Our Week in Meals #264

Good morning, and happy Sunday! We celebrated another birthday this week, enjoyed plenty of cozy comfort food, and took advantage of beautiful warm 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.

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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 spent much of Sunday in the kitchen, since I had a couple of recipes to photograph, as well as dinner to make!

We were expecting my parents to join us for supper, but their plans changed at the last minute, so we had a quiet evening on our own.

I made Italian Sausage Pasta, using some delicious Italian sausage from a local farm here in Madison. This meal is simple, but so flavorful! We also had garlic bread and a green salad with red wine vinaigrette on the side.

The rest of the night included football on TV and reading on the couch. I have another great book to share this week! My friend Sallie recommended one of Marie Benedict’s other books (which is still on my list), but first I read The Other Einstein on my new Kindle Paperwhite (a birthday present from my aunt, which I absolutely love).

This historical fiction resurrects Einstein’s first wife, a brilliant physicist in her own right, whose contribution to the special theory of relativity is hotly debated. I’m not sure how much of the story is actually rooted in fact, but it was incredibly interesting and a quick page-turner that really held my attention.

Monday meant the return to work and school around here, so I walked the dog, picked up eggs from my neighbor’s farm, and then parked myself at the computer.

A little bit of autumn still holding on…

On a cool, windy day, Turkey Pumpkin Chili hit the spot for supper. I reheated leftovers from the freezer…

…and paired the chili with a basket of sweet Brown Sugar Cornbread Muffins.

Gibbs turned 12 on Tuesday!

I went for a couple of walks with my girlfriends and got some work done while the kids were at school, and then my parents stopped by for an afternoon visit. We opened gifts and snacked on the brownies that Mom made.

Gibbs picked the dinner menu that night, and all he wanted was a Chicken Parm sub from Miranda’s restaurant in town. Happy to comply with this easy request! Keith picked up our takeout order on his way home from work…

Plus Gibbs’s favorite Lemon Bundt Cake for dessert!

Wednesday was a quiet day at the house. I was waiting for a plumber to arrive, so I stayed close to home, did some cooking, and shot more recipe photos.

We had Aunt Bee’s Swedish meatballs for dinner, which I paired with mashed potatoes, salad, and rolls.

Thursday warmed up to a beautiful 68°F, so I took full advantage by meeting two different friends for walks. I also managed to squeeze in a dentist appointment and some computer work as well, but those adult tasks were far less fun!

Keith was working late that night, so the kids and I had an easy breakfast-for-dinner of baked pancakes, bacon, and fruit.

Scenes from Friday…

…a morning walk,

a sugar cookie latte while I waited at the car wash in Culpeper (the latte was just okay; I probably won’t order it again),

and 3 fully-vaccinated kiddos (finally!).

We had chicken quesadillas for dinner (sub chicken for the taco meat!), plus tortilla chips, guacamole, salsa, and corn.

And then it was Saturday! The boys each had basketball at different times throughout the day, so Keith and I took turns carting them back and forth to the gym, while also taking care of the regular household chores. Plus plenty of football (outside and on TV) in between!

I always like to take the night off from cooking dinner on Saturdays, so Keith picked up an order from Blue Ridge Cafe in Ruckersville that evening. We had wings, fried shrimp, chicken tenders, a cheeseburger, and my reuben sandwich. Nothing fancy, but I love a quick clean-up with no dishes!

That’s all for now, friends! I hope that you’ve had a great week, and that you’ve found some new meal inspiration for your own table. Thank you for joining me here, and happy December!