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Get the look and taste of homemade meals in a fraction of the time

By Elaine Magee, RD

You've got just 20-30 minutes to whip up a delicious dinner before the hungry troops hit the door. Sound familiar?

Here's the dinnertime dilemma: you don't want to just open a can of chili, pop a frozen entree in the microwave, or use one of those instant dinners in a box. Why? Because it will taste like you just opened a can or a box. And we want homemade flavor in the foods we serve our families and ourselves. But we don't want all the fuss that comes with homemade.

The answer? "Halfway homemade" is the best of both worlds. It's a happy medium between slaving away to make everything from scratch, and using a cornucopia of convenience foods. The way I see it, we have three halfway-homemade options:

• We can embellish certain helpful supermarket products by adding ingredients to them.
• We can use shortcut products in our homemade recipes to cut down -- big-time -- on preparation time.
• We can choose assembly-like recipes, where we're basically putting various products and ingredients together to make tasty and interesting dishes.

The listings below will help you with the first two options, and then you'll find some recipes that will help you with all three options -- Chocolate Cinnamon Croissants, Parmesan Artichoke Dip, Spinach Quiche, and Beef and Bean Mexican Lasagna.

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I love Mexican food; it's right up there with Italian for me. Whenever the Cinco de Mayo (Fifth of May) holiday comes along, it reminds me to celebrate the Mexican culture and cuisine. Each Cinco de Mayo, I try to learn something new about Mexico and make a Mexican dish that I've never made before.

Below, I'll share some recipes for homemade versions of two basic Mexican dishes, salsa and flour tortillas. But first, some fun facts about Mexico, the largest Spanish-speaking country in the world:

• Cinco de Mayo commemorates the victory of the Mexicans over the French at the Battle of Puebla in 1862. (It's not the same as Mexican Independence Day; that holiday is celebrated Sept. 16).
• Mexico's capital, Mexico City (one of the world's largest cities) is sinking -- some of its buildings by as much as 4 to 12 inches a year. The city was once an Aztec capital on an island surrounded by a shallow lake. When the Spanish explorer Hernan Cortes captured the city, he drained the lake. So Mexico City rests on soft land that continues to sink.
• Among the many ancient pyramids in Mexico is the nine-story "El Castillo," with a three-room temple on top and a stairway climbing each of the four sides. An amazing thing happens there every year on the vernal and autumnal equinoxes: On the rising and setting of the sun, the corner of the structure casts a shadow shaped like a serpent. With the sun's movement, this shadow slithers down the side of the pyramid. To accomplish this feat, the Mayan architects and astronomers must have used calculations of incredible precision.

Mexican cuisine tells a story about this nation's history. The ancestors of Mexico's Mayan civilization are thought to have crossed the Bering land bridge from Asia more than 20,000 years ago, during the last Ice Age. Maize (corn) and beans formed the basis of the ancient Mayan diet. Even now, these ingredients are still a big part of the Mexican diet.

In Mexico, the biggest meal of the day comes around 2 or 3 in the afternoon. Soup, beans and rice, and a meat dish are often served. In general, people eat very lightly at night. They might have cereal or sweet bread with milk or hot chocolate.

We have Mexico to thank for many of the world's favorite foods:

• The Maya in Central Mexico were the first people known to harvest and use the peanut.
• Pineapple and papayas grew wild in Mexico, and were introduced to the rest of the world by Spanish explorers.
• The vanilla bean comes from an orchid plant discovered by Mexican Indians (they used it to add flavor to their cocoa and corn drinks.) The world's largest crop of vanilla beans still comes from Mexico.
• In 1519, Hernan Cortes and the Spanish conquistadors were invited to a breakfast with the Aztec leader Montezuma, where Cortes drank a bitter drink made from ground cacao beans, boiled in water, flavored with vanilla and other spices, and chilled with bits of snow from nearby mountain tops. Cacao beans were so prized by the Aztec people that they were often used as money. These beans were the beginning of the chocolate we all know and love. (Once introduced to this new drink, the Spanish improved the taste by adding sugar and the English improved it even more by adding milk).
• Around the 1860s, three American travelers began exporting resin from the Zapote Blanco tree in Mexico after they noticed that it hardened when exposed to air. The men found a way to turn it into a waxy substance, added flavors and sweeteners, and sold it in small balls for a penny apiece -- calling it Adam's Chewing Gum from New York. Today, Americans chew seven times more gum than the rest of the world.

Tortillas are eaten every day in Mexico. In northern Mexico, the flour tortilla is more popular, while in southern Mexico, the corn tortilla is more common. Below, you'll find a recipe for a part whole-wheat flour tortilla that you can eat as bread or use to wrap all sorts of flavorful fillings.

In some areas, salsa (a mixture of chopped tomato, onion, and spices) is to Mexican people what catsup is to Americans -- it's added to just about everything. Here's how you can whip up a homemade batch that tops anything you get from a jar.

The anticipation builds. Never mind which two teams will face off -- what will you serve on Super Bowl Sunday?

For most football fans, finger-licking food is the play of the day. The traditional winning spread usually includes chicken wings, barbecue ribs, pizza, nachos, creamy dips, and plenty of beer. Want to bypass the extra calories? It can be tough. Super Bowl feasts have progressed from simple chips and dips to blow-out spreads that can sink those of us watching our weight -- in other words, 65% of U.S. adults.

