Our Week in Meals #148

Good morning, and happy Sunday! Are you ready for the season?! This week’s recipes are all about cozy fall comfort (even if it still feels like summer around here). Highlights from the past few days, along with our easy dinners, are all included 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 Keith’s birthday, and it was filled with fresh air, family time, fun food, and football. I’d say he had a good day!

We started the morning with pumpkin spice cinnamon rolls for breakfast, and then I headed out the door for a walk with my friends, Sallie and Mollie. It was a beautiful, cool day to be outside!

We took another walk here in Madison as a family before lunch, and then made our way up to Culpeper to have fried chicken and biscuits for lunch (Keith’s request)!

Plus ice cream for dessert (the kids’ request)! Keith and I each shared a few bites of this Pumpkin Pie Blizzard — which was delicious, but way too filling after our lunch.

We made it home in time for Keith to watch the Redskins play their season opener (wish they had won!), while I pulled together his birthday dinner: grilled salmon, rice, roasted acorn squash, and a fall-inspired salad with greens, toasted pecans, sliced apples, blue cheese, and dried cranberries in Apple Butter Vinaigrette.

And for his birthday dessert, I made one of Keith’s favorite treats: 5-Ingredient Gooey Butter Cake!

I put the younger two boys on the school bus on Monday morning, Keith headed out of town for a business trip, and Gibbs stayed home with me on the couch for most of the day. He caught the same 24-hour stomach bug that Casey had a few days prior, so rest was in order!

I took Teddy for a walk up the street once the other two boys were at school, and then spent the rest of the morning in the kitchen working on some new recipes.

Spencer had football practice that evening, so I served bowls of Pumpkin Chili with cornbread for dinner before we hustled out the door.

I finished another book that night, too! The Fleur de Sel Murders is the third mystery in a series by Jean-Luc Bannalec, which takes place in Brittany, France. These International bestsellers are always beautiful, unpredictable page-turners. Highly recommend!

I went to an early class at the gym on Tuesday morning, followed by a pumpkin iced coffee (because we’re ready for fall, but it still feels like July in Virginia)!

I also had this new-to-me Oui yogurt for a snack, which was deeeeeelicious. It’s a French style yogurt made with whole milk, so it’s super creamy and thick (but not too tangy, like Greek yogurt), and sweet but not too sweet. Loved it!

The rest of my day included editing photos, picking up a window seat cushion from the upholsterer, and participating in a conference call for a work project.

Dinner was a very kid-friendly meal before we all went to my PTO meeting at the school that evening: Goldfish Chicken Nuggets (Gibbs’s request), served with mac and cheese and steamed broccoli.

Wednesday started with a cool, crisp sunrise and a bowl of Pumpkin Spice Slow Cooker Oatmeal (which I prepared the day before and then stashed in individual portions in the refrigerator to reheat for easy breakfasts). I made half a batch of the oatmeal in my smaller Crock Pot, which gave me 4 servings instead of 8. Perfect!

Unfortunately, the fall-like temps didn’t last, and we were right back up to the humid 90+ degree heat that graced us all week.

Once the boys were at school, I went to my girlfriend’s farm for a walk with the dog, followed by a few errands in town for the school PTO.

My parents were planning to join us for dinner that evening and then come with us to watch Spencer’s football game; however, Spence came home early from school with a fever! Our plans changed, my folks did not come over, and instead we just took Gibbs to his football practice after dinner.

I served Chicken and Stuffing Casserole, along with pumpkin bread and another apple and pecan salad with apple butter vinaigrette (just using up leftover salad dressing from Sunday night).

Casey came with me to walk Teddy up the street on Thursday morning before school, and wanted me to take his picture in front of the sunrise because the sun was glowing red. Related: he also wanted me to take a photo of the dead slug that he saw “decomposing” on the road so that I could send it to his teacher. I declined, and I’m sure Ms. Lloyd is thanking me for that decision!????

Spencer still had a fever, so my friend Mollie came over to walk on our property while Spence rested. We did sneak out of the house that afternoon to pick up some apples at the Graves Mountain packing shed; however, there weren’t any apples available for purchase yet! We didn’t want to pick-our-own (since Spence wasn’t feeling very well), so instead we just sat on a bench and ate an ice cream cone!

One benefit of being at home with sick kids over the past week? My house is looking ready for fall! The decorations are out, the candy corn is in the jar (just like Mom taught me),

and my new wreath is on the door (<– it’s on sale now, too!). All I’m missing are mums and pumpkins for the front porch, but those will have to wait until the temps cool off!

Casey had soccer practice at 6:00 that evening, so dinner was an easy meal that I pulled out of the freezer. I reheated leftover Crock Pot Broccoli Cheese Soup from last week, which I paired with these Pepperidge Farm French rolls.

Spencer’s fever finally broke on Friday, but he had to stay home with me for another day. Unfortunately, it rained all day, so we were basically trapped indoors — unable to go anywhere.

We stayed busy with Star Wars, toy soldiers,

books (he’s been loving this one recently),

and a couple of short, wet dog walks. I also managed to photograph a new soup recipe before the older two came home from school.

Keith didn’t return until late on Friday night, so the boys and I just picked up Giovanna’s for supper. Pizza, salad and a side of Teddy!????

We spent Saturday morning at Casey’s soccer game, and then had leftover pizza for lunch.

Keith took the boys to watch the Woodberry Forest football game here in Madison for a little while in the afternoon, while I stayed home to do some baking. More easy treats coming your way soon!

For dinner that night, we had Slow Cooker Pork Chops with Vegetables and Gravy, plus corn muffins and a salad on the side.

The salad was a recipe that I saw in Southern Lady magazine this month. I used only kale instead of the kale-Swiss chard mix (simply because it was easier), and substituted feta cheese for the goat cheese. Otherwise, I stuck with the recipe and loved that Lemony Dijon Salad Dressing!

And that’s all for now, friends! I hope that you’ve found a few new ideas to try in the week ahead. Thanks for stopping by today!

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