Good morning, and happy Sunday! We kicked off February with a lot of snow and ice, basketball, and cozy weeknight suppers. 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.
This Week’s Meals
Now, let’s back up to last weekend…
We stayed home from church on Sunday morning while Spencer was still recovering from his sledding accident, and then took Casey to his indoor soccer game in Charlottesville that afternoon.
I made chicken shawarma for supper, but roasted the chicken in the oven (rather than grilling it) since it was so cold outside.
We paired the meat with warm flatbread and tzatziki, lettuce, tomatoes, rice, feta cheese, and marinated cucumbers.
Now let’s get into some book chat! This week I read Just Another Missing Person by Gillian McAllister. In this novel, a detective races to solve a missing young woman’s case only to discover that finding the truth could destroy her own family. It is a tense, twisty thriller that keeps raising the stakes and forces you to ask what you would sacrifice to protect the people you love.
Monday, and another day of Teddy (and the rest of us) skating around on ice that seems like it will never melt…
School was cancelled again (they were out the entire week before, too), so we took advantage and met my parents for lunch at the Blue Ridge Cafe. I had a great BLT sandwich with fries!
For dinner that night I made a tray of loaded ground beef nachos, plus homemade guacamole. Simple and crowd-pleasing!
After over a week off, the kids finally returned to school on a 2-hour delay on Tuesday. They might not have been ready for the homework, but I could tell they were excited to see their buddies and get back to their regular sports routine.
Once they were out the door, I got back to work in the kitchen — cooking and updating photos for a couple of recipes. A bowl of Virginia Brunswick stew with cornbread for lunch…
…and a short afternoon walk for some fresh air!
Supper that night included Dr. Pepper pulled pork in the slow cooker, which I served on sandwiches with a side of coleslaw from Yoder’s, cut-up carrots and celery with Ranch dip, and the leftover nachos from the night before.
Wednesday was another full day of school and work. I took Teddy to the groomer, photographed a couple more recipes, and went for a walk before the kids got home from school.
We had baked chicken thighs, Duke’s homemade mac and cheese, Southern-style green beans, and the creamy dill pickle salad kit from Costco before Youth Group and Spencer’s late basketball practice.
It was so good to see friends again and get outside for a longer walk on Thursday. Mollie and Adria came over for the morning, and we made our way up the road while catching up.
We had an evening free from kids’ activities, so I served easy chicken Parmesan and pasta for supper,
plus a green salad dressed in red wine vinaigrette and the best garlic bread. This one’s always a winner!
Friday included Pilates with Ashley and Adria, a haircut before lunch, and an afternoon of work.
It was still freezing, ice was still everywhere, and we got another dusting of snow that afternoon! We are definitely not used to weather like this in Virginia…
Before Spencer’s late indoor soccer practice that evening, I made a cozy pot of creamy and easy Italian sausage tortellini soup. This is one of those hearty soup recipes that even satisfies my hungry teenagers. We paired it with a warm, crusty baguette from Panera.
And that brings us to the weekend! With whipping winds and freezing temps, Casey’s outdoor soccer practice was thankfully cancelled on Saturday. We were happy to spend the day in the warm gym instead for Spencer’s two basketball games.
I baked a cinnamon bundt cake with cake mix (trying out a new recipe that my friend Sallie’s mom, Debbie, shared with me). It was great — very similar to my favorite cake mix coffee cake, but no streusel and instead the cinnamon-sugar was incorporated into the batter.
Then for dinner, we met friends at Miller’s on the downtown mall in Charlottesville. I had the Caesar salad and the Palmetto burger (pimento cheese, fried green tomato, and bacon!!!). Delish!
So there you have it, 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 being here, and have a wonderful Sunday!
Great post, Blair. I always look forward to early Sunday morning, so I can read it before starting day. I love reading about the adventures with your boys, the recipes you made, & the fun you & your family have together. I’m at home with my husband, wh has been on Hospice for a month now. His cancer battle is ending soon, I’m afraid. He’s 62, & I just turned 60 a few days ago. Life prayed and prayed that we would have more time together, but he’s getting worse by the day. I’m sorry for being such a downer this morning. It’s what I’m dealing and living through right now. I have a wonderful support system if friends, and family who will help me get through once his time comes to go to Heaven. Thank you for being a bright part of my week. I appreciate you.
My prayers are with you, Leslie! Stay strong, and know our prayers are with you and your husband.
Leslie! I’m praying for you, your husband, and your family. I hope that you can find peace during this time, and I’m so glad that you have support around you. Sending you so much love!
We send our prayers to you and your husband from Canada…may the Lord continue to keep you in His care…feel His arms around you in these difficult times…
Oh, and your pictures of the snow and ice are what we also have here in KY. We are supposed to have warmer temperatures for this coming week, and I’m hoping this stuff will melt away. That would be wonderful.
Same! I’m ready for it all to melt!!
Good morning, Blair! Stay warm and safe, Teddy has this look like he’s so done with ice and snow!
Both the chicken shawarma and Dr. Pepper pulled pork look really good.
Hi, Ann! Thank you. I hope you’re staying warm and safe as well. Hope you enjoy the meals!
Recipes look delicious as always and so fun to read about the family activities. That’s a long time to have school canceled. I’m curious if your boys do remote school learning when school is not in session because of the snow. Or do they just cancel school and there is no school or homework? I thought everybody went remote these days (since Covid days) when school was not in session due to weather???
Hi, Teresa! No, our boys do not do remote school when we have snow days. A few of the high school teachers gave my older boys some assignments via Google classroom to work on when they realized the kids would be out for the extended days, but there’s definitely no official remote learning. Our school system builds in a lot of extra days to the school calendar, knowing that this is likely to happen each year. We live in a rural community where there are a lot of unpaved mountain roads, making it difficult for buses to get to everyone. We also don’t have high speed internet in all parts of our county, so the mandatory remote learning gets tricky.
Hope you have a nice week! 🙂
Blair, actually Louisa schools were doing something different, when they resumed two hours late, they contacted parents when they knew buses couldn’t get to regular stops, so they could make arrangements. They even opened early in case parents needed to drop off the students early. Never knew them to try this before!
Louisa is similar to Madison in lots of rural roads!
Oh, that’s interesting! Sounds like a good compromise! I didn’t realize you’re in Louisa…I was thinking Richmond. 🙂
Good morning. Teddy looks adorable in his coat and the look on his little face. I’m ready for spring too Teddy! Beautiful pictures and all your recipes look delicious and easy to make. Have a good week. Prayers for you and your husband, Leslie
Thank you, Jill! I think most of us feel like Teddy by now! 🙂
Hi Blair – Love your photos and I hope the weather improves for you. We have had nothing but temps in the 70-80s here in SoCal and it would be lovely if it would rain.
Thank you so much for your weekly email. I look forward to it every Sunday morning.
That sunny weather sounds lovely, but I definitely understand the need for rain where you are. Take care, Tylene, and have a nice week!