I have been testing a new dinner philosophy in our house for the past few months. With 5 family members, each person brings their own likes and dislikes to the table. In my menu planning, I try to make meals that appeal to those with more sophisticated tastes as well as those that have less adventurous palates. My solution — each meal has something for everyone. Not every family member will eat all parts of the meal, but no one will go away hungry. My meals are generally easy to prepare, but are not usually the typical meatloaf or baked chicken. I try to spice it up a bit. An added bonus is that the Mom/Chef has to do a minimal amount of work to get dinner on the table. Tonight’s dinner is a prime example - Farm Stand Chicken with Parmesan and Olive Oil Pasta

Farm Stand Chicken consists of sauteed chicken breasts topped with a melange of sweet corn, chopped tomatoes, scallions, and a sprinkling of grated sharp cheddar cheese. The cheese- and vegetable- topped chicken is popped in the oven to make it all melty and good. For those family members adverse to most vegetables, the plain chicken with some A-1 sauce was a welcome sight. For the more adventurous remaining family members, we enjoyed the chicken with all the accoutrements. A relatively mild side dish of Parmesan and Olive Oil Pasta was tonight’s accompaniment to the chicken. The pasta consisted of thin spaghetti cooked and drained and tossed with a generous drizzle of olive oil and a big handful of freshly grated Parmesan then seasoned to taste with salt and pepper. For the spice lovers, a sprinkle of red pepper flakes were added. The pasta-eating family members gobbled it up.

Depending on the alignment of the moon, the shifting tides, and the general level of hormones, the taste preferences of my family members can change on a daily basis. Today was a relatively calm day at the dinner table. Maybe everyone was just really hungry.

Thumbs up for tonight’s meal. Everyone got to eat something they liked. The Mom/Chef liked that everyone ate some part of dinner. The Mom/Chef liked that it only took about 30 minutes to prepare. Give my method a try. It’s just dinner.

Farm Stand Chicken

serves 4
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
salt
pepper
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup seasoned bread crumbs
2 eggs
olive oil
1 cup corn, fresh, canned, or frozen/thawed
1 cup tomato, diced
2 scallions, sliced thin
drizzle of olive oil
about 1/2 cup cheddar cheese, or substitute your favorite cheese, grated

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Season the chicken breasts with salt and pepper. Set aside. Combine flour and bread crumbs in a shallow dish. Beat eggs in another shallow dish. Heat about 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large saute pan. Dredge chicken in flour mixture and then in egg and saute for about 3-4 minutes per side until nicely browned. Remove from pan and place on a plate lined with a paper towel. If chicken is not cooked through at this point, finish cooking in a preheated oven for about 10 minutes.

In a small bowl, combine corn, tomato, scallions, a drizzle of olive oil, and a little salt and pepper. Place chicken breasts on a baking sheet. Top each one with about 1/4 of the corn mixture and 1/4 of the grated cheese. Bake in oven for about 5 - 8 minutes or until cheese is melted.

Note: This meal can be made ahead of time. Saute the chicken, let cool and package for the frigde. Mix up the corn mixture and keep in the frig. At dinner time, preheat the oven, assemble the chicken breasts and bake. Viola! It’s just dinner.

During my husband’s work-induced absences, our diversions included the local fast food establishments in and around our home. As my kids lost themselves in the ball pit and the endless maze of tubes and slides, I would treat myself to the occasional Big Mac. Two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun. A favorite of mine as a child and still to this day. As I have passed my 20s and 30s and now enjoy my 40s, the whopping 560 calories, 31 grams of fat, and 1070 milligrams of sodium are hardly a girl’s best friend.

A craving for a Big Mac still comes over me every so often. I created a healthier, mini version of the beloved McDonald’s burger to satisfy my fast food desire. My 10-year-old son was the Grillmaster and assisted in the flipping of the burgers. Our indoor grill was a suitable stand-in as grilling outdoors in February in New Jersey is not an enjoyable endeavor. The burgers came together quickly with a total prep and cooking time of about 20 minutes. With a side of oven roasted fries, I can avoid the drive-thru for another day.

