Sept 22, 2005
as seen in "The Dinner Diva" syndicated column
by Leanne Ely

I am passionate about that sweet word "dinner!" And I like to hear it hollered loudly, followed by the thundering sound of kids stampeding to the table. This is the echo of real human beings taking the opportunity to not only break bread together, but to connect heart to heart.

To eat real food and avoid fake food (like the drive through), you must begin with a real plan — a menu, to be exact. Gone are the days of making a menu and putting it on the fridge. That's about as popular as a station wagon with fake wood on the sides. And it's not just because the refrigerator wood paneled sections matched the kitchen cabinets, either. The tedious work of menu planning, sitting down with cookbooks and the weekly sale fliers from the grocery stores is hard to pull off anymore. Who's got time, and how do you do it?

Using the right tools, great ideas and quick, nutritious recipes will help you to not only perform this particular domestic duty in a quick and regular way, but also will empower you with a true sense of accomplishment. Providing such tasty, nutritious chow for your crew soothes the inner mama bear greatly.

The first component to making food serve you rather than you serving the food is recognizing the difference between a doable recipe and one that isn't. Doable means you're in and out of the kitchen quickly. Skillet meals, crock pot meals and stuff that entails minimal preparation before being launched into the oven, all qualify. Recipes with long lists of ingredients (some of which call for a trip to a specialty store or need to be ordered online with a credit card), and elaborate cooking instructions requiring many steps and a day off from life, don't fit the real food parameter at all.

Real food is all about being fast, easy, delicious and real. Real as in the noticeable absence of "foods" such as canned soups, envelopes of onion soup mixes, etc. and other abominations mistakenly called food.

I don't need to regale you with the reasons why using a menu is going to make you more successful in the kitchen; you already know that. But let's talk turkey on how it all comes together to become a menu.

In my estimation, variety is definitely the spice of life. Making sure to vary the food, textures, styles, cuisines, all the while keeping it simple, tasty, nutritious and varied is key. Sounds tough? It's really not. Here's how you pull it off:

First off, plan six days. If you're like most Americans, you'll be going out at least one night a week for dinner. So unless you'll be home all seven nights, just plan for six. Remember, even God rested on the seventh day. And here's a recipe to get you started. You're going to love this:

Herbed Crock Pot Chicken