Our Week in Meals #438

Good morning, and happy Sunday! This week included a quick Spring Break getaway, sweet treats, and lots of time outdoors. You’ll find all of the highlights from the past few days, along with each of our dinners, in today’s roundup of Our Week in Meals.

For those of you who are new to the blog, Our Week in Meals is where I share a little bit about what we’ve been up to over the past week — as it relates to our dinners each night. This series gives you a glimpse “behind the scenes” at some highlights from our life, shows you how I balance a busy schedule with feeding my family, and offers a few new ideas for your own weekly meal plan.

Now, let’s back up to last weekend…

We went to church on Sunday morning, and then we were off for a short Spring Break trip. We made a quick stop for lunch at the 2400 Diner in Fredericksburg on the way — a delicious chicken souvlaki platter for me!

One of the many things we love about Virginia is the easy access to both coastline and mountains. We can be at home in the Blue Ridge, and less than 2 hours later arrive on the scenic shores of the Northern Neck. Located on a peninsula bounded by the Potomac River and Monroe Bay, Colonial Beach is home to Virginia’s second largest sand beach. This was the perfect solution for a quick trip, since the boys needed to be back in Madison for sports practices during the week.

We rented an Airbnb in town, so we were right on the beach (a big hit with the kids, obviously), and in walking distance of shops and restaurants.

Ice cream from the Ice Cream Hut was our first stop. More often than not, I’ll get the Birthday Cake flavor!

For dinner we had to try the weekend buffet at the classic Wilkerson’s Seafood Restaurant on the water in Potomac Beach.

Steamed shrimp, crab legs, crab cakes, fried shrimp, hush puppies, and more…

Let’s chat books! I’ve got a fun thriller to share this week. In Need to Know by Karen Cleveland, CIA analyst Vivian Miller uncovers a shocking secret about her husband while investigating Russian sleeper agents, throwing her marriage and career into turmoil. As she struggles to protect her family while upholding her duty, she must decide how far she’s willing to go—and whether she really wants to know the truth. This is a quick page-turner that will keep you guessing until the very end…

Monday morning in Colonial Beach!

A short walk up the street…

…and cinnamon rolls with cappuccino at the coffee shop near our rental house.

This peninsula on the Northern Neck is where George Washington, James Monroe, and Robert E. Lee were all born. Talk about some history!

We spent time that day exploring Stratford Hall, the historic home of the Lee family.

The main house tours were closed that day, but we could walk around the grounds, the gardens, the beach, the gristmill, and the museum/gallery.

Beautiful views of the Potomac!

Followed by an afternoon beach walk with Casey to look for rocks…

For dinner, we walked over to the brewery at the Ice House Marina on the bay-side of the peninsula.

We had mozzarella sticks, burgers, fish n’ chips, shrimp quesadillas, this shrimp salad, and sweet potato fries.

We said goodbye to the Northern Neck on Tuesday…

…and made it back home to Madison by lunchtime.

So much had bloomed in just a couple of days!

I went for a short walk,

stopped in a few of our favorite antique shops in Ruckersville that afternoon, and served an early supper before Casey’s soccer practice.

We had this one-skillet Southern shrimp and rice,

along with corn sticks and steamed, buttered broccoli.

A sunrise walk on Wednesday…

My parents came for lunch (they were watching Teddy while we were away), Keith and Gibbs played a round of golf that afternoon, and I assembled dinner in advance. We needed a meal that was easy to pop in the oven after Spencer’s practice and before Casey went to Youth Group.

On the menu: stuffed peppers with rice and a loaf of Ashley’s sourdough bread.

I met Adria for a walk on Thursday morning, and then got the family organized for photos that afternoon. I needed some professional headshots and behind-the-scenes shots for my upcoming cookbook, so it seemed like a good opportunity to get Keith and the boys involved as well (trust me, they were not thrilled with this idea).

Then it was back to the regular weeknight routine! Casey and Spencer both had soccer practices, so we ate a later dinner that included dump-and-bake chicken pesto Alfredo pasta,

along with store-bought garlic breadsticks and a house salad with candied pecans.

I baked my mom’s easy apple pie to use in the cookbook photos earlier that afternoon, so we had apple pie and vanilla ice cream for dessert!

Friday was another gray, wet spring day. I had Pilates in the morning with Adria and Ashley, ran a few errands while I was in Culpeper, and then hit some balls at the range while Gibbs played golf that afternoon.

Keith grilled burgers for dinner after Casey’s soccer practice,

which we paired with crispy seasoned roasted potatoes and another salad like the night before (since I had all of the ingredients ready to go).

I met friends at Mollie’s farm for a visit and walk on Saturday morning.

Gibbs had a tee time to play golf that afternoon, so Keith took him to the course while I took the younger two boys to the Civil War Wilderness Battlefield. There’s a great hiking trail there that they love, and we stopped for frozen custard at Rita’s on the way home.

Dinner was a good one! Keith grilled marinated chicken thighs…

…and we had sour cream blueberry muffins, Amish green beans with brown butter,

and this easy stovetop mac and cheese on the side.

So there you have it, friends — another week of dinners! I hope that you’ve found something new to add to your own table in the days ahead. Thanks for being here, and have a wonderful Sunday!