My 9 y.o. son has been watching a lot of the Food Network lately. Which is great--broaden his horizons, expose him to different kinds of foods, yada, yada, yada. But now when I serve up dinner, I hear comments like this:

[Mom sets down delicious platter of chicken marsala with angel hair pasta.]

Little Guy: I don't like this.
Big Guy: The chicken is tasteless, but it's fine.
Mom: It's not tasteless! I used Emeril's recipe for chicken marsala.
Little Guy: Yuck. I hate Emeril's chicken marsala
Big Guy: Do I detect a hint of olive oil?
Mom: Yes
Big Guy: Perhaps some more spices would help. The sauce is rather bland.
Mom: Grrrr....

Admittedly, my cooking skills are not the best, but I've been trying out new recipes trying to find something that the whole family will eat. I'm working through Real Food for Healthy Kids. Thanks also to dlgarfinkle for recommending Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything. It's like a cooking school in a book. I'm finally improving my chopping technique. Goodbye 10 minutes to chop an onion; hello 8 minutes!

How do your family dinners go? Any family favorite recipes or cookbook recommendations?