Our Week in Meals #363

Good morning, and happy Sunday! The end of October — wow! We’re wrapping up the month with cozy comfort food classics, a corn maze, and pumpkin carving. 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 took our annual family portraits on Sunday morning (much to the boys’ dismay), and then spent the afternoon in Charlottesville for Spencer’s soccer game. It was another gorgeous weekend to be outside!

The younger two boys carved pumpkins on the porch, which resulted in pumpkin seeds and pulp all over their clothes, faces, hands, and hair! I sent them straight in to shower…

Keith had a small beef tenderloin in the freezer, so he grilled that for supper,

along with our favorite 15-minute grilled salmon.

I was in charge of the sides, including a house salad (tip: use store-bought candied pecans for a shortcut!), baked potatoes, and roasted acorn squash.

Now for this week’s book! I recently finished Michael Connelly’s legal thriller, The Lincoln Lawyer. This is the first in a series of 7 books, which have now been adapted into a TV show on Netflix starring Matthew McConaughey. It’s the story of charismatic defense attorney, Mickey Haller, who takes on a slam-dunk court case involving a Beverly Hills playboy. The situation quickly spirals into a nightmare, and Mickey finds himself in a fight for his life. This is a fun page-turner!

Monday was a Teacher Work Day, so the boys had an extra day off from school.

They’ve decided that they’ve outgrown trick-or-treating this year, but they were very excited about a visit to the corn maze. Fortunately, the weather cooperated!

Liberty Mills Farm is a short 10-minute drive down the road, and this year it earned the title of the largest corn maze in the United States! We had fun navigating the rows, thanks to Gibbs’ map-reading skills…

Keith took the younger two boys to their soccer practices in Charlottesville later that afternoon, while I stayed home to make supper. We had our favorite spaghetti sauce served on pasta, along with garlic bread and another “house salad” using the leftover ingredients from the night before.

The kids went back to school on Tuesday, and I had a quiet work day at the house.

My parents came by for lunch, I took Casey to soccer that evening, and we enjoyed my mom’s easy chicken pot pie recipe for supper afterwards. Comfort food season is here!

Wednesday included an early walk up the road with Keith,

followed by a few errands in Culpeper before lunch.

Keith took Spencer to soccer practice that afternoon, followed by Dutch oven beef stew and sweet potato biscuits for dinner afterwards.

A walk in the woods with Mollie on a beautiful Thursday morning!

The rest of the day was largely devoted to computer work. I prepped dinner early in the day, picked up the kids from school, and took Casey to soccer before we all eventually ended up at home for a late supper.

On the menu: King Ranch chicken, tortilla chips with salsa and homemade guac, rice (from a microwaveable packet), and these seasoned beans with corn, which Spencer requested.

Friday was a lot like the day before — a morning walk with my friend Ashley, a stop at Yoder’s for lunch meat, cheese, and bread on the way home, and then a day of work at the house.

Keith and I went on a dinner date that night! We picked up pizzas for the boys beforehand, and then the two of us tried a new restaurant in Barboursville called Exchange Cafe (run by the same folks who own one of my favorite bbq joints, The BBQ Exchange). The cafe menu is described as, “charcoal grilled in the foothills of Virginia,” and it features a casual variety of locally sourced meats, seafood, and vegetables grilled over hickory coals.

I had the grain bowl with greens, fruit, nuts, cheese, veggies, and a grilled steak skewer tossed with lemon tahini dressing. They also had Virginia ham biscuits and fried chicken sandwiches that looked great, so we’ll have to go back!

Spencer and Gibbs walked Teddy up the street with me on Saturday morning…

His shirt matched the trees!

Keith and Spencer spent the rest of the day up in Northern Virginia for Spencer’s soccer game, while I was home with the older boys. I tested a few new recipes in the kitchen, met my friend Barbara for a walk, and got dinner started in the Crock Pot.

The evening included college football on TV, along with slow cooker white chicken chili for supper.

Plus Mexican cornbread, cut-up veggies, and Ranch dip on the side.

So there you go — another week of easy fall meals! I hope that you’ve found something new to add to your table in the days ahead. Thank you for being here, and have a fun Halloween!