Getting Dinner on the Table

Here in the Two Peas kitchen, dinner is not about fussy dishes that you’ve had to babysit all day. To us, a great meal is less about what you cook and more about who you share it with. That’s the intention that has gone into every recipe in the main dish chapters: It’s all about sharing a nourishing meal with the people you love, whether that’s your family, friends, roommates, or neighbors. I can’t think of anything that makes me happier than pulling out the recipe that my boys helped choose, having Josh chopping up some veggies on one end of the counter, and the boys helping me stir sauce at the other. We turn up the music—we play Maxwell and Caleb’s favorite songs—and have a blast making something delicious together.

I like bringing that same casual, laid-back, everyone-pitching-in approach to entertaining—which any of the dishes in the two main dish chapters are perfect for. Between Josh inviting people over anytime he runs into someone at the grocery store and our open-door policy, we’re pretty consistently setting extra spots at the table. But that doesn’t mean we’re stressing out about the house not being clean enough, the kids not being dressed up enough, or the food not being fancy enough. We want people to see how we are as a real family, sink full of dirty dishes and all. Nothing is staged! It all looks exactly the way it would if we were just cooking for ourselves—us having a great time and all hands on deck in the kitchen. We might put out an appetizer (or four!) so guests can settle in and make themselves at home, but otherwise, we’ll be busy getting dinner on the table, and if anyone wants to join us, the more, the merrier! And even though our main dish recipes are divided into vegetarian and meat/fish chapters, what the recipes have in common is that they all taste better when shared with people you like and love. (They can also all be easily adapted to either include meat or leave it out.)

Of course, there’s always going to be those days when Josh and I are racing into the house after a long day hopping between meetings and calls, or we’re coming home late after soccer practice. That’s why we aim for getting a from-scratch homemade meal on the table four nights a week. The other three nights we either repurpose leftovers, rewarm something from the freezer, or hit up our very handy un-recipes (here). So if you’re just starting out cooking for yourself or your family, don’t be too hard on yourself! As for deciding what to cook, check out here for my meal planning tips. It’s a great way to get everyone in the family involved!

HOW TO COOK MORE HOMEMADE MEALS… AND STAY SANE

While I’ve made it my mission to include many helpful tips and tricks throughout this book to help you realize that cooking at home is not only easy but also fun, I want you to know that dinner’s not always going to be a perfect, Instagram-worthy affair. So even though you might have the best-stocked pantry and an arsenal of great recipes, one of the most important tools for cooking more at home—and enjoying it—is also having reasonable expectations of yourself and your family. We use these same guidelines in our family, especially on weeknights:

Divide and conquer. If everyone’s home for dinner—which, granted, doesn’t always happen owing to busy schedules—we get everyone involved. We get the boys stirring, grabbing ingredients from the pantry, or running items to the table. We put on music, loosen up, and just have fun. It gets dinner on our plates more quickly, and we’ve also found that getting the boys involved means there’s a better chance they’ll eat whatever we’re making. Plus, kitchen time is quality time.

It’s okay to keep it quick. Just because everyone is sitting down to dinner together doesn’t mean it has to take all night! Sometimes we just have 10 minutes to grab something before heading out for an activity, but taking that time to sit and spend it together makes it meaningful.

Embrace the un-recipes! Following a recipe doesn’t get you more points than whipping up scrambled eggs with some roasted veggies on top. See here for some of our go-to un-recipes, or simple preparations that barely require any time to make and still totally count as a home-cooked meal.

Don’t be a short-order cook. This is when menu planning with kids can come in handy—if my boys start to complain about what’s for dinner, I remind them that it was our plan and that we all agreed on it. If that doesn’t work, we have a rule that you have to try everything and take at least two bites. If someone doesn’t like it, they can say “No, thank you” and sit with the rest of the family while we eat. But we are not making them a new meal. Nothing wrong with a little tough love!