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" You cook all day at work \u2014 do you cook at home, too?  All the time, and people always ask me why! When I cook professionally, especially on Iron Chef America, it&amp;#039;s all about speed. But when I&amp;#039;m home, the heart and soul of our family is in the kitchen. Growing up, my parents both worked, so dinnertime was for family \u2014 the TV was off. I think it&amp;#039;s important to grab that time and really make it special, even after a tough day. What&amp;#039;s your go-to busy-night meal?  One really easy meal is lettuce tacos, using lettuce instead of a hard or soft corn shell. You can cook whatever meat you have in the house \u2014 chicken, fish, beef \u2014 and then just put fixings like brown rice, scallions, cilantro, and sour cream out on the counter and let everyone make their taco the way they like it. (For the recipe, go to redbookmag.com/cora.)  But how do you begin to reenergize to cook after an exhausting day? I make a pre-meal. I put together a plate of whatever cheese, nuts, or roasted peppers I have in the fridge, open a bottle of wine, and sit down with my family for 30 minutes to unwind and talk. That&amp;#039;s when I hear about riding bikes and rolling in the dirt from my 3-year-old, Zoran. We give him some milk and do &amp;quot;cheers&amp;quot; together -- he loves to feel like he&amp;#039;s a big kid. The pre-meal rejuvenates me. When you try to push through, it&amp;#039;s just not a pleasant experience. And if all else fails, those are the nights we order in Thai food. Is your 3-year-old a good eater? He eats what we eat \u2014 we don&amp;#039;t do corn dogs or fast food. If you introduce new and varied foods earlier, it&amp;#039;s easier. When Zoran was 6 months old, I started putting ginger, cinnamon, and nutmeg into his rice cereal. He definitely goes through phases \u2014 he&amp;#039;s in a bread phase right now, so we work around it. When we go out to eat, he can have some bread, but not the whole basket.  Cat Cora is the author of the new cookbook Cooking From the Hip. She also stars on the Food Network&amp;#039;s Iron Chef America and created the nonprofit organization Chefs for Humanity. Try her recipe for Greek Gyros with Halibut! "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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