Are you tired of spending 30 minutes or more to cook a nutritious dinner? Unless you're an Emeril or a Julia Childs, you probably don't enjoy taking time away from family and friends to make tasty, healthy meals. Here are some ways to cut your time in the kitchen and make your cooking experience more enjoyable.

Start with the kitchen itself. Is it organized? Are the utensils you use the most easily accessible? Keeping spatulas, knives, spoons, and oven mitts within reach will cut down the time you spend going through drawers trying to find them.

Toss out those recipes that have a million steps and require lots of beforehand preparation. Go to your local library or bookstore and find recipe books with 5, 10, or 15 minute meals. You can find healthy, tasteful dishes that take very little time to prepare.

Keep your ingredient list to 5-10 ingredients, if possible. The less you have to use, the less time it will take to make the meal.

Read the recipe. Make sure you understand the steps and prioritize which ones you will do first. Oftentimes you can be cutting vegetables or meat while you have water boiling or something baking.

Cook and bake in bulk! Many foods and breads can be frozen and even if it takes a little longer to make a large amount, you will save time later when you pull dinner out of the freezer!

Empty your dishwasher before you start cooking. This allows you to load your dirty dishes straight into your dishwasher and makes your cleaning-up time shorter. If you don't have a dishwasher, or have dishes that need to soak, keep your sink full of hot, soapy water and toss your utensils in when you are finished using them.

If you have to wash your dishes by hand, let them drip dry. You can spend time doing something fun while your dishes dry by air.

Use your "mechanical maids." Crockpots and breadmakers are wonderful inventions and save loads of time. Along the same bent, casseroles can be easy to make and only require baking. As an added bonus, your kitchen will smell really good while your food cooks!

Keep kids and pets out of the kitchen while you cook. Not only is this safer, it cuts down on your distractions and stress.

Dress in something comfortable. Why be uncomfortable while cooking if you don't need to be?

Pop in your favorite CD and listen while you cook. It's amazing how much stress you can relieve just by humming or singing along. And even if you're not a songbird, listening to something you enjoy can help your time in the kitchen be more pleasant.

In a day when your time is in such great demand but is also so precious, why spend an inordinate amount of time cooking when you can make a meal equally as tasty and healthy in 20 minutes?