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Do you have a crockpot? That's a great way to roast a whole chicken, cook lasagna, make roast beef and of course chilis & stews.

You may also want to look around online for Once A Month Cooking or Freezer Meals. You and the kids can do the prep work on a day off and put the prepped ingredients in the freezer. Thaw this out a day in advance and pop in the oven.

I will second the crockpot suggestion! I'm a new mom and I don't think we would have any home cooked meals these past few months without it. I don't see myself stopping using it as my son gets older either since it's just so convenient. My favorite cookbooks so far have been America's Test Kitchen Slow Cooker Revolution Volume 1 & Volume 2 and Make It Fast, Cook It Slow by Stephanie O'Dea. I recently bought copies of O'Dea's other two cookbooks, but haven't made anything from them yet.

I forgot to mention that back when the kids were young and time was short during the week, I really made us of the concept of "Cook once, eat twice" (or maybe three times!)  I made a point of cooking one or two things on the weekend that would give us another dinner from leftovers during the week.  Things like casseroles, spaghetti sauce, soups, stews, roasts, etc. that take a bit of time to cook but that aren't hard to make were my lifesavers.  I could put a chicken in to roast for Saturday evening and have lots of nice leftover chicken to put into something else on Monday.  Then for Sunday evening supper I might make a big pot of soup or stew.  Just knowing that I had a couple of things left over took so much pressure off mid-week.  Also, having the leftovers meant that the kids could start dinner warming and maybe put a tossed salad together while I was on the way home.