The hustle and bustle of every day life is standing in the way of family.  It seems to me that the divorce rate went up with the invention of TV dinners.  I’m sure the guys behind Freakonomics could find a way to support that theory.  What’s missing in today’s society?  If you ask me it’s simply sitting down at the family table and having a meal.  It could be breakfast, lunch or dinner.

Our little family is a bit out of the norm.  We have all 3 meals as a family.  We are fortunate enough that my husband is able to join us for lunch and I am currently a work at home mom.  Even if circumstances were different we would make sure that at least one meal a day was done as a family.  This is where the opposition says, “but I don’t have time to cook dinner.”  I disagree.

There are rare circumstances when I slave over a hot stove all day long.  Sure, we have the occasional dinner where I’ve spent a few hours making pasta or I’ve puttered with a focaccia bread for a good part of the day.  Many of our meals are thrown together at the last minute.  I do try to plan out a weekly menu to eliminate frequent trips to the grocery, but if I am busy with work a weekly menu can be overlooked.

In another post I’ll cover the basics of our pantry.  The jist of this post is to say that you don’t have to have your dinner from a box or the freezer.  A quick and easy supper can be prepared in 45 minutes and GASP! it’s healthy*.

In the typical American household mom and dad probably work, kids have homework or after school activities.  It seems as if there isn’t time to cook.  I will prove you wrong and create a family building exercise in the process.

The first in our new weekly series “Tuesday Night Supper” is dedicated to one of our all time favorite dishes.  I featured this dish in the flyer I put together when I did the Tacoma Reads Fresh and Simple, Just Add Kids lecture.  The key to this dish is family involvement.  All three of us spends time chopping vegetables, cutting meat or measuring spices.  Yes, even the 4 year old chops veggies. The lovely part about this recipe is that you can add whatever vegetable you happen to have on hand.  Give it a try tonight.  You might just like it.

Moroccan Chicken

1 boneless skinless chicken breast cut into bite sized pieces
2 teaspoons salt
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 carrots, sliced
2 celery stalks, sliced
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
1/2 teaspoon paprika
3/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne (or to taste)
1/4 teaspoon ground tumeric
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 cup diced tomatoes
1 can chickpeas, drained
1 zucchini, sliced
1 tablespoon lemon juice

Season chicken with salt and brown in a large saucepan over medium heat until almost cooked through. Remove chicken from pan and set aside.

Saute onion, garlic, carrots and celery in same pan. When tender, stir in ginger, paprika, cumin, oregano, cayenne pepper and turmeric; stir fry for about 1 minute, then mix in broth and tomatoes. Return chicken to pan, reduce heat to low and simmer for about 10 minutes.

Add chickpeas and zucchini to pan and bring to simmering once again; cover pan and cook for about 15 minutes, or until zucchini is cooked through and tender. Stir in lemon juice and serve.

Serve over steamed rice.

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*we’ll cover getting your kids to eat real food in another post also