Our Week in Meals #217

Good morning, and happy Sunday! It's been a rough week for our country, so I'm checking in today with what is hopefully a nice escape from all of the sad, scary news that we've recently witnessed. I'm praying for America, and I'm grateful for those of you who come here each week and make this such a positive online community.❤ All of the (good!) 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…

It was rainy and cool on Sunday, so I met my girlfriends for a walk at Mollie's farm that morning, and then spent the rest of the day indoors. We stayed busy with Monopoly-playing, football-watching, and cooking!

For dinner that night, Keith grilled hamburgers (in spite of the crummy weather),

which we paired with sauteed zucchini,

and potato salad. This summer-inspired meal was a nice little break from our usual cozy comfort food at this time of year!

We got back to our "normal" routine on Monday morning, which (for now) means a hybrid school schedule with the boys at home 3 days per week. When they were done with their schoolwork for the morning, we headed over to a friend's house to drop off a meal. She recently had a new baby, so we were happy to say hello and share some food!

Our dinner that night was the same as we brought to our friends -- I just doubled everything! We had Italian Sausage Pasta...

along with garlic bread...

...and salad dressed in Italian Balsamic Vinaigrette.

Plus Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars for dessert!

Tuesday was more of the same -- school work, computer work, and a couple of dog walks interspersed throughout.

I made Corn Chowder for dinner, but added some cooked, shredded chicken for my meat-loving boys, as well.

And a basket of cheese biscuits on the side!

I finished another book this week, too: Death on Tuckernuck, which is one of the Merry Folger Nantucket Mysteries by Francine Mathews. This was a fun, quick read. I appreciate that they're always well-written, but not stressful, dark or gory. Just a great escape! You really don't need to read them in order, either.

We spent Wednesday morning working on multiplication tables, turtle habitat dioramas, and class Zoom calls (among other painful virtual-learning tasks). Finally -- a glimpse of blue skies for the first time all week!

My parents came by for a visit and a walk around lunchtime, and the boys burned off some of their excess energy outside. Anything to keep them busy!

I made fish n' chips for dinner that night: Oven-Fried Fish with tartar sauce,

Baked Potato Wedges,

...and coleslaw!

A frosty start to a very beautiful Thursday!

All 3 boys headed back to school for the first time in almost a month, so it took me a few minutes to get used to a quiet house with just the dog for company (don't worry -- I adjusted fine)!

I spent my day cooking, shooting some recipe photos, and just generally tackling my mile-long to-do list.

We had Pork Chops with Stuffing for supper, along with steamed green beans...

...Braised Red Cabbage,

...and a pan of homemade dinner rolls (I had previously frozen half of a batch of dough, so I just needed to bake them that evening).

After a morning walk with a couple of friends on Friday, I took Teddy to the groomer and went to my annual well-check at the doctor's that afternoon.

We kept dinner simple and kid-friendly: tacos...

...guacamole, chips and salsa. A low-key Friday night!

I thawed some Hamburger Soup to heat up for lunch on Saturday...

...and then we hit the trails for a hike in the mountains that afternoon.

Taking advantage of these sunny January days while we've got them!

Followed by ice cream cones from the walk-up window at the Tastee-Freez on our way home.

And since I always appreciate a break from the kitchen (and dishes!), Keith picked up pizzas for dinner that night. Of course, the rest of our evening was spent in front of the fire with football on TV.

Finally, in case you're curious, I thought it would be fun to recap the 10 most popular recipes on my site from the past year. These are your favorite recipes that were new to the blog in 2020, based on pageviews:

1. Dutch Oven Pot Roast
2. Meatloaf
3. Country Pork Chop and Rice Bake
4. Creamed Peas
5. Crock Pot Ranch Pork Chops
6. 7UP Pound Cake
7. Pineapple Glazed Ham
8. Ground Beef Dinner with Summer Vegetables
9. Sweet Potato Casserole with Marshmallows
10. Old-Fashioned Apple Cake

I'd love to know about any of your personal favorites from the last year in the comments. Thanks, as always, for joining me here today! I hope you've found some new recipe inspiration and some new meal ideas for the week ahead!