making shelter-in-place more enjoyable

I am grateful for the opportunity to cook each night and sit down for a family dinner, but after a few weeks in a row of shelter-in-place, I am reminded how important it is to mix it up. Whether you’re making dinner for one, two, or more — now more than ever, try new things, stretch your skills, and feed your creativity!

Here are some of my favorite ways to make dinner more fun:

• Dinner theme nights. These can vary week to week (ahem, Macaroni Monday’s may soon become Martini…) or double as a fun tradition to look forward to. In my house “Taco Tuesday” is a big hit and varying the types of tacos and taco dinners is a fun way to mix it up.
• Travel to a new place with your menu. Take your taste buds to new places in the world by creating a menu around a city or country, or perhaps a trip through several.
• Dinner and a movie. Fun to take dinner to the couch or coffee table; bonus points for tying in the menu!
• Breakfast for dinner. This is one of the easiest ways to delight at dinner. When you consider the opportunities from pancakes to breakfast tacos to omelets and crepes, breakfast could make it into the weekly rotation. Just sayin’.
• Special menus for a special event. I love any reason to create a fun menu. Whether it’s the season finale of a show you like, or the Oscars – connect it to your dinner. This post on creating a March Madness Menu might have some inspiration on ways to make a connection.
• Appetizers for dinner. Hors d’oeuvres as dinner makes it like a party.
• Dinner picnic. In your yard or living room, dinner on a blanket is a great way to mix it up (and a great excuse to have something easy like sandwiches and cold salads for dinner)!

It goes without saying that making dinner together and trying new recipes are great ways to support the above and make all of these ideas even more fun. Bon appetit!