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Good morning, and happy Sunday! Spencer turned 6 this week, so the past few days have largely revolved around birthday celebrations (so much cake!). All of the highlights, along with our easy dinners, are included in today’s roundup of Our Week in Meals!

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. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

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 started with an early walk with my friend while Keith stayed at the house to watch our boys. Morning play dates for all!

The fall color is almost gone at this point, and it’s starting to look (and feel) more and more like winter in Central Virginia.

We then made a trip to Charlottesville for errands, which included a stop at the kids’ favorite Hibachi buffet for lunch.

Followed by Spencer’s friend’s birthday party for the rest of the afternoon.

For dinner that night, we used ButcherBox bacon (the best!) to make my 4-Ingredient Bacon-Wrapped Pork Tenderloin. I had kind of forgotten about this recipe until my friend Amee shared a photo of it last week and said that it’s one of her family’s favorite meals. I hope you’ll try it, too!

I paired the pork with homemade cheddar biscuits, Crock Pot Mac and Cheese, and a green salad. Perfect Sunday supper!

A close up of cheddar biscuits cut in half and spread with butter sitting on a plate
Close up shot of bowl of Crock Pot Mac and Cheese with fork in it

Still spotted a few late fall leaves at my neighbor’s farm on Monday!

Other than a trip to the vet for Teddy’s vaccinations and a stop at the grocery store for dinner ingredients, the rest of my day was spent testing a new recipe in the kitchen and getting work done behind the computer at home.

Plus a post-lunch break for some fresh air and a walk up the road! It was warm and sunny that day, so I had to take advantage…

Dinner that night was an easy meal that I largely pulled from the freezer: 5-Ingredient Meatball Subs! The boys have been requesting these for the past few weeks, so they were very happy when they realized that subs were finally on the menu. I paired the hoagies with chopped fresh veggies (carrots, celery and cucumbers dipped in Ranch), along with chips.

Meatball subs for a crowd on a platter

Tuesday was blustery and cold, so I spent the morning in Culpeper running errands indoors. After a trip to the gym, I stopped at Target, where I took advantage of birthday gift cards to get myself my first drink of the holiday season: a Chestnut Praline Latte!

PS — is there anything better than a Target store with a built-in Starbucks?!

When I stopped at Panera to pick up bagels, there were more birthday treats waiting for me! The cashier mentioned that I had a “free birthday pastry” to enjoy, so she gave me this Cinnamon Crunch Scone. Holy YUM! These are SO darn good — definitely one of the best scones I’ve ever had.

The rest of my afternoon at home included work, laundry, dog walks, and gift wrapping Spencer’s birthday presents for later in the week.

Since I had a PTO meeting that evening and Keith was out of town, the boys and I ate a simple dinner before we all headed out the door. I made a pot of my Grandmother’s Hamburger Soup, which we paired with a crusty loaf of homemade bread from my neighbor. Totally hit the spot!

It was only 19 degrees when Casey and I took Teddy out for a walk before school on Wednesday! For Virginia in mid-November, that’s COLD!!

It sure was pretty, though!

Even the cows looked chilly…

After a walk with my friend, Teddy and I drove to my parents’ house for a quick lunch visit with my mom.

Devil’s Backbone Restaurant

Dad was out of town, so Mom and I had a lunch date on our own at Devil’s Backbone. Pork barbecue for her and a BLT sandwich for me!

I made one of my favorites for dinner that night, which also happens to be one of Gibbs’s favorite meals: Dump-and-Bake Chicken Kiev Casserole with a side salad. YUM!

Overhead shot of Chicken Kiev Casserole with a silver serving spoon and surrounded by lemons

After a trip to the gym on Thursday, I spent the rest of the morning photographing a couple of new recipes before heading out on a short hike with Teddy.

I baked Spencer’s birthday cake for Friday, jumped on a business call, and before I knew it, the kids were home from school.

gooey butter cake top layer batter in a metal mixing bowl

Dinner was a fish fry! We had Crispy Southern Fried Catfish, along with coleslaw and Virginia Spoon Bread.

Fried catfish on a cutting board
Close up shot of homemade coleslaw in a blue bowl

Friday was Spencer’s 6th birthday! He didn’t want a party, but instead said that he “just wanted to celebrate with his brothers” — so that’s exactly what we did.

Spencer requested his favorite Apple Butter Donuts from Cake Krums for his class at school. He’s definitely my child — choosing donuts over cupcakes!????

