The Dinner Doctor

Written with the same mission as the Cake Mix Doctor, I show you how to jumpstart dinner with some readily available packaged foods. It might be a supermarket rotisserie chicken or a bag of washed salad greens or a can of Italian-seasoned tomatoes. They speed the process of making the meal, you don’t sacrifice flavor, and the healthful quality of the meal is there as long as you choose your ingredients wisely. People tell me often this is their go-to book for cooking dinner, as it covers the meal from appetizer through dessert. And it is the book I recommend for newlyweds and for new parents. It truly makes getting dinner on the table less of a chore. A New York Times best seller, I am proud to say.

Most popular recipes: Hmm, this isn’t easy. There are so many! Definitely the Family Style Vegetable Soup, which you will make all year long and keep in the freezer. And Mom’s Pot Roast, which is my method for easily and deliciously making pot roast. You will never make it any other way again. I love the Mock Chicken Marbella, sped along by using the chicken tenderloin pieces. And I adore the entire Hands Off chapter, which has not only slow-cooker recipes but Dutch oven recipes you can let simmer away on weekend afternoons. Don’t miss the Best Pound Cake recipe; you will never guess it is not from scratch.

Why I wrote this book: Readers wanted to know what I cooked for dinner. I traveled across the country on tour for the two Cake Mix Doctor books, and honestly, this was the most asked question at book signings. “What do you cook your family for dinner?” I recall walking from the TV station to my car in Denver, and an employee of the TV station followed me to my car, running up to me in desperation before I left. “What are your dinner recipes?” she pleaded. “Please share them with us in a book!” That is honestly why I wrote this book!

Favorite cooking tip in the book: Use a half-pound of ground beef in vegetable soup. It is easy to brown and a fast way to flavor vegetable soup.