Our Week in Meals #489

Good morning, and happy Sunday! This week included spring blossoms, quick weeknight suppers, and a fun book. 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…

We spent Sunday on the soccer fields for Spencer’s game, while Gibbs played a round of golf that afternoon with a friend. Taking advantage of a beautiful 80-degree day!

Keith grilled salmon for supper,

which we paired with a creamy pasta salad,

marinated cucumbers,

and Jiffy corn muffins with sour cream. Plus lots of March Madness basketball on TV!

Now let’s chat about books! This week I read Far and Away by Amy Poeppel.

In this novel, two women on opposite sides of the world impulsively swap homes to escape their messy lives, only to find themselves tangled up in each other’s problems instead. What’s intended as a fresh start turns into a funny, chaotic adventure full of family drama, secrets, and culture shock, as their lives become more intertwined than either expected. It’s light, witty, and all about figuring out whether you can ever really outrun your past.

The boys returned to school and sports activities on Monday, while Keith and I got back to work.

We ate dinner in stages almost every night this week (thanks to two very different soccer practice schedules). Since I knew I’d be gone most of the evening, I prepped everything in advance so that Keith could pop it in the oven.

On the menu: baked bbq chicken thighs,

Duke’s mac and cheese,

baked apple slices, and the leftover marinated cucumbers from the night before.

Tuesday included a walk in the woods with Mollie, an afternoon Zoom meeting, and another evening of soccer practices for the boys.

The first of our apple trees are blooming, and they’re so pretty!

I knew I wouldn’t get home from Spencer’s practice until late that night, so I planned a supper that we could pull together very quickly: chicken Parmesan sandwiches, cut-up veggies with ranch dip, and potato chips.

Ashley and I walked our dogs together on Wednesday morning, and then I had a quiet work day at the house.

Casey’s high school team had a home game that evening, which meant a quick, late dinner for very hungry kids once we walked in the door. I had a couple of packages of this lobster ravioli in the freezer…

…so I used those to make my 4-ingredient baked ravioli casserole. Plus a Caesar salad and frozen garlic breadsticks on the side.

Thursday was a very full day — starting with a morning walk with Ashley, a work meeting on Zoom, and a doctor’s appointment for Casey.

Our evening included three different practice schedules (yet again), so I prepped dinner in advance and just reheated portions as we were coming and going: my mom’s shrimp and grits recipe (but sub rice for the grits for those boys who don’t care for grits),

along with steamed green beans and the quickest “semi-homemade” coleslaw.

Friday was rainy and gray, but I still managed to sneak in an early walk with Adria…

…and lunch at Mezzeh in Charlottesville with my parents.

We had an evening free of kids’ sports, so I made pizzas and salad for supper, and watched more basketball on TV!

We were out the door early on Saturday morning for Spencer’s (very cold and windy) soccer game.

Gibbs met my parents at the UVA lacrosse game that afternoon, and then Keith and I went out to dinner at The Inn at Willow Grove.

We were happy to eat an early meal in the pub, which included my honey crisp apple salad with sunchokes, gorgonzola, pecans, mustard, and Brussels sprouts…

…and my crab cake with fingerling potatoes, crushed peas, rhubarb, and a petite salad. As always, everything was 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!