Gumbo is one of the most popular meals I make for the Schremser and Glasper children. They all get rather excited to hear I’m making Gumbo for dinner. Grown-ups love it too. My husband loves smoking chickens on his smoker. It’s one of his favorite things to do on weekends that aren’t filled with soccer games or travel. He usually does 3-4 birds at a time. I shred the meat off them and freeze it for use in later meals. It saves me to have delicious smoked chicken on hand in the freezer. I then make a massive batch of smoked chicken stock with the bones. It’s delicious and adds a depth of flavor to pots of beans or soups. I also keep this in the freezer.

Pasta dishes are a great quick and easy dinner for busy weekday nights. This dish is an easy way to get veggies and protein in kids. Rather than being tempted to go through the drive-through or order a pizza when you’re in a hurry, you can make this pasta dish in less than 30 minutes and feel good about serving it to your kids. As written, this dish can easily feed around 8, but could halved or doubled to meet your family’s needs. We fed 7 kids and 3 adults with this dish. Kids had seconds and thirds, while the adults ate modestly, supplementing with salad. Not a bite was left.