Our Week in Meals #488

Good morning, and happy Sunday! This week we welcomed spring with grilled meals, salads, an easy cake, and lots of kids’ 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…

Sunday included a morning walk, soccer for Casey, a round of golf for Gibbs, and some cooking and recipe photography for me.

We had grilled New York strip steaks for supper,

along with crispy roasted gold potatoes,

and a tortellini salad (I left out the chicken from this salad since I was serving it as a side dish).

Let’s chat about books! I recently finished The Found Object Society by Michelle Maryk. The author is actually my friend Leslie’s sister-in-law, so Leslie gave me a signed copy of this book that I was so excited to dive into. The book is getting a lot of buzz right now, and it did not disappoint! It’s unique, creative, beautifully written, and unlike anything else I’ve ever read.

In this novel, Greta Davenport receives a strange invitation to a secret society where members use mysterious objects to relive the final moments of people who died holding them; an experience that delivers an addictive rush. As Greta becomes drawn deeper into the society, her search for answers about its origins and purpose begins to unravel secrets that could change everything she thought she knew about her past. Highly recommend this one!

The boys didn’t have school on Monday (thanks to a teacher workday), so they were home and happy to have a quiet day at the house. A loaf of banana nut bread for breakfast!

I got out for a walk before the rain and thunderstorms arrived, but Casey’s soccer game was canceled that night since the weather was so bad.

Signing more cookbooks for Yoder’s Country Market. The shelves are now re-stocked, local friends!

We had chicken and rice casserole for supper,

along with store-bought dinner rolls and a green salad with homemade red wine vinegar dressing.

The boys returned to school on Tuesday, I met Mollie for a walk and got my hair cut, and Keith headed to Dallas for a short work trip.

Once Casey was home from soccer, we had an easy, kid-friendly supper: dump-and-bake meatball casserole…

…with garlic bread and another green salad to use up the dressing and other ingredients from the night before.

But that’s not all! My friend Nakhone, who’s from Thailand, also brought over her homemade egg rolls and chicken fried rice…so of course, we added those to our table as well. It was a feast (and we saved the leftovers for delicious lunches the next day). Such a fun surprise on a Tuesday evening!

Wednesday was a work day at the house for me, complete with cooking and photographing some old recipes that needed a refresh.

After soccer, we had chicken burritos for supper…

…plus chips, salsa, and homemade guac.

I met Ashley and Adria for a walk on Thursday morning, and then ran a few errands in Culpeper.

Casey’s team had a soccer game at Fluvanna High School that night, so I served everyone an early meal before driving south to watch him play. It’s fun to cheer in the stands, but the 7 p.m. start time and travel make for some very late nights.

On the menu: crispy fried fish sandwiches with coleslaw from Yoder’s, pickles, and potato chips.

Friday included Pilates with Adria, more cooking and photographing recipes, and an afternoon appointment for Spencer at the orthopedist. He was officially cleared to ease back into sports after his broken foot. Hooray!

Gibbs had golf that evening, and he picked up pizzas for supper on his way home. I also made a big green salad to have on the side, using up any veggies languishing in the fridge.

Plus a coconut cream poke cake for dessert (happy Spring!), and March Madness on TV…

And that brings us to the weekend! Saturday was fairly wide open, so I got out for a walk and restocked our kitchen with groceries while Gibbs and Keith went to the golf course.

Keith grilled honey lime shrimp for supper,

which we paired with rice, 3-ingredient buttermilk biscuits, and a salad.

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!