Was everyone
in the family there? Were we laugh-
ing, scared, sad? Did it involve food?
Whoever guesses the right answer first
gets to go next. This is a great game
for finding out what experiences your
kids are holding on to.
Would you rather? Take turns asking
each person “Would you rather …”
and then finish the sentence with
a ridiculous or thought-provoking
choice like, “... eat a bowl of worms or
a bowl of crickets? … live in the future
or in the past … speak every language
or play every musical instrument? …
be able to fly or be invisible?” Once
you get started on this one, kids
usually will make up their own silly
questions.
Fruit and vegetable game: I can play
this game by the hour (and have).
One family member (the leader of the
round) thinks of a person known by
everyone at the table. Then others ask
the leader metaphorical questions to
try to guess the person. For example,
“If this person were a vegetable, what
vegetable would he or she be?” or “If
he or she were a fruit, or an animal,
or a color, which would he or she
be?” The idea is to stick to figurative
rather than literal thinking, In other
words, the leader will answer in terms
of how the individual’s personality
might be manifested in another form
rather than answering in terms of the
person’s actual favorite vegetable to
eat or color to wear. Whoever guesses
the person first goes next as the leader.
Love family dinner: With all of these
table talk suggestions, the point is to
have fun and encourage conversation
so that dinnertime is a relaxing time
when everyone talks. As a bonus,
perhaps your kids will linger longer
or you will discover something new
about each other.
For more games, conversation starters
and tips on how to get your kids talking,
check out my new book, Home for Din-
ner: Mixing Food, Fun, and Conversation
for a Happier Family and Healthier Kid
(Amazon 2015).
Sweet Potato & Lentil Stew
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
4 cups vegetable broth
3 cups or 1¼ pounds sweet potatoes,
peeled and cubed
1½ cups lentils, rinsed
3 medium carrots, 1-inch pieces
1 medium onion, chopped
4 each garlic cloves, minced
½ teaspoon cumin, ground
¼ teaspoon ginger, ground
¼ teaspoon cayenne, ground
¼ cup fresh cilantro or parsley, minced
Salt & pepper to taste
Combine the first 10 ingredients in a
4-5 quart slow cooker. Cook on low for
5-6 hours or until vegetables are tender.
This also can be done on a stovetop in a
shorter time.
When fully cooked, add fresh chopped
cilantro and/or parsley and adjust season-
ings. If you like it hot, pepper sauce (like
Tabasco) is nice.
Stuffed Winter Squash*
This is a winter meal that can be made
with many variations. Be flexible and
creative with what is available.
Filling
2 tablespoons olive oil
¼ cup red onions
1 tablespoons curry
½ each green tart apple, such as Granny
Smith, diced
1 stalk celery, chopped
1-2 tablespoons raisins or infused cran-
berries
1½ cup cooked brown rice**
1½ cup cooked lentils**
1-2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
Salt to taste
Garnish with chutney and fresh cilantro,
chopped
*Squash: Start with acorn squash or
any other type that suits your fancy. Choose
the number of units and size you want to
serve as halves or round slices. Slice and
place face down on a baking dish. For
variation you could slice the squash and
serve the filling over sliced squash as the
beautiful, colorful bed.
Bake squash until tender to pierce
with a fork; can take up to 1 hour at 350
F depending on the squash type and size.
When making this in a hurry, squash can
be cooked in the microwave. Heat face
down until tender.
Filling: Cook brown rice and lentils
or use leftovers. **Lentils and rice can be
cooked together in a pan or rice cooker.
Use ¾ cup of each and 3 cups water.
Meanwhile, add cooking oil to pan
and sauté onions, curry and sweet spices.
Add apple, celery and raisins or other
dried fruit to pan while continuing to
sauté. Stir in brown rice and lentils. Adjust
flavor as needed with balsamic vinegar
and salt.
Arrange dish with filled-in squash
and serve with chutney and fresh cilantro.
Don’t forget to serve with colorful greens.
