Our Week in Meals #280

Good morning, and happy Sunday! This week was full of soccer, a good book, and some beautiful spring sunshine. All of the highlights, 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 met three of my friends at Mollie’s farm for an early walk on Sunday morning.

Notice that bright green spring grass!

Meanwhile, back home, Keith and the boys were setting up the new-and-improved purple martin house…

We spent the afternoon in Charlottesville for Casey’s soccer game, and didn’t return home until almost dinnertime, so we planned a quick meal that we could pull together right away for the hungry kiddos: our favorite grilled shrimp,

along with rice and sauteed spinach.

Plus a pan of homemade brownies with vanilla ice cream for dessert, which I baked earlier in the day. Any evening is a good time for a sweet treat!

Beautiful spring blossoms on a warm, sunny Monday!

And lunch with Keith at Yoder’s Country Market, followed by an evening on the soccer fields for Gibbs’s and Spencer’s practices.

Chicken sandwich with coleslaw + sweet potato chips

We ate a late dinner once everyone was home and showered: oven bbq chicken breast,

along with Jiffy corn casserole,

and a house salad.

Here’s a pretty overhead shot that Keith took with his drone on Tuesday…

I spent the day cooking in the kitchen and taking photos, picked up the boys from school, and fed everyone an early dinner at 4:30 before Casey’s soccer practice that evening.

We had Dorito taco salad, which is an easy option that I can prep in advance and keep stashed in the fridge for quick meals on a busy night. Plus extra chips, salsa, and homemade guacamole on the side!

It rained almost all day on Wednesday, so our outdoor activities (like a walk with friends and soccer practice) were cancelled. I took Casey to an orthodontist appointment that morning, and otherwise had a quiet day at the computer. It was a cozy day for reading, too — which reminds me to mention my latest book: We Were Never Here by Andrea Bartz. This was a very entertaining psychological thriller, which kept me turning the pages. I will say, there were some parts that even bordered on scary (which I don’t love), so read with caution before bed! Here’s a quick summary from Amazon:

Emily is having the time of her life—she’s in the mountains of Chile with her best friend, Kristen, on their annual reunion trip, and the women are feeling closer than ever. But on the last night of the trip, Emily enters their hotel suite to find blood and broken glass on the floor. Kristen says the cute backpacker she brought back to their room attacked her, and she had no choice but to kill him in self-defense. Even more shocking: The scene is horrifyingly similar to last year’s trip, when another backpacker wound up dead. Emily can’t believe it’s happened again—can lightning really strike twice?

Back home in Wisconsin, Emily struggles to bury her trauma, diving headfirst into a new relationship and throwing herself into work. But when Kristen shows up for a surprise visit, Emily is forced to confront their violent past. The more Kristen tries to keep Emily close, the more Emily questions her motives. As Emily feels the walls closing in on their cover-ups, she must reckon with the truth about her closest friend. Can Emily outrun the secrets she shares with Kristen, or will they destroy her relationship, her freedom—even her life?

I served hot chicken salad for supper (a cozy casserole on a damp, chilly night),

along with easy no-boil mac and cheese and steamed broccoli.

The rain tapered off enough on Thursday morning for a walk with my friend Ashley, followed by a day of work at the house.

I thawed a pan of stuffed shells from the freezer for an early dinner that night before Spencer’s soccer practice,

which we paired with a simple green salad,

and garlic bread.

I started Friday morning with a walk with my friend,

and then headed up to Culpeper for a spin through Target (grabbing all of the Cadbury eggs and jellybeans that I could find), plus Thai food for lunch with Keith.

The green curry was delish!

Gibbs had soccer practice that evening, so we ate a late “breakfast-for-dinner”: the kids’ favorite Baked Pancake Squares, along with maple sausage, yogurt, and fruit. You can see a video of me preparing the pancakes on my Instagram Reels here.

We froze on the sidelines of Spencer’s soccer game on Saturday morning (even saw a few snowflakes!)…

…and then we all had haircuts that afternoon. In between, Keith put the boys to work stacking many loads of firewood outside!

We had big plans to go into Charlottesville for dinner that evening, but the kids were tired and grumpy by the end of the week. Instead, they requested takeout from Pizza Hut, and were very excited about their first experience with the giant “March Madness Box:” a combination of two pizzas, boneless chicken wings, and breadsticks. The perfect easy, cozy Saturday night at home!

And that’s all for this week, friends. I hope that you’ve found some new inspiration for your own table in the coming days. Thank you for joining me here, and have a wonderful week ahead!