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Good morning, and happy Sunday! We celebrated another birthday this week, finished another book, and enjoyed some beautiful fall weather. 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.

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 was Spencer’s 7th birthday, so we started our morning bright and early with his favorite Krispy Kreme donuts and gifts. I met two of my friends for a walk, but otherwise we had a pretty quiet day at the house since the weather was rainy and gray.

The birthday boy was in charge of our dinner menu, so he picked Grilled Hamburgers, which we served with tater tots

Juicy grilled hamburgers served with sweet iced tea

…and a Broccoli and Cauliflower Salad. The salad wasn’t Spencer’s request — that was my own addition!😉

Close up side shot of a big serving bowl full of the best broccoli cauliflower salad recipe

Plus birthday cake for dessert! He asked for a Texas Sheet Cake with white frosting, so I combined my mother-in-law’s two recipes — this recipe for the cake and this recipe for the frosting. It was a hit, as always!​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

The sun came back out on Monday morning!​​​​​​​

We dropped Spencer off at school, walked the dog in the woods, and then tackled the older boys’ distance learning assignments for the day.

I snuck out for a dentist appointment in town around lunchtime, but otherwise kept busy at the house.

We had French Fried Onion Chicken for supper, which I paired with green beans, corn and rice. Easy and tasty — all 4 of my boys cleaned their plates!

Close up image of a large chicken breast cutlet with french fried onions on a blue and white plate

Tuesday was a lot like Monday — a morning walk, followed by school work. The kids had soccer practice after lunch, but they were practically blown right off the field thanks to 30 mph winds. It was crazy weather!

I made my mom’s classic Tuna Noodle Casserole for supper…

Overhead image of tuna noodle casserole with potato chips on a white surface

…plus a Caesar salad and baguette on the side. We’ve been feasting on a lot of baguette for breakfast, lunch and dinner over the past couple of weeks as I perfect my (easy) homemade recipe. Can’t wait to share the details here, so stay tuned for that!

The boys were all at home with me on Wednesday, so we took care of their school work in the morning, and then made a trip to the drive-thru Chik-Fil-A in Culpeper for lunch.

Life is pretty quiet these days…

Dinner that night was Salisbury Steak

Front shot of a spatula in a big skillet of homemade Salisbury Steak with mushroom and onion gravy

which I paired with make-ahead garlic mashed potatoes and peas. I used the last of my garden chives for those potatoes, which I harvested right before our first frost the night before. We’re officially moving into cooler temps around here…

I also finished another book this week: The Long Way Home by Louise Penny. This is the tenth book in her Chief Inspector Gamache series, and it was another great one! Highly recommend these mysteries if you haven’t already discovered them! You’ll definitely want to start with book #1 (Still Life), though. You’ll fall in love with the characters and with Penny’s incredible writing!

Since the kids were back in school on Thursday, I used the solo time to accomplish the items on my to-do list that are more difficult with kids in tow. That included an early morning stop at Yoder’s on my way home from school drop-off, where I re-stocked baking supplies like flour and sugar, as well as local homemade butter, buttermilk, honey roasted peanut butter, country ham, and local apples. Plus caramel corn and the best homemade peppermint stick ice cream. It was a full cart!

The rest of my day was largely spent in the kitchen — testing and photographing recipes — until I had to pick up the boys.

Keith wasn’t home for dinner that evening, so I kept our meal really simple. I just thawed some Brunswick Stew and corn muffins from the freezer and reheated them when we got hungry. Quick, easy and cozy!

An easy brunswick stew recipe served in a white soup bowl on a wooden table

Friday was a beautiful morning for a walk in the woods with two of my friends.

I was headed into Charlottesville afterwards, so I just had to drive-thru the Dunkin’ Donuts in town to get an Iced Gingerbread Latte as a mid-morning pick-me-up. Sallie gave me a gift card for my birthday a couple of weeks ago and it was burning a hole in my wallet! This latte was really good…just a bit too sweet for my taste. I’ll request half as much of the sweetener next time, but I loved the spiced gingerbread flavor.

The sunny, 70-degree day was perfect for lunch outside at Burton’s Grill with my mom and my aunt. I had the Reuben sandwich and sweet potato friesso delicious!

King Ranch Chicken Casserole was on the dinner menu that evening,

Fork on a plate of the best king ranch chicken recipe

as well as chips, salsa and homemade guacamole.

Close up front shot of an easy guacamole recipe served in a colorful bowl

We tried these new Sugar Cookie M&M’s, too — they’re awesome! The Fudge Brownie version is good as well, but the Sugar Cookie flavor is the best seasonal choice!

Saturday morning!

Our only real outing that day was a trip to my hairdresser’s house so that we could all get haircuts. Other than that, we picked up a grocery order and took care of chores at the house.

The boys helped me decorate some sugar cookies so that I can share our favorite recipe here on the blog soon,

and they worked on the cutest Christmas Lego set that afternoon.

We had pulled pork with Alabama white barbecue sauce for dinner that night, along with a salad and potato chips on the side. We’re keeping meals pretty simple in the coming days, especially since I’ve got plenty of Thanksgiving prep on my calendar!

Close up shot of crock pot pulled pork sandwich

Unfortunately, we will not be getting together with our extended family for the holiday. We’re trying to keep everyone safe! It will just be the 5 of us, but we’re still planning a full Thanksgiving menu. I want to make it feel as special and “normal” as possible.

