Just a few short months ago Kelli Kirkland was a lousy cook -- maybe even the worst cook in America. She was a busy student at UCLA and wasn't much interested in cooking. But her grandma always believed she had a great cook inside of her. So Kelli joined Food Network's reality show, Worst Cooks in America. Eight weeks of cooking boot camp and an intense competition later, she became the series champion!

Now Kelli has a 2-year-old son and is bringing her dazzling skills home so she can pass on her family's food traditions to the next generation.

Wouldn't we all love to get our own cooking boot camp with celebrity chefs? But since that's so not happening for most of us (hey, you never know!), Kelli has some super-simple tips for gettin' your chef on at home.

We all know we're supposed to eat vegetables. They should be the staple of any healthy diet -- even the majority of a healthy diet. But what if you simply don't like them? What if your kids don't? What if the very sight of an artichoke or stalk of broccoli makes you wanna holla, "Gimme a slice of cake!"

There's some good news. You can gussy up veggies so that they taste better or you barely even taste them at all. Seems bizarre to me, since I love veggies, but I get it that there are people with veggiephobia.

Here are some ways of getting those veggies down and loving it:

I have been a vegetarian for as long as I can remember. I would cry if my parents tried to make me eat meat. By the time I entered my tweens, I just refused any meat at all, even bits of bacon sprinkled on something. My grandmother, alarmed by this, brought me to a doctor when I was 11. The doctor ran a battery of blood tests. Back came the verdict: I was perfectly healthy, and he told her to let me eat what I wanted. For good measure, he gave her a list of "high protein foods" like beans and peanuts, that I should get, but I don't recall anyone bothering about making sure I ate them.

Fast forward to today, and I'm still mostly vegetarian (I occasionally eat fish) and sometimes vegan. I finally broke down and began eating cheese made with milk again, after years of tasteless vegan cheese. I also eat yogurt. (True vegans don't eat dairy products.)

Check out these Easter lovelies by Victoria Beckham! The svelte and stylish mom mum tweeted a photo of the cupcakes she decorated with her kids. "Easter cup cakes with Romeo and Harper! So cute! X vb."

I love how they're all different. Looks like icing in pastel colors, maybe some shredded coconut, sprinkles, candy "carrots," and what could be chocolate truffles or eggs. The paper toppers are sweet, too. And guess what -- I found out where you can get them!

We have a saying in our home: I am not a short-order cook. That means if I make pad Thai for dinner, we all eat pad Thai for dinner -- no get out of jail free card, no special requests for mac & cheese. But breakfast is different. You want your eggs scrambled, over-easy, sunny-side up? You got it. Well, up to a point.

Even on the weekends, you probably don't want to whip up pancakes for one kid and eggs for another kid. That's why I love the kinds of breakfasts that are flexible enough to please a wide range of palates -- but without making the chef crazy. Here are my favorite customized-breakfast ideas.

Is there some reason why we tip baristas and not fast food employees? Because going by this espresso-making video we just came across, even a 5-year-old could make you a decent cappuccino -- cute foam heart included!

Awwww, check it out: Little Ellanie and Ethan carefully operate the espresso machine. Look at that crema! And then they steam the milk and pour it just so. And with the sweetest smiles, too. When was the last time your barista served you a smile? Never, that's when. So now I'm wondering, if a couple of 5-year-olds can make a gorgeous cappuccino, doesn't that make the job look kind of easy?

Ah, the holidays. You bleed money for weeks while you shop for gifts. Then Christmas dinner rolls around and you find yourself turning your pockets inside-out and finding two nickles and some lint. Are you dreading paying for that giant, extravagant ham? That budget-busting prime rib? Isn't there a cheaper way to celebrate?

Of course there is! But it might require a total re-think on what Christmas dinner looks like. Traditionally there's a big, pricey hunk'o'meat at the center. There's your biggest expense. But what if you moved the meat from the center to the sides? The budget-friendly Christmas dinner can be satisfying and even decadent if you use meat as a flavoring or garnish rather than the centerpiece -- we promise! Check out these ideas.

Holidays 101: Baking and decorating batches and batches of sugary cookies shaped like reindeer and stars and snowmen and Christmas trees is absolutely mandatory. If you can't produce a few dozen, you're basically the Grinch. Oh, and this is definitely supposed to be a kid-friendly kitchen activity! Otherwise you might as well put coal in their stockings.

Except anyone who's ever tried to show a 4-year-old how to use a rolling pin knows what an exercise in frustration this activity can be: My dough won't get flat! My reindeer's legs fell off!

Hey, wasn't this supposed to be fun?

The great thing about these candy cane cookies is that they actually are fun to make with kids, basically because they're almost impossible to mess up (no matter what you do, they come out looking like candy canes). Plus they don't require the use of a rolling pin!