A good friend of mine has been working on her parenting recently through classes and workshops. She’s experiencing tremendous growth, and I’m lucky enough to be on the receiving end of the wisdom she’s cultivated. Recently, we were talking about spending spurts of quality time with each child, and she mentioned that it’s better to not have the quality time revolving around food (or a screen, by the way). It’s not that food can’t be involved — lunch and conversations go nicely together — but the food shouldn’t be diverting the focus. Ever since she mentioned that, I keep turning it over in my head and watching it crop up in different ways. This past Shabbos, for example, my son had a friend stay over. Instinctively, I prepared extra fun foods for them to enjoy, and then paused, trying to think of other non-food ways for kids to connect. While we know that food is a huge contributor to how we connect to those around us, what I took out of this was that we can and should look for other ways of connecting ,specifically with kids. Now’s a great time to try that out, because we’re about to enter a time period that makes me want to say, day after day, “What? It’s mealtime?? Again???”In all of the pre-Pesach hecticness, the last thing I’m thinking about is what to make for supper. It happens somehow, but I don’t allow it to take up brain space, because I don’t have any extra space to devote to it! This week we have a selection of recipes from Paula Shoyer’s recently released Instant Pot-focused cookbook. They are a savior to all of us who are short on time and headspace, yet who still want to connect around the table. And if it ends up being frozen pizza for you, no worries; there are more and better ways to bond.

CHANIE NAYMAN
Food Editor, Family Table

A Slice Is Nice

I often make whole chicken for Shabbos, and I serve it like I would a turkey. Remove all the meat from the bones, cutting as close to the bone as possible. Slice the tops thinly to make it easier for everyone to enjoy

Some Glove Excitement

I know this might sound crazy, but drug-store disposable vinyl gloves (specifically Rite Aid’s) are the strongest I’ve ever found. And like I mentioned last year, make sure to apply moisturizer before you put on gloves. Here’s to a Pesach season of many boxes of disposable gloves!

(Originally featured in Family Table, Issue 733)