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What's Cooking This Month

Check out Jessica Mostak's Monthly Meal Planner, filled with menu ideas & recipes for every day of the month. Right now, you can see what's cooking in December.

Jes Mostak, a Twin Cities resident and creator of Monthly Meal Planner has this to say about the all-important family dinner:

Experts agree that one of the most important things we parents can do for our children is to make family dinner time a priority; it gives parents, and kids alike a chance to unwind, recharge and bond over a hot meal. Studies have shown that regularly eating dinner as a family can actually reduce the risk of a teen-age girl developing an eating disorder*. What's more, eating dinner as a family can reduce the risk and even reverse both childhood and adult obesity! And yet, day after day, the afternoon crunch and stresses of rush hour are repeatedly compounded by the recurring, panicked question of "what's for dinner?!"

Her meal planner more than answers the question. Here's how she describes it:

* In an effort to save time and to avoid boring left-overs, each week features at least one meal that is a variation on a key ingredient from a previous meal.
* I take religious, national, and even unusual (i.e. Sandwich Day) holidays into consideration.
* I incorporate a variety of U.S. and international regional dishes.
* I focus on balanced meals so busy moms and dads don't have to scramble to figure out a healthy side dish for each meal.
* Since Mondays are usually the most hectic days of everyone's week, I strive to ensure that all the Monday meals are especially easy.
* TGIF! For Fridays, I make an effort at finding or creating recipes that will be fun for kids to eat, and even to help prepare.
* Saturdays and Sundays are the days that most people have a little extra time on their hands. On Saturdays, I focus on meals that would make a good show if you have company coming, while the all-important Sunday dinners are designated as meals that center around comfort foods, so you have a nice, relaxing start to your week.

See the meal planner here.