Gwyneth Paltrow

This fish is topped with cilantro, but it's also great with pickled ginger.

Again, easy peasy. Not only can this be made while the pasta is cooking, you have plenty of time to make a lovely salad and assemble a cheese plate for after dinner. Parmesan, lemon, and basil are a threesome made in heaven. The cheesy lemon basil flavors are also very kid friendly.

Based on my grandmother's very old recipe, these cookies are a slightly softer version of my granddad Danner's favorite peanut butter cookies. These were his favorite things on earth and my grandmother always made them for him. He passed away when I was seven, but I can still remember him with his thick shock of white hair eating these cookies with a glass of milk.

When I was a single gal in NYC and my parents lived in Westchester, we used to meet almost halfway for dinner at Gus's in Harrison, new york. It is a great bar serving delicious seafood and their salad was my favorite—red wine vinaigrette with big hunks of blue cheese. We were always a blue cheese—loving family and my version, with a creamy base (can't compete with Gus!), is fantastic on a wedge of iceberg lettuce or as a dip. It lasts for a good week in the fridge as well.