Our Week in Meals #517

Good morning, and happy Sunday! This week included lots of fall baking, homecoming prep, and an apple harvest festival. 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…

It was a very rainy Sunday, so Casey’s soccer game was canceled and we suddenly had a quiet day at home.

I made the boys’ favorite Bisquick waffles for breakfast, and then spent a large chunk of the day cleaning out the kids’ closets to organize their clothes for the cooler weather ahead.

I took advantage of a little extra time and prepped a pan of baked apple oatmeal to reheat for easy breakfasts throughout the week.

There was a lot of NFL football on TV, and we enjoyed a big Sunday supper complete with ribs,

baked bbq chicken thighs,

creamy baked mac and cheese,

Aunt Bee’s 3-ingredient biscuits, and steamed broccoli. Since we’re in a season where it’s hard to get everyone at the table at the same time for dinner on weeknights, I like to take advantage of these slower evenings when we’re all at home!

Shall we chat books? This week I finished my September Book of the Month pick, Before You Were Anne by Emiko Jean. Loved it!

In this novel, detective Chelsey Calhoun investigates the murder of a woman named Anne and the disappearance of her teenage daughter…only to discover that Anne had been hiding an entirely different identity and a complicated past that stretched all the way back to Japan. As Chelsey races to find the missing girl, she uncovers decades of secrets and lies that also force her to confront some uncomfortable questions about her own past. It’s a twisty, emotional suspense novel about family, identity, and the secrets that can follow us for generations.

After a foggy walk on Monday morning,

the sun returned and we were treated to a gorgeous day.

The hydrangeas are showing off this fall!

Gibbs was at the high school regional golf tournament all day (he qualified for states!), so he wasn’t home for supper. Since the younger two boys had soccer practices that evening, I served Southern chili for the rest of us, since it’s an easy option to reheat in stages as we needed it.

Plus sour cream cornbread on the side!

Mollie and I met for a beautiful walk in the woods on Tuesday morning.

Then it was a day of testing recipes in the kitchen — specifically, a Bundt cake and a batch of cookies. Nobody is complaining about the sweets around here, and my deep freezer will be stocked by the time the holidays roll around…

Gibbs had golf practice that night and the younger two boys had soccer practices, so once again we were eating at various points throughout the evening. I made one of Gibbs’ favorites: dump-and-bake chicken Alfredo casserole, along with a side salad and store-bought garlic breadsticks.

Wednesday morning!

I tested another batch of cookies, and took advantage of an afternoon free from sports practices by taking the boys to get haircuts.

We had meatball subs for supper, with potato chips and cut-up veggies with Ranch dip on the side.

After a walk with Ashley on Thursday, I headed up to Culpeper to spend the morning running errands.

We had three more sports practices that night, so dinner was yet another quick and easy option: ground beef nachos with plenty of toppings, including pico de gallo and homemade guacamole.

Friday included Pilates with Adria and Ashley, followed by a full day of filming recipe videos (and washing lots of dishes!).

Homecoming is right around the corner for Casey and Khloe…

We went to the UVA men’s soccer game vs. Cal that evening, so dinner looked like stadium food! Soft pretzels, “hoo” dogs (Spencer’s favorite), and pizza on another beautiful fall evening…

And that brings us to the weekend!

Adria came over for a walk on Saturday while Keith and the boys did yard work, I restocked the kitchen with groceries, and Keith and I went to the Apple Harvest Festival after lunch.

We had drinks, listened to the bluegrass music, and brought home a lot of local apples!

For supper, we picked up take-out from Gino’s, including pizza, soup, salads, subs, and meatballs.

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!