Dinner: The Playbook: A 30-Day Plan for Mastering the Art of the Family Meal: A Cookbook

It's one thing to say that "Family Dinner" is important, quite another to actually do it. We're all so busy and crammed with activities so it's difficult to get it all together, especially if you are working or otherwise busy and your kids are picky eaters (aren't everyone's?). This book, which follows in the style of Jenny's blog (Dinner, a Love Story) tells you how. WHAT A WINNER! Not just good recipes, but a game plan on how you and your family can make Family Dinner happen -- and be happy about it. She not only sets out a game plan, but offers loads of helpful tidbits everywhere, like in The Kitchen Dump Section, where there's some info on what to do with bruised apples. And, for picky eaters, a suggestion to "rename" a dish so it will sound more appealing and maybe get your child to try it. I especially liked the advice to have your children look at pictures of food, to see what they find appealing. Why didn't I ever think of that? And I also especially like that she recommends shopping with your children. What better way to spend some time talking to your children than in a supermarket where you can distinguish colors for the youngest ones, show the scale and how it works to your grade schoolers, ask your older children to figure out how much 3 pounds of peaches cost, show your children the long list of ingredients on the junk food labels? You may not consider this an adventure, but you get to do what you have to and spend some quality time with your children too. BRAVO Jenny. Jenny never preaches. This is all just sound, practical advice to help take the stress out of planning, shopping, cooking and finally, eating dinner together as a family. Your game plan may not be hers. You may choose different recipes. But the concept of considering, planning, shopping, cooking and dining with family is now a lot easier if you use this wonderful book. Btw, the recipes are easy. The Sticky Pomegranate Chicken Pieces have 4 ingredients and taste awesome. Also loved the Miso Glazed Salmon.

We are on day 2 of our 30-day challenge and I want to thank the author and this book for getting us organized and motivated to take the plunge into making one family meal every night. My kids are 5 and 7. For the last 5 years we have been having 2 separate dinners -- mac & cheese / chicken nuggets for the kids and blue apron / hello fresh for my husband and myself. We are all trying new foods and talking a lot about the "fun challenge" and the "big prizes" for all our hard work. My kids tried radishes and kale on our first two nights, and liked them! WHA!? I don't know if we're going to an all kale/radish diet quite yet, but I'm so thrilled they tried some legitimately adventurous new foods! They also ate the salmon and chicken sausage, which I can't believe I consider a footnote to my review -- this is a major, major step in the right direction. I'm taking off 1 star for the overall organization and detail in the book. This is not the most precise or well-organized cookbook, so pulling together a weekly menu took a lot of cross-referencing and double checking. The author's kids don't like pasta or eggs, while mine do, and her kids do like baked beans, which my kids don't, so I feel like we have to veer off her exact instructions to create something that is in the spirit of her message of keeping something familiar on the plate. The recipes reflect her own family's preferences a little too much. So I would say that overall, the book still leaves quite a bit of planning and work to do on my and my husband's part. If you need a good kick in the pants to shift how you do family dinners, I definitely recommend this book. In the end, I suspect we will probably do a lot of our own menu and recipe planning, following the spirit of this book. Joan

Two years ago, I went from eating take-out at night with my cat, to being married with two children, and wanting to start a family dinner ritual. The thing was, I was no cook. In fact, the college kids who worked the counter at our local Moe's knew me as "the nacho lady" because I frequented their establishment so often. That Christmas, my mother gave me a copy of Dinner: A Love Story: It all begins at the family table and my life literally changed. I now have a few "back pocket" recipes of my own, and "deconstructing dinner" is a standard practice at our house. However, I still struggle with a picky-eater who makes being creative at dinnertime an impossibility. Enter, Dinner: The Playbook. Jenny's newest book is not just a cookbook, it is a PLAN with a capital P on how to make family dinners a fun family affair. I love how the book not only lays out the rules of the game, but also provides a number of tips to make implementation easier. For example, Jenny offers TEN done for you meal plans, ideas on what to do with the odds and ends left in your fridge each week, even how to grocery shop effectively. I haven't even gotten to the actual recipes yet. I love that she breaks them down into do-able weekday dinners and other, more adult-friendly, romantic recipes. The black bean and goat cheese quesadillas are a staple of our Meatless Mondays. I am excited to try the Braised Adobo Pork with Polenta. Jenny's recipes have always been easy to follow, honest with regards to time and effort, and delicious. This Playbook is definitely going to be my number one new reference as I continue to navigate the waters of my new family, and the ritual of family dinner. Jenny, my husband, kids, and I thank you. We need all the help we can get!

