What's the first thing you hear when you walk in the door at the end of the day? At my house, it's "What's for dinner?" followed by "Yuck!" I bet it's not much different at your house.

How should you solve the dinnertime dilemma of picky kids, finicky husbands, the food budget, staying on a healthy diet and preserving your sanity? Use these simple tips and dinnertime will become your favorite time of the day.

Become a dinnertime magician
Keep two ideas in mind every time you prepare dinner. Ask yourself: Where can I add fiber, and how can I reduce the fat? The typical American diet is woefully low in fiber, leading to increased risk of some types of cancer and diverticulosis. Everyone knows that fat adds calories, but it's also a leading cause of heart disease. Here are some way to make dinner healthy and delicious:

• Put a fruit bowl or cut-up fruit on the table while you're cooking dinner. It's a healthier snack than chips and dip.
• Add vegetables wherever you can: spaghetti sauce, casseroles, sandwiches, pizza, soups and stews. Use canned, frozen or fresh veggies; the key is to add them to everything you can.
• Serve raw veggies with every meal. Scan the supermarket for fresh produce that requires minimal preparation, such as baby carrots or tossed salad in a bag.
• Buy reduced-fat products whenever possible. Reduced-fat cheddar cheese saves 8 grams of fat per ounce, and fat-free sour cream cuts out 10 grams of fat. One simple change can shave 70-90 calories from your daily intake; that's a loss of 7 pounds a year.
• Remove the skin from chicken and save 9 grams of fat.
• Substitute ground turkey for ground beef in meatloaf, spaghetti sauce and sloppy Joes and you'll reduce your fat intake by 2 grams of fat per ounce; if you eat 4 ounces of meatloaf, that's a savings of 8 grams of fat.