I think they demean our children, reducing them to tasteless creatures with no desire for adventure or variety. (The only exceptions to this are the kids menus that are truly exciting. The picture on the right is from one of our local restaurants. Kids have a choice of about five menu items, and they arrive in a retro metal lunch box with a choice of two sides. LOVE this.)

Now, before you get all worked up in defense of standard kids menus, let me clarify. My kids both love chicken nuggets, and we certainly serve mac and cheese at our house. BUT, these are not the only foods they eat. And, if we are at a restaurant, shouldn’t they get something different and exciting just like we do?

My best tip for getting out of the kids menu rut is to order from the appetizer section of the menu. For example, my daughter loves ordering Buffalo Wings (mild). She eats nearly an entire order at one sitting, happily dipping her celery sticks into the bleu cheese dressing. Max’s favorite non-kids’ menu item is chili. Many family-friendly restaurants have chili on their appetizer menu. He likes eating it with tortilla chips as scoops instead of a spoon.

The appetizer tip also works at ethnic restaurants. Empanadas, edamame and chicken satay are all kid-friendly and will all help to expand your child’s repertoire.

What do your kids eat when you take them out to restaurants?

The final element to being a great cook (in my opinion) is using top-of-the-line ingredients. Over the next few months, I’ll do my best to highlight some of these. Today, though, to kick this off, I’d like to share my very favorite: smoked paprika.

If you have never tasted smoked paprika, you are in for a real treat. It is not overly smoky, but just enough to let the sweet and sultry flavor of the paprika shine through. I use this ingredient in lots of recipes, but my favorite way to use it is on chicken. In a small bowl, combine about 1 Tb. kosher salt, 1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper, 1 Tb. garlic powder and at least 1 tsp. smoked paprika. Mix this together and rub it all over some chicken breasts (skin on, bone in). Cook these on the grill or pop them in a 375 degree oven until they reach 165 degrees. Pure heaven.

Image courtesy of Zingermans.

I am not sure where she got inherited this desire to eat the same (boring) thing everyday, but it certainly wasn’t from me. I crave variety! I hate cold sandwiches! Bring on the gourmet salads, the luscious and creamy soups, and the crispy falafel. One day, I am sure, my kid will wise up and welcome my creative lunch overtures. Until then, I must be content to write about these fabulous resources and live vicariously through you, my readers. (It also helps to remember that if your kids don’t want variety, that is OK. The important thing is that they are eating something nutritious. No one ever died from eating PB&J every single day. Well, I might, but that would be an anomaly.)

Vegan Lunch Box: This phenomenon started as a blog, but has now become a book, chock-full of delicious, healthy recipes, all intended to be packed up in re-usable bento box-style containers for an environmentally friendly lunch option.

ParentHacks School Lunch Post: Do you read this site? No? Boy, are you missing out. This is the be-all-end-all site for everything you ever needed to know about raising a child. The school lunch post is nearly 18 months old, but the tips in the comment section are still good.

AskMoxie: This is another fabulous online parenting resource, and her post on school lunches generated some terrific suggestions within the comments.

Laptop Lunches: Want to pack your kids’ lunches in a cool container? This is the place to go for your supplies. Warning: These lunchboxes do not feature licensed characters, so if your kid insists on Disney princess decorations, be prepared to do it yourself with stickers and Sharpie markers.

Lock & Lock: Due to my child’s unique lunch demands and her desire for a PowerPuff Girls lunch box, the laptop lunchbox isn’t the best choice for our household, but we do like avoiding plastic wrap and other non-environmentally friendly lunch wrappers. We are big fans of the Lock & Lock containers, which can be found online via the link provided, or at your local Target. Note: The picture above is of one of our Lock&Lock containers. It shows one of the more creative lunches I sent to school with my daughter. (She didn’t eat it.)

Everyone needs to make their own decisions about what food to buy, but I’m going to share my opinion here. One of the most important things to realize is that getting certified organic is a very expensive proposition. What this means is that there are many small farmers who grow everything organically, but they just can’t afford to be certified. How do you find these guys? Go to your local farmers market. Talk to shop and restaurant owners who source from local farms. Who are their favorites? Get to know the local players. If you know the people growing your food, you can talk to them about their growing practices.

If I have a choice of local, non-certified organic food and organic food flown into Chicago from California by a large conglomerate, I’m going to choose local nearly every time. This is made easier for me because I also attempt to eat seasonally. What does this mean? We only have strawberries in our house for a couple of months in the summer. And tomatoes? I never buy them off-season. It’s easy to find local, sustainably-grown strawberries in Chicago in June.

I also keep in mind a 2003 study by the Environmental Working Group (that I read about in the August, 2006 issue of Gourmet Magazine). In that study, they found 192 different pesticides on 46 fresh fruits and vegetables and determined that consumers can lower their risk of pesticide exposure by as much as 90 percent by buying organic varieties of the top 12 most contaminated fruits and vegetables. These are:

Fruits
apples
cherries
imported grapes
nectarines
peaches
pears
red raspberries
strawberries

Vegetables
bell peppers
celery
potatoes
spinach

When I was little, sick days meant Matzoh Ball Soup from Wolfie’s Deli just down the block from my house. My mom would bring home a giant container of it, and it always seemed to do the trick.

