Our Week in Meals #22

Hey, friends! How was your week? It’s a warm and sunny Sunday morning here in Virginia, which means that it’s time for another roundup of Our Week in Meals.

For those of you who are new to the blog, this is where I share a little bit about what we’ve been up to over the past week — as it relates to our meals each night. I hope that 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 backtrack to last Sunday…

We had a clear schedule, so after lunch we took a short walk with the kids before the rain arrived that evening.

Casey spent most of the time searching for “gems,” which I found in rattling around in my dryer after running a wash later in the week. He carried those things in his pockets for days…

Keith grilled salmon for dinner, which I served with French bread, salad, and roasted veggies. The roasted broccoli and asparagus were tossed with an apricot glaze that I had leftover from recipe testing that morning. Delicious! Spencer was too tired to even join us at the table (he asked to go to bed at 6:15 p.m.), but the rest of us loved this meal. Plus, it was a Costco-sized piece of fish, so I had plenty leftover to make a killer salmon salad for lunches throughout the week.

Spence and I stayed at home on Monday to get some tasks accomplished around the house. I ate my leftover salmon salad for lunch on top of the leftover lettuce salad from Sunday evening. I made the salmon salad the night before as I was cleaning up the dinner dishes — just mixed together the leftover grilled salmon, mayonnaise, Dijon mustard, diced celery, diced pimentos, salt and pepper. Tasted great and I enjoyed it for multiple meals throughout the rest of the week.

Mollie and her son Henry came over for the afternoon so that we could go for a walk around our property while the boys played together. Dinner was an easy meal that I prepped on Sunday and just pulled out of the refrigerator when Keith got home on Monday evening.

First, this grilled chicken that I marinated in a Tuscan vinaigrette. The marinade included sundried tomatoes, fresh Italian herbs, garlic, Parmesan, olive oil and vinegar.

On the side we had this pretty Southern Layered Cornbread Salad (perfect for warm-weather potlucks!). Both of these recipes will be on the blog soon!

After dropping the boys off at school on Tuesday morning,

I walked with Mollie and went to acupuncture before returning home with Spencer for lunch. I had a very unglamorous salmon salad sandwich with tortilla chips on a paper plate while checking email and chatting with my mom on the phone. Always multi-tasking.????

I also spent plenty of time cleaning muddy clothes after the rain…

Since we had soccer practice that evening, I kept dinner simple on just ONE TRAY! Love this Sheet Pan Honey Apricot Chicken with Asparagus! I fed the boys early before practice, and then reheated the meal again later for the grown ups.

Wednesday was a combination of outdoor play, a shopping run to Costco, and some work inside.

Caught standing on the picnic table in our back yard.????

We met Mollie for a walk before school pick-up that afternoon, came home to take care of homework, and then made an easy dinner that my boys always love — TACOS.

Keith worked late that evening, so once again we ate in shifts. Taco meat is a great option to prep ahead and just reheat whenever your family needs it! We had corn, chips, salsa, and guacamole on the side.

Spencer was the line leader at school on Thursday morning — a job that he took very seriously.????

When we arrived back home midday we spent some time in the kitchen baking. We started with a batch of these White Chocolate Chip cookies, which my mother-in-law brought us during her last visit.

My assistant just wanted to eat all of the dough and told me that I would probably burn them if I bothered to put them in the oven. Hah!

I also made a box of Lemon Bars to take to the preschool fundraiser on Friday evening. A boxed mix is about as much baking as I can handle…

Casey and Gibbs had friends come home with them after school, so I spent the rest of the evening playing referee for 5 boys.

My friend Robin sent over a batch of chocolate chip cookies for the boys’ snack, which disappeared almost instantly. I can’t even imagine how much food we will go through when they’re teenagers.????

Knowing that I wouldn’t have much time to cook that evening, I opted for an easy Crock Pot dinner. We had Slow Cooker Southern Sweet Onion Chicken, which I shredded and served on sandwiches. I’ll share the recipe in the coming months!

Casey had soccer practice later that night, so Keith took him to the fields while I stayed home to get the other two boys ready for bed (and to clean up my house!).

Back at it on Friday morning, Spence and I went to Target to pick up some items because it was pouring rain and we couldn’t be outdoors. Shopping is never his idea of fun…

Instead of making dinner at home that night, we all went to the preschool for Spencer’s Spring performance. Cutest entertainment ever!

There was a silent auction, as well as a buffet that included baked potatoes, chili, and all of the sides, salads, and desserts contributed by the parents (my Lemon Bars and cookies included). I was busy selling raffle tickets, so there aren’t many photos to show from the night!

We were supposed to be on the soccer fields bright and early Saturday morning for the first games of the season. Even though it turned out to be a beautiful day, the water-saturated fields were closed as a result of Friday’s rain. Instead, we stayed home and caught up on work (inside and out), meal planning, and laundry.

Keith and the boys played basketball in the afternoon while I went shopping in Charlottesville, and then I arrived home to get started on dinner prep. Keith has been wanting to grill pizzas on a pizza stone for the past few weeks, so with a warmer day finally here we decided to give it a shot. Unfortunately, the grill wasn’t cooperating (too much wind, not enough heat) so we changed plans and ended up baking them inside instead. Hey, it was still good. There’s really no such thing as a “Pizza Fail.”????

And that brings us to today! We’ll have a relatively quiet morning at home, an outing this afternoon, and even more fun plans for the coming week when the boys are home for Spring Break. Be sure to check back next week for all of the details!