You've heard the research. You know that establishing the habit of sitting down together for dinner as a family is critical to building and maintaining healthy communication with your children. But then you look at your calendar and wonder how in the world you can make time to squeeze in a family dinner every night.
First of all, as long as your family sits down together for dinner a majority of the time, it's not necessary to do it every single night. However, if you find yourself unable to make time for a family dinner once or twice a week, you may need to take a hard look at your family's schedule and see what activities can be eliminated or cut back. Once your calendar is clear and you're ready to establish the habit of dining together, you need some survival strategies in order to plan, prepare and clean up after family dinners.
The easiest way to gather your family around the dinner table is to involve them in meal planning and preparation. Children as young as three years old can assist with menu planning. Young children can also help tear lettuce for salads, set the table and other non-dangerous tasks. Older children can help with cutting up vegetables and cooking the meal. Children are far more likely to eat food they have helped to plan and prepare.
You'll also need to develop a file of quick and easy meal ideas. Busy work nights are not the time to try out that new gourmet recipe. Browse the internet for quick and easy recipes or subscribe to one of the many quick cooking magazines that are available on newsstands. There are also hundreds of books with thousands of quick cooking recipes. Studies have shown that most families eat the same 10 to 20 recipes on a cyclical basis. So, once you've established 10 good, quick recipes that your family enjoys don't worry too much about needing to serve something new every night.
Occasionally, long hours at work or traffic tie ups might mean that you simply can't cook a meal. Planning ahead for those events can help you avoid the drive-thru trap. For example, keep a few high quality frozen pizzas and bagged salad greens for a quick meal. Or stop at the grocery store and pick up a rotisserie chicken and some side dishes. Regardless of what you serve, be sure you eat your meal on real plates with real silverware. If you call ahead, your children can have the table set by the time you arrive home.
Recipes For Family Dinners
There are many enjoyable catfish recipes to make that the entire family will enjoy. Not everyone enjoys catfish, so a few of the recipes will have catfish in it, but no one wil complain that they do not like the catfish recipe. Make a catfish recipe with potatoes and carrots. This recipe does not take long to make and is enjoyed by the entire family.
Baked Catfish With Potatoes and Carrots
Three medium potatoes
One pound of catfish cut into nugget sizes
Two carrots
1/2 pepper (red)
One small onion diced
One tablespoon oil
One teaspoon garlic powder
One tablespoon oregano
Peel the carrots and the potatoes. Cut the carrots into one-inch long pieces.
Cut the potatoes into bite size chunks. Cut the pepper into small bite size chunks.
In a small cake pan, place the oil and place the potatoes, carrots, onion and pepper into the pan. Sprinkle the vegetables with oregano and garlic.
Place the pan in the oven at 350 degrees for forty minutes. Take the pan out of the oven, add the catfish, and bake another twenty minutes.
Serve hot from the pan.
This next recipe is delicious. Even if you have someone in the family that does not like fish, they will love this fish recipe. The breading just adds to the favor of the catfish.
Deep Fried Catfish Nuggets In Parmesan Seasoned Breading
Two pounds of catfish fillets
Oil for deep-frying
Breading
One cup Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup cornflake crumbs
1/2 cup Malt O Meal cereal (wheat)
One tablespoon parsley flakes
One teaspoon salt
One teaspoon seasoned salt
One teaspoon sage
One teaspoon garlic powder
One teaspoon onion powder
One teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon thyme ground
1/2 teaspoon pepper
Combine all the breading ingredients in a shaker bag.
Heat up the deep fryer.
Place the catfish fillets in the shaker bag and shake.
Take each piece out separately and place into the deep fryer.
Deep fry until golden brown.
The next recipe is a crowd pleaser. It will feed fifteen people. It does take a while to make, but is very tasty. The gravy and stew is all made in one pan. The pan you need should be a stockpot in size.
Catfish Stew to Feed a Crowd
Five pounds catfish fillets
Ten pounds potatoes
Three pounds onions
One pound Hog Jowls
2 large vans mushroom soup
Pepper, garlic, cayenne pepper and salt just to taste
Cut the catfish fillets into one-inch chunks.
Peeled and cut potatoes into one inch squares
Chop the onion. Then slice the fatback into slices.
Fry the Hog Jowls in a large pan. After all the fat is gone from the fatback and in the pan, remove the fatback to a paper towel.
Add the onions to the pan and cook until soft. Add the potatoes and add water to cover them. Bring the pan to a boil. Potatoes should be tender when you stick a fork in them. Then add the catfish, mushroom soup and seasonings. When the catfish is flaky, it is done.
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