The cook's game plan: have several options

The game of football has lots of life lessons for me. The more I learn about the game, the more I am convinced that the winners win before they take the field. They win, I believe, because they have a good game plan that may well include lots of options.

In the kitchen, it is well to have options, too.

You don’t plan a quick, spontaneous gathering for friends after church or a community event. We don’t know when we will have friends call to say they’re in the neighborhood and want to stop by, nor do we anticipate late nights at the office that can make dinnertime a crunch or even weather situa...