Our traditional meal includes Garlic & Herb Turkey Breast, Sausage Stuffing, Green Bean Casserole, Apple and Butternut Squash Casserole, my grandmother’s Sauerkraut, Ambrosia, Cranberry Sauce, Mac and Cheese and Homemade Crescent Rolls. Yikes! Listing it all out like that makes it seem like I’ve got my work cut out for me. Fortunately, almost all of it can be prepped in advance and many of those dishes are very quick and easy. Oh, and Pumpkin Chiffon Pie for dessert!

I’d love to hear how you’re celebrating the holiday this year, too. What’s on your menu? Are you sticking with the comforting classics, or will you try something different — like a lasagna or a roast chicken? Let me know!

Close up front shot of a slice of No Bake Pumpkin Chiffon Pie

Thank you, as always, for joining me here today. I hope that you have a wonderful week ahead and a festive holiday — however that might look in 2020!❤

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. Our Thanksgiving will also be just 5 of us… Sallie, Mark, Will, Billy, and me. Our menu is traditional. Except I’m also doing a turkey breast instead of whole turkey so no dark meat this year. I do my turkey breast in the crockpot. I don’t have to worry about it getting dry, I get lots of liquid to make a lot of gravy, and frees up my oven.
    Also on the menu..
    Sausage stuffing … my mom and dad’s recipe, Mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, creamed onions, Sister Schubert’s rolls, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie…. my mom’s recipe…it has molasses in it…
    This is a Combination of the traditional menu I grew up with and traditional meal Billy grew up with.
    The homemade cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes, and green bean casserole came from Billy’s mom’s traditional Thanksgiving Day meal. The rest of menu comes from my family, except the rolls… we had rolls but not Sister Schubert’s.
    Brought up in New England, instead of sweet potatoes, we had mashed Butternut squash and also mashed turnips. To accommodate my family years ago, I switched the squash to sweet potatoes and eliminated the turnips.
    Sometimes instead of pumpkin pie my mom or aunts would make squash pie. Same recipe but using a can of butternut squash purée instead of the canned pumpkin. In those days, you could buy the canned squash right next to the canned pumpkin in the grocery stores. I never could tell the difference between the pies. They tasted the same to me.

    1. Your menu sounds perfect, Debbie! Maybe I should swing by! 🙂

      The best holidays (in my opinion) are those that combine traditions new and old from different parts of our families. I love adopting new traditions, but also holding onto our old favorites. Have a wonderful holiday!

      1. I do have to laugh about the cranberry sauce… when I had my first Thanksgiving dinner with Billy’s family I was surprised that there were whole cranberries in the sauce. My family only served the jellied kind from the can. While I do still like the canned jellied cranberry sauce, for Thanksgiving I do make my own from a bag of fresh cranberries like my mother in law did. Back when I was having Thanksgiving with just my family, .I didn’t think anyone “ made” cranberry sauce.

        1. That’s so funny — I remember the first time I made my own cranberry sauce as a newlywed being SHOCKED by how easy it was. 🙂

    2. Debbie Hill
      Do you know if canned butternut squash is still available? If yes, what grocery stores have you seen it? I so want to try making a butternut squash pie. Someone on my previous job took orders for them for her friend who made them. They were THE BEST pies!!!

  2. I wish you had a category on your blog for book recommendations. So many times, I read these weekly posts (which I love) and think “I should add that book to my list” and, inevitably, forget. Then time passes and I wonder what the name of that book was that you recommended and I find myself scrolling back thru your posts. Totally my fault but I wonder how many other readers have the same issue.

    Also can’t wait for your baguette recipe. I have tried (with much success) most of your bread recipes and my hubby thanks you. He has to have bread with every meal and now is excited that most of the time it is fresh, not store bought, bread.

    1. Hi, Barbara! Thank you so much for your note! It makes me happy to hear that other people care about books like I do. 🙂

      You are definitely not the first to request a list of my favorite books or some way to track them for later reference. I will plan to share a blog post next month that rounds up my favorites from this past year, and then I’ll try to be better about keeping a more organized list for 2021. I need to figure out the best way to publish or save that information to update regularly, so stay tuned. I’m sure there’s a way!

      I’m also glad to know that you’ve been enjoying the bread recipes. Your husband sounds like my boys — bread or rolls at every meal! Have a wonderful holiday.

        1. Thanksgiving this year is at my sister-in-law’s who is just down the street. Wr have turkey two ways, my hubby is smoking a brisket(he really wanted to try something new), and I am making cranberry sauce from scratch. I am sure my mother-in-love will make her version of sweet potatoes as I pull mine from Pinterest. It is mashed sweet potatoes with roasted pecans and bacon! My hubby hates sweet potatoes but will down a helping of it! I might make some rolls too since they always go so fast. I just can’t wait to see my neices and nephew after a month of separation and my 4 kids are desperate to see their cousins. I am so happy they live so close! Also, your week in meals always cheers me up and starts my week off so, thank you for keeping it going!

          1. Hi, DeAnne! I hope that you enjoy the time with your family. My husband doesn’t love sweet potatoes either — maybe I need your recipe?!!?! 🙂

            Happy Thanksgiving!

  3. Going to be a different Thanksgiving for sure….doing what we can so next year’s holidays we can all be together. I am making dinner and dropping off food at my son and daughter in laws.

    1. That’s how we feel, Rachel! Stay safe this year, so that we can enjoy family holidays for years to come. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!