After delivering the donuts, I met my friend Mollie at the gym and ran a couple of errands in town. One of my stops was to pick up Thanksgiving cards and gift certificates for the kids’ teachers. I feel so strongly that teachers need to be appreciated as often as possible!

I then returned to the school for lunch with Spencer and the rest of the kindergarteners. Never a dull moment with this crew!

I offered to bring him a sub or a Happy Meal, but Spence didn’t want to miss pancake day in the cafeteria. One of his favorites! He was so excited for me to try the pancakes, sausage, tater tots, and apples.????

My parents stopped by in the afternoon to give Spencer his birthday present, and then we picked up Chinese food for dinner (the birthday boy’s request, of course)! We had a good mix of Sweet & Sour Chicken, Sesame Chicken, Curry Chicken, and Moo Shoo Pork, along with the usual rice and spring rolls.

His only other birthday request was a Star Wars cake, so I did my best to make that happen. He wanted a yellow cake with white frosting, so I just bought “galaxy” sprinkles and Star Wars cake toppers and candles on Amazon. That’s the extent of my cake decorating skills (and the 6-year-old was thrilled)!

The older boys and I spent Saturday morning in Charlottesville at their friend’s birthday party at Jump Cville.

Back home, we took care of house chores for the afternoon and then prepared a tasty dinner of grilled sea scallops (from ButcherBox), zucchini fries (prepared in the new air fryer), Caesar salad and dinner rolls.

Close up shot of golden crispy baked zucchini fries

The rest of the night involved college football on TV and a fire in the wood stove.????

Hope you’re having a wonderful weekend, and thank you so much for stopping by today!

blair

Hey, I’m Blair!

Welcome to my farmhouse kitchen in the foothills of Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains. Inspired by local traditions and seasonal fare, you’ll find plenty of easy, comforting recipes that bring your family together around the table. It’s down-home, country-style cooking!

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Square overhead shot of hands serving a chicken pot pie recipe with biscuits
Overhead image of a bowl of chili mac on a dinner table with cornbread
Hands serving a platter of sheet pan sausage and potatoes

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  1. Happy Birthday Spence! We celebrated my granddaughter’s first birthday this past weekend, DD ordered pizza and I brought the salad and pulled pork sandwiches…Mamaw shows her love with food, LOL! It was all a hit, and we came home with some venison steaks, so it was a win/win!

    1. Sounds like fun!! I obviously show my love with food, too — so I can relate! Glad that you all had a good birthday weekend — the first birthday is always so exciting (especially for the mom)! 🙂

  2. How are you? Love the pictures of the trees. How do you like the air fryer so far? Happy Birthday to Spence. My great nephew turned 7 in May & had a good time with Stars Wars theme party. Funny part was his Dad was born the day after his Mom (my sister) & his Dad went to see the first Star Wars movie & now both of his sons love the Star Wars movies.

    Cecilia

    1. Hi, Cecilia! We’re doing well! We were commenting over the weekend that it’s amazing how Star Wars has just continued to remain popular from one generation to the next. It’s a classic!

  3. Hey Blair. Can you recommend a crockpot you absolutely love?. I am in need of a new one and there are so many on the market today. I need one that I can brown my meat and several other functions like roast, make rice, bake. Thanks Blair. Cindy

    1. Hey, Cindy! I recently splurged and got a new slow cooker that I absolutely love, but it’s definitely an investment. I have the All Clad 7-quart Gourmet Slow Cooker, which is here: https://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/all-clad-gourmet-slow-cooker-with-all-in-one-browning/?pkey=s%7Call-clad%20slow%20cooker%7C12

      I love it, and highly recommend it. Before this slow cooker, I had a Cuisinart Slow Cooker (which has the browning function too), and it worked really well. It’s more affordable than the All-Clad, but I had to replace it because I found that the lining of the insert started to peel off and was easily scratched by utensils. Not good! https://www.amazon.com/Cuisinart-MSC-800-Central-Multi-Cooker-quart/dp/B0053WRWX8/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=cuisinart+slow+cooker&qid=1574190370&sr=8-3

      Anyway, other than those two, I don’t have a ton of experience with other slow cookers that have the browning function. If you can swing it, the All-Clad is worth the price!

  4. Your part of Virginia looks beautiful. I enjoy your photos so much. Thank you for sharing your family activities with us. I truly enjoy your blog. I have made several of your recipes, all good.

    1. Thank you, Jannie! I appreciate your support and the fact that you took the time to leave me such a kind note! 🙂