One way to keep it light, she suggests, "is to get the kids involved in the kitchen." At her house, she says, "what we like to do is give each child a chance to create the menu for dinner." It's a creative approach to meal planning that "sometimes means pickles, soup and cheese" as the entree, she admits, but adds "it doesn't take much coaching on your part to get the four food groups represented in the meal."
Another way to get your kids involved is to make each member of the family responsible for one part of the meal. "This is one way you can make sure everyone gets their favourite food," she says. For example, she says, "one might choose to do mini pizzas, another might make little quiches."
For Steel, letting your children take part in the preparation and/or cooking of the meal (depending on their ages) is not only a fun way to spend family time, it's also educational. "If you start them young," she says, "by the time they're older they can tackle more sophisticated recipes."
The trick: "make it fun and keep it light." Here are a few other ideas for March break meals.
Build your own
Go ahead. Break the rules. Let your children play with their food. Anything they can build on their own will make a meal fun (and mean less preparation). Put out a platter of various meats, cheeses, vegetables (including roasted red peppers, cucumber, lettuce, etc.) and condiments, and build your own hoagies or submarines. Set out bowls filled with cooked chicken strips, grated cheese, salsa, sour cream, chopped lettuce, green or red peppers and green onions, heat up some whole-wheat tortillas, and roll up your own fajitas.
At your fingertips
Steel recommends "a tapas night," or an evening of hors d'oeuvres. Another approach for making sure everyone gets the foods they love, options include everything from the forementioned mini pizzas and quiches to meatballs, cooked shrimp, crab cakes, dumplings and more.
Set the scene
Another suggestion from Steel is to "have a theme." You could have a Mexican fiesta or a Hawaiian luau, or you could simply throw a tablecloth over the table, bring out the plastic cutlery and have a picnic.
