diets diets everywhere
My mission is to help families eat together at home more often. Finding food to appeal to everyone at your dinner table can be challenging enough if don’t have allergies or dietary restrictions. But what about families who do? How do families who have a child who is allergic to eggs, dairy and nuts find food that everyone can eat?
I do not really have this problem. Our four daughters eat almost anything. We do not make special meals for any one person – everyone eats what I serve. When our oldest was on a pork-strike, we stayed away from pork for everyone. Now that I eat gluten free, I just cook gluten free for everyone.
I have a friend who has three children. The oldest is deathly allergic to nuts and strawberries. The middle one is allergy free. The baby is allergic to gluten, rice, and corn. She can’t give the baby nuts because she is afraid he is allergic to those too but finding snacks that he can eat is challenging. Finding baked goods that are safe for everyone is almost impossible.
I am guessing that many families have a similar but new twist on this phenomenon. How many families do you know where the parents are always on some sort of diet. Whether it be low-carb, high-fat Atkins, point counting Weight Watchers, 
good-fats South Beach, frozen-meal Jenny Craig, B-12 shots Lindora, the cabbage soup diet, the cookie diet or fat burning, carb busting, muscle building options in between, many families try and work through the family meals divided by the dieters and the nons.
The problem with serving everyone a different meal is that it is just too much work for the cook. Chicken nuggets and plain pasta for the little ones, vegetarian salad and rolls for the teenagers, frozen meal-lettes for the mom and something light, “I’m-eating-with-the-guys-at-poker-tonight” dad. It is no wonder that some moms depend on the drive through to feed their families.
My thought is that one meal fits all. This is why I designed Dawn’s Dinners: to make meals that will appeal to everyone and save mom time after a busy day. And, with the partnerships that I’ve made with several fitness and wellness gurus in the SCV, my meals are going to meet much more of a need by aligning with several popular diet regimens. From dairy/casein free, gluten free, low-carb, low-fat, low glycemic index, vegetarian and more, my meals will not only appeal to the kids but fit the dietary restrictions of the entire family.
I am not unrealistic to the fact that some kids won’t eat ANYTHING and some parents do not have the time or energy to plan meals that will appeal to all. Start small. We often have a salad bar at home. We put out lettuce and dressing and lots of toppings like cucumbers, tomotoes, jicama, carrots, mushrooms, salami, parmesan cheese and avocados. Everyone can make their own salad but we are still all eating salad together. We also have taco nights complete with all the ingredients where everyone can make whatever appeals to them. When you eat this way, you start to see patterns of food that every likes. 
For example, if everyone takes the ground turkey meat for their tacos, it might be safe to say that turkey meat is something everyone will eat. With that fact, you can make meatballs, hamburgers or lettuce wraps using turkey meat as a main ingredient. If you make a salad bar and everyone opts for lettuce, cucumbers and carrots, then you know that you can make a salad with those ingredients that everyone will enjoy. The other nice thing about these buffet type of meals is that mom who is on a low carb diet can still eat a taco salad while the kids can make their nachos while sister who is a vegetarian can eat as well.
If you have any comments or ideas regarding one meal for all, please respond to this post or email me at dawn@chefdawn.com.
Chef Dawn Walker is owner of Dawn’s Dinners, SCV’s best kept dinner secret. This week at Dawn’s Dinners she is making soy-braised tofu with broccoli and brown rice and turkey meatloaf with BBQ glaze and mashed potatoes. In the freezer she has corned beef and cabbage, Moroccan chicken with prunes and quinoa, eggplant and turkey over bulgur wheat, maple Dijon turkey breast with roasted sweet potatoes and zucchini, split pea soup, black bean sweet potato soup, turkey chili, Italian beef and macaroni casserole, tamale pie, bbq turkey pot pie, arroz con pollo and braised honey lemon pork. Many meals are low fat, gluten free, dairy free, low glycemic index or vegetarian. Each meal costs $25 and feed four and are kid tested. Monthly meal plans are all the craze costing as low as $100 per month for four full meals! Go to her website to sign up for her weekly menu newsletter and see whats cooking at Dawn’s Dinners.
