Our Week in Meals #343

Good morning, and happy Sunday! This week included smoky skies, kids’ sports, and a weekend road trip to Amish country. 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…

I made Bisquick waffles for Sunday breakfast at the kids’ request (we’re loving the new Belgian waffle maker that I got a few months ago!),

and then spent the morning catching up with three of my friends at Mollie’s farm. It was a cloudy, cool day, but at least the rain held off so that we could get outside.

Keith took Casey to a soccer practice up in Fredericksburg that evening, so the other two boys and I were on our own for supper. I kept it simple, and purchased a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store. I used some of the chicken on a strawberry chicken salad with avocados and poppy seed dressing for myself, while the kids ate a deconstructed version of the same — chicken and salad separately.

Plus sour cream cornbread on the side for all of us!

And, in keeping with the strawberry theme, I planned a dessert that would take advantage of the fresh fruit that tastes so good right now: strawberry shortcake. I just used a tub of Cool Whip rather than whipping my own cream, though — the kids love it, and it was one less step!

As far as books go, this week I finished These Silent Woods by Kimi Cunningham Grant. A beautiful story of friendship, survival, and a father’s love for his child, this novel kept me turning the pages to see how the pieces would all come together. The characters were well developed, and I enjoyed reading about life in the woods of the Northern Appalachian mountains. While it was sad in parts, I really loved this one!

The sun returned and Monday was a gorgeous 75-degree day. I got out for a walk in the morning, and Casey joined me for a stop at Yoder’s to buy buttermilk, cream, lunch meat, cheese, peanut butter, and a lot of chips and candy that weren’t on our list (of course).

We went to the pool for a swim that afternoon, and then came home to make tacos for an early dinner before Keith and Gibbs went to play golf.

I always prepare a double-batch of taco meat so that we have extras to stash in the freezer to use in quesadillas, enchiladas, or nachos another day. On the side, we had tortilla chips, guacamole, salsa, pico de gallo, Spanish rice, and corn on the cob that Casey picked out at Yoder’s.

I baked at batch of these blueberry muffins for breakfast on Tuesday morning, which many of you have recently told me are the best blueberry muffins you’ve ever tasted (and I’d have to agree)! If you haven’t tried them yet, I encourage you to do so this summer while the berries are sweet. You can sub whole milk plain Greek yogurt for the sour cream if you like, too.

The rest of the day was largely spent driving back and forth to Charlottesville (not necessarily my idea of fun, but sometimes we can’t avoid it).🤪 Casey had a physical therapy appointment in town that morning, and then we met my aunt and uncle for lunch at Burton’s Grill afterwards to celebrate my aunt’s birthday (always fun!).

We were home for a few hours, and then turned around to go back to Charlottesville that evening for Casey’s soccer practice down at UVA. The practice was right at 5 p.m., and it’s a long drive from our house, so we were gone basically all evening. Keith was at a concert with friends, so I took the easy route for supper and treated the kids to Chik-Fil-A in Charlottesville before making our way back home. Sometimes a home-cooked dinner just isn’t in the cards! If you do have the time, though, here’s my recipe for homemade Chik-Fil-A nuggets — which my kids 100% approve of.

I met my friend Ashley for a walk with our dogs on Wednesday morning, and then took Spencer to an orthodontist appointment.

It’s definitely hay-making season around here! These are on my neighbor’s farm across from us, but you’ll see the big round bales everywhere you look…

The afternoon included recipe testing in the kitchen, “brewing” yet another pitcher of sun tea, cutting up a big watermelon, and preparing an early supper before Keith and Gibbs went to play golf and I took Spencer to play pick-up soccer in Charlottesville. So much for thinking that our evenings would be quieter at this time of year!🤪

We had one-skillet, 20-minute garlic shrimp, along with rice and steamed broccoli before heading out the door.

Mollie came over for a walk on Thursday morning, but the weather was so bizarre — kind of sunny, cool and breezy, but incredibly smoky and hazy due to the Canadian wildfires. Thanks to the less-than-stellar air quality, we we spent most of the rest of the day indoors. I photographed a couple of recipes, and Casey’s soccer was canceled that evening.

I served pasta with sausage and spinach for supper, along with garlic bread and a green salad dressed in red wine vinaigrette.

Since I was working on a peach cobbler recipe earlier in the day, we had the leftovers with vanilla ice cream for dessert. I’ll share the new recipe in the coming weeks, but here’s my super-simple version (which you can use with frozen or canned peaches, too)!

The air was less smoky on Friday, so I met Ashley for a walk, took the dog to the groomer, and watched Gibbs at a golf lesson. Meanwhile, Keith and Casey made their way up to Lancaster, Pennsylvania for a soccer tournament.

Gibbs, Spencer, and I were on our own for dinner, so we had some (very easy) bbq chicken wraps after golf, along with fruit and potato chips. I love no-cook meals like this — especially on warm summer evenings.

Yesterday morning, the boys and I left Virginia and headed north to meet up with Keith and Casey at the soccer tournament in Lancaster. It was a long drive, but we made it there in time to watch Casey’s second game (a big win!) that afternoon.

Keith found the cutest little Vrbo rental house for the weekend, which was in a beautiful setting among shady trees and surrounded by farmland. We felt right at home!

For supper we went into downtown Lancaster, where we had wings, burgers, pretzel bites, wood-fired pizza, and Caesar salads at the Spring House Brewery,

followed by ice cream at the Lancaster Sweet Shoppe (the true highlight)! This was a coffee-caramel-stroopwafel cone, and it was amazing!

That seems like a good spot to end it for today. Thank you for being here, and thank you for your kind comments and support each week. I hope that you have a wonderful Sunday, and that you enjoy a new recipe or two on your table in the coming days!