Our Week in Meals #387

Good morning, and happy Sunday! This week included spring flowers and showers, an eclipse, and some easy recipes. 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…

I spent Sunday morning at Mollie’s farm with three friends. What a beautiful spring day for some fresh air!

Casey helped me pull weeds in the flower beds after lunch while Teddy supervised in the sunshine…

And for supper we had dump-and-bake chicken tzatziki with rice, which we served with pita bread, hummus (I used store-bought hummus that night, but here’s my homemade recipe if you prefer), and a Greek salad with romaine, tomatoes, olives, feta, and cucumbers.

Let’s chat about books! This week I have a really interesting one to share. My Murder by Katie Williams is a classic murder mystery — with a twist. In this novel, a young woman who was murdered by a serial killer is brought back to life through a government program that creates clones of the deceased. Given a second chance at life, Lou starts asking questions, wonders who she can trust, and becomes obsessed with solving her own murder. This one wasn’t too scary or too creepy, but it definitely kept me on the edge of my seat. A really unique, fun read!

The kids were definitely not happy about it, but everyone returned to work and school on Monday morning after a nice week off for spring break.

I had a doctor’s appointment in Charlottesville as a follow-up from my recent leg surgery, so that took up the bulk of my day. I also picked the kids up a little bit early so that they would be home in time to see the eclipse!

Both Casey and Spencer had late soccer practices that evening, so we ate an early supper before I drove them back into Charlottesville. On the menu: Sloppy Joe’s, coleslaw (store-bought), potato chips, and carrot sticks with Ranch dip. Simple and quick!

My entire Tuesday was devoted to work in the kitchen — lots of cooking, lots of photographing recipes, and lots of washing dishes!

We’ve had a good amount of rain recently, and suddenly spring has sprung! Everything is looking so bright and vibrant…

Keith took Casey to soccer that evening, while I stayed home with the other two boys to prep supper. Once everyone was back home, we had chicken lo mein (a favorite for Spencer and Casey), ramen noodle salad (one of my favs), and egg rolls from the freezer.

Ashley and I took our dogs for a walk on Wednesday, and then I spent the rest of the morning running errands in Culpeper — car wash, Target, bagels at Panera, etc.

Spencer had a late soccer practice that evening, so it was another 4:30 p.m. early dinner beforehand: taco quesadillas (a long-time favorite recipe from my brother!) with tortilla chips, salsa, guacamole, and seasoned corn and beans.

Mollie and I got out for a walk before the rain clouds rolled in on Thursday.

I also made a point to stop at Yoder’s for lunch meat and other basics around mid-day so that I could pick up sandwiches for lunch from the deli. The “special” this week was one of my favorites: the Sweet Southern Heat. It includes rotisserie chicken, coleslaw, lettuce, tomato, mayo, and pickles with hot honey on toasted sourdough. Such a great combination!

Plus a batch of one-bowl banana muffins to take advantage of the overripe bananas sitting on the counter…

Casey’s soccer practice was canceled due to the weather, so we had a quiet evening at home. I made baked bbq chicken thighs for supper, which we paired with canned baked beans, white rice, garlic roasted broccoli,

and a pan of sweet and fluffy cornbread with corn.

A hike on Adria’s farm on Friday morning!

We climbed over fences, sloshed through muddy red clay, and said hi to the cows. It was the perfect start to our day!

A couple of Spencer’s friends came over after school, and Gibbs had a golf lesson.

On the way home from golf, we picked up pizzas for the crew for dinner.

I did manage to bake an easy Bisquick peach cobbler for dessert (in honor of The Master’s!). I actually found fresh peaches at the grocery store earlier in the week, but this recipe works well with canned or frozen peaches, too.

And that brings us to the weekend! Spencer and I left the house really early on Saturday morning for his soccer game in Richmond, while Keith and Casey spent the day in Virginia Beach for Casey’s game.

Once Spencer and I were home, we did some house chores and a little bit of work in the yard. Apple blossoms!

The boys wanted spaghetti for supper, so I made a pan of million dollar baked spaghetti and paired it with a bag of Caesar salad from the store, as well as a tray of frozen garlic bread. Keepin’ it simple!

So there you go, friends — another week of easy dinners! I hope that you’ve found something new to add to your own table in the days ahead. Thank you for spending some time here on this beautiful (80 degree) Sunday!