Our Week in Meals #520

Good morning, and happy Sunday! This week included beautiful fall days, lots of soccer, and an entertaining 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…

Keith and I got out for a walk in the woods on Sunday, and we finally started to see some signs of fall color!

Once again, we spent the bulk of our day on the soccer fields for Casey’s game.

Back home, it was all about football and grilling! Keith was in charge of the New York strip steaks…

…and grilled potatoes for supper,

which we paired with broccoli and cheese,

and Jiffy corn casserole.

Shall we chat books? This week I finished Riley Sager’s latest psychological thriller, The Unknown, which was the perfect spooky read for Halloween (a little haunted, a little over-the-top, and absolutely fun)!

In this novel, a struggling actress lands a role in a movie about five women who mysteriously disappeared from a remote Vermont island 100 years ago, but things take a creepy turn when she and the cast visit the island to research their roles. Strange things start happening, and when the group becomes stranded and people begin disappearing again, it’s hard to tell whether someone is playing a dangerous game or something supernatural is at work. It’s a twisty thriller filled with eerie atmosphere, plenty of secrets, and a mystery that keeps you guessing until the end.

We returned to work and school on Monday morning…

I spent most of the day photographing a recipe and editing images at the computer, and got dinner started early in the slow cooker.

We had golf and soccer practices on the schedule that evening, so my shredded Crock Pot Mexican chicken was an easy option that we could use to assemble tacos throughout the evening.

Plus tortilla chips, salsa, rice, and guacamole!

Mollie and I took advantage of a beautiful Tuesday and met for a walk once the kids were out the door.

After a quick stop at Yoder’s for groceries, I came home to Zoom meetings and desk work, followed by another evening at the soccer fields.

Since we were eating in shifts thanks to multiple practice schedules, I assembled dinner in ahead of time and had Keith pop it in the oven: baked rigatoni with sausage,

as well as a side salad and frozen garlic breadsticks.

Ashley and I walked our dogs together on Wednesday morning, before I returned home for another day of meetings and work.

The boys had the night off from practices, so we all ate together at the same time (hooray!). I made my mom’s crab cakes,

as well as classic homemade coleslaw and frozen French fries.

Another walk with Ashley on Thursday,

and more holiday baking, photography, and an afternoon haircut.

We were on-the-go with multiple practices that evening, so I made a pot of rotisserie chicken noodle soup in the afternoon and left it on the stovetop for the boys to reheat and eat at their convenience. We also served it with a loaf of Ashley’s jalapeno cheddar sourdough bread (the best)!

After Pilates with Adria and Ashley on Friday, I had a productive work day in the kitchen (cooking and shooting updated photos for 3 old recipes).

Gibbs played golf, so he got pizza with Keith afterwards, while Casey, Spencer, and I went to UVA for the men’s soccer game against Pitt. They didn’t want to miss the last home match of the season!

Chipotle for for supper on the way to the game…

And that brings us to the weekend!

Gibbs played a round of golf on Saturday morning and then went to work, Keith and Casey headed to Roanoke for Casey’s game, and Spencer and I were in Charlottesville with his team.

My boys might be too old for trick-or-treating, but we still had a fun Halloween dinner: mummy dogs,

and their favorite buffalo chicken dip with tortilla chips and cut-up veggies. Plus plenty of candy and college football on TV…

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!