Daphne: I’m hoping some of you sassy moms can help me out here because I’m wondering, and Ragú is asking the question, what have been the great dinnertime discoveries you’ve had of late? Cause I think im like a lot of parents where I get into a real dinnertime rut. I mean, I just feel like a genius when I actually come up with something that’s not too hard for me to make and that my kids enjoy. Now just recently my daughter was gung ho and so psyched on my red snapper and potatoes. Little seasoning, popped it in the oven under sliced potatoes and she ate all of it. So that was one of my most recent exciting things. So Vicki, what have you done to break out of a dinnertime rut?

Vickie: My biggest tip for getting out of the dinner rut is to marry a man who cooks, so that you don’t have to do it at all. Ever. (Laughter) The one meal that all three kids can agree on is pasta. My husband makes the best, best pasta with sauce and veggie crumbles and a little pasta. Every once in a while we get crazy and put in a rotini instead of an angel hair and for us that’s big news because you know how it is with kids and change.

Kim: Well I’m changing things up a bit by using different things inside ravioli.

Daphne: Do you make your own ravioli?

Kim: Well, yes, actually. I mean, I don’t look like a person who would, but I can do that. It’s really easy.

Daphne: I knew you were a ravioli maker, I could tell it when I saw you!

Kim: Right, it’s all over my forehead. But since they gobble it up and they don’t give me any issues or complaints, you know, it’s just pasta with cheese inside , I thought, well, what else can you put inside some ravioli? So I’ve been experimenting with different cheeses, so far, because I want to get them comfortable with the idea of the homemade ravioli before I pop in some new and more nutritious things.

Vickie: For the unfortunate times when I do have to cook, I’m all about the casserole. I like the razzle-dazzle of the casserole. And if it’s covered with cheese, the kids don’t know the vegetables are in there until it’s too late.

Daphne: God, now you make me want a casserole, that sounds so good! (Laughter)

Kim: Oh, you know what, I just had another discovery. I made hamburgers one night, I mixed up some stuff and I actually put vegetables in with the ground turkey and I couldn’t believe how they gobbled them down. One of them ate half of a second one. It was like you said Daphne, I felt like a genius, I was like, score! It was like getting a baby to go to sleep.

Vickie: That is a golden momma moment, when they ask for seconds.

Vickie: I find that it’s all about baby steps with kids. You put a little sauce on it and they eat it, you put a little more. Oh, I’m gonna get crazy and also throw on a vegetable, and then we move on. What I found is that we kinda find all these new discoveries doing that, one step to the left, to the right, could be the difference between kind of a blah meal and something that’s fantastic.

Daphne: All right I love hearing all these dinnertime discoveries, it gives me new ideas. I need more new ideas though! So go to facebook.com/ragusauce and tell us what’s worked for you.