Our Week in Meals #285

Good morning, happy Sunday, and welcome to May! We finished out April with soccer, sunny skies, and an unexpectedly quiet weekend. All of the highlights, along with each of our 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…

Casey had a soccer game in Roanoke on Sunday, which is a couple of hours southwest of where we live in Central Virginia. We left the house at about 8:00 a.m., spent the day in the car and on the fields in the 90°F heat, and made it back home (tired and sweaty) shortly before supper. We’re definitely in the thick of spring sports season right now, and with three boys, it doesn’t leave room for much else…

Keith grilled hamburgers for dinner, which I paired with some frozen French fries, baked beans,

and a big house salad.

Everyone returned to work and school on Monday, and I spent time at the computer.

We had two soccer practices on the schedule that night, so I prepped a spinach lasagna in advance, and fed the boys early before we headed out to the fields.

I finished another good book this week! My friend Sallie recommended the autobiography called Lady in Waiting: My Extraordinary Life in the Shadow of the Crown by Anne Glenconner, and it did not disappoint. This woman’s life has been truly unbelievable! I found her friendship with Princess Margaret, and her behind-the-scenes stories about the royal family, to be particularly interesting. You just can’t make this stuff up! Here’s the summary from Amazon:

Anne Glenconner has been at the center of the royal circle from childhood, when she met and befriended the future Queen Elizabeth II and her sister, the Princess Margaret. Though the firstborn child of the 5th Earl of Leicester, who controlled one of the largest estates in England, as a daughter she was deemed “the greatest disappointment” and unable to inherit. Since then she has needed all her resilience to survive court life with her sense of humor intact.

A unique witness to landmark moments in royal history, Maid of Honor at Queen Elizabeth’s coronation, and a lady in waiting to Princess Margaret until her death in 2002, Anne’s life has encompassed extraordinary drama and tragedy. In Lady in Waiting, she will share many intimate royal stories from her time as Princess Margaret’s closest confidante as well as her own battle for survival: her broken-off first engagement on the basis of her “mad blood”; her 54-year marriage to the volatile, unfaithful Colin Tennant, Lord Glenconner, who left his fortune to a former servant; the death in adulthood of two of her sons; a third son she nursed back from a six-month coma following a horrific motorcycle accident. Through it all, Anne has carried on, traveling the world with the royal family, including visiting the White House, and developing the Caribbean island of Mustique as a safe harbor for the rich and famous-hosting Mick Jagger, David Bowie, Raquel Welch, and many other politicians, aristocrats, and celebrities.

With unprecedented insight into the royal family, Lady in Waiting is a witty, candid, dramatic, at times heart-breaking personal story capturing life in a golden cage for a woman with no inheritance.

I spent Wednesday morning cooking and shooting recipe photos, and then took a short break mid-day to meet Keith for lunch at Yoder’s Country Market. I had a turkey and cheddar sandwich with coleslaw on their tomato basil bread, and also picked up my weekly supply of lunch meat and buttermilk for the house.

Teddy gladly stood guard on his favorite perch on top of the couch, where he can look out on the front porch and yard (and alert us any time a bird decides to come close to the house)…

Casey’s soccer practice was canceled due to rain, so we had Crock Pot pulled pork for dinner and a low-key evening at home.

I paired the pork with mac and cheese, Jiffy cornbread with creamed corn, and steamed broccoli.

The sun returned on Wednesday, and I spent the bulk of my day working before meeting Mollie for an afternoon walk.

We ate an early supper at 4:00, since Keith had to take Gibbs to a 5:00 soccer practice and I had to take Casey to a soccer game about an hour south of us down in Fluvanna County. We didn’t get home until almost 9 p.m., so that pretty much took care of our entire evening.

Our easy meal before heading out the door included bowls of tomato basil soup and grilled cheese sandwiches — no time for much else — followed by ice cream cones from the McDonald’s drive-thru after the game!

Thursday started with an early walk with my friend Ashley, followed by a day of work at the house. Nothing too exciting to report!

We had two more soccer practices that evening, and made a stop at the high school to watch the boys varsity team play. I served quick shrimp tacos, along with slaw, tortilla chips, salsa, guacamole, and black beans.

My plans changed a bit on Friday, since Spencer stayed home sick from school. He’s been fighting a bad cold (or other virus?), but fortunately his Covid test was negative.

Mollie came over to walk in the morning, I ran a couple of errands with Spencer in the car, and we otherwise spent a quiet day at the house resting.

Keith wasn’t home for dinner that night, so the boys and I kept it as simple as possible! I made one of their favorites — breakfast for dinner — in the form of Bisquick waffles, sausage, and fresh berries.

Since Spencer had a fever on Friday evening, he wasn’t able to play in his soccer game on Saturday morning. Casey’s game was canceled that afternoon, and all of a sudden we had a free day!

We stayed close to home, while Keith and I took care of the regular house chores, the boys played outside (that stomp rocket is always a big hit), and I met my friend Barbara for an afternoon walk.

The boys were excited for our regular Saturday night takeout pizza, and I was excited to not cook or wash any dishes!

That’s all for now, friends. I hope that you’ve enjoyed a great weekend, and that you’ve found some new inspiration for your own dinner table in the days ahead. Happy Sunday, and happy May!🌸💐🌻🌼🌷🌺