In a rut, casting about for new ideas! The weeknight dinner slog is getting me bummed out.

First of all, can you share your sesame tofu recipe? I didn't see it and it sounds great to me. While it takes longer than an hour a roasted chicken involves only about 5 minutes of hands on time, I serve with a seasonal veggie - every week. I've also been making an assortment of Venezuelan arepas lately. For the actual arepas (versus the filling) I use Terry Romero's recipe from Viva Vegan. Very easy and inexpensive. I also find doing peel and eat steamed shrimp an easy way out as well.

The last of the summer fruits, in a mexican fruit salad.
Watermelon cube, pineapple, orange slices, grapes, Jicama (or waterchestnut), red or green onions, cherry tomato. Parsley or Cilantro, or chives.
Mix up a dressing for honey, lime juice, cumin, a bit of chili powder..and optional heat---chopped peppers or red pepper flakes or none.
For the kids; back off on the hot or make it optional. They should like cumin and chili power or use mild packaged taco seasoning mix to make a dressing.

Serve that with grilled shrimp. skewer pealed raw shrimp with two skewers like this =))))))=
And give them a brush with some lime juice/oliveoil/garlic/ginger and broil or grill.

Another quick to make dinner is the one-pot pasta:
https://food52.com/recipes/30147-martha-stewart-s-one-pan-pasta

I used gluten-free pasta and it still worked out well. Next time I'm going to experiment with different ingredients, however, as the basic recipe was a bit too pasta-y for me. But my partner loved it as it was.

Gosh, I remember those days...back before we were paying 3 college tuitions...sigh.
My two suggestions:

first for inspiration:I'm crazy for international cookbooks, so I'd have the kids pick a country and we'd cook a dish from there.

Second: for time and not having to run out for ingredients-- we did "bars" of various sorts, such as the "baked potato bar" and the "quesadilla bar"... I would bake the potatoes (or microwave) and then put out a bunch of toppings so each person could customize. Put the potato in a micro safe bowl, top, and reheat until hot. Great way to use up leftovers and those little bits of stuff as well.

When my kids were in the soccer stage these were two of our go to meals.
One was spaghetti with a simple clam sauce made with a little white wine, canned clams, garlic, and a few red pepper flakes. Fast and good.
Another was quesadillas, a simple chopped salad with tomatoes onions parsley and maybe avocado next to tortillas warmed with cheese, a side of canned refried beans and maybe browned ground beef or strips of chicken breast.
Neither are gourmet but they got us sitting down quickly. Believe me its over soon.

I find myself completely lost ( or not motivated) about what to cook when the family needs a meal. Regardless of how much I frequent this site and others on a daily basis. When this happens I reach for Everyday Food: Great Food Fast by Martha Stwart. It's divided by seasons and provides easy recipes that I have on hand or an inspiration to take it up a notch. It calms me down, lol. If you're going to the library, I highly recommend!

There was another thread like this a while back. Someone posted this and I make it on a regular basis. It's delicious. Don't get carried away and make double the sauce like I did the second time. If you have too much, it won't glaze the chicken if there's too much liquid. Do use the bulb of garlic, it mellows nicely with cooking.
http://www.christopherranch.com/archives/6371

Niknud, I made these noodles by Jane Brody all the time when my kids were your kids' ages. You can eliminate the crushed red pepper - I always did. This meal come together in a flash: http://www.caloriecount.com/szechuan-noodles-peanut-sauce-jane-recipe-r23974

Hi Niknud, just saw your question. I would just go to some place reliable and ask what they have that is local or fresh. In my market right now it's a red snapper. (East Coast in the U.S.) But it will work with any fish. There is something about olive oil, lemon, salt and pepper that makes it just delicious. The fishmonger can debone it for you, and take of the head if that's an issue. You can put whatever you like in the cavity while it cooks too: more lemon slices, Italian parsley, maybe tarragon. But there is no need unless you'd like to.

Requires a trip to a produce stand/market/garden but I have been obsessed this summer with a sort of no fry/no breading rift on eggplant parmesan. Using smallish thin eggplant, split lenghtwise, cover with olive oil and bake until tender. Prepare a quick fresh tomato sauce, for me it's just chunky tomatoes, onion, garlic, basil microwaved for about 4-5 minutes ( for one person amount). Top eggplant with sauce and bake a bit more until sauce evaporates a bit. Finish with a topping of grated cheese and breadcrumbs, either broiled or baked a bit to toast.

Francis Lam's pasta and greens carbonara is one of my favorite fast dinners, and more wholesome than the original. It's good with any sturdy, flavorful green, and I might even prefer it with whole wheat spaghetti (the DeLallo brand is pretty good). The website he originally posted it on is gone, but the exact recipe exists (unattributed) on Epicurious:
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/member/views/pasta-with-greens-carbonara-50167020

@Niknud, since you'll be going to the library, check out Nigel Slater's Fast Food. Since he's English, the recipes are not too spicy for the kids and the recipes are quick and nicely unfussy (in preparation).

(1) Breakfast for dinner is sometimes nice, it's actually less rushed than in the morning. Omelets, pancakes, sausages, fruit, etc. (2) I bought a pork loin boneless roast yesterday, gave it the sage and garlic treatment, and then baked sweet potatoes alongside in the oven. a 2 lb. roast would be enough for your family and would come close to the 60 minute mark. At the very last I quickly cooked some green beans, but you could do any vegetable. (3) Roast a whole fish in the oven (use the very high heat, 5 minutes for every inch technique), and give everyone a helping with olive oil, capers, lemon, and salt and pepper on the side (or it sounds like you are great at Asian cooking, you could do a little drizzle of sesame oil and soy sauce.) Rice and cucumbers in a mild vinegar and some herbs on the side. A green salad would be nice. (4) Skirt steak, grill it or throw it in a cast iron pan. It cooks so quickly. Slice it thin and put it in soft corn tortillas with some guacamole and/or salsa. Doctor up some canned beans as a side. Add on scallions, cheese, cherry tomatoes, whatever is hanging about in the refrigerator and should be used up. (4) Bake potatoes in their jackets and cook up whatever veggies are around as sides.

Wait a stinkin' minute...since when did your kids turn five and eight years old?? I'm sure they were babies like yesterday. :)

We like fast food, i.e. make-ahead stuff that we can reheat easily during the week. I recently made slow cooker pulled pork - it was very good! McCormick's dry mix at the store, recipe on back of package. Leftovers for days. Serve on buns or with steamed rice (made in the rice cooker). It was a tad too sweet so next time I may cut the sugar.

We also eat mac and cheese like crazy, but that's boring, so don't make that.

I'm making this tonight: https://food52.com/recipes/23901-barbara-kafka-s-marinated-eggplant
alongside some steamed rice. it's very yummy, but I will probably be the only eating it since no one else likes eggplant what is wrong with them.

This is easy to make, delicious, and especially quick if you prepared the rice the night before: https://food52.com/recipes/19490-jean-georges-ginger-fried-rice

I like this recipe from woks of life. http://thewoksoflife.com/2014/07/scallion-ginger-shrimp-redux/

I also have been in a rut so I went to the library and took out a bunch of cookbooks. I've found some different recipes that I love.

Serve this: http://www.thewednesdaychef.com/the_wednesday_chef/2014/07/cooking-for-hugo-corinne-trangs-korean-barbecued-chicken.html

Quick to make and a total hit with kids and adults. Use any dark soy sauce and any onion you have on hand. The only thing that is a must is the fresh ginger.