Since I was a little girl, I loved to cook.  I didn't always have a chance to do it, but I know the desire was always there.  As an adult it is fun to see the same desire in my girls.  Ever since my oldest was a toddler she loved it and now that she is 8 years old she basically wants to kick me out of the kitchen, literally!  My 4 year old loves to cook too, she likes to bake and I have never been much of a baker, other than a few recipes that require a box of cake mix that just needs water and eggs, lol, so you can imagine the level of difficulty.

After my youngest one had a stroke, at 3 years old, without any warnings or pre-existing medical conditions, I have been more intentional about the things we eat and have decided that as a family we will adopt a mostly vegan lifestyle at home.  We do have pizza and ice-cream when we go out from time to time, lol.  This transition has been a fun adventure to try new recipes and in my search, I found these cook books with the most DELICIOUS recipes.  Chloe's Coscarelli has several cook books that are fun and have brought lots of healthy new foods to my table.  So, if you are not vegan, you can still try her recipes for salads or side dishes. The idea here, is to bring some new fun, healthy dishes to the family table.

Since, I have started my pursue of new recipes, it has also created a special bond with my girls as we cook together, and even use it as occupational therapy, to help my daughter with her right arm and hand that was affected after the stroke.

Food is such an important part of family, not only because we all need to eat to live, but it keeps the relational part of family alive!  Eating at the dinning room table can be rare for some families, because of busy schedules.  However, making that time, even if it is just one meal a day or at least once or twice a week, will be a great investment in your relationship with spouse and/or kids.  Eating together is good, but also being intentional about the conversation that happens around the table.  I know for some families, trying to get their kids to say anything anywhere is almost an impossible task...all I can say is be patient and keep trying.  I do have a few things that work really good for us:

1. Little table icebreaker. One of our favorites- we go around the table asking everyone to tell us, if they could name a city after their favorite food, what would it be? Avocadoville, Pancakeopolis, Pizza Beach, etc...

2. Telling family stories. One of us (parents) may tell a story when we were kids, hopefully we can focus on the lesson we learned from that too, which is also a great way to show our kids that we were not perfect. We also tell them stories about when the kids were babies, when we delivered them, or the funny things they did as toddlers.

3. Play games. Yes, I know we are eating, but this is is done towards the end and it does create such a nice atmosphere and memories around the table. It also helps kids to loosen up and willing to share things that really matter. Back to the games, the old time favorite, is "broken phone." You tell a person a word or a sentence, and have them whisper it to the person next to them until they go all around the table. Of course, my kids at home are younger, since our son is away in college, so this games work well for us, but google, go to Pinterest, and find age appropriate, dinning room table games, to help create conversation.

4. Open ended questions. These are questions that will require an answer other than yes or no. "Mary, what was the most unusual thing that happened at school today?" "What was the most exciting thing you saw in your field trip today?" Sometimes kids or spouse are not ready to talk about personal feelings, but asking general open ended questions can help them get there. "Honey, what was the nicest thing that happened at work today?" Once your kids start talking then you can say, "how did that make you feel?"

Lastly, if you have time, which I don't always have, try to make the table appealing, the presentation of the food.  Do not wait for Christmas or Thanksgiving to set the table nicely, surprise the family and whenever you have a chance go all out or at least put a personal touch.

Feel free what works for you in the comments below.