Our Week in Meals #449

Good morning, and happy Sunday! This week included Father’s Day, berry picking, and sweet summer treats. 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.

Before we get started — just a quick note to let you know that I published a cookbook announcement earlier this morning. Thanks to so many of you who have checked in and asked me about it over the past few months. Let me know if you have any questions!

Now, let’s back up to last weekend…

Sunday was a rainy Father’s Day.

Keith and I got out for an early walk in the mist, and then we all headed to church.

We wanted to go for a hike and get dinner afterwards, but the weather had other plans.

Instead, it was a quiet afternoon indoors watching golf and soccer on TV. I picked up takeout from The BBQ Exchange for supper, per Keith’s request. Always a hit! This was my pulled chicken platter with cornbread, broccoli salad, and collard greens. We also had pulled pork, fries, hush puppies, wings, coleslaw, mac and cheese, potato salad, and pumpkin muffins!

And for dessert, a fun no-bake treat that’s a guaranteed crowd-pleaser: cookie ice cream sandwiches! I made some with vanilla ice cream and others with this s’mores ice cream.

Let’s chat books! This week I flew through Freida McFadden’s latest, The Crash — an exciting, page-turning thriller with plenty of twists and turns. Her books never disappoint, and are always smart and well-written.

Another misty, gray day on Monday…but the flowers are loving all of the rain and heat!

I spent most of the day working in the kitchen, we had high-speed internet installed (we’ve been waiting almost 20 years for it to come to rural Madison!), and I worked with the designer to finalize the cover of my upcoming book!

Keith grilled marinated flank steak for supper,

which I served with corn fritters, a box of Uncle Ben’s wild rice,

and a cucumber, tomato, and onion salad. Such a great summer meal!

Another damp walk with Mollie and Adria at Mollie’s farm on Tuesday morning…

We also filled the day with a Zoom meeting, gardening, haircuts, and weight training for the boys.

For dinner I stirred together a pan of dump-and-bake pesto Alfredo chicken pasta, pulled a loaf of Ashley’s sourdough bread from my freezer, and tossed together a simple green salad on the side.

The sun came out after supper!

Casey and I made an early stop at Yoder’s on Wednesday morning (he wanted to pick up a German chocolate cake!), and Ashley and I walked our dogs together at a nearby park.

There were 4 overripe bananas sitting on my counter, so you know what that means — Hawaiian banana bread for snack! The perfect summertime loaf…

Gibbs hit golf balls, Spencer swam at the pool, and I took Casey and Khloe to pick blackberries and raspberries.

There weren’t as many ripe berries as we would have liked, but we didn’t come home empty-handed.

There was a youth group scavenger hunt that evening, so we ate an early supper before the boys headed out with their friends: sheet pan low country boil,

plus sauteed zucchini and Charleston red rice.

I also made this easy blueberry cobbler for dessert, but replaced half of the blueberries with the fresh berries that we picked that afternoon. It was a mixed berry cobbler!

Thursday started with an early walk to beat the heat, plus errands in Culpeper while Teddy was at the groomer’s.

The boys had weightlifting that evening, followed by a later meal of baked Parmesan chicken bites with marinara for dipping. Plus garlic breadsticks and a Mediterranean salad kit on the side!

I joined Adria for Pilates on Friday morning, and spent the rest of the day working in the kitchen.

Keith took Gibbs to a golf lesson that afternoon. Meanwhile, I prepped a quick and easy Friday night supper to take advantage of some leftover taco meat that I had stashed in the freezer: ground beef nachos,

plus guacamole, corn, and these taco fiesta black beans.

I went for a walk on Saturday morning,

while Keith took the older boys to the high school for their sports physicals.

We met friends at the pool that afternoon, and the boys ate burgers, fries, and chicken tenders from the snack bar at 4:00 p.m. (so that was their dinner).

Back home, I was in the mood for a light summer meal on a hot evening, so I made cucumber sandwiches (which are so good with the herby cream cheese spread) and paired them with sweet tea, watermelon, and chips on the side!

So there you have it, friends — another week of easy dinner ideas! 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 Sunday!