Grandmother's Dishes

• If you're skilled in making your grandmother's signature meals, you can set aside a night where you introduce these meals to your children. For example, you can get your kids to help you make your grandmother's popular stewed chicken with cornbread, and talk about how this is the dish that you and your siblings loved the most. Or if your grandmother grew up in Honduras and migrated here, you can serve them traditional Honduran dishes.
  
  

Garden-Inspired Meals

• If you have a vegetable and herb garden in your backyard, you can create healthy meals inspired by the crops you grow. For example, if you just harvested some okra and tomatoes, you can prepare an okra, tomato and hot sausage stew and serve it with crusted garlic bread. Or if you have a lot of basil, you can make a pesto-marinated pot roast with long-grain wild rice and marinated green bell peppers.
  
  

Fast Food Interpretations

• Another idea is to fix a different version of your favorite fast-food items. For example, if you enjoy Pizza Hut, you can get a whole-wheat, ready-to-bake pizza crust and put on toppings such as roasted garlic, red onions, red bell peppers and ham, turkey or diced chicken pieces along with a chunky tomato sauce.
  
  

Southern Food

• If you're from the South, you can dedicate a night to traditional Southern meals. If you always enjoyed barbecued ribs as a child, you can put a twist on this meal by making barbecue pulled-pork sandwiches for the family. Or if you found your father's recipe for shrimp and grits, you can add a kick to this recipe by substituting polenta for the traditional grits.