Our Week in Meals #116

Good morning, and happy Sunday! We survived a very chilly week (and more school closings) here in Virginia, and we’re looking forward to some warmer temps ahead. I’m sharing all of the highlights from the past few days, along with our easy 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 was relatively quiet — house chores in the morning, and back-to-back indoor soccer practices for the older boys all afternoon.

Since it was almost 50 degrees outside, we planned dinner on the grill! Keith cooked a couple of steaks, as well as Grilled Chicken with 5-Minute Tuscan Marinade.

I made my Perfect Oven-Roasted Asparagus on the side, plus a tray of Spencer’s favorite rolls.

For the first time in weeks, I had 3 healthy kids head to school on Monday morning!

I took advantage of a couple of hours of free time with a short (cold) hike in the woods before I returned home to photograph a recipe.

Spence came home at lunchtime and then spent a good part of the afternoon weeding my garden. He said that he was tending to “his crops.” ????

Salmon was on the menu for dinner that evening. We had my Sheet Pan Maple-Glazed Salmon with Broccoli and Sweet Potatoes. Simple and delicious!

I met a friend at a spin class on Tuesday morning after dropping the kids off at school. This was a nice way to get in some movement on a very cold, nasty day.

Once home, I started the slow cooker for dinner. I had a PTO meeting at the school that night, so I knew that I’d need something quick and easy before I ran out the door. A cozy soup in the Crock Pot sounded like a perfect solution.

In the end, my meeting was cancelled because we got a light dusting of snow that afternoon, so we enjoyed a quiet evening at home instead.

This Healthy Slow Cooker Lasagna Soup is always a hit — especially when paired with side salads and garlic bread.

Thanks to our tiny bit of snow, school was cancelled on Wednesday.

I met my girlfriend for a weights class at the gym while our boys played together in the childcare room.

Then I treated the kids to snow day donuts on our way home, plus a latte for me! Gibbs loved this specialty donut, which was topped with cookie dough and filled with brownie batter!????

We came home for a quick dog walk and shower before heading down to Charlottesville to meet my parents for lunch at Qdoba. Tacos, burritos, quesadillas, and burrito bowls galore!

We made a run through Costco for bulk staples like paper towels, laundry detergent and peanut butter (plus numerous snacks that the boys threw in the cart!); picked up an online grocery order at Harris Teeter, and then finally made our way back to Madison.

I let the kids pick out our dinner for the night while we were shopping at Costco. The one meal that they could all agree on was this refrigerated 5 Cheese Tortellini with marinara sauce. I was just relieved to have a quick option to throw together before we had to get Gibbs to the gym for his basketball game that evening…

Gibbs added these almond butter granola bites to the cart at Costco and they have quickly become a favorite around here…

The boys had a two hour delay on Thursday, which meant that Spencer had another day off from morning preschool.

Fortunately, my friend Mollie could come over and join me for a walk on our property while Spencer played. The fresh air and social time was nice, but boy was it cold! We bundled up in our biggest hats, scarves and mittens, but we were still burying our faces in our coats when that wind blew.

Casey had a basketball game in the evening, so I kept our early dinner really quick and easy again. It was chicken quesadilla night — served with corn, tortilla chips, salsa and guacamole!

Friday morning was a busy one, which included a Body Pump class, a stop at Rite Aid, a quick (cold) dog walk and photo editing — all before Spencer arrived home at midday.

Since it was too cold all week for him to play outside, this little art kit turned out to be a great source of indoor entertainment each afternoon!

The boys have been asking for pizza for awhile now, so I promised them that we could get carryout from Giovanna’s for dinner that night. Keith picked up the pizza, subs and chicken fingers on his way home from work, so I got a night off from the kitchen!

Saturday was all about basketball! I made a quick stop at Yoder’s to pick up our weekly lunch meat,

and then we had 3 games to cover that morning. Keith and I had to divide and conquer since our boys needed to be in multiple places at the same time.

We also took the boys to get some much-needed haircuts that afternoon.

I used the slow cooker to simmer Turkey Chili on the counter all day so that it would be ready and waiting for us when we returned home in the evening. I used this recipe, but swapped the ground beef for ground turkey and used chicken broth instead of beef broth.

I also baked a quick batch of Honey Cornbread to serve on the side.

So there you have it! I hope that these easy meal ideas offer some new inspiration for your dinners in the week ahead. Have a great Sunday!

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links. I may earn a small commission for my endorsement, recommendation, testimonial, and/or link to any products or services from this website.