Dinner Solved!

Katie Workman is a gifted cook, a best friend in the kitchen, and a brilliant problem solver. Her "Mom 100 Cookbook" was named one of the Five Best Weeknight Cookbooks of the past 25 years by "Cooking Light" and earned praise from chefs like Ina Garten ("I love the recipes!") and Bobby Flay ("Perfect . . . to help moms everywhere get delicious meals on the table."). Now Katie turns her attention to the biggest problem that every family cook faces: how to make everyone at the table happy without turning into a short-order cook. Expanding on one of the most popular features of the first cookbook, her ingenious "Fork in the Road" recipe solution, which makes it so easy to turn one dish into two or more, Katie shows you how Asian Spareribs can start mild and sweet for less adventurous eaters--and then, in no time, become a zesty second version for spice lovers. She shakes up the usual chicken for dinner with Chicken Tikka Masala-ish--and feeds vegetarians, too, by offering a fork where cauliflower is used in place of the chicken. Fettuccine with Shrimp and Asparagus is a blueprint for seven other easy mix-and-match pasta dinner combinations. Crostini for breakfast--truly an aha! idea--can go sweet or savory, pleasing both types of morning eaters. Have all the ingredients on hand? Make the insanely delicious Chocolate Carrot Cake. Missing chocolate? Don't run out to the store--the basic Carrot Cake is just as satisfying. Katie's voice is funny and wry, and completely reassuring. Stunning full-color photographs show every dish. The result: no more cranky eaters, no more dinner table strife, no more unsure or stressed-out cook.