A comforting family dinner menu to accompany the children’s book Junkyard Wonders by Patricia Polacco.
This month’s Family Dinner Book Club is about bullying. in conjunction with National Bullying Prevention Month. Our lead book is Junkyard Wonders by Patricia Polacco. Go check out Growing Book by Book for a full reading list, conversation starters, and family service project ideas. Then head over to Sunny Day Family for a family activity.
Junkyard Wonders is a book about a group of kids who are the outcasts of school because of their differences. They band together, become great friends, and create wonderful art together. This book is a true story taken from the author’s own childhood.
We have the pleasure to follow this classroom through one year of school, and then the story is followed up with a snapshot into the adult lives of each child in the class.
October is National Bullying Prevention Month, and the beginning of Autumn. Through reading stories about children of all types, we can help our children appreciate the uniqueness of others.
Comfort food is in order this time of year when the weather starts to cool down. Beef Chili with No Beans and all the toppings is one of our favorite comfort foods in this house. Chili is pretty simple to throw together, and the longer you let it simmer, the deeper the flavors will meld. I’ve listed a few of our favorite chili toppings below. What does your family use to top your warm bowls of chili?
Aside from cheese, I’d say nothing goes better with chili than cornbread. Part of our family prefers unsweetened skillet cornbread, while the others prefer sweet cornbread muffins. Either way, cornbread carries chili quite nicely.
I like to balance this heavy meal with a light and crisp salad. Oranges are everywhere right now, and they make a perfectly mild vinaigrette. Don’t skip the massaging step for this salad! Massaging the dressing into the kale helps soften it up a bit and makes it so much easier to munch on, especially for littler (and perhaps pickier) palates.
Junkyard Wonders
Family Dinner Book Club
Menu
Beef Chili with No Beans
-shredded cheese, chopped onions, sour cream, chopped bacon
Sweet Cornbread Muffins
Winter Greens Salad with Citrus Dressing
Apple Cider Poached Pears
-with vanilla ice cream-
We love cornbread with chili!