The truth is, I make a lot of default dinners. We are a busy family, with school and extracurricular, sports, music and you name it pulling us in a million different directions. Though my pie in the sky would be to cook an elaborate meal with new recipes every evening, it just isn't practical. Instead, I aim to add maybe 1-2 new recipes in a given week, hoping that one will be a 'keeper.'

When I am not trying a new recipe, I am grabbing, tossing and otherwise throwing together a meal for my family. My priorities in the midst of fashioning a family meal are 1. well-balanced and 2. quick. So, with no room for thought I start making 'the usual.' Though if you know me, I take great pride in my list of usuals and have even given these fall-back recipes the token term Default Dinners. This week I leaned on some old favorites:

• Roasted Fennel
• Roasted Peppers and Sausages
• Sausage Cream Pasta
• Buttermilk Chicken
• ...and for the kids' lunches: Ginger Sugar Pecans

AND I have to admit, when time is screaming in my face, I even reach for meals from my freezer. Battered cod was baked this week; my contribution was tartar sauce. I confess it is hard for me to use jarred tartar sauce (or salad dressing for that matter). So while the oven bakes the 'it'll do' meal in 18 minutes or so, I grab my little blender and make a nice tartar sauce from scratch.

This little recipe has traveled with me for years; I have almost lost it numerous times (which nearly caused me to panic). But alas, it is still lovingly tucked in my semi-organized but adequately disheveled recipe binder. And now, you too can have it to use and to lose:

Tartar Sauce 1 cup mayonnaise 2 tsp dijon mustard 1-2 tsp fresh lemon juice 1 T minced shallots 1/4 cup dill pickles pinch cayenne pepper

I know: lose it? With this short ingredient list, you would think I had this one committed to memory. I figure I will memorize it right around the time my memory begins to slip. Timing is everything, right? The instructions, however, I can remember: place all in blender and blend. And this tartar sauce is also great on a salmon burger with big leaves of basil... yet another easy meal...