Q: How do you and your family handle dinnertime at your home?

Ellen Bettridge
VP, U.S. Retail Travel Network
American Express
Kids: Grace, 13, and Abigail, 6

A: Dinner is the first time in the day that I get to see my daughters, Grace and Abigail, and spend time with them while preparing our meal. By the time they’re awake in the morning and my husband, Jack, is getting them ready for school, I’m well on my way to work, so I really look forward to coming home and having a sit-down family meal.

I spend nearly half my time traveling across the country overseeing American Express’s Retail Travel Network. When I’m not on the road, I’m home by 6:30 p.m. to make dinner. Fortunately, Ameri-can Express gives me the flexibility to work from home twice a week, and my husband and kids pitch in.

Dinnertime is really important to our family, and I do feel guilty when I miss it. That’s why advance preparation is so crucial, whether I’m traveling or in the office. Every Sunday, regardless of my schedule for the coming week, I plan the weekly menu and prepare as much food as possible ahead of time. That way, when the week starts, it’s simply a matter of going to the fridge, assembling the prepared ingredients and heating things up. Plus, my husband and oldest daughter can prepare a meal because most of the work has been done already. For example, if we’re having meatloaf, Grace will heat it up and get things ready while I’m on the train. If I’m traveling, all Jack does is check the weekly menu and make dinner. There are several ways to approach this. Here’s what works for me:

Grill in advance. The best shortcut is pregrilling items like chicken. Cooking some things beforehand saves time during the week and ensures we’re able to have healthy meals together. Try our family’s favorite dish—chicken and broccoli (see recipe below).

Don’t be afraid of packaged food. It doesn’t require slaving over a stove to get a good meal on the table. To me a healthy meal is something as simple as cooking up packaged fresh pasta, which takesas little as three minutes, and
adding some sauce, or adding peas to a box of organic macaroni and cheese.

Keep it simple. We try to mix up the menu. I keep an eye out for good recipes or suggestions to add to the family menu. But I’ve also learned that repeats are welcome. We have a weekly taco or fajita night—you add your own favorite cheese and vegetables.

Putting a nutritious meal on the table really matters to me. It’s what my mom did for her family, and she was a full-time nurse raising five kids. With a few simple shortcuts, a healthy dinner doesn’t have to be a chore. I’m not afraid of ordering takeout, and there are certainly days when it’s just easier. But it gets expensive, and you can’t control
the nutrition. Besides, cooking dinner is one of the nurturing things I can do for my family.

Ellen’s chicken and broccoli recipe: Cook 1/2 package of penne pasta to package directions. Break broccoli into pieces and add to pasta pot for the last 3 to 4 minutes. Drain and set aside. In the same pot, add 2 teaspoons minced garlic and 4 tablespoons olive oil. Cook until the garlic is lightly toasted and then add pregrilled chicken (2 to 3 chicken breasts) cut into bite-size pieces. Add pasta and broccoli and toss. Serve with Parmesan cheese and black pepper to taste.

Teresa G. Logue
Chief Innovation and Customer
Experience Officer
Allstate Financial
Kids: Michael, 13, and Maria, 9

A: With meeting after meeting, some days I feel like I spend my life sitting at a table. But there’s one table I can’t spend too much time at: the family dinner table. My husband, Michael, and I both have full-time careers, and that makes having family meals challenging. But we’ve found a way to make dinnertime a success. Our recipe is a little teamwork, a strong commitment and a weekend tradition we love.

Make Sundays super. Sunday is a sacred day for us. Michael cooks healthy meals, like grilled pork chops with spinach or chicken casserole and salad, which the kids love, too. He’ll spend most of the day preparing food for the week ahead and a special meal for that night. Then, out comes the good china. At six o’clock, we enjoy a nutritious meal and wonderful company—our own.

Eat together often. Tuesdays and Thursdays are the nights Michael and I work late, and our wonderful “Annie the Nanny” takes care of the children. The rest of the week, we eat dinner as a family. I start my day at 5:00 a.m. so I can leave work around 5:00 p.m. to make it home in time. If I’m in a meeting, I get up and go. I don’t apologize—at most,
I might say, “I have another commitment.” I work hard to live my life purposefully, and I need to have the courage to live up to my priorities.

Karen Parrish
VP, Industry Solutions
IBM
Kids: Nicole, 14, and Victoria, 10

A: When I was growing up in an Italian-American family in the Bronx, “the meal” was the center of our family life. In the spirit of that tradition, we now sit down together at about 6:00 almost every night and catch up—no TV, no phone calls. Any work I have to do is relegated to after-dinner hours. To keep this family time going, I’ve developed strategies, some adapted from business.

Prepare. I grocery shop on Sundays for vegetables, meat, chicken and fish for the week’s meals. The first parent to get home starts making dinner.

Play to people’s strengths. My husband loves to grill. Victoria likes to cook. Nicole doesn’t mind cleaning up because it’s her time with Mom.

Look for time-savers. I often use bagged salad. Soups and stews are also great because they taste fresh and can be heated up easily. I try to prepare a meal or two in advance on the weekends.

Children like routines. The girls come home, have a snack, do their homework and eat dinner—sometimes a little early if they have gymnastics lessons. On those early nights, my husband and I try to ensure one of us is home.

Roll with it. There are times when things go wrong, like someone forgets to defrost a stew. When disaster strikes, we order a pizza. My kids will remember the adventure and how hard we laughed about it, not the botched recipe.