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.
Good morning, and happy Sunday! Are you enjoying a fun fall weekend? We’re wrapping up another busy week complete with a harvest festival, sports practices, and lots of seasonal treats. All of the highlights, along with our easy dinners, are 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…
Teddy bundled up for an early walk on Sunday!
I spent the morning working on recipe photos for a client, and then we dropped Gibbs off at a friend’s birthday party at noon.
While Gibbs was with his friends, the younger boys and I joined Keith for a lunch date in Culpeper. He was on his way to the airport for a business trip, so we grabbed sandwiches at Jersey Mike’s in Culpeper beforehand.
The “Super Sub”: provolone, ham, prosciuttini, and cappacuolo.
Followed by a stop at the Halloween store for costumes!
The kids and I spent the rest of the afternoon at the Apple Harvest Festival at Graves Mountain Lodge here in Madison.
This is the pool that we belong to in the summer, and now the farm has been transformed for the new season! The skies were cloudy, which kept the temperatures cool.????
They’ve been waiting all year for these pretzels…
And it doesn’t get much better than warm Apple Butter Donuts on a hayride! Heaven for this child…
We came home with full bellies and a bushel of local apples for me to use in Crock Pot Apple Butter and applesauce. Love this time of year!
Dinner that night was an easy, kid-friendly option that I could pull together without much effort: Southern “Big Easy” Chop Suey with a green salad on the side.
I also finished my most recent book: The Dollhouse by Fiona Davis. This novel was so good!
In the 1950’s, the lush world of New York City’s glamorous Barbizon Hotel for Women housed a generation of aspiring models, secretaries, and editors who lived side-by-side while attempting to claw their way to fairy-tale success. Fast-forward to the present day, where a journalist becomes consumed with uncovering a dark secret buried deep within the Barbizon’s glitzy past...
Monday’s plans were changed slightly, since Casey stayed home from school with strep throat. Thanks to antibiotics and a day of rest, he was back to normal in no time!
We stopped at Yoder’s Country Market for deli meats after his appointment, where he also picked up a Cherry Hand Pie for a mid-morning snack. Clearly he wasn’t feeling too ill…
While stuck at home for the day, I took advantage of some extra time and baked a batch of 2-Ingredient Pumpkin Gingerbread to have on hand for snacks and breakfast. This time I baked the batter as muffins — 375 degrees F for about 18 minutes. Perfect with a cup of coffee!
Dinner that night was my fall-inspired Dump-and-Bake Cider Glazed Chicken, along with mashed potatoes and green beans. The kids love that sweet-and-savory combo from the cider sauce!
Tuesday was another cool, cloudy day, so I headed over to my friend’s farm for a morning walk.
It was so nice to be out there without sweating!
Back home, I made progress on reorganizing our linen closet (oh my gosh, there were kids probiotics in there that had expired back in 2014!!), pulling out the boys’ fall clothes, and writing a blog post. Phew!
The kids and I had a quick meal of tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches before we had to leave the house for the evening. I dropped Gibbs off at his football practice, and then dragged the younger two boys along with me to my 6:00 PTO meeting at the school. It was a late night by the time we all got home, so we showered and crashed shortly after!
After a few cloudy days in a row, we were blessed with a gorgeous, sunny, cool fall day on Wednesday!
Once our kids were at school, I met a girlfriend for a long walk with the dog.
We weren’t alone, because I ran into multiple other mom friends who were out taking advantage of the weather, too!
I finished the morning with a couple of errands in town on behalf of the school PTO. One stop led me to Cake Krums, where I needed to meet with the owner to discuss an order for the teachers.
Of course, if I’m in a bakery, I have to bring home some treats! I grabbed a pumpkin cream cheese swirl muffin, three rainbow vanilla cupcakes, and three apple cider donuts — plus a free coffee!
It’s not all cupcakes and donuts around here, though! Dinner that night was a quick meal from the freezer before I had to get the kids to football and soccer practices. When Dad’s out of town, meals get really basic around here. We had Fish n’ Chips (frozen fish filets, coleslaw and French fries)!
Thursday was pretty routine…I met my friend at the gym for a yoga class, stopped at the grocery store for some recipe testing ingredients, and then tinkered in the kitchen for most of the afternoon.
The boys didn’t have sports practices that evening, so we had a quiet night at home — which was much needed. Poor Spencer is so exhausted by the end of the week after many late nights of being dragged around with his older brothers. Kindergarten is rough!????
Dinner was a one-skillet Southern Pork Chop Dinner, with buttered noodles on the side.
Teddy was thrilled that Gibbs stayed home on Friday with a stomach bug — a constant playmate and snuggle companion all day!
Meanwhile, I photographed a couple of recipes in the morning, and then my friend Ashley came over for a walk after lunch.
We stayed near our house since Gibbs was resting inside, and there was no shortage of farmers out harvesting — corn, soybeans, and hay. ‘Tis the season!
Keith didn’t make it home until later on Friday night, so the boys and I were on our own for supper. I let the kids choose our meal, and they all voted for Chinese takeout. Not fancy, but it sure was easy!
Moo Goo Gai Pan + Rice {plus unpictured Sesame Chicken, Moo Shu Pork, Sweet and Sour Chicken and Spring Rolls}
Saturday morning was spent on the soccer fields for Casey’s team photos and game.
Keith’s parents came to watch Casey play, and then we all picked up subs for a late lunch at our house afterwards.
This was my smashed, un-photogenic rotisserie chicken sub with all of the toppings!
The afternoon was spent watching college football, so Chili Dogs seemed like an appropriate “tailgating” dinner.
We topped our hot dogs with Hot Dog Chili, grated cheese, pickle relish, and diced onion. On the side we had the leftover coleslaw from earlier in the week, along with a salad and chips. Cozy Saturday night!
And that’s it for the week! I hope you’ve found a few new easy dinner ideas to add to your meal plan in the coming days as well. Thanks for stopping by!
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.
