Good morning, and happy Sunday! We welcomed 2026 with a short getaway, lots of football-watching, and lucky food. 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.
This Week’s Meals
Now, let’s back up to last weekend…
There was no church on Sunday, so we had a quiet day at home. I got out for a walk, baked a loaf of bread for dinner that night, and packed suitcases for our trip.
We had dump-and-bake pesto Alfredo chicken pasta for supper…
…with steamed broccoli and the toasted English muffin bread that I made that afternoon.
Let’s chat about books! I kicked off the New Year of reading with a really entertaining mystery-thriller: Everyone is Lying to You by Jo Piazza.
In this novel, a struggling writer is pulled back into the life of her former best friend, now a wildly successful “tradwife” influencer, just before a glamorous conference turns into a shocking disappearance and a brutal murder. It is a fast, juicy thriller that peels back the perfect filters of social media and keeps you guessing about who to trust.
On Monday morning, we packed up the car and drove a couple hours east from the Blue Ridge Mountains to the Tidewater region and Virginia’s Northern Neck.
A quick pit stop for for lunch at Turning Point in Richmond on the way: this was my chili and turkey club sandwich, but they also had a great selection of brunch items.
We explored Belle Isle State Park…
…before checking into our Airbnb, which was situated right on the beautiful Rappahannock River.
We had dinner at the Sandpiper in White Stone, where we shared fried calamari to start, and I ordered the crab cake and fried shrimp combo with hush puppies and collard greens. We all loved our seafood dinners!
Tuesday was a beautiful, sunny winter day…
We did some shopping in Kilmarnock that morning,
and visited historic Christ Church, which dates back to 1735 Colonial Virginia.
I picked up a delicious tuna salad sandwich at The River Market for lunch (the boys loved their crab cake sandwiches, too)…
…and we went for a walk at the Hughlett Point Nature Preserve — this time on the Chesapeake Bay side of the peninsula.
Later that afternoon, Keith and I drove over to the charming town of Gloucester to wander around.
Then take-out for dinner! Pizza, wings, and a side salad from Pig & Pie…
…plus a slice of coconut cake that I grabbed at The Market earlier in the day.
We left the Northern Neck on Wednesday morning after breakfast, and made it home by lunchtime. There was a dusting of snow overnight…it was cold!
I restocked the kitchen with groceries and worked through a lot of laundry that afternoon.
Gibbs has been requesting my buffalo chicken dip for dinner recently, so I figured it would be the perfect meal for football-watching and New Year’s Eve celebrations at home. We paired the dip with chips, crackers, carrot sticks, and celery sticks.
I also offered pimento cheese and crackers (another favorite around here)…
…as well as baked breaded chicken tenders. Everyone was happy!
Thursday was New Year’s Day! Gibbs played a round of golf with a friend, Casey and Spencer played soccer at the high school, and Keith and I got out for a walk.
We had a lucky New Year’s dinner, just like my mom taught me. On the menu: sweet and spicy pork tenderloin (from page 77 in my cookbook),
along with black eyed peas with bacon,
my grandmother’s easy jazzed up version of store-bought sauerkraut,
Jiffy cornbread with creamed corn, and white rice. I love this tradition and it’s always one of my favorite meals of the year. I talked to my aunt on the phone that afternoon, and she was making her black eyed peas and cornbread, too. Perfect way to kick off 2026!
Adria and I had an early Pilates session on Friday, and then Keith and Casey hit the road to head south to Charlotte, North Carolina for Casey’s soccer tournament this weekend.
Gibbs, Spencer, and I had a quiet afternoon at home while I got some work done. Since it was just the three of us for supper, I kept the meal simple: Sloppy Joes…
…paired with French fries and cut-up veggies with our favorite homemade Ranch dip.
Saturday included a basketball game for Spencer, and a visit from our former babysitter that afternoon.
I had a tuna melt for lunch,
and we picked up take-out from The Bavarian Chef for supper. The schnitzel, sausages, and Bavarian pretzels never disappoint!
So there you have it, friends — another week of easy dinners! I hope that you’ve found something new to add to your own table in the days ahead. Thank you for being here, and have a wonderful Sunday!
Good morning, Blair!
Thank you for taking us along on your Northern Neck adventure!
Happy New Year!
Happy New Year to you, too! Hope you had a nice week, Ann!
You visited my new hometown….Gloucester. Lots of interesting spots and I hope you enjoyed the town. Happy New Year!
We loved the town, Sharon! We didn’t have as much time there as we would have liked, and a lot of the shops were closed that afternoon, but it is so beautiful!!
Happy New Year! I love visiting historic churches when we travel. So many pretty old churches, and many still in operation. Have a great week!
Happy New Year to you, too, Renee! Have a great week as well.
Love checking in with you every week, Blair! I’m a transplanted Yankee living in Virginia and I have been making your Pimento Cheese recipe for the past 3 years. I always bring it to our neighborhood potlucks and the native Virginians swear it’s the best they ever ate. I even made some for Christmas gifts instead of cookies and it was really appreciated.
I have a little tip on how to make that SautĂ©ed Spinach and Garlic even better – add some raisins as you sautĂ©. You don’t even have to plump them before adding them to the skillet. It’s something that my Sicilian grandmother always did. She even used it as a filling for a type of stuffed bread. She used bread dough like a pie crust and filled it with the spinach, garlic and raisin mixture. We called it Spinach Pie and it was always a family favorite. Of course, you can always just make it as a side dish.
We vacationed in Gloucester last year and we loved it. Did you get to the Sweet Tooth Cafe? Their bakery items are incredible. And their sandwiches are out of this world, too. I wish we lived closer, but then again, maybe it’s a good thing we don’t!
Happy New Year!
Janet
Hi, Janet! Thank you so much for your note. It makes me really happy to know that you and your friends love the pimento cheese (me too)! 🙂
Thank you for the tip about the raisins. I feel like I’ve heard of that at some point, but I’ve definitely never tried it myself. I love a sweet-and-savory combo, so I’m excited. The Spinach Pie also sounds amazing.
We weren’t actually staying in Gloucester (we were closer to Kilmarnock), so our stroll around Gloucester was very short. Unfortunately, most of the shops and cafes were closed that afternoon (I’m assuming because it was a holiday week?). Anyway, we would love to get back there at some point because it was very charming! Sweet Tooth Cafe sounds right up my alley…