Our Week in Meals #188

Good morning, and happy Sunday! It was another quiet (but good) week at home — complete with plenty of fresh air, a few rainy days, and lots of delicious food. We’re looking forward to celebrating Father’s Day, followed by a week of adventure on the horizon (stay tuned)! All of the highlights from the past few days, 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…

Sunday was such a gorgeous day — starting with a cool morning hike on the trails with a friend.

We had tomatoes on the counter from the farmer’s market, a loaf of No-Knead Bread from dinner the night before, and an open package of thick-cut bacon in the fridge. Of course, B.L.T.’s were on the lunch menu!

Paired with a glass of Sweet Tea for the perfect summer meal.

We participated in a drive-by birthday parade for one of Casey’s friends, and then returned home for a delicious supper. I love to buy turkey breasts as an alternative to chicken, since they’re readily available in our grocer’s freezer section. Turkey isn’t just for Thanksgiving!

While the oven-roasted method and the slow cooker method are both great for a tender, juicy bird, Keith decided to take advantage of the weather and smoke the turkey breast on Sunday evening. Equally delicious — and the leftovers are awesome on sandwiches, of course!

I paired the smoked turkey with Succotash,

Cucumber Salad,

and Pumpkin Bread. Such a delicious twist on the regular cookout!

I’ve got another book to share with you! Bury Your Dead is the sixth mystery in Louise Penny’s Inspector Gamache series, and I think it’s my favorite so far. The story kept me on the edge of my seat (with a surprise or two at the very end), and Penny’s beautiful descriptions of Old Quebec City made me want to plan a vacation there soon! It’s a place that I knew almost nothing about before reading the novel, but now I’ve found myself Googling images of the historic walled town. Such a fun read!

Monday was another cool, beautiful day.

The kids and I had a quiet morning at home, as I made Blueberry Pancakes again for breakfast (boys’ request),

baked a batch of Blueberry Scones (finishing off the berries that we picked last week), put a loaf of No-Knead Bread in the oven, walked the dog, and got some work done.

Our one outing of the day: bike riding at the high school parking lot!

Fresh hay bales!

Dinner that night was a Ground Beef Casserole with Cornbread Crust, served alongside a simple green salad.

We stayed close to home on a cool, cloudy Tuesday…

I received my summer Special Delivery Box from my friends at Taste of Home, though…which was a bright spot in the day!

I love that the seasonally-curated boxes are always jam-packed full of new kitchen gadgets, recipes, ingredients and cookbooks. The fresh, colorful ideas in the American Summer cookbook are all mouthwatering, and I’m loving the ice cream scoop that stands upright to prevent dripping (genius!), the silicon “supoon” that gets every last bit of jellies and nut butters out of hard-to-clean jars, and the extra sweet sugar that’s perfect for ice-cold lemonade.

If you (or someone you know) would enjoy a box like this, you can use the code VIPSPECIAL through June 30 for 15% off your first subscription box (in addition to the current offer of $10 off + free shipping). Can’t wait to see what the fall box has in store…🎃

We feasted on Oven-Fried Pork Chops for dinner that night (a favorite with my boys)…

which I paired with mashed potatoes and steamed broccoli.

After my weekly trip to the grocery store, we were lucky enough to sneak outside for some fresh air on Wednesday morning before the rain arrived for the rest of the day.

He’s constantly climbing trees!

I served Sheet Pan New Orleans Barbecue Shrimp for dinner, along with rice…

…and salad with Pepper Jelly Vinaigrette.

Rainy cows on Thursday morning…

stormy skies,

…and more exploring in the woods that afternoon.

I used a store-bought rotisserie chicken to quickly put together a pan of Sour Cream Chicken Enchiladas for dinner that night. It was convenient to prepare the meal in advance — while the enchiladas were baking in the oven, I hopped on a 5:00 p.m. Zoom call with some old friends. Plus chips, salsa, guacamole and a salad on the side!

My grandmother would have loved this magnolia — it was the biggest blossom I’ve ever seen on one of those trees (almost a foot in diameter)!

I got my hair cut for the first time in over 3 months on Friday morning! Felt so good to get “cleaned up…”

And I came home with this enormous jar of lilies from my hairdresser’s garden (her beauty shop is at her house). It’s hard to tell, but the flowers were so large that I couldn’t fit them into my car without breaking some of the petals! They looked beautiful, but the aroma was so strong in the kitchen that we had to move them to the porch outside. My house smelled like a florist’s shop!

We paired our favorite store-bought tomato soup with grilled cheese sandwiches made on homemade bread for a delicious lunch on a rainy day.

Dentist appointments for the kids that afternoon! This was the first time that the boys had been out in public since this whole thing started, so they were very wary of their masks. They will take some getting used to…

Dinner that night was homemade cheese pizza with salad and buttermilk ranch,

the last of this jar of Dilly Beans from a local farm (basically sweet pickled green beans, which I love),

and homemade lemonade. So good!

Keith’s parents stopped by for a visit outside on Saturday. My mother-in-law always comes armed with goodies for the boys, and this time was no exception: donuts, brownies, cookies, monkey bread, animal crackers and snack mix!

We got outside for a short walk in the shady woods later that afternoon, since it was too hot to do much else in the sun.

And dinner was a delicious cookout! Keith grilled Lemonade Chicken,

which we served with Hoe Cakes (I’ll share my favorite recipe soon),

fruit salad (to use up some peaches and blueberries in the fridge), and Amish Green Beans with Brown Butter.

And that’s where I’ll leave it for today. Thanks for spending your Sunday here with me. I hope that you’ve found some new ideas for a few easy dinners in the week ahead. Have a great Father’s Day!