TINY page layouts with teeny tiny font! This is not the size and shape of my other cookbooks, it's like a little novel. This seems like a weird thing to complain about, but readability and visibility are important to me. Contains many recipes in the entrees section that don't include a protein (beans, meat, fish, soy, or egg) like pasta with a sauce or pasta with some veggies. Which, I get it, that's a thing children will eat. But like... I didn't need a book to tell me that. I guess I'm just not as impressed as I thought I'd be given all the hype.

(Okay, I'm a woman, but in our house when we get things done fast we say, "Man with a Plan!") I read Rosenstrach's blog regularly, so I purchased this book sort of just to demonstrate my fanhood. But, now that I have had it a week I am delighted that I added this to my collection! It goes beyond the material that is in the "DinnerALoveStory" blog. Despite being a regular cook and even sort of being a meal planner, I lacked the habits to do the weekend/daily prep that makes the dinnertime hour so much easier. There is genius in how she has deconstructed the work flow to improve the ritual. I love how each recipe provides tips on what can be done ahead of time. In the first week I have cooked three new meals that the kids declared we should make again: Black Bean and Goat-Cheese Quesadillas, Vegetable-Loaded Fried Rice (made 2x, quadrupled recipe the second time so kids could bring for school lunch!), and Summer Stew with Chicken, Corn, and Sausage (I keep bags of the Trader Joe's roasted frozen corn in my freezer and that made this meal come together in a snap). The other recipe in the book I was already familiar with from the blog that we make all the time is Chorizo Tacos with Slaw and Avocado.

Loving this book so far! Great recipes and tips, starting to save our dinners each week! The only complaint I have is there are a ton of vegetarian dinners, which we don’t dig. We tend to like to have a meat protein with dinner or my hubby complains lol! Some good recipes for our picky lo. Also, many salmon recipes which again, we don’t do in our house, unfortunately. All in all, great for busy fams!

I LOVE this cookbook. I have made probably half of the recipes in this book and my family likes all of them. They are simple and easy to make with mostly fresh ingredients. I love that I can make my family a healthy dinner without spending hours in the kitchen. Our favorites are the Roasted Chicken, Baked Salmon, homemade macaroni and Egg Torte. The author has a section with quick and easy side dishes and suggests a side dish for each recipe which takes some of the guess work out of meal planning. There is a photo for every main dish in the book. Several of the recipes she will tell you what you can prep ahead of time or which recipes are good to freeze extras of. I also love that the recipes don't make massive amounts of food. They are designed for 2 adults and 2-3 kids which is perfect for us.

Finally! I've been waiting for Jenny's follow up - which is totally perfect timing since back to school and back to cooking dinner every night go hand in hand! I've followed her blog for a long time and she's is always providing great ideas - that are delicious and never intimidating. I have a 10 year old and a 7 year old and they LOVE her recipes-salmon and the pork ragu two winners in my house. I'm psyched to make use of the 30 days of dinners - like boot camp for back to school - I can already tell that this book is really instructive and provides tips and strategies for getting organized - which I so need!!! Thank you Jenny for another terrific book - so happy to support your work - blog - books - whatever - because i really do believe that the time around the dinner table is priceless and so so important!!!!

Disappointing. No great recipes, just a process book. If you buy it for that reason it is well written and entertaining. But I read through it in 40 minutes and have not been tempted to pick it up again, despite being a fan of the first book, and of Jenny's blog.

Photography poor. Content juvenile. Uninspiring. Loved her other book,so why this? Have returned it.