About Lynne's Sunday Suppers™: Starting a New Tradition

Let's revive a favorite tradition by making Sunday night family night. Every month I'll share a menu for kicking back with the family on Sunday night. So, turn off the TV and the computer, gather everyone in the kitchen, and cook up some good, simple food together. Then sit down around the table to enjoy the meal and each other.

Starting Your Own Tradition
Get everyone in on the preparation. Sit down together and read through the recipes. Decide what you'd like to work on. Assemble all the ingredients and equipment for each recipe before starting to cook.

For the little ones who are too young to handle knives or cook at the stove unattended, ask them to set the table, help tear greens, pluck herb leaves from stems, measure ingredients, and stir things together. Just make sure hands are thoroughly washed before and after they handle food.

Don't worry too much about exact measurements. These recipes' big, robust flavors can stand being played with. There are no tricky techniques here - just food that's fun to cook and delicious to eat.

If at all possible, do use organic ingredients - I believe they make a big difference ecologically, and in the quality of what we eat.

Shopping Together
Make marketing with the children more adventure than aggravation by enlisting their help. I know there's not always the time or patience for this, but when there is start out by sitting down together and drawing up a Sunday supper shopping list. At the store ask each child to take charge of selecting several ingredients. In the produce section, show them how looking, feeling, and sniffing can reveal if something's ripe. Follow their curiosity about the unfamiliar. When asked, "What's that?", buy a sample and taste it together. Try new foods every chance you get. Talk about what you like and don't like about them. No one has to agree - its the exploring that's the fun of this.

On to the menus

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