Family Day

National Family Day is September 26th

National Family Day may only be one day in September each year, but you can make every day a family day in your own home. Eating family dinners together can be challenging at times, but is well worth the effort. 

7 Tips to Making Family Dinners Work

  • Start the pattern of family dinners when your children are young.
  • Use Sunday as the day to pick several nights during the upcoming week when the entire family can eat together – and try to stick to this schedule.
  • Encourage your kids to create menu ideas and participate in meal preparation.
  • Turn off the TV, video games, iPods, cell phones and computers and let the answering machine take care the calls while you’re eating.
  • Talk about what happened in everyone’s day: school, work, extracurricular activities or current events.
  • Establish a routine to start and end each meal – eat dessert or play a board game after dinner to continue the conversation and time spent together.
  • Keep the “table talk” positive, respectful and loving – and make sure everyone gets a chance to speak.

Help, I Need an Easy Recipe My Whole Family Will Like!

While the Partnership is made up of communication, health, medical and educational professionals – we’re also a group of parents, friends and good cooks! Maria Perez, administrative assistant to the program management group at the Partnership, has two children at home and understands the importance of a family meal. She’s offered up one of her signature recipes to help you plan your own Family Day.

Maria’s Spanish-Seasoned Lasagna

Ingredients:

  • 3 pounds lean ground beef
  • 1 large jar tomato sauce (garlic flavored)
  • 2 boxes lasagna noodles
  • 1½ pounds shredded mozzarella
  • 16 ounces container ricotta
  • Adobo (Spanish seasoning)
  • Sason (Spanish seasoning)
  • 1 11 inch by 13 inch aluminum pan

Directions

Preheat oven to 375. Cook noodles according to directions. Season meat with adobo and sason, and cook in a skillet on medium high heat until brown. Drain meat and set aside. In pan, layer 1/3 of the cooked noodles, 1/3 meat, 1/3 sauce, 1/3 ricotta and 1/3 mozzarella. Repeat layers twice more. Bake for 30 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes, slice into squares and dig in!

This recipe is more than enough for a big family - with leftovers to enjoy the next day!

Reprinted from Drugfree.org Partnership for a Drug-Free America