What's for Dinner?My mother was a working mom long before it was generally accepted. I remember that, when we were living in my grandfather’s apartment building in Chicago in the 1950s, my mother would walk to Sears for her part-time job, so she could make extra money to buy my sister and me Christmas presents. Later, she went to beauty school and, after graduating, started working full-time as a hairdresser.
No matter how busy she was, she always had dinner on the table for us. She was a virtual magician, feeding her family really delicious dinners in the evening, even when she was out working most of the day. Looking back on those years, I sometimes wonder how she was able to do all that. My mother is part of a generation long gone, but I still have cherished memories of those meals together.
I also worked as I was raising my four children. Being a preschool teacher and director was more than a full-time job. “What’s for dinner?” was a question I had to have an answer for . . . every . . . night . . . of . . . the . . . week. At the time, I didn’t think of dinner duty as a chore; it was just part of my routine.
I had a weekly rotation of chicken dishes, naturally, but I also had pasta, pot roasts, and casseroles—like my spaghetti and meatballs, my Lipton onion soup mix and cream of mushroom pot roast, the tuna-noodle casserole, or my mother’s chicken and rice casserole. I cooked very tasty, very easy meals with no frills. When we sat down for dinner, we went to our designated seats. They weren’t assigned, but we just always sat in the same place. Mom and Dad were at the head and foot of the table, Bill and Shawn were on one side, and Erin and Elizabeth were on the opposite side. We were blessed to be able to gather around the table at the end of the day and share stories from school, work, church—basically whatever was going on in our lives at the time. Sometimes we had to really juggle to make family dinner happen, and when my kids got into serious sports, it wasn’t always achievable. That’s just how the seasons of life ebb and flow. We still tried our best to gather one day a week, usually Sunday. Now that my children are adults and out of the house, those times we were able to share dinner as a family are some of my fondest memories.
For so many of you, life is even more complicated now than it was for me back then. I see it with my grown children and grandchildren. Schedules are hectic; parents are working in and out of the home to keep the family afloat; kids are busy from morning until evening. It’s a lot!
I know that overwhelming feeling. Just remember that feeding your family is an art of the soul. It’s an extension of your love. The benefits of gathering your loved ones around the table and sharing a meal are endless.
And the good news is, you don’t have to do it alone.
Every Day with Babs is here!
After the success of my first cookbook, Celebrate with Babs, which focused on family traditions and meals around holiday celebrations, many of my online family had a similar reaction: “Thanks, Babs! Now what do we do for
every day? Help!”
With this book, think of me as your surrogate mom or grandma, helping you get delicious weeknight dinners organized, prepped, and on the table in no time, every night of the week. After many decades, I’ve learned all the shortcuts and tips. So, I’m sharing those here, as well as giving some tried-and-true classic recipes and some new favorites I’ve created along the way. All the mealtime ingenuity that has been passed down to me, or I’ve earned through trial and error, is now here in this book, for you! Your family will soon be part of the clean plate club, and you will be considered a virtual magician in the kitchen, too! Don’t panic, it’s easier than you think. I’ve got you covered!
—XO, Babs
Copyright © 2025 by Barbara Costello. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
