DIY dinner is fun
and easy for whole gang

Today's lead story covers the concept of eating dinner together as good for families. It's an idea that's difficult to argue with, but also difficult to live up to, especially if you let real life get in the way.

In the course of researching the matter, I came across several over-scheduled parents who wondered how to pull this off in that small window of opportunity between post-commute and a sensible bedtime. They don't want to rely too much on takeout food, and some said their families did not respond well to leftovers.

Although my family is no role model for the dinner-together creed, I do have a suggestion: the do-it-yourself meal.

It takes minimal preparation -- much of which can be done the day before or the morning before -- so the meal gets to the table quickly. Or, if you have a teenager who gets home before you, you could charge him/her with the prep work.

All the eaters assemble their own meals and carry them to the table. In fact, assembly time at the kitchen counter builds on the togetherness factor that Family Day is all about. And it gives kids some inkling of what it takes to prepare a meal.

Three ideas popular at my house:

Somen: Slice some leftover meat, lettuce, cucumber and tomato (or whatever veggie your kids actually eat). You can do this after dinner tonight for the meal tomorrow. The noodles cook really fast, or they can be boiled ahead and refrigerated. A quick rinse in cold water and they're ready. Choose somen sauce (sold in Asian sections of grocery stores; just add water) or somen salad dressing. Everyone fills a bowl with the amount and combination of ingredients they want.

Mini-pizzas: This combination of prepared foods -- store-bought pizza shells, shredded cheese, sauce and toppings -- is baked by you, so it qualifies as home-cooked, in my book, anyway. The Boboli brand (sold at Costco in packs of eight) comes with individual sauce packets and is a personal favorite. You preheat the oven and provide the toppings (pre-sliced pepperoni, Canadian bacon, pineapple, tomatoes, etc.); everyone assembles their own. During the 10 minutes of baking time, everyone helps set the table and clean up.

Sandwiches: OK, this is a dumb and obvious idea, but tends to get overlooked as a dinner concept. Invest in some nice sandwich rolls and deli meats/cheeses. Pre-slice tomatoes and onions, pre-wash lettuce, set out mustard and mayo. Don't bother with presentation; just open the plastic bags. Each sandwich is customized by the eater and contains all the basic food groups. Cleanup is a simple matter of bagging up leftovers and wiping up crumbs. (If you want to get fancy, run sandwiches under the broiler to make melts, or swap out the bread for tortillas and make wraps).

Final thoughts: For a nutritional boost, bring out the fruit bowl. Washing off some grapes, setting out some bananas or slicing a couple of oranges or apples is almost always easier than preparing a hot vegetable.

And turn off the TV.

Asterisk (*) after nutritional analyses in the Body & Soul section indicates calculations by Joannie Dobbs of Exploring New Concepts, a nutritional consulting firm.