Our Week in Meals #398

Good morning, and happy Sunday! This week included cousin time, pool time, and fresh flowers. 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 met my friends for an early walk at Mollie’s farm, while Keith and the boys pruned trees on our property.

The peach trees and apple trees are loaded with fruit!

Now if only we can get that fruit to fully ripen without the bugs and squirrels getting there first…

We watched the men’s national team play in their first Copa America game that evening, while Keith smoked a couple of turkey breasts for supper.

Plus a cucumber, tomato, and onion salad and a pan of Jiffy cornbread with creamed corn on the side.

And a peach galette for dessert (using this store-bought pie crust)! I had ordered 6 peaches in my grocery order the week before, but instead I received 6 pounds of peaches. Needless to say, we had some extra fruit to enjoy in the form of this easy treat…

As far as reading goes, this week I cruised through Riley Sager’s newest mystery, The Only One Left. This one had so many twists and turns that I didn’t see coming!

The kids and I spent Monday morning riding bikes and rollerblading at a park in Culpeper.

I made my favorite Yoder’s copycat chicken salad for lunch,

and Casey joined me at Madison Gardens that afternoon to pick up local produce and a few more plants.

For supper, I served mu shu pork with tortillas, as well as store-bought egg rolls. We love this healthier version of my favorite Chinese take-out dish, and the leftovers are great, too!

I took the older two boys to the doctor on Tuesday morning for their sports physicals,

enjoyed the long-awaited return of the classic tomato sandwich for lunch,

and then headed to the pool with my three kids and one of Spencer’s friends for the afternoon. It was cannon balls, flips, and football in the deep end for hours…

Dinner that night was classic comfort food: chicken divan with rice, plus flaky biscuits on the side.

My friend Ashley and I walked our dogs together on Wednesday morning.

The rest of the day involved work in the kitchen — testing new recipes and photographing others.

I went over to Adria’s farm that afternoon, just as a big thunderstorm rolled in. We briefly checked out her gardens in the rain, and I came home with bunches of dahlias to brighten up the kitchen.

We had Big Mac salads for supper that night, paired with frozen onion rings. I love that meal! Then we were out the door again — Keith played pickleball, while I took Spencer to play soccer with a friend.

A steamy Thursday morning sunrise after a night of rain…

I got out for a short walk up the road…

…and then the kids and I headed south to my parents’ house in Nelson County.

My brother and my nephews were in town for the day from Florida, in between lacrosse tournaments in the mid-Atlantic.

My dad and I went to our favorite antique shop, my mom served bbq pulled pork sandwiches with coleslaw and iced tea for lunch,

and the boys swam in the lake for the afternoon.

We made it home in time for a quick and easy dinner: these 5-ingredient chicken parm sandwiches (made with frozen chicken patties), cut-up veggies from the garden, and potato chips. Lots of sandwiches and potato chips that day, but nobody was complaining!

I took Gibbs to play golf on Friday morning, got work done at the computer, and played soccer with the younger two boys in the yard that afternoon.

We had dump-and-bake summer pasta for supper, along with garlic bread and salad on the side.

And that brings us to the weekend!

Adria came over for a walk on Saturday morning, I picked up a grocery order, and we took care of our never-ending list of chores around the house.

Late afternoon, we headed over to the pool for a swim,

and then picked up pizzas for dinner on the way home.

So there you go, friends — another week of dinners! I hope that you’ve found some new inspiration for your own table in the days ahead. Thank you for being here, and have a great Sunday!