Our Week in Meals #308

Good morning, and happy Sunday! It was another full fall week around here, complete with good eats, sports, and new books. 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…

The rain from Hurricane Ian continued all day on Sunday, so we stayed busy with indoor activities and errands up in Culpeper. While in town, we visited the Spirit Halloween store and stopped for lunch at the China Garden buffet — the kids’ request!

Keith grilled steaks for dinner that night,

which I served with baked potatoes,

and Appalachian beans and greens plus cornbread. Can’t have the beans and greens without cornbread (and the leftovers work well for lunches later in the week)! I’m happy with the beans and greens as my main course, but my 4 boys don’t agree. They want meat as the main, so here we are…

Shall we chat about books again? This week I read a fun romantic comedy called The Layover by Lacie Waldon (which just might make you want to hop on a jet to Belize),

and a more serious memoir by Ruth Reichl called Save Me The Plums. This was fairly slow and dry in some parts, but I did enjoy learning about the rise and fall of her career as the Editor in Chief at Gourmet magazine. The book also features some behind-the-scenes looks at the cut-throat environment at Conde Nast — fascinating!

Finally, another mystery thriller by Linda Castillo: The Dead Will Tell. This is book #6 in her Kate Burkholder series, and it was another great page-turner!

The skies cleared by Monday morning, and it was so nice to get outside again.

Dropped off some jars of homemade granola for my neighbors while dodging puddles along the way!

My uncle and two of my aunts were visiting from out of town, so we had a fun lunch date with my parents at Yoder’s, briefly stopped by our house afterwards, and I sent everyone home with pumpkin bars for dessert.

Spencer had a dentist appointment for a quick fluoride treatment in Charlottesville that afternoon, so I put dinner in the slow cooker before I left to pick him up from school. On the menu: Crock Pot Brown Sugar Garlic Chicken (one of Spencer’s favorites), plus rice, steamed broccoli, and egg rolls. Then out the door again for Gibbs’ soccer practice!

I was supposed to have jury duty on both Tuesday and Wednesday this week, but on Monday I found out that it had been postponed for a couple of weeks, so I was suddenly blessed with a fairly open calendar.

After some fresh air on a very chilly, gray, windy morning, I spent the rest of my time plugging away at my never-ending to-do list on the computer.

The younger two boys had soccer practices in Orange that evening, so I fed everyone an early supper before taking them to the fields.

We had spinach stuffed shells (one of Gibbs’ favorite meals), as well as Caesar salad and store-bought garlic breadsticks.

The bright green shades of summer are finally turning to autumn golds, browns, and reds in Virginia.

I took advantage of the beautiful weather and went for a walk up the road on Wednesday morning.

The rest of the day was a quiet one at the house before scooping the boys up from school, and eventually getting all three of them out the door for soccer practices.

I thawed some leftover Mississippi pulled pork from the freezer, tossed it with bbq sauce, and used it to make pulled pork nachos for supper. Paired with store-bought coleslaw and homemade guacamole, this meal is a BIG hit with all of my boys!

I met Mollie for a walk on Thursday morning,

and spent a few hours at the house working.

I baked a loaf of easy, one-bowl apple bread to have on hand for breakfasts and snacks,

and then picked the kids up early from school to take them to get flu shots at the doctor’s office in Orange.

Keith was out of town that evening, so the boys and I grabbed supper at their favorite restaurant, My Avocado, after our appointments. I had the steak burrito bowl with a warm ginger molasses cookie for dessert!

Friday included a morning walk with my friend Ashley, tasks at the computer (always!), and an afternoon meeting at the Starbucks in Ruckersville before I had to pick up the kids.

I treated myself to the pumpkin spice Frappuccino…yes, please!

Gibbs had a golf lesson, so Spencer tagged along and played putt-putt while we waited.

And since it was relatively late by the time we got home, I just reheated some beef and beer chili that I thawed from the freezer, along with a skillet of cornbread.

Keith and the younger two boys left the house bright and early on Saturday morning to head to Richmond for a soccer tournament, while I stayed in Madison to take Gibbs to his game.

Five games in one day makes for very busy parents (and kids). At least the weather was picture-perfect!

I let Gibbs pick dinner, since the others still weren’t home at that point, and he opted for takeout pizza from Giovanna’s. Always easy and tasty!

And that’s it for now, friends! We have another full day of soccer ahead, with 4 more games on the agenda. Time to sign off! Thank you for being here, as always. I hope that you’ve found some new easy recipes to add to your own menu in the coming week. Have a great Sunday!