Our Week in Meals #245

Good morning, and happy Sunday! It was a quiet summer week around here, full of pool time, fresh blueberries, and plenty of bright red tomatoes. 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…

I started Sunday morning with an early walk with my friend Ashley,

and then the whole family went to the pool for a swim.

Keith grilled steaks that evening so that we could have Steak Salads for dinner (the boys just eat their steak separate from the salad), along with easy homemade dinner rolls.

I also finished another entertaining, light read this week: The Bright Season by Melanie Lageschulte. Novel #6 in her Melinda Foster series focuses on Melinda’s life on her small Iowa farm during the summer months, as she navigates a new romance, a tough drought, and plenty of drama in her small town. If you’re interested in diving into this series, I would start from the beginning with Growing Season. They’re simple, feel-good books that aren’t particularly action-packed or suspenseful, but I find them to be cozy, easy reads. Sometimes that’s exactly what we need!

Gibbs went to a day camp at Graves Mountain Farm on Monday, so the house was a bit quieter with one less kiddo. The younger boys and I took one of our favorite walks in Shenandoah National Park, where the shade kept the trail relatively cool!

I served homemade chicken tenders for supper, which we paired with waffle fries, fruit salad, and sliced fresh tomatoes and cucumbers.

We stayed close to home on Tuesday, since I was waiting for a plumber to come fix a leaky pipe (it’s always something with an old house).

I did manage to sneak in a couple of short walks with the dog, and we said “hello” to our cow neighbors at sunrise…

I served a Chicken Enchilada Casserole for dinner, along with tortilla chips, guacamole and corn.

Wednesday morning!

We picked blueberries…

…and spent the afternoon at our friends’ farm splashing in the pool.

We had New Orleans-style BBQ Shrimp for supper,

plus rice, green beans, and a basket of easy blueberry muffins (made with our fresh pickings!).

Thursday was a beautiful, less-humid morning for a walk…

followed by a Target pick-up, a stop at Dick’s Sporting Goods, and lunch at Chik-Fil-A with the kids in Culpeper. I’ve learned that I can bribe them with a meal at their favorite restaurant if they willingly come along on my errands!

Keith grilled hamburgers for dinner, which I paired with potato chips and salad.

Plus an easy blueberry cobbler with vanilla ice cream for dessert! I’ll share this recipe in the coming week, so stay tuned…

I packed up a picnic lunch and we spent Friday at the pool.

It was a gorgeous 75 degrees in the mountains, which meant that it was nowhere near warm enough for me to get in that water! I still had fun watching the kids, though…

My afternoon included baking many batches of muffins while testing a new recipe, and then making Pasta with Corn, Bacon, Tomatoes and Zucchini for dinner. Plus garlic bread on the side!

Scenes from our early morning hike on the Rapidan River Trail near Graves Mill on Saturday morning…

And we brought home some goodies from the farmer’s market on our way home!

I told the kids that they could pick any restaurant for us to go out to dinner that evening, and you know what they chose? Carry-out pizza to eat at home! 😂

And there you have it — another week of dinner ideas and summer adventures! I hope that you’ve found a few new recipes to add to your own table in the days ahead. Thank you for being here!