When my husband and I moved to the midwest, I discovered that Jews didn’t have a monopoly on healing soups. In Toledo, my sick day soup was the Chicken Soup and Dumplings from Tony Packo’s.

It is also possible to make your own sick day solution (but preferably just as a balm to others - if you are sick yourself, hand off these recipes to a loved one while you rest in bed).

Taking a clue from Queenie, here is a recipe for Vietnamese Pho.

Don’t have a Jewish deli down the block? Make your own Matzoh Ball soup.

Finally, one of my favorite sick day soups is based on one that I found in Real Simple a few years ago. It is ideal for a number of reasons. First, it comes together in just minutes. Second, it has a little bit of spice (which is great for clogged sinuses). Finally, it lends itself to fun garnishes, and that’s always a bonus when you are cooking for kids.

Easy Sick Day Tortilla Soup

1 jar green salsa (use whichever level heat you like - we use medium)
3 cups cooked turkey breast or chicken
3-4 cups chicken broth
1 can white hominy, drained*
1 teaspoon ground cumin
2 scallions, chopped
plain yogurt or sour cream
shredded cheddar cheese
tortilla chips

Heat salsa in a soup pot. Add poultry, broth, hominy and cumin. The soup is done when it is heated through. Serve garnished with scallions, yogurt, cheese and crushed chips.

Serves: 4

* I use hominy because we love it, and I always have it on hand, but a can of white beans can be used as well.

One of the best ways to eliminate dinnertime stress is to start meal planning. This can be as simple as writing dinner ideas on a scrap of paper, or as complicated as paying for a service that helps you create meal plans online. Choose the system that works best for you. I find that I do best when I create a meal plan and then post it online to share with the world. (I work well under pressure!)

Stefania of the ever-popular City Mama blog tries to post her meal plan every week as well. Reading her plans always inspires me, especially because she also has two young children at home. For even more meal planning bloggy goodness, you’ll want to check out the blogs of those participating in Menu Planning Monday.

If you are willing to pay for your inspiration, you might want to subscribe to one of the many meal planning services. For a list and comprehensive reviews, check out this Real Simple article. It clearly lays out the pros and cons of each service, and includes links and screenshots.

Finally, if you want to really branch out, check out this thread on eGullet (my favorite food-related message board). Every time I read it, I am blown away by the amazing meals that people put together for an ordinary weeknight. I don’t often have time to do the same, but what’s life without a little aspiration?

Happy meal planning!

(Oh, and feel free to tell us what you’re cooking this week in the comments, or just post a link to your blog if you’ve already posted it elsewhere.)

In my quest to find more meals like this, I’ve made the investment in some cookbooks that address easy weeknight meals, and when I find successful recipes, I hope to share them with you here. Last night was one such success, and it comes from my latest cookbook, Nigella Express. You can see the original recipie here; however, I can never leave well enough alone, plus I made some substitutions based on the ingredients I had available. Here is my version:

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1. Create and follow a weekly menu.

2. Introduce more routine into our weekly dinners (slow cooker night, make-ahead night, stir fry night)

3. Visit my favorite food site every day for inspiration.

4. Try a new recipe every week.

5. Read my food magazines when they arrive, and ear-mark ideas and recipes.

6. Take my kids’ lunches beyond boring. This is going to take a lot of planning, but we are all tired of PB&J every day.

7. Make my kids’ lunches the night before. I am not at my best at 6:30am, and their lunches reflect this. In order to make #6 stick, I need to get better about working ahead.

8. Buy more local, less processed food, and try to avoid meat if I don’t know its origins.

What are your resolutions for ‘08?

Christmas at the Wiley’s is a blast. We generally spend it in Toledo (my husband’s hometown), and that’s where we are this year as well. Christmas Eve is very low key. We hang out in the family room, watching A Christmas Story over and over, drinking fun cocktails, and playing games. We also get the kielbasa started. The kielbasa has to be fresh (not smoked) and in our family, it has to be from Stanley’s. Stanley’s is an old-fashioned Polish grocery store with the most amazing kielbasa you’ll ever taste. This stuff is beyond garlicky. Even double-bagged, it will make your entire refrigerator reek of garlic. But, oh man, it is so good. We cut it up into 2 inch chunks and put it in a slow cooker with beer. And we cook it on low overnight. In the morning, we have a feast of kielbasa, rye toast, pierogies and my husband’s special scrambled eggs (with lots of veggies mixed in). The kielbasa is best served with super spicy horseradish.

What do you guys eat for your holiday meals?

Now, don’t get me wrong. I am all for wholesome eating. But this is ridiculous. The making of cookies is a holiday tradition that children will remember for their entire lives. And we are supposed to get rid of it?

I realize that childhood obesity is a growing problem, but this isn’t the solution. Let’s get soda out of our schools, and substitute fresh fruit for junky after-school snacks. I’m all for that! But the once a year traditions? The family memories? Those are sacred.

I wonder what the food police would have had me make in lieu of the pretty Hanukkah cake that my daughter and I created last week.