Culinary.net : Recipes - Spring Into Summer With Crunch and Munch Family Dinners

Spring Into Summer With Crunch and Munch Family Dinners

Savory Pork Chops - Photo courtesy of French's French Fried Onions

(Family Features) - With parents often serving as coaches, chauffeurs, doctors and chefs, it seems as if there is less time each day to develop relationships and long-lasting memories with the ones you love. Involving the entire family at meal time will help transform dinnertime into a special time where children are invited to help prepare delicious, fun, family recipes.

Consider these tips from Janet Andreas, home economist and director of the French's Test Kitchen, that will help create quality family dinnertime.

Establish dinnertime as a priority for the family.
Try to plan meals in advance and set a regular dinnertime. Dinner doesn't have to be at the same time every night, but let everyone know when dinner will be served.
Keep family dinners interesting by serving meals that everyone helps prepare.
Create new variations of family favorite recipes like using crushed French's French Fried Onions instead of breadcrumbs as a coating for chicken, pork or fish.
Serve dinner with enthusiasm and use dinnertime to create genuine, heart-felt conversation with each member of the family.
Try to integrate changes gradually so your family isn't "freaked out" by family dinner. Try new things each week and see what works best for your family.

Here is a quick, simple and delicious dinner recipe that is so easy that the kids and dad can even make it.

Savory Pork Chops
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 20 minutes
Makes: 4 servings

1 1/3 cups French's Original or Cheddar French Fried Onions
4 (1/2-inch thick) bon-in or boneless pork chops
1 egg, beaten

Place french-fried onions into a plastic bag. Lightly crush with hands or rolling pin.
Dip pork chops into egg; then coat in onion crumbs. Place pork chops on baking sheet.
Bake at 400°F for 20 minutes or until no longer pink in center.

Tip: Add 1/4 teaspoon each of garlic powder and thyme leaves to onion crumbs for more flavor.

SOURCE: French's French Fried Onions