What if we all made the same thing for dinner one night?

Would you talk to your friends about it the next day at the office or in the school pick-up line? Would you commiserate that your kids refused to eat it, or boast that they ate it all? Would you be relieved that for this one day, you knew exactly what you were making before the day even started? 

To find out, Cozi and the Partnership for a Healthier America (PHA) have teamed up to bring you America Makes Dinner, a national effort to help families get back to cooking dinner. We think it’ll be a fun way to get everyone excited and talking about family dinner, and maybe the kids will even help you make it. Come on, you have to eat dinner anyway–so join us! Here's how:

• Pledge to make dinner. Add your email address at the top of this page to join the movement and, bam!, you'll be in the loop about new recipes and announcements.
• Make the recipes. Each week, prepare the new recipe selection. If you use Cozi, get a jumpstart on meal prep by instantly adding the recipe to your recipe box and putting the ingredients right on your shopping list.
• Help us pick America's favorite recipe. After you make a recipe, come back to the recipe page and leave a comment telling us whether you liked it, how your family liked it, or whatever will help us pick the best recipes. And if you like a recipe, share it Facebook, share it on Pinterest, email it to a friend, add it to your recipe box - we'll be counting those when we pick the top recipes, too!

Why celebrate family dinner?

Most everyone agrees that eating dinner together is good thing. It’s good for our health, it’s good for the family unit, and it’s good for the wallet. It’s promising that over 90% of families want to prepare more meals at home*. But life is busy and things get in the way, like not having a great meal idea, hectic schedules, and the thought of having to do the dishes at the end of a long day.

So Cozi and PHA are celebrating family dinner to get everyone talking: talking about dinner ideas, talking about tools to help families feel more organized about the dinner plan, and talking about something families do every day... eat dinner!

About the America Makes Dinner Recipes

Our recipes were created specifically with families in mind. And while you'll find old favorites like chicken strips and stir-fry (and a few versions of tacos - the #1 item added to the Cozi meal planner), we'll also feature recipes and ingredients you might have not served before. Give them a try! You never know what might work for your family.

The main criteria for our recipes are that they be healthy, affordable and simple. Simple and affordable means the recipe should use ingredients that are available at a typical grocery store, aren't high-cost, don't require cooking techniques out of reach for most home chefs, won't leave the kitchen in shambles, and take 45 minutes or less of hands-on prep time.

To be healthy, our recipe selections are in line with the U.S. Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2010 and will include lean protein, whole grains, dairy, fruit and vegetables. Our guidelines follow the federal MyPlate standards for healthy eating. For more information on MyPlate, visit myplate.gov.

Visit AMERICA MAKES DINNER to get started with this week's recipe!

*Cozi Family Surveys 2010, 2011