“What’s for dinner tonight?” Isn’t that what we all ask each other? My friend Vera taught me her system. Assign a food category to each night of the week. This is the plan at the Walker house:
- Monday: vegetarian
- Tuesday: fish
- Wednesday: pasta
- Thursday: soup
- Friday: chicken
On any given Tuesday, I don’t have to think about what “in the world” to have for dinner. It’s simplified into what kind of fish will we have for dinner. Choose your own categories, and remember that every night’s category is subject to change by the chef. A side benefit to this system, if you are consistent with it, and perhaps have it posted in your kitchen (or printed on t-shirts as we have) is that it nearly eliminates complaints from the kids when they see a platter of fish going on the table. They know that it’s fish night.
Our family “brand” includes our own kitchen logo, printed on some t-shirts (using our inkjet printer).
All contents and photographs of “The Plate is My Canvas” blog ©2010–2012 Dori Walker, all rights reserved.
The Plate is My Canvas 
Elevating dinner to an art form takes the drudgery out of it! No more resentment! This would have been a useful mindset for me back when I made family dinners.
So…what’s for dinner tonight?
Sounds great – but what in the world is for dinner on Saturday and Sunday???
Any day’s assigned menu item may be substituted at the discretion of the chef. This also applies to weekends: chef’s choice. Although, sometimes on the weekend my 91 year-old father, who lives with us, “cooks.” He’s especially good at Chinese and pizza.