Mini Macs

• 1 pound ground beef, I used 90/10
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• American cheese
• 1000 Island dressing
• Dill pickle slices
• Diced onions
• Shredded lettuce
• Mini burger rolls, sliced in half with an extra slice taken off the top bun for the middle bun

In a bowl, combine ground beef, salt, and pepper. Form into about 10 thin patties. Set aside.

Preheat grill pan to medium high. Cook burgers for about 2 minutes per side. Top with a slice of American cheese after the first flip. Remove from pan and set aside.

To assemble a Mini Mac use the following sequence — bottom bun, burger, 1000 Island dressing, onions, lettuce, middle bun, burger, 1000 Island dressing, onions, pickles, lettuce, top bun.

Another fast food craving averted.

The mix contains 6 different snacking pieces, including MultiGrain Cheerios, Wheat Chex, round snack crackers, bread twists, Corn Chex, and twist pretzels. The 8-ounce bag has 7 servings (2/3 cup each) with 120 calories per serving. A selling point for the snack, as stated on the front of the bag, is that it contains 65% less fat than regular potato chips. For those watching their fat intake, this is an added bonus of the product.

Not realizing that Cheerios and Chex cereals are both General Mills products, I thought the new Cheerios Snack Mix was going to be something new in the snacking world. Upon pouring a sample bowl, it looked very similar to Chex Mix. It even tastes pretty much the same as Chex Mix. My taste testers ate all of the Chex cereal out of the mix first and commented that the Cheerios “tasted like plain Cheerios and that’s not great.” Another tester stated, “The addition of Cheerios to the mix did not spruce it up at all.” I find Chex Mix too salty, so I enjoyed the addition of the plain-tasting Cheerios. Being that Cheerios are the finger food of almost every toddler, Cheerios Snack Mix should be a welcome variation to playgroup snack time.

Aside from the addition of Cheerios, Cheerios Snack Mix is basically Chex Mix. No real new snack excitement here. Our family is a fan of Chex Mix, so all in all we liked the Cheerios Snack Mix. If I was picking a snack though, I would purchase Traditional Chex Mix. I now have a bowl of Cheerios left to eat.

I received the Twinkies Cookbook from one of my sisters as a birthday present this past summer. Who would have thought you can make your wedding cake out of Twinkies and fondant?! My daughter was very intrigued by a cookbook devoted to Twinkies and she decided to tackle one of the recipes. She made up a grocery list for me that included 18 Twinkies, a gallon of ice cream, and a tub of Cool Whip. With the wind whipping outside at 40 miles per hour and the wind chill at 10 degrees above zero, I thought it was an odd request. Never one to squash her cooking dreams, I purchased all of the ingredients she needed and she was ready to make Twinkie Ice Cream Cake.

My daughter likes to ask a lot of questions. At each step of the process, she would read the directions and then rephrase them to me and ask if she had it right. The cake was easy enough to make and produces enough for about 12 people. Her finished product was a masterpiece. Even with the overload of Twinkies, it did not have a processed sponge cake with imitation cream filling taste. The most difficult part was actually managing to squeeze all of the ingredients into a 9 x 13 pan.

Twinkie Ice Cream Cake

adapted from The Twinkies Cookbook

1 1/2 cups crushed graham crackers
2 tbs confections’ sugar
6 tbs butter, melted
18 Twinkies
1 gallon of your favorite ice cream
1 cup Cool Whip
1/2 cup chocolate syrup

To prepare the crust, combine the graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and melted butter. Press evenly into a 9 x 13 inch dish.

Cut about 1/2 of the ice cream crosswise into 1 inch thick slices and arrange on top of the crust. Cut 12 Twinkies in half lengthwise and and arrange on top of the ice cream. cut the remaining 6 Twinkies into 1 inch pieces and stir into softened remainder of the ice cream. Spread the mixture over the Twinkies. Drizzle with chocolate syrup and top with Cool Whip. Freeze for about 2 hours. Cut into squares to serve.

I am just beaming when one of my kids asks if they can cook. My 10-year-old son has mastered scrambled eggs, my 14-year-old daughter will make and eat just about anything, but has a propensity for not being the neatest of cooks, and my 13-yea- old daughter is the Queen of Buttered Noodles. Won’t they all be surprised when they pull their gift subscriptions to Bon Appetit out of their Christmas stockings?