Our Week in Meals #393

Good morning, and happy Sunday! We wrapped up our school year this week, celebrated a couple of graduations, and stayed busy outside getting the property ready for summer. 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 started my Sunday with a morning walk with Barbara and Adria. The honeysuckle and other wild flowers lining the roads are so fragrant right now!

The rest of the day included photographing a couple of recipes, watching the final weekend of Premier League soccer with the boys, and taking care of a handful of chores around the house.

We had “surf-n-turf” for dinner that night — a combination of grilled salmon and marinated grilled steaks.

On the side, we had a pan of Old Bay crispy potatoes, my fav Southern Caesar salad, and a bowl of easy fruit salad with vanilla pudding. This was basically Casey’s belated birthday dinner, since we were hosting Gibbs’ friends for the 8th grade dance the night before. Of course, there was leftover strawberry tres leches cake for dessert!

Let’s chat books! This week I read Murder in an Italian Village by Michael Falco. This was a fun mystery set in Positano on the Amalfi Coast. The story was entertaining, but what I really enjoyed was reading about the Italian food and the gorgeous setting!

Monday marked the start of the last week of school for the boys. The older two had Field Day at the middle school, so that made it easier to get everyone out the door in the morning…

Ashley and I took our dogs for a walk, and I popped into Yoder’s to pick up our weekly staples (and to say “hi” to the goats).

Keith grilled chicken skewers for chicken souvlaki that night.

We paired the grilled chicken and tzatziki sauce with rice, pita bread, spinach from Adria’s garden, fresh veggies like cucumber, tomatoes, and red bell peppers, feta cheese, and hummus.

A sunny Tuesday…

Gibbs and his classmates took the train up to to Washington, DC for a field trip that day, so he didn’t get home until late. Meanwhile, it was a normal day for the rest of us — school, a morning walk, a doctor’s appointment in Charlottesville, and work at the computer.

We had cast iron skillet burgers for supper, along with frozen French fries, cut-up veggies, and leftover hummus.

After a walk with Ashley on Wednesday, I went to Madison Gardens to buy some flowers to pot for our porches.

I also grabbed strawberries, peaches, and summer squash. The selection of flowers, herbs, and produce was great!

We had dump-and-bake summer pasta that evening, along with Adria’s garlic roasted broccoli and frozen breadsticks.

Spencer’s Field Day was moved indoors on Thursday, thanks to thunderstorms in the forecast. Such a bummer for him!

In reality, we saw a lot of clouds and very little rain…

Keith and I went to the middle school to watch Gibbs receive an award from the Montpelier chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. He was surprised and embarrassed by the attention, but we were proud to be there. Miss Hazel was particularly kind to spend her morning with us!

Dinner was easy that night: fish tacos (made with fish sticks) and slaw, as well as chips, pico de gallo, and homemade guac.

The boys wrapped up their school year on Friday with a half day of school! We went to Gibbs’ 8th grade graduation in the morning, and then Casey and I went into Charlottesville for a lunch date. He used his birthday gift cards at the Lego store and chose Chick-Fil-A for our meal. Last day of 7th grade!

Meanwhile, Keith and the other two grabbed lunch at the Piedmont Deli, since they had no interest in going to Charlottesville. Spencer’s done with 4th grade, happy to be “free,” and just wanted to spend the afternoon outside.

I took Gibbs to a golf lesson that afternoon, and we picked up pizzas for dinner. It’s been a crazy-busy few weeks, and I was ready to crash by the end of the day…

Saturday was another full one!

So much for sleeping in on summer break — Keith put the boys to work early that morning before it got too hot outside.

Meanwhile, Teddy stayed busy watching the birds from the comfort of the air conditioned indoors. Hah!

We met friends at the bowling alley in Charlottesville that afternoon, and stopped for ice cream at Dairy Queen on the way home. Summertime!

And since our neighbor graduated from high school this week, we walked over to their farm that evening for his graduation party. Barbara and Wayland served bbq and brisket, along with all of the sides — mac and cheese, coleslaw, baked beans, potato salad, green salad, 7-layer dip (among many others), and banana pudding for dessert.

…and Adria provided the flowers for the tables. It was such a fun time with friends!

So there you have it — another week of easy dinners. I hope that you’ve found something new for your own table in the days ahead. Thank you for being here, and have a wonderful Memorial Day!