The Kids Cook Monday Offers Free E-Cookbook: The Family Dinner Date

NEW YORK, Oct. 9, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Busy weeknights often lead parents to skip family meals and instead rely on fast and processed foods, but a growing number of public health officials and parents alike agree that enjoying home cooked meals as a family promotes health and well-being.

According to a recent study published online by The Journal of Pediatrics, adolescents who participated in even one or two family meals per week were less likely to be overweight or obese in adulthood as compared to adolescents who never participated in family meals.¹

The Kids Cook Monday, a national nonprofit campaign, aims to help parents incorporate family meals at least once a week by offering a variety of free online resources.  The latest is The Family Dinner Date, an easy-to-navigate e-cookbook featuring recipes that parents and kids can easily prepare together.

Each recipe in The Kids Cook Monday Family Dinner Date E-Cookbook features the campaign's signature kid/adult/together instruction format to help parents determine which steps in the cooking process are safe for children to complete. Diana Rice, The Kids Cook Monday's registered dietitian and recipe editor has carefully made these determinations using her extensive experience as a children's culinary educator.

"Providing parents with simple, healthy recipes is an essential part of encouraging home cooking." Rice said. "I also love how each of these recipes requires only about 30 minutes of active cooking time and calls for a short list of readily available ingredients."

Educators agree. "Cooking with your kids is a great way to have fun, build their confidence, and get them excited about eating healthy food," said Pam Koch, executive director of the Tisch Center at Teachers College, Columbia University. "These recipes are all healthy, simple, and make it so easy to know how to get your kids involved."

To promote conversation around the family dinner table, each recipe is paired with a fun fact, called "Food for Thought." The book also contains detailed information for parents on how family dinners and involving children in the cooking process are associated with good health.

The quick, delicious and healthy recipe offerings include 30 Minute Veggie Tortellini Soup, Cheesy Zucchini Black Bean Skillet and Veggie Quiche Patties. Each recipe has been graciously contributed by The Kids Cook Monday's dedicated partners, including Produce for Kids, Tomato Wellness, The Meal Makeover Moms, Birds Eye Vegetables, The United States Potato Board and a talented group of food bloggers.

The e-cookbook is now available as a free download on The Kids Cook Monday's website: http://bit.ly/TKCMdinner

Another key resource is The Family Dinner Date Newsletter, which delivers a new family cooking experience every week.

About The Kids Cook Monday:

The Kids Cook Monday is an initiative of The Monday Campaigns, a nonprofit public health organization in association with Columbia Mailman School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the Maxwell School at Syracuse University. Founded on research that demonstrates Monday is the day consumers are most likely to introduce healthy changes, the organization seeks to establish Monday as the day "all health breaks loose." The Kids Cook Monday campaign launched in 2011 with a pilot program at Teachers College, Columbia University and continues to promote a simple message to households worldwide: "Start your week off right, make Monday family night!"

¹Berge, J. M., Wall, M., Hsueh, T., Fulkerson, J., Larson, N., Neumark-Sztainer, D. (2014) The Protective Role of Family Meals for Youth Obesity: 10-Year Longitudinal Associations. The Journal of Pediatrics.

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SOURCE The Monday Campaigns