Good morning, and happy Sunday! This week included lots of travel, food on-the-go, and a handful of fall-inspired weeknight meals. 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 were up in Northern Virginia all day on Sunday — first for Casey’s soccer game in the morning, and then for Spencer’s game at 5:00 p.m.
While we were killing time in between games, we did some shopping and had lunch at the mall in Tysons Corner. This Japanese restaurant with sushi on the conveyor belt was a definite highlight for Casey!
Since we were traveling home and didn’t get back to the house until late that night, we had to eat dinner on the road. It might not be our ideal Sunday supper, but McDonald’s burgers, fries, and ice cream cones got the job done…
Shall we chat books? This week I read Promise Me Never by Liv Constantine. If you enjoyed The Next Mrs. Parrish, then you’ll have fun with her latest, too!
In this novel, aspiring writer Savannah marries a famous author after a whirlwind romance, but her dream life starts to feel a lot more sinister once they move into his secluded home. His behavior gets increasingly controlling, and when Savannah starts digging into the mysterious death of his first wife, she realizes there may be a lot about her new husband that she doesn’t know. It’s a fast, twisty psychological thriller with plenty of secrets and surprises that kept me guessing until the end!
In spite of the late night, we were all back to work and school on Monday morning.
I got out for a walk, and then spent the day at my computer and in the kitchen testing a new recipe.
In between golf practice, a late soccer practice, and the girls volleyball game at the high school, we managed to all sit down for a quick dinner: pasta with homemade spaghetti sauce (thawed and reheated from the freezer),
plus garlic bread,
and a side salad dressed with this quick and easy Dijon vinaigrette.
Mollie and I started Tuesday morning with a walk in the woods,
followed by a quick stop at Yoder’s for a few groceries. The local apples are here (aka, my favorite time of year)!
The rest of my day was spent cooking and photographing recipes, as well as prepping dinner in advance. Since I knew that it would be another night of eating from a cooler at the soccer fields, I baked bbq chicken thighs that afternoon…
…and roasted a tray of various root vegetables. Some of us had the chicken and veggies with a side of rice, while others used the chicken to make sandwiches.
With a very packed agenda on Wednesday, I planned a Crock Pot meal that I could start first thing in the morning and then not think about it again until supper!
My day included a walk with Ashley, filming a recipe video, multiple Zoom meetings all afternoon, and then Gibbs’ golf match that evening.
It was so nice to come home to an apple cider pot roast waiting for us (this recipe is from my cookbook, and it’s perfect for fall)! I paired it with crusty rolls and called it good.
I was out and about running errands most of Thursday morning, including another walk with Ashley, a haircut for myself, and the groomer for Teddy.
Once again, the younger boys and I planned to eat out of a cooler at the soccer fields between practices that night, while Keith was with Gibbs at the high school golf match in Fluvanna.
I used rotisserie chicken from Costco to make sandwiches for Casey and Spencer, and added the chicken to my favorite fall salad in a tupperware container for myself.
Plus a Jiffy corn muffin with sour cream (from the freezer) to round out the portable meal.
In the end, soccer was cancelled at the last minute (thanks to thunderstorms that rolled through Central Virginia), so I ate the packed meal at home!
Friday was another jam-packed day, starting with Pilates with Adria in the morning, followed by lunch at my friend Jan’s house mid-day (she served the best homemade focaccia with salad and chicken and veggie soup, plus oatmeal raisin cookies for dessert. Perfection!).
In between those fun outings, I was busy doing laundry, packing so that we could leave town that afternoon, and prepping dinner for the following night. I made a batch of two-ingredient pumpkin muffins, and use some leftover dump-and-bake honey chicken from the freezer to assemble Saturday night’s casserole (knowing that I would be gone all day).
Once the boys were home from school, Spencer and I loaded up the car and headed a few hours east to Virginia Beach for his soccer game on Saturday. Once again, dinner was a meal on the road — this time at a Subway somewhere between Richmond and Williamsburg!
And that officially brings us to the weekend!
Spencer and I were up bright and early for his soccer game in Virginia Beach on Saturday.
We didn’t make it back to Madison until close to dinnertime, so I was glad to have a meal prepped and ready to go. All I had to do was bake the chicken and stuffing casserole that I assembled the day before,
reheat the pumpkin muffins,
and steam some broccoli in the microwave. We also had homemade applesauce (thawed from the freezer), which worked well as a substitute for the cranberry sauce I typically serve with this dish.
After so much restaurant fare this week, a homemade supper was very welcome!
So there you have it, friends — another week of easy meals! 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!
Y’aÄşl sure continue to be busy, busy! Speaking of apples, my sister introduced me to the Cosmic Crisp variety. Really good flavor and they hold well without browning very much. Which is important for me because my routine is to slice and refrigerate a couple and snack on them over several days.
Those are my favorite variety! I like them even more than Honeycrisp!
Hi! I have your cookbook (very nice) and was looking at the ‘apple cider pot roast’ recipe mentioned here. Does it use a slow slow cooker or a dutch oven put into the oven … its not all that clear… its starts in a dutch oven on the stove and seems to say put everything into that but then says cook on low or high for the given hours… but never says when to or use a slow cooker ?
Hi, Scott! I’m sorry if that wasn’t clear. You brown the roast in the Dutch oven, then it says to transfer the beef to the slow cooker (once it’s browned). In the same Dutch oven, you’ll use apple cider to deglaze the pot, scraping up the browned bits with a wooden spoon. Then pour the cider and browned bits from the Dutch oven into the slow cooker with the roast. Add the rest of the ingredients to the slow cooker with the beef. Then in the third step it says to cook on LOW for 8-10 hours or on HIGH for 4-5 hours. I hope that makes sense. Enjoy the meal!
This method gives you the flavor from searing the roast in the Dutch oven, but the convenience of the all-day slow cooker.
Hi Blair! I love your cookbook! It’s the first place I go for inspiration! My question is about the type of beef roast you use. My mom always made the most tender roasts. She used a cut called an arm bone roast. I’ve not been able to find that for years. Sometimes I get a chuck roast that turns out the same, but most of the time it’s tastes grainy. What am I doing wrong?
Hi, Susan! I always use a chuck roast; I’m not familiar with arm bone roasts. There are a number of reasons you might end up with a grainy roast, such as cooking it for too long or at too hot of a temperature, not enough braising liquid, a roast that’s too lean (they can vary in how much fat/marbling they have), or it sat in a strongly acidic marinade for too long. For the best texture, cook the chuck roast gently until a fork slides in easily, typically around 195–205°F internally, but rely more on tenderness than temperature. Remove it as soon as it is fork-tender, let it rest in some of the cooking liquid, and slice it or shred it across the grain. Hope that helps, and thank you so much for the kind words about my book!❤️
Thanks Blair! I’ll keep all your advice in mind.
Hello, Blair!
Very glad to see the fall soup recipes, we are supposed to be rainy and cool here starting this week, so these are perfect to try!
Thanks!
So glad they might be helpful! You’re right — looks like a VERY rainy week ahead!
Hi Blair – I don’t know how you do it! Going here and there and still serving delicious meals!
Thank you again for your weekly email. I really look forward to it!
Have a great week!
Tylene
Thank you, Tylene. It’s definitely a full time of year, but I know it’s also short-lived. Life will slow down a bit later this fall. 🙂