Our Week in Meals #373

Good morning, happy Sunday, and welcome to 2024! This week included a quiet New Year’s Eve, plenty of fresh air, and visits with friends and family. You’ll find all of the highlights from the past few days, along with each of our dinners, 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…

Sunday was New Year’s Eve, and I started my day by meeting a few of my friends for a walk at Mollie’s farm that morning.

We had planned a party at our house for that evening, but ended up canceling the get-together because Keith had been sick for a few days beforehand and we didn’t want to share any germs. Instead, our dinner included the ham and cheese sliders that I was originally going to serve at the party, along with veggies and dip, Sallie’s Chex mix, and a variety of chips.

I also tested a new icebox cake recipe, which we enjoyed for dessert. It was a strawberry twist on this key lime icebox cake, so stay tuned for that recipe in the weeks ahead. It wasn’t the fun gathering that we had planned, but it was a nice, quiet evening at home. Lots of football on TV and reading on the couch!

Speaking of reading, this week I finished Ann Patchett’s latest novel, Tom Lake. It’s a beautifully written story of family, love, and growing up.

Set during the pandemic, Lara’s three daughters return to the family’s orchard in Northern Michigan. While picking cherries, they beg their mother to tell them the story of Peter Duke, a famous actor with whom she shared both a theater stage and a romance years before. As Lara recalls the past, her daughters examine their own lives and relationship with their mother, and are forced to reconsider the world and everything they thought they knew. I especially loved the relationship between Lara and her own grandmother!

We eased into Monday with a slower morning. I took care of some classic New Year’s Day deep-cleaning in the kitchen (like the fridge, the toaster oven, etc.), organized book shelves, and vacuumed, before eventually joining my friends Barbara and Adria for a walk. It was cold and windy out there!

Rebekah, our neighbor and the boys’ former babysitter, came over for a visit that afternoon. We always love to see her! She took care of the kids most weekdays while I worked, starting from the time they were newborns. She’s had fun watching them grow up, and has now been teaching a classroom full of her own students for years! She also brought along a plate of delicious homemade treats — shortbread, chocolate caramels, coconut candies, and truffles. Divine!

Dinner that evening was a classic New Year’s Day meal for good luck — just like my mom taught me! Keith grilled pork tenderloin,

while I baked a batch of cornbread muffins,

simmered a pot of greens,

and prepared the Hoppin’ John. Since I had an extra bag of cranberries in the freezer leftover from the holidays, I also made a side of cranberry orange sauce. Superstitions aside, I always love this meal!

Like most folks, Keith was back to work on Tuesday. The boys, however, had the entire week off from school for the second half of their Christmas break.

I asked them how they wanted to spend the day, and they requested a hike at Chris Greene Lake,

followed by a stop at the Lego store in Charlottesville, and burritos, burrito bowls, and tacos at Qdoba for lunch.

Supper that night included a ground turkey pasta bake paired with a store-bought bagged Caesar salad and garlic breadsticks. Simple and tasty!

After a morning walk up the road with Casey on Wednesday,

my aunt came for a visit and brought subs and fried chicken from The Market for lunch.

I took Gibbs to play golf that afternoon,

and fed everyone supper before heading back out to Spencer’s first indoor soccer practice of the season. On the menu: 5-ingredient taco casserole plus tortilla chips, salsa, and homemade guac.

Plus another tray of goodies from another wonderful neighbor! These were Mrs. Peachey’s chocolate-covered chocolate whoopie pies (oh my!), fig-filled cookies (like homemade Fig Newtons), and bars with pecans and coconut that were a lot like these “Hello Dolly” bars. Such a treat!

I met Mollie for a morning walk on Thursday, picked up some mid-week groceries, and then hosted Gibbs’ friend for the rest of the day.

Dinner was an easy, cozy Crock Pot meal: chicken corn soup, plus grilled cheese sandwiches on the side for those little ones who weren’t as excited about the soup for dinner!

On Friday the boys and I drove south to my parents’ mountain house at Wintergreen.

We had lunch with my folks, and then my mom and I took the kids tubing.

It was the perfect day for it — sunny, not too cold, and not at all crowded. They had a blast, and came home tired!

We made it back to our house in time for me to pull together supper: scalloped potatoes with ham, using the leftover bourbon-glazed ham from Christmas. This has been one of my favorite meals since childhood!

I also baked these chicken nuggets, since I knew that my boys would want something more than just the potatoes for an entree, and I served everything with a simple mixed greens salad dressed in Dijon vinaigrette.

It was a very cold, rainy Saturday, so Spencer’s soccer was canceled and we had a very low-key day at the house. I photographed a couple of recipes for the website, did some cleaning, and about the time everyone was itching to get out, we went to dinner at The Bavarian Chef here in Madison. I love this cozy restaurant — especially on a chilly winter night.

I ordered a three-meat sampler platter, which included a smoked pork chop, chicken schnitzel, and a German sausage, as well as whipped potatoes, sauerkraut with apples, and a soft pretzel. We also had family-style sides including spaetzle, potato dumplings, green beans, and creamed corn. Everything was delicious!

So that’s where I’ll leave it for this week. Thank you so much for being here! I hope that you’ve found a few new meals to add to your own table in the days ahead. Have a wonderful Sunday!