Growing up, my parents (and grandparents) had a dinner table rule for my brother, sister, and me: If you wanted in on the Clean Plate Club, then you had to finish everything on your plate. The rules were plain and simple. That is ... until we noticed the vegetables. My brother hates veggies. It didn't matter how hard you begged or how viciously you threatened him -- there was nothing on this earth that would ever, ever, ever make him choke down a broccoli spear without gagging. He'd sit at the table all night, too, to avoid to the icky taste. On the other hand, I love the little green monsters. I think they keep you healthy, nourished, and alert. So it's amazing to me that my brother -- 6'4" and a former three-season athlete in high school and college -- could be just as healthy (if not more) as I am.

He's living, breathing, and buff proof that eating your veggies doesn't really matter as much as we say it does.

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Among my favorite childhood memories is the Kids' Table. I come from a big family (five kids) within an even bigger family (my dad has 13 brothers and sisters). The grownups were always only too happy to seat us all at a separate table so they could actually have a civilized conversation with each other. And that was just fine with us! The last thing we wanted to have was a civilized conversation.

Ordinarily I'm all for families all eating together around the same table, but there are certain occasions when a kids' table is called for. Here are my kids' table guidelines. 

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Thanksgiving sweets are delicious and all ... pie! pumpkin cake rolls! ... but for those of us not even bothering to have dessert unless it's chocolate, it's a little thin on our favorite temptation.

Enter these yummy, incredibly easy Pilgrim hat cookies from Taste of Home. They're so easy you could make them with your kids while the turkey cooks.

You'll need:

1 cup vanilla frosting 7 drops yellow food coloring 32 miniature peanut butter cups 1 package (11-1/2-ounce) fudge-striped cookies 32 pieces orange mini Chiclets gum Read More

Sometime in the next few days, you are likely to need a treat for a Halloween party. And what says Halloween yumminess more than a jack-o-lantern cookie? Here are six delicious recipes ranging from decorate-it-yourself ones for the kids to one with (yum!) chocolate and peanut butter and even a healthy one with yam dressing for good measure.

Peanut Butter Cracker Sandwiches

Here's a cute no-bake pumpkin cookie your kids can make with you, from Food.com.

You need:

2 Ritz crackers 1 1/2 teaspoons peanut butter 1 to 2 ounces almond bark or 1 to 2 ounces vanilla candy coating or 1 to 2 ounces white chocolate or 1 to 2 ounces orange candy melts Orange food coloring Red food coloring Food coloring (pens or decorator gel) Green sprinkles Read More

Here's one of my favorite classic Halloween treats: Witch cupcakes that use an ice cream cone for the hat. This is such a cute idea. It's a cupcake frosted green with a little candy corn nose and licorice hair. Top with an inverted cone and you've got one tasty little witch for your favorite goblins. Check out this Wicked Witch Cupcakes recipe to learn how to make these adorable treats.

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Mmm, anyone want some SKETTI? Yum yum, it's Honey Boo Boo's favorite dish, next to grilled roadkill, of course. June shows us how she makes this exotic delicacy on the show. It's spaghetti with the family's special sauce: Ketchup mixed with butter. Well, they call it butter but it's actually some sort of margarine.

I have to admit, I was intrigued by this dish. What does that taste like? June makes it look so easy, but do I need any special skills to cook it? (Ha, kidding!) Most importantly, would my kid eat it? I had to find out!

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If there's one thing I dislike about fall -- amid all the wonderful things about fall, like crisp mornings, golden diffused afternoon light, and the plethora of apple-based dessert options to consider on a daily basis not that I'm having trouble fitting into my jeans as a result or anything harrrumph -- it's the triumphant return of the Pumpkin Spice Latte. I have a major sweet tooth (see also: dessert options, jeans), but god, those lattes. I don't understand why people go crazy for them! So sickly and infused with fake-pumpkin stuff and GAH, it's like eating a can of AIR FRESHENER!

Ahem. Anyway! Flavored coffee ranting aside, I do love a nice pumpkin-centered baked good. In fact, I have a recipe for the most insanely delicious pumpkin muffin on Earth, and I can almost guarantee it will be the best thing you've eaten all week. Unless you hate moist, dense, intoxicatingly chocolatey pumpkin things that are worth every sinful calorie.

Here's what you'll need:

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Better double-check your PB&J! Multiple state departments of health -- including Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts -- have released warnings citing Trader Joe's Valencia Creamy Salted Peanut Butter -- as well as the company's other peanut butter products -- as possible culprits behind a Salmonella S. Bredeny outbreak. So far, 29 illnesses -- potentially linked to the PB -- have been reported nationwide. That includes at least two in Pennsylvania, three in Massachusetts, and one each in New York, Maryland, and Rhode Island. Definitely disconcerting news if you purchase your PB from Trader Joe's! 

The good news: The state departments of health are each working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to pinpoint the cause of the illnesses.

As for what you can do in the meantime ...

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