Our Week in Meals #513

Good morning, and happy Sunday! This week included a long weekend, a birthday, and a mystery. 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…

Sunday marked the final day of the younger boys’ Labor Day soccer tournament, so we spent it in Richmond watching four games between the two teams. Meanwhile, Gibbs played a round of golf with friends!

We all got home tired and hungry, so I planned one of the easiest meals I know: 4-ingredient baked tortellini,

with a side of garlic bread (stashed in my freezer) and a Caesar salad.

Book time! This week I read The Puppet Show by M.W. Craven, which is the first book in a British mystery series featuring Detective Washington Poe and his quirky sidekick, Tilly. I’m really looking forward to reading the next one soon!

In this novel, disgraced Detective Poe is pulled back into action when a serial killer begins burning victims alive in ancient stone circles across England’s Lake District. Paired with brilliant but socially awkward analyst Tilly Bradshaw, Poe follows a disturbing trail of clues and slowly realizes that the killer’s connection to him is far more personal than he expected. It’s a dark, clever crime thriller with a great detective duo, plenty of twists, and a surprise ending!

Monday was the Labor Day holiday, so it was nice to have the day off from work, school, and sports practices after such a full weekend.

I went for a walk with Keith, restocked the groceries in our kitchen, and pulled out some of our fall decorations.

Casey and I also made a trip into Charlottesville for lunch at Shake Shack and some shopping!

We stopped at Trader Joe’s on our way out of town, and were happy to see lots of fun fall goodies. Highlights included this pumpkin sourdough (great for morning toast with apple butter and for grilled cheese sandwiches at lunch), the Autumnal Harvest soup, butternut squash mac and cheese, and maple spiced nut mix (love it as a salad topper in lieu of the candied pecans on this house salad).

We had a classic cookout for supper, complete with grilled hamburgers and hotdogs,

the boys’ favorite homemade mac and cheese,

and a simple side salad.

We also celebrated Keith’s birthday a little bit early with a key lime pie!

It was back to work, school, and sports practices on Tuesday…

After a walk up the road, I spent most of the day at my desk editing photos and getting work done.

It was one of those evenings where most of us ate supper from a cooler at the soccer fields! I had Keith throw some marinated chicken on the grill on Monday while he was cooking the burgers and hotdogs, so that Tuesday night’s dinner would largely be done in advance.

Then we could just assemble chicken shawarma with flatbread, tzatziki, lettuce, tomato, hummus, olives, and feta in between multiple soccer and golf practices.

I also took Spencer over to watch the second half of the UVA men’s soccer game with a few of his teammates once their practice was over.

And enjoyed this delicious ice cream for dessert!

Wednesday included a morning walk with Mollie, a quick stop at Yoder’s for a few groceries, and work at the house.

I also prepped dinner in advance, since I knew that we’d be on the golf course watching Gibbs’ match all afternoon and evening.

Once we got home, I just reheated the dump-and-bake sesame chicken noodles, which we paired with a kale salad dressed in sesame peanut dressing and a tray of frozen egg rolls.

Ashley and I walked our dogs together on Thursday morning, and I took a break from work mid-day for Casey’s orthodontist appointment.

It was another long evening of soccer and golf practices for all 3 kids, so I (once again) planned a meal that we could assemble and eat at various times as we were coming and going.

No one in my house ever complains about flatbread pizzas, plus another simple green salad on the side for those who wanted some veggies!

After a walk with Adria and Ashley, I took advantage of a quiet Friday at home to get as much work done as possible in advance of another busy weekend.

Once Gibbs was home from golf practice, we all sat down for a perfect early-fall meal: shrimp and corn chowder paired with Ashley’s buttered and griddled sourdough bread. Hit the spot!

And that brings us to Saturday!

While Gibbs played 18 holes of golf with a friend, Keith and I spent the bulk of our day back on the soccer field for Spencer’s game.

Then we all enjoyed a quiet evening at home complete with football watching on TV and grilled salmon for supper.

While Keith was in charge of the grill, I made pesto pasta to serve on the side,

along with sauteed zucchini, another simple side salad, and the last of the sourdough bread from the night before.

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!