Our Week in Meals #360

Good morning, and happy Sunday! This week we welcomed October with cozy autumnal suppers and a quick getaway in the mountains. 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…

We were on the soccer fields bright and early Sunday morning for Spencer’s game, which allowed for a quiet afternoon at home (much appreciated!).

We watched football, worked on Casey’s science project, and even tried making California roll sushi for the first time. My neighbor told me that her son has had fun making his own sushi, so I got this kit on Amazon and let Casey give it a try. He did a great job — but you definitely will not be seeing any Japanese recipes on this site any time soon. Hah!

I really leaned into the fall recipes this week, since it’s not only my favorite time of year to cook, but also my favorite time of year to eat! Dinner that night was delicious — cider dijon roasted chicken,

along with rice, fried cabbage with apples and onions, and a skillet of cornbread.

Plus my mom’s easy apple galette recipe for dessert!

I’ve got another good book to share this week! While last week’s novel still remains my favorite of the year so far, The House Guest by Hank Phillippi Ryan was a very entertaining mystery-thriller. This was one of those fun reads that kept me trying to “figure it out” the entire time, while presenting plenty of twists and turns along the way.

Working in my new t-shirt on Monday morning! Have you seen The Seasoned Mom shop yet?!😊

Once the boys were off to school, I went for a walk, spent some time in the kitchen prepping soup and beer bread to stash in the freezer for a later meal, and jumped on a Zoom meeting.

Keith took both of the younger boys to their soccer practices in Charlottesville that evening, while I stayed home with Gibbs to make supper. We had a late dinner of ground beef tacos, along with tortilla chips, salsa, guacamole, corn, and store-bought pico de gallo.

Tuesday started with a long walk in the woods with my friend Mollie. Still waiting for these leaves to change!

I got some work done at the house, picked up the boys from school, and took Casey to his soccer practice. Since I was gone all evening, I prepped everything for dinner in advance, and then just left Keith in charge of heating it up before we got home.

We had this easy chicken parmesan casserole (which takes advantage of shredded rotisserie chicken), garlic bread, and a simple green salad dressed in a homemade vinaigrette.

Ashley and I took our dogs for a walk on Wednesday morning, and then I was back in the kitchen for the day, cooking and taking photos.

Hello, Buck!

I made this quick roasted Old Bay salmon for supper before Spencer’s soccer practice, which we paired with Panera baguette and a crisp cucumber salad.

Another beautiful Thursday morning to get outdoors!

I ran errands up in Culpeper, and stopped at Yoder’s on my way home to pick up some furniture for my parents, as well as sandwiches for lunch.

I ordered the “Autumn Melt,” which I get at least once each fall when they offer it as a special: a panini made with turkey, havarti cheese, pecans, and pumpkin butter. The perfect combination of salty, sweet, crunchy, and cheesy!

For a later dinner after Casey’s soccer practice, we had cider-braised pulled pork,

along with cheese drop biscuits and Arkansas green beans with bacon.

I met Ashley for a walk on Friday morning, and then spent most of the rest of the day getting organized for our weekend away. Laundry, cleaning, packing suitcases, etc.!

Once we picked the boys up from school, we drove a couple hours west over the mountains to Bath County, Virginia — right near the West Virginia border.

We try to get to this part of the state at some point each fall, since it’s a gorgeous season in Appalachia. We had a rare weekend free of soccer games, so we knew that it was the perfect time to take advantage.

We arrived at our rental house around dinnertime, so Keith drove into Hot Springs to pick up individual brick oven flatbread pizzas, salad, and soft pretzels for an easy takeout meal from Bacova Beer.

I brought a loaf of one-bowl pumpkin cranberry bread to have for breakfast on Saturday morning.

We spent the morning at Lake Moomaw,

…stopped in my favorite little antique shop,

and had a delicious lunch at Country Cafe.

Our house was in Hot Springs, just up the street from The Homestead, so that served as a fun outing for the afternoon.

We played mini golf, air hockey in the arcade, and watched college football in the taproom.

Sam Snead’s Tavern for dinner — and it was delicious!

I loved the caramelized onions that they added to this Caesar salad,

and the shrimp and grits were some of the best I’ve ever enjoyed.

So that’s a wrap on this roundup of meals! We’re headed home this morning, since the boys have a full week of school ahead. Thank you for joining us here, and have a wonderful Sunday!