This is a sponsored post written by on behalf of Barilla, but opinions are my own.

We are a busy family.  With two work out of the home parents, this blog, kid activities and a dozen other things going one, our schedule gets packed very quickly.  A lot of our meals used to be eaten in the carpool lane on our way to one activity or another.  After reading the statistics on how meals together can impact families {kids getting better grades, eating better foods and describing themselves as overall happier}, I decided that fast food restaurants had enough of my money! We decided to make sitting down for dinner together a HUGE priority in our life.  I mean we all have to eat anyways {doesn’t everyone?!} so why not make it the focus of reconnecting our family? Spending time with my family at the dinner table means we get to catch up on what is happened during the day, what the kids are excited about at school and just reconnect. 

Sometimes getting dinner on the table and actually being able to sit down and eat it becomes a challenge.  During those times, I turn to easy to make meals that I know everyone in my family will enjoy like pasta.  Of course, just like pretty much everything else in life, we all complete opposites on what we want ON our pasta so a make your own pasta bar is an awesome option for us.  I cook up a few ingredients and combine them with Barilla pasta sauce and let everyone put together their favorite dish!

Here are some of our favorite options for a make your own pasta bar:
– sliced bell peppers
– sliced onions
– sliced olives
– ground Italian sausage
– bacon pieces
– shrimp
– grated Parmesan cheese
– fresh ricotta cheese
– crushed red pepper

I usually get H to set the table for me while I finish up with dinner preparations.  It is a great way for her to get involved and a huge help to me.

Once we all settle at the table with our meal, that is when the fun starts!  I get to listen to H tell us all about what she is learning in school or sing a song they learned in music.  E is constantly surprising us with what new thing he is interested in eating {last week it was olives} which is funny.  His face when he finds something he doesn’t like is hilarious! I cherish those moments because I know they will be gone all too fast as those little ones grow up!

Barilla recognizes how important family dinners are too!  Their Share the Table® movement is all about getting families back to the dinner table together to recharge and reconnect.  This video speaks volumes about their commitment to helping families #ShareTheTable

In addition to just helping families reconnect, Barilla is also helping America fight hunger.  Feeding America® is the nation’s largest organization dedicated to fighting domestic hunger through a network of food banks, and Barilla supports that goal.  Of course, because they are awesome, they are supporting it with more than just words!  For every post using about reconnecting over a meal using the hashtag #ShareTheTable, Barilla will help provide the monetary equivalent of ten meals to Feeding America®, up to one million.  Think about that…you get to eat dinner with your family and enjoy each other.  Share that on your blog and social media and Barilla gives ten meals to people who are hungry.  That is HUGE!

So, tell me here in the comments and on my Facebook or Twitter page: How do you #ShareTheTable?

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Barilla.  For every post using #ShareTheTable from now until 4/30/14, Barilla will donate a monetary equivalent of ten meals ($1.11) to Feeding America®, up to 1 million meals.  Barilla will donate a maxium of $110,000.  One dollar helps provide 9 meals secured Feeding America® on behalf of local member food banks.