Book excerpt: What's a Desperation Dinner? 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