2 :: Make a plan
You’ll need to figure out time to shop, cook and schedule your time to eat as a family. Be realistic. If your daughter has a soccer game at 5pm and your two-year-old needs to eat soon after, you may want to skip that night and feed at will. Your plan should include prepping your family for this change. They need to know that it will be the same table at the same time eating the same thing for one and all. No excuses or alternatives, period.

3 :: Make a menu
Write down what you will eat on each night of your family dinner schedule and create a shopping list from that menu. I have a go-to set of recipes for family dinners. These recipes make it easier to shop without forgetting ingredients and faster to prepare the meals, so we can eat at a set time. A slow cooker or crock pot is a great way to fix a meal that is ready when you are.

4 :: Make one meal
To keep my sanity and to focus a more homemade, healthy approach to meals, this was so important. With a fussy eater and everyone’s preferences to certain foods, this can be difficult. You may need to be strong and take some kid-size criticism (that can feel like a giant’s), but making one meal that eventually everyone will eat, is a victory!

5 :: Make peace with the imperfect
So, you’ve done the first four steps and feel great about your plan. Be ready for resistance. If this is something new for your family, they will protest to different degrees. Rely on step 1 and know that this is a good thing for your family and they WILL get used to it.

Our family started having these dinners about two years ago and it was a great choice for us. I hope that if you’re considering taking on the challenge that my experience helps in a small way. I wish you luck in your journey (you’re going to need a little.)

During the month of March we’re having the Real Food Challenge. Challenging ourselves and our readers to eat fewer processed foods and focus on eating Real Food.

My goal for this challenge will be to make a challah once a week for Shabbat. Challah is an egg bread that is braided and is an integral part of the Shabbat traditional dinner where a blessing is said over the bread. Even though I’m not Jewish, I agreed to raise my sons in the Jewish faith and we have a Shabbat dinner most every Friday night. I usually purchase the loaf and sometimes they are hard to find in my area. Plus, challah makes the most excellent french toast over the weekend.

So, that’s my goal. Not exactly life changing in itself, but one more step in the direction of my own real food journey. Do you want to join me? Just pick one thing/change to do in March that involves real food and I promise, you’ll feel great about it by April.


Check out the challenge and check back here for the Great Challah Experiment next week.

During the celebration of the 4th of July, we were able to enjoy much grilled food at a couple different venues. One of these places is a unique reserve plopped in the middle of farmland and suburban neighborhoods. It contains a man-made lake with a beach, hiking/XC-ski trails, playgrounds, a couple clubhouses and a busy summer camp. Near the lake are scattered picnic tables, each with its own grill.

There are certain smells to summer, but one I’d like to do away with is lighter fluid. It filled my nose this past weekend and I swear, it brought up a base instinct to run, like Bambi’s family in that forest fire. It just smells wrong. So, how do you start a smoking hot grill fire when you don’t have a propane grill without using an evil accelerant? Read on…

First, you need natural, hardwood charcoal. You don’t have to go anywhere special for this – we buy ours at the grocery store. Next, you will need a device to naturally get the charcoal to burn into coals. At your local hardware store, they should have something called a charcoal chimney starter, which is a tall cylinder with a handle and holes in its side. We actually use a homemade version of a chimney starter made from two coffee cans and it works just fine (instructions below.**) And finally, you’ll need a very small amount of newspaper and matches.

Put the newspaper on the bottom of your upright cylinder, then fill it with the charcoal. You need to leave room for air to circulate throughout the cylinder, so be careful not to pack the newspaper or the charcoal too tightly. There should be a hole near the paper to light it with your matches. Now here is the hard part – you wait. It’s not glitzy, like the big flames you get from lighter fluid that can set your hair on fire. This method is a slow burn, but you will notice that what you eat from your grill actually tastes better. And you’re shunning those non earth-friendly petroleum products that seep into your food.


**Homemade Chimney Starter Instructions:
(These couldn’t be more simple…)

Take two coffee cans, one large and one regular size.

Punch quarter-size holes near the bottom of the larger coffee can in whatever manly way suits you.

And you’re ready!

To celebrate these grilling days, here’s a card just listed in the Etsy shop. It’s the first time ever that we’re offering a single card, so get it while it’s hot. Har har har.