Our Week in Meals #336

Good morning, and happy Sunday! It was a routine spring week around here, complete with sunshine, kids’ activities, and a good book. All of the highlights from the past few days, along with each of our dinners, are included in today’s roundup of Our Week in Meals.

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…

Keith and Casey spent most of Sunday up in Northern Virginia for Casey’s soccer game, while I stayed home with the other two boys.

I met three of my friends for a walk at Mollie’s farm in the morning,

and took Gibbs and Spencer to get ice cream cones and milkshakes at the Tastee Freez that afternoon.

Keith grilled steaks for supper,

which I paired with a zucchini gratin with corn and bacon,

and a loaf of Keith’s favorite jalapeno cheddar bread. If you’re interested, here are my top picks for the best stand mixers for bread. The gratin and the bread are filling enough that I made those my meal — no extra meat necessary. The boys would disagree!

I’ve got a couple of recommendations to share with you this week! First up, a not-too-scary, but still entertaining mystery by Lisa Jewell: The Night She Disappeared. If you enjoy thrillers, this one is worth adding to your list!

And since a reader recently requested an update on my favorite spring candles and other goodies, I thought I’d share those as well.

In the fall and winter months, I love cozy, warmly spiced candles; however, I lean towards lighter scents like fresh citrus or subtle florals in the spring and summer. I’m currently enjoying this “Georgette” candle by Otherland, which is part of the seasonal Garden Party collection. It’s a blend of Southern Magnolia, Lily of the Valley, and White Amber. Beautiful, but not overpowering!

If floral isn’t your thing, then I would also recommend this “Wooded Sage” candle from Target, which emits the soft, sweet, and refreshing smells of wooded sage with notes of cypress, olive leaves, rosewood, and charcoal.

Onto a few kitchen favorites! For a fresh spring scent on my counter, I’m enjoying the Everspring Rosewater & Mint dish soap and all-purpose cleaner from Target. Bonus — the packaging is fun! If you need a similar hand soap, I like the geranium and herbs foaming soap by the same brand.

And for your spring baking needs, I discovered the ceramic nonstick bakeware from Great Jones (not sponsored, just some items that I bought for myself during a recent sale). The quality of these pieces is fantastic — sturdy, very nonstick, and very easy to clean. They bake evenly, and are even dishwasher safe. I have a couple of the large sheet pans, the loaf pan, and the muffin tin. Highly recommend!

Happy cows in some very green grass on Monday morning!

I stopped in one of my favorite antique shops in Ruckersville that afternoon to buy a pie safe for my new studio, picked up the kids from school, and fed everyone a quick dinner before we had to get the younger two boys to their soccer practices. I prepped Spencer’s favorite Crock Pot garlic brown sugar chicken in advance so that it would be ready when we needed it. Plus lo mein noodles, egg rolls, and steamed broccoli on the side!

I met my friend Ashley for a walk on another beautiful Tuesday morning, and then spent much of the day working at my computer.

You know that the warm weather has arrived when clothes are hanging on the line! Almost time for pool towels…

Keith played golf that evening, but the boys didn’t have any sports practices. I made sheet pan lowcountry boil for supper,

along with a skillet of southern cornbread. Keith just reheated the leftovers when he arrived home later that night.

I took Casey to a doctor’s appointment on Wednesday morning, and then spent the rest of the day in the kitchen…

…cooking, taking photos, and washing a lot of dishes!

We had an early supper before soccer practices and a golf lesson that evening: sheet pan fajitas, along with tortilla chips, guacamole, salsa, and beans.

Thursday included a walk with Ashley and our dogs, followed by editing photos at the computer.

We had a night off from sports practices, so we enjoyed a quiet evening at home. I made chicken shawarma for supper,

which I paired with pita, hummus, and tzatziki sauce, along with marinated cucumbers and fries.

Friday was a day of errands and running around. I met Mollie for a walk in the morning, took the dog to the groomer, stopped at Yoder’s for our weekly lunch meat, peanut butter, and buttermilk staples, visited a local furniture maker with Keith to order some new bedroom furniture, and took Spencer to a dentist appointment in the afternoon. Phew!

Dinner was a meal that I could largely prep in advance — antipasto pasta salad.

I think that the pasta salad is hearty and filling enough to serve as an entree, but my boys had pizza quesadillas on the side as well!

And that brings us to Saturday! We had a packed weekend scheduled, but thunderstorms in the forecast cancelled the boys’ soccer games.

Fortunately, my brother and my nephews flew in from Florida that morning, so we had more free time to spend with them. My parents, my brother, and his boys came to our house for lunch, and then the group headed to the UVA men’s lacrosse game for the afternoon.

Our family, including my aunt and uncle, had reservations at The Mill Room at The Boar’s Head Resort that evening to celebrate my mom’s upcoming birthday. I started with the Southern Wedge Salad, which included cucumber, tomatoes, pickled egg, bacon and cornbread croutons, and green goddess dressing…

…and ordered the fried flounder with chips and slaw for my main course. Keith’s cornmeal fried Virginia oysters were delicious, too!

So there you go — another week of easy dinner ideas! Thank you for being here. I hope that you’ve found some new inspiration for your own table in the days ahead. Have a wonderful Sunday!