Good morning, and happy Sunday! This week included kids’ sports, wild spring weather, and a fun thriller. 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…
Keith and the older boys did yard work on Sunday morning while I took Spencer to his soccer team’s game. He can’t play for a while (thanks to his broken foot), but he was happy to see his buddies.
To take advantage of some mild weather, Keith grilled hamburgers for supper,
which we paired with an apple slaw, classic pasta salad, and frozen onion rings.
Onto the books! This week I read Dear Debbie, the newest psychological thriller from Freida McFadden. As always, this one was twisty, smart, and well written (even if it was totally unrealistic)!
In this novel, advice columnist Debbie Mullen has spent years guiding other women through messy marriages. When her own life starts unraveling, she decides to stop playing nice and start following her own revenge-filled advice. What unfolds is a darkly funny thriller where you might find yourself rooting for her even as things spiral completely out of control.
Once the boys were off to school on Monday morning, I took Teddy to the vet for his vaccinations, made a stop at Yoder’s for a few groceries, and came home to photograph a couple of recipes and jump on a Zoom meeting that afternoon.
A chilly walk after lunch — we even got a dusting of snow later!
Soccer practices were canceled, so we had easy chicken enchiladas for supper, plus chips, salsa, and homemade guac, and watched college basketball on TV.
Plus, an Italian love cake for dessert!
Tuesday got off to a slower start since the kids had a 2-hour delay.
Once the boys were at school, I headed over to Mollie’s farm for a walk and visit, then spent the rest of my short work day taking recipe photos.
Keith was gone for work that evening, so I kept supper really simple and kid-friendly: the boys’ favorite Duke’s mac and cheese with a side of steamed broccoli.
Ashley and I walked our dogs together on Wednesday morning, Teddy went to the groomer, and I spent a lot of time in the kitchen working on new recipes.
After Gibbs’ golf and Casey’s soccer, we had a quick dinner before Youth Group: dump-and-bake chicken pesto Alfredo pasta,
along with homemade garlic bread and a bagged Caesar salad.
And practically overnight, we went from snow and sleet to a sunny, spring-like Thursday.
I met Ashley for another morning walk, and then headed down to Charlottesville for a check-up at the dermatologist.
I was busy baking and photographing a cake recipe that afternoon, so Keith offered to pick up supper from The BBQ Exchange on his way home from work.
We had a variety of favorites, including pulled pork, pulled chicken, and smoked wings, plus a ton of sides — cornbread, pumpkin muffins, potato salad, fries, hush puppies, collard greens, coleslaw, green beans with tomatoes, and mac and cheese. Always delicious!
Friday included an early Pilates session and errands in Culpeper…
…plus a lunch date with Keith at Jack’s Shop Kitchen. I had the (giant) Southwest Chicken Salad, which totally hit the spot on a warm afternoon!
We needed a quick meal that evening that I could throw together after golf and soccer, so we had flatbread pizzas (I topped a few of them with Italian sausage instead of pepperoni)…
…and a simple green salad with balsamic vinaigrette.
So that brings us to the weekend! Keith took Casey to Fredericksburg for soccer training on Saturday, while I stayed home with the other two boys and tended to groceries, closet clean-out, and afternoon haircuts.
We had a “snacky” dinner that the kids always appreciate: my easy buffalo chicken dip with tortilla chips,
as well as baked breaded chicken tenders, carrots and celery with Ranch dip,
and rosemary roasted potatoes.
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!
The weather continues to be all over the place, springtime in Virginia .
Have a wonderful week!
Exactly, Ann! I’d expect nothing else from a Virginia March. 🙂 Hope you have a good week, and enjoy this warm weather while we’ve got it!
Blair, the recipes this week look so good. I may have obstructed cornbread cake mix one soon. It’s just me now, so I’ll have to share it with someone, since I certainly don’t need to have the whole cake here. It’s too tempting for me to have around here. My husband’s funeral was on Friday, and it was a beautiful service, and tge weather was beautiful too. So many people from our past showed up to honor him, & it was so nice to receive so many hugs from them. So now, it’s just me with our 2 little dogs. They miss him terribly,, as I do also. I’m slowly getting back to life, as he’d want me to. Going back to church this morning after not going for the past 3 weeks, rejoined my ladies Bible study group that meets in Wednesday mornings, & I’ve made the decision to go back to my part time job at the nursing home on the 20 th, which my boss there is so happy about. She said the residents have missed me, as much as I’ve missed them too. My husband wouldn’t want me to stay home alone and not live my life. He told me that before he passed,when he was able to still communicate with me. He didn’t want me to become depressed, and to continue moving forward. I’m trying to do that, one day at a time, & 1 step at a time. Reading your upbeat posts are a bright start to my Sunday mornings.
Hi, Leslie! I’m so glad that the service was beautiful. What a blessing to have so many people show up for him and for you. He must have been a wonderful person.
I’m also happy to hear that you’re taking care of yourself, even when it’s hard. The nursing home is lucky to have you!
Sending you love this week. And don’t forget — that cornbread freezes beautifully, so you can pull out a piece or two at a time as you need it. 🙂
Reading about your week was most entertaining. Like the dump and bake recipes, especailly with instructions for 2 servings as I am a recent widow. Enjoyed your pictures also. Keep up the good work.
Thank you so much, Marie!
Have you read any of the Thursday Murder Club series by Richard Orman? I especially loved the 2nd book of the series. It takes place in a retirement community in England. One of the first paragraphs is about the members talking about another resident. One says, have you heard so & so is on another diet? She’s 82. What’s the point? What’s another sausage roll going to do at this point? I laughed so hard!
Hi, Susan! Yes! I read the first book in that series, but I don’t think I’ve read any others. It was very good, though — thank you for the reminder! Maybe it’s time to go back and finish a few more! 🙂