Gather the family with easy dinner recipes

As the school year gets underway, schedules fill up with homework, PTA meetings, choir practice, football games and all sorts of evening activities that conspire to make dinner time anything but relaxing family time.

But with some tried-and-true recipes on hand, a pantry stocked with powerful ingredients and favorite convenience foods, and a couple of helping hands, busy families can rediscover the joy of dinner time.

Anna Marie Cesario and Lauren Dellabella, with Unilever Consumer Kitchens, recommend enlisting children to help with the cooking. Even those who are more comfortable with a game controller than a paring knife can pitch in.

Have them use their laptop or smartphone to access favorite recipes, they suggest on TheFamilyDish.com, Unilever's food and family website.

Don't expect new cooks to do all the work, they add. Demonstrate the basics by cooking alongside them. Start by teaching them to read a recipe all the way through and show them the importance of paying attention to measuring and the difference between ingredients.

Older children can brown meat, slice onions and cube chicken (make food safety part of the lesson) while younger kids can measure ingredients, wash produce and tear lettuce for a salad.

Many of my own weeknight dinners start with chicken, pork or ground beef and a jar or a box. Sometimes it's a jar of salsa tossed with browned ground beef and a prepared box of Spanish rice. (Sometimes I take the extra step to transfer it to a casserole dish, top it with shredded cheese and stick it under the broiler).

Other times I'll pour a jar of Indian-style sauce over a skillet full of chicken thighs, green peppers and onions. Then I serve the spicy chicken alongside seasoned couscous. I'll punch up store-bought pasta sauce with herbs and tomatoes from my garden and a splash of wine.

On a weekend I might make salsa or marinara from scratch, but on a weeknight it's about cutting corners without cutting flavor.

Associated Press Food Editor J.M. Hirsch also refuses to sacrifice flavor even when time is short.

"Let high-flavor ingredients do most of the work," says Hirsch, author of "High Flavor, Low Labor: Reinventing Weeknight Cooking" (2010 Ballentine).

"Foods that taste great going into the pot need less work from you to taste great when they come out," he says. "Getting those flavors to the table, and fast, is at the heart of how I cook. And it doesn't require any special skills or hours at the stove. It's just a matter of taking good raw ingredients, adding intensely flavorful stuff, then eating."

Some of Hirch's go-to foods are:

Cinnamon: In the U.S., cinnamon makes us think of sweets and baked goods. In the rest of the world, it's a savory seasoning that shows up in meat rubs, vegetable stews and curries, and sprinkled over grains, such as couscous. And with good reason. Cinnamon imparts a mellow, delicious warmth and aroma. Try a little in your next batch of chili. Or combine it with garlic powder, cumin and salt for an awesome steak or chicken rub.

Citrus juice and zest: Citrus effortlessly brightens and sharpens flavors. The juices are best in marinades, dressings, sauces, even soups (try a splash in chicken and tomato soups). The zest (the thin outer layer of colorful skin, not the white pith beneath it) is great in baked goods, sauces, and sautes (add it to a saute of kale with garlic and grated Parmesan cheese). While fresh juice is nice, bottled is easier and often cheaper. As for the zest, you can use a vegetable peeler to remove it, but a wand-style grater is better.

Salt: Many foods - even sweets - simply taste flat without a pinch of salt. It doesn't take much, and it doesn't take the pricey gourmet stuff. The best bet is kosher salt, which is inexpensive and easy to pinch. Keep a bowl of it next to the stove.

Hot sauce: This is my secret ingredient in hummus and cheese sauces. Just a dash brightens the other flavors without adding significant heat. Try it in macaroni and cheese and mixed into burgers. Use it to perk up mayonnaise for a sandwich or potato salad. Also try it in vinaigrette on a hearty salad. There are innumerable hot sauces; experiment until you find a favorite.

Anchovies: For many people, anchovies are a no-go zone. Too bad. They are incredibly savory, inexpensive and easy to use. Best yet, you don't need to eat them whole to appreciate them. Place a few in a hot pan and stir around; they will melt into a flavorful paste. Now continue with your saute. You'll never know the anchovies are there, but the taste will be tremendous. This is great with sauteed hearty greens, such as kale and chard, as well as for pan sauces tossed with pasta. They also can be pureed into salad dressing. Because they are salty, be sure to taste as you cook.

Associated Press and Family Features contributed to this report.

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<h1>Recipes</h1>

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