My wife and I are nurses with busy schedules. Here are 4 easy meals we love to make with items from Trader Joe's.

• My wife and I are nurses who drive about 35 miles at least once a month to shop at Trader Joe's.
• We love to buy ingredients that help us make quick, easy meals, like pesto chicken and Italian orzo.
• We also like to make Greek-style gyros using Trader Joe's beef and lamb gyro slices and pita.

As busy nurses, my wife and I know that finding time to cook can be difficult. So, we like to look for easy-to-make meals that are both quick and delicious to feed our family of eight.

Although most of our children are picky and would usually prefer chicken nuggets or plain pasta, we're more adventurous with our palates.

Despite the roughly 35-mile drive, one of our favorite places to shop for groceries is Trader Joe's. We love that the store has foods inspired by global cuisines, made accessible for busy people like us who don't always have the time to make much from scratch.

Here are four of our favorite meals to prepare, featuring ingredients from Trader Joe's.

Trader Joe's gyro slices, pita bread, and tzatziki are a winning combination

Trader Joe's precooked beef and lamb gyro slices take less than a minute to heat on a griddle or in a frying pan.

We like to take a few slices of the meat and layer them on a piece of pita bread with spinach, tomato, and onion. I prefer the original pita bread, and my wife likes the whole-wheat kind.

Then, we top off the gyros with Trader Joe's tzatziki, which also makes an excellent dip for crunchy pita chips.

One of our favorite lunches includes Trader Joe's rice, carne-asada burritos, and roasted corn

For an easy lunch we can prep the night before, we each add a Trader Joe's carne-asada burrito and some rice from Trader Joe's Cuban-style citrus-garlic bowl to a microwavable glass container.

Then, we add roasted corn. It pairs well with the spicy carne asada — the roasted poblano chiles give it a slick kick — and the sweetness of the rice.

The best part of this meal is that all three items can be prepared using only a microwave oven.

We love pairing Trader Joe's pesto chicken with Italian orzo and grape tomatoes

For a taste of Italy, we enjoy preparing Trader Joe's pesto chicken and Italian orzo with Lipman grape tomatoes.

We season the tomatoes with olive oil, salt, pepper, and garlic powder, then place them in the center of a baking dish surrounded by the pesto chicken, and let it cook for 25 minutes at 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

Next, we add the orzo and two cups of chicken broth. After about 10 to 12 minutes, the orzo should be tender, and all the broth should be absorbed.

To finish, we top the dish with freshly grated Parmesan and pair it with crusty Italian bread and olive oil.

Trader Joe's beef bulgogi and Japchae help us make Korean barbecue at home

Our oldest son loves Korean barbecue, and Trader Joe's beef bulgogi lets us have a delicious taste of it at home.

First, we heat the bulgogi in the microwave and add it to a wok. Then, we defrost two packages of Trader Joe's Japchae in the microwave and add them to the wok as well.

The light, thin glass noodles absorb all the flavor of the bulgogi broth after simmering for a few minutes.

Trader Joe's vegetable spring rolls also make an excellent appetizer for this meal. To prepare, we defrost them in the microwave, then briefly pan-fry them in a light oil until they're crispy on the outside.