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5 Family Food Tips
from Nigella Lawson

The Domestic Goddess is back! And this time it's instant, as she makes clear with the quick-n-easy family recipes in her latest collection, 'Nigella Express: Good Food, Fast.' Since she seems to do it all so effortlessly, the editors at Disney Family.com decided to throw five basic questions her way, to test her Mom-mettle and give helpful tips to parents everywhere.

Not surprisingly, she faces the same problems with her family as all others do. Read her pragmatic, practical and eminently do-able solutions -- all infused with the foodie love for which she's known best. Then check out 10 special Nigella recipes for simple, fast, and delicious family meals.

What should every mom have in the pantry?

Pasta, rice, canned tomatoes, canned white beans, a jar of organic pesto sauce, broth, and soft tortillas.

I need to know that I can make a pasta dish, a soup or the foundation for a quick quesadilla or fajita; my children will eat practically anything if it is stuffed into a soft tortilla (or contains carbohydrates) without hours of planning or shopping. I always have homemade meat sauce in the freezer and eggs and bacon and cheese in the fridge.

How do you get your kids to eat vegetables?

They will eat carrot or cucumber slices if I put them on the table to pick at before the "proper" food. Strangely, my son will eat salad, but generally vegetables are a tough sell. When they were little, I'd give myself a plate of broccoli and say, "You can't have any of this, it is all Mommy's" and it worked! They'd beg for some. I also use to add chopped frozen spinach (thawed, of course) to pesto when dressing their pasta.

I try not to lecture, as food is too delicious to make it into a duty, but I tend to add vegetables by stealth, such as adding as many as possible to a meat sauce. Along with the regular onions, I process an assortment of other vegetables to a mush, and then proceed to cook as one would normally, i.e. softening the vegetable mixture before adding the ground meat. And since my children love all soups, including minestrone in which the veg aren't even disguised or liquidized, I get a lot of vegetables down them that way.

What's your "go-to" meal to feed your family?

It would have to be spaghetti, carbonara or with meat sauce. But one of my life savers is my electric rice cooker. I can put that on and then do a quick stir fry of whatever's in the fridge and supper is made with practically no effort.

What are your tips and tricks for throwing a great dinner party (with kids included)?

I think it's important not to have too long without eating: adults drink too much and kids get hungry, bored and cranky. So I don't do an appetizer, but I put things to pick at on the table - such as hummus and raw vegetable slices, or salami or ham and unsalted tortilla chips -- and then I make the main course something that all generations like. My favorite fallback here is my chicken and sausage bake. It's no trouble to make and it's always popular. And I find neither kids nor adults complain if they get chocolate cake for dessert!

What's your family's favorite indulgence?

Generously buttered, not-too-crunchy toast!