Our Week in Meals #445

Good morning, and happy Sunday! This week included a birthday celebration, the end of the school year, and the last hurrah for spring sports. 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…

Casey turned 14 on Sunday!

We got out for an early walk, went to church, and had supper at Tim’s at Lake Anna.

The birthday boy wanted crabs, so that’s what he got (x3)! Fried crab balls to start, and then crab legs and two crab cakes for his entrees. Feeding teenage boys is no joke!

This was my broiled combo platter with a crab cake, shrimp, hush puppies, coleslaw, and baked beans.

Plus an ice cream sandwich cake for dessert back home. Always an easy winner…

Let’s chat books! This week I’ve got a mystery-thriller from Reese’s Book Club to share: Society of Lies by Lauren Ling Brown. In this novel, Maya returns to Princeton for her sister’s graduation — only to discover Naomi is dead under suspicious circumstances. As she digs into the elite social clubs they both joined, dark secrets from her past resurface, revealing that Naomi’s death may be tied to a chilling pattern of tragedy and silence. Set at my alma mater, it was fun to read about so many familiar spots and traditions. That aside, this was a serious page-turner and a fun, quick read.

Monday morning marked the start of the kids’ last week of school, as well as their last week of soccer for the season.

I took Teddy for a short walk up the road, and then spent time in the kitchen testing a couple of new recipes.

After Casey’s practice that evening, I used this taco seasoning to make a double batch of taco meat.

Keith and I had Dorito taco salads, while the boys had regular tacos and/or “walking tacos.” Do you know about walking tacos? They’re a favorite in the school cafeteria, since the kids can basically combine Doritos and taco meat with any of their favorite toppings and then eat them straight out of the mini chip bag. Spencer requests them regularly!

Plus guacamole and salsa with extra chips on the side. I don’t cook with a ton of cilantro, but I included a couple of cilantro plants in our garden this year just so that I would have plenty of the fresh herbs for two of my boys’ favorites: this guacamole and this cilantro lime chicken marinade. You will be seeing them on repeat…

Tuesday included a walk with Mollie, a meeting after lunch, Casey’s soccer game, and Spencer’s practice that evening.

Knowing that we would be busy, I planned a meal that I could easily prep in advance. We used leftover chicken to make these bbq chicken wraps,

which we paired with a creamy pasta salad.

On a rainy Wednesday, Casey went on a field trip with some of the other 8th graders to Washington, DC; Teddy went to the groomer; Gibbs hit golf balls with a friend; and we went to Spencer’s 5th grade graduation ceremony. He’s onto middle school next year, and just like that, my days as an elementary school mom are over…

Cows in the rain…

Dinner was about as easy as it gets! The family loves this lobster ravioli (that I get at Walmart), so I tossed that with a combination of tomato basil sauce and Alfredo sauce.

On the side, we had drop cheese biscuits brushed with garlic butter (like Red Lobster Cheddar Bay biscuits!) and a simple side salad dressed with Dijon vinaigrette.

Dramatic skies on Thursday!

I met Ashley for a morning walk with our dogs, ran errands in Culpeper, and prepped dinner in advance of another busy evening.

Casey had his last game of the season at the high school and Spencer had a late practice in Charlottesville. Back home, I served a dump-and-bake chicken divan casserole (assembled earlier in the day) with a side of dinner rolls from the freezer.

Friday was a beautiful morning for the 8th grade graduation…

followed by lunch at Qdoba in Charlottesville with my parents. The kids are officially on summer break!

I took Gibbs to a golf lesson that afternoon,

and Keith grilled beef shish kabobs for supper.

We had the meat and veggies with rice, warm flatbread, pickled red onions, feta cheese, my mom’s marinated cucumbers, store-bought hummus, pita chips, and tzatziki sauce. Such a delicious warm-weather meal!

And that brings us to the weekend! Spencer and I hit the road early on Saturday morning to get to Williamsburg for his soccer tournament.

Lunch at Subway in between games!

Since his last game was pretty late in the evening, we grabbed a quick dinner at Chick-Fil-A afterwards. We stayed overnight in Colonial Williamsburg, will play an early game this morning, and will return home to Keith and the older boys this afternoon.

So there you have it — 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 being here and have a wonderful Memorial Day!