How to feed your family well when your spouse is late, the kids are losing it, and the dog is scratching at the door. Features over 250 tempting, nutritious recipes that take brilliant advantage of convenience foods-from individual quick-frozen chicken breasts to chopped ginger in a jar-plus innovative techniques to cut time and "push" flavor.

Desperation Dinners Promise:

1. These recipes are not hard.

2. These recipes do not require expensive equipment.

3. These recipes do not lie-every one can be made in 20 minutes, start to finish.

4. Expect to be working, but only for those 20 minutes.

5. These recipes taste good.

A Slightly Desperate Cook's Answer to "What's for Dinner?"

Skillet Shepherd's Pie

Topsail Spaghetti

Pork au Poivre

Chicken Chili Quesadillas

Garlic-Roasted Salmon

Buttered Rum-Glazed Ham

Fish Florentine

Confetti Stuffed Peppers

And When You're Really Desperate

Southwestern Chicken on the Spot

Minute Minestrone

Tuna and Fusilli Alfresco

Miracle Baked Pork Chops

Practically Perfect Peach Crisp

"The dinner dilemma is solved! The Desperation ladies deserve to be stove-side in every busy home." -Nathalie Dupree, author of Nathalie Dupree Cooks Quick Meals for Busy Days

Amazon.com Review
Written by two working moms with four kids between them, Desperation Dinners! fulfills its promise to supply you with more than 250 recipes that can be made from start to finish in 20 minutes. With the help of Beverly Mills and Alicia Ross, you can serve up appealing and nutritious home-cooked meals on nights when that might seem impossible. There are meaty dishes (Fiery Chinese Beef) and meatless ones (Very Vegetarian Chili), as well as Ravioli with Roasted Red Pepper Cream for pasta-lovers, and even Magic Brownies for those with a sweet tooth.

The authors' technique, which calls for using convenience foods (canned, frozen, boxed, bagged, or jarred), is based on the idea that the time saved justifies extra cost and sacrificed quality. Their Desperation Pantry includes staples such as canned beans and broth, along with onion powder, frozen lemon juice, pre-shredded cheeses, and produce that is ready to use, such as chopped garlic and sections of citrus fruit. This is not great cooking, but the meals will rescue families from a surfeit of fast food and boxed-pasta dinners.