If you're the host this year, here are some winning plays sure to score with pigskin aficionados who may prefer not to know that they are eating nutritiously. Your game-day strategy is to sneak "good" ingredients into familiar foods without detection.

Lean Cuisine Use lean ground turkey instead of beef when making chili.

Fat-Free Buy fat-free versions of sour cream, plain yogurt, and cream cheese to knock out fat without sacrificing flavor in the majority of dips and casseroles.

Bean Town Add beans to pump up fiber and protein, making dishes satisfying without adding animal fat.

Veggie Might Toss in vegetables-whole, grated, or puréed-to boost nutrients and flavor with minimal calories.

Liquid Assets Remember that alcohol has plenty of calories. Stock up on light beer, white wine for spritzers, and diet soft drinks. Be sure to provide zero- and low-calorie beverages so that your guests can alternate alcoholic drinks with non-alcoholic ones throughout the day.

Below, find recipes for Goat Cheese, Fig, and Basil Pizza, Light Seven-Layer Dip, Chicken Satay Salad Wraps, Game-Day Spicy Popcorn.

Goat Cheese, Fig, and Basil Pizza
Makes 8 servings (2 pieces each person)

4-oz package dried figs, chopped
1 tbsp aged balsamic vinegar
3 tbsp water
1 large pizza crust or 4 round pita breads
1 cup crumbled soft goat cheese (a 4-oz package will yield 1 cup)
3 tbsp chopped fresh basil
1 tbsp pine nuts
1/2-1 tbsp olive oil

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2. Combine the figs, balsamic vinegar, and water in a small saucepan over medium heat. Cook 5 minutes, stirring frequently.

3. Place the figs in a small bowl. Season with salt and freshly ground pepper.

4. Top the pizza with the goat cheese and figs, and sprinkle with the basil and pine nuts. Drizzle the olive oil over the top. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until the cheese melts.

Per serving: 168 calories, 6 g protein, 26 g carbohydrate, 5 g fat, 2.3 g saturated fat, 7 mg cholesterol, 2 g fiber, 215 mg sodium. Calories from fat: 25%.

SOURCE: Kathleen Zelman, MPH, RD/LD

Light Seven-Layer Dip
Makes 12 servings

15-oz can fat-free refried beans with jalapeños
8 oz fat-free sour cream or plain yogurt
1-oz packet taco seasoning mix
8 oz guacamole
2 cups finely shredded reduced-fat cheese
2 large tomatoes, diced
1 bunch scallions, chopped
1/4 cup sliced black olives
Baked tortilla chips

You want to make your kids happy and fix the foods they ask for -- you know you do. In a recent study done with 12 groups of mothers of children aged 2-5, 100% of the groups said they prepared foods their children liked and accommodated requests. And you know all too well which foods hold the "most requested" positions: macaroni and cheese (from the box), hot dogs, hamburgers, pizza, chicken nuggets, etc.

You may well be wondering how you and your spouse can possibly sit down to another plate of these foods. But if you serve a sizzling shrimp stir-fry or a tantalizing Thai chicken dish, your kids will revolt. Or worse, they simply won't eat it. According to Adam Drewnowski, PhD, professor of epidemiology and medicine at the University of Washington, food preferences are determined by many factors -- but mostly, by age.

"Studies have looked at the relationship between food preferences of parents and their children -- forgetting one thing: parents and kids are never the same age. Kids are always younger!" notes Drewnowski.

"Although a newborn is born with a preference for sweet, no newborn human, or animal for that matter, has ever been born with a preference for bitter, spicy, or irritating substances," explains Julie Lumeng, MD, of the University of Michigan Center for Human Growth and Development.

When a child rejects spicy food at dinner, parents may want to consider how truly odd it is that they themselves find the spiciness palatable, adds Lumeng. She says that a preference for spicy foods develops over time in response to the environment and watching others enjoy these foods (of course, it never develops in some people).

"Before looking critically upon the 'picky' neighbor child next door, consider the complex biological underpinnings of these behaviors," urges Lumeng. "Scientists are just beginning to unravel these relationships."

Not only are most moms trying to fix foods their kids will eat, they're also trying to prepare healthful meals. While children (and many of the rest of us) appear to prefer sweet and fatty foods, it is possible to serve healthful dishes that your children will like. I see it happen all the time!

To prove it to you, I've come up with some "2-in-1" recipes to help you easily fix two nutritious entrees from one entrée recipe -- one that pleases the kids and one designed to tantalize the grown-up palate

Here are a few examples of how 2-in-1 dishes work:

• Pan-fried cheeseburgers for the kids can become pattie melts on rye for the grown-ups.
• Chicken & cheese quesadillas for the kids can become mu shu chicken for the grown-ups. (Use flour tortillas for the mu shu wraps and bottled hoisin sauce, bean sprouts, shredded cabbage, etc., to make a quick filling.)
• Hot dogs (less fat) for the kids can become grilled onion and turkey kielbasa sausage sandwiches on a French roll for the grown-ups.
• Spaghetti with monster meatballs for the kids becomes meatball sandwiches for the grown-ups.
• Roast chicken with buttered noodles for the kids becomes roast chicken with brown butter and Mizithra cheese over pasta for the grown-ups.
• Ham and cheese sandwiches (cold or grilled) become reuben sandwiches for the grown-ups.