Who wants to spend hours in the kitchen all summer? I don’t. I’d rather be outside enjoying the sunset or taking a walk. Instead of sweating it out over a stove every night of the week,  take an hour or two over the weekend and prep a few make-ahead meals or get some help from the grocery store and whip up a healthy dinner without even doing so much as pre-heating the oven.

Check out these ideas for quick and healthy dinners:

• Pick up a pre-cooked rotisserie chicken, bagged salad greens, and a loaf of rustic bread from the bakery. Serve up a 3-4 ounce piece of chicken, 2 cups of greens, and a chunk of bread. Dinner is done!
  

Are family meals making a comeback? I know in my household we are trying to make an effort to eat most meals at the kitchen table instead of haphazardly around the family room. I’ve found that my two-year-old daughter will eat much better that way than just hanging out on the couch and eating in front of the tube.

I would have thought that most households eat meals informally. Everything is so fast paced and short attention spanned, people just eat when they get around to it. But, according to a 2007 Columbia University survey of more than 1,500 teens and parents, 59 percent of teens eat dinner with their families at least five times a week, an increase of 12 percent over the last decade.