Our Week in Meals #154

Good morning, and happy Sunday! It truly feels like fall in Central Virginia — from pretty leaves to hay mazes and candy corn, we’re soaking in every bit of the season! All of the highlights, along with our easy dinners, are included in today’s roundup of Our Week in Meals!

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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…

It poured rain all day on Sunday, so instead of my usual morning walk, I stayed indoors and did cozier things like drinking Maple Sleigh coffee with homemade pumpkin spice creamer,

and simmering a pot of Beef Barley Soup for lunch (recipe coming to the blog soon)!

Keith took the older boys to see the new Addams Family movie, but Spencer opted to stay home. Instead, we had a “sweet” date at Cake Krums bakery in town after lunch. Spence has been asking for another Apple Butter Donut for weeks, so it seemed like a good time to indulge. I also brought home Maple Pumpkin Scones and Caramel Apple Pecan Scones for breakfasts this week, plus Halloween-themed sugar cookies for the kids.

Keith was in charge of grilling ButcherBox burgers (use that affiliate link to get a 10-14 lb. all-natural turkey for FREE in your first box!) for dinner that night, which we served with fries and a salad. It might not be summer anymore, but we’ll still grill on the weekends whenever we can!

Our salad included romaine lettuce, sliced cucumber, freshly grated Parmesan, bacon and croutons — all dressed in this delicious Parmesan Garlic Dressing. I added some salt, used a little bit less pepper, and thinned the dressing with more milk, but otherwise followed the recipe exactly and it turned out great!

Casey joined me for a short dog walk before school on Monday morning, as he does every weekday. He loves to get fresh air before he has to sit inside all day, and Teddy and I love the company.

After a foggy start, the sun returned that afternoon and we were treated to a beautiful 65-degree fall day.

I spent the morning in the kitchen testing two new recipes, and then met my friend Ashley for a hike after lunch. Plus a snack cone from Tastee Freez on the way home!

Casey had his last soccer practice of the season on Monday evening, so I fed the kids an early dinner at about 4:30 before we had to leave for the fields. I made a pot of my favorite Butternut Squash Soup, but gave the kids chicken noodle because I knew that they would prefer that option. We all had a crusty French baguette on the side!

I met my friend at the gym for a yoga class bright and early on a rainy Tuesday morning — followed by a pumpkin cappuccino afterwards!

The rest of my day was pretty quiet at home. I plugged away at work behind the computer, prepped dinner for that evening, and even managed to paint my nails for the first time in ages. I love these new colors from Essie’s fall collection: “On the Bright Cider” and “Rust-Worthy.”????

Keith was gone that night, so the boys and I enjoyed a cozy Chicken Pot Pie (the perfect meal on a cool, damp day!) and then went to the school for my PTO meeting.

Wednesday was a beautiful fall day around here, so I met my friend at her farm for a long walk after the kids went to school that morning.

After a stop at the bank for PTO business, I joined both Casey and Gibbs at their school for lunch with their classes. Fried chicken sandwich, salad with ranch dressing, an apple and chocolate milk — all for $3.30!????

I made Easy Taco Soup for dinner, which we enjoyed with cheese quesadillas on the side. A Mexican-inspired twist on tomato soup and grilled cheese!

No sports practices that night, so my crew joined me for a short walk outside after dinner. Soaking in the beautiful evening…

Our red maples are some of the first to reach their peak!

After an early yoga class at the gym, I spent the rest of Thursday in my kitchen testing new recipes for the blog.

Once the boys got home from school, we made a quick stop at Cake Krums bakery for snacks…

Casey’s Cookies & Cream Spider Cupcake was the cutest!

and then visited Casey’s classroom to see his science poster on display.

Keith wasn’t home that night for dinner, so I made one of the kids’ favorites: meatloaf! Since we had just had ground beef the night before, I opted for Turkey Meatloaf this particular night. Served with buttered noodles and steamed French-style green beans (also kiddo favorites)!

Friday marked the end of the kids’ first quarter, which meant just a half-day of school. Once home, they instantly wanted to decorate the Haunted House Kit that my mother-in-law bought for them at Trader Joe’s.

They love this activity each year because it always involves eating more candy than they actually put on the house. ‘Tis the season!

Later that afternoon, we joined our friends at Round Hill Farm for some fun at the pumpkin patch.

I was trying desperately to get my 3 kids to pose for a picture together, but you see how well that worked out…

We arrived home pretty late, everyone was starving, and I wasn’t too interested in cooking, so we pulled leftovers out of the fridge for dinner. Taco Soup with a quesadilla (again)!

We spent Saturday morning out in Rappahannock for Casey’s last soccer game. It rained the whole game, but they finished the season undefeated, so these kiddos were very excited!

The rest of our day was spent indoors taking care of laundry and chores while the boys watched the movie Hotel Transylvania 3 and our dinner cooked in the Crock Pot. We had Slow Cooker Chicken and Stuffing Casserole, which was another cozy option on another wet day!

So there you go, friends — another week of easy dinner ideas! I hope that you’ve found a few new options to add to your own meal plan in the days ahead. Thanks so much for stopping by!