Our Week in Meals #74

Happy Sunday, friends! I hope that you’re enjoying a beautiful weekend! We had another full week around here, so I wanted to pop in with another 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…

I spent Sunday morning testing recipes in the kitchen while Keith and the boys took care of yard work.

After lunch, once it had warmed up, we took advantage of the sunshine and headed out for a hike in Shenandoah National Park at Whiteoak Canyon.

This is definitely one of our favorite spots in Madison!

Dinner that night was a fun foil pack dinner: Italian Sausages with Peppers and Onions. I served the sausages and vegetables over pasta to fill up my hungry boys. Recipe coming soon to the blog (it was a big hit with the family), and Spencer was even requesting sausage for lunch the next day!

After a relatively warm and sunny Sunday, it was hard to believe that it SNOWED on Monday morning! This has seriously been the craziest (coldest) spring that I can remember in Virginia.

Anyway, I didn’t let that stop me from getting out to walk with Mollie after the rounds of school drop-offs. It was wet and chilly, but we warmed up quickly once we got moving.

We had two soccer practices on the agenda for that evening, so I prepped dinner in advance over the weekend. That way I could feed the boys their meal early, and then have something waiting for Keith in the fridge when he arrived home much later.

I served this Chicken and Tortellini Salad, which is a great one dish meal. It will be perfect for picnics and cookouts all summer long. Recipe coming soon!

Spence and I were up in the middle of the night dealing with a mild case of croup.

He seemed to be feeling fine in the morning (other than a stuffy nose), but I kept our day low-key at home on Tuesday so that he could rest.

I had a flank steak hanging out in the freezer, so that was on our dinner menu for the night. I love that you can marinate flank steak all day, so that by the evening you just have to pop it under the broiler or throw it on the grill for a few minutes. It’s such a delicious, easy option when you need something fast.

Spence helped me make the marinade first thing in the morning:

and we spent quite a bit of time outside once the sun came out. He is fascinated with hunting for all of the daffodils around our property, and he wanted me to be sure to take a picture of this one…

Spence had soccer practice that evening, so I cooked Mom’s Marinated Flank Steak in the afternoon and served the kids an early supper before heading to the fields.

In addition to the flank steak, I cleaned out our refrigerator and used up all of the random veggies that I had in the drawer. This was a giant skillet of sauteed bell peppers, onion, zucchini, and spinach. I cooked the peppers, onions, and zucchini in olive oil with garlic, salt, and pepper until crisp-tender, and then stirred in the spinach at the very end to wilt. Tasty, and easy!

We also had crescent rolls on the side (the kids’ favorite).

I helped in Spencer’s classroom on Wednesday morning, which was fun for both of us!

We were back out on the soccer fields for another practice that evening (are you catching on? we have practices or games almost every day of the week, thanks to 3 boys on 3 different teams…).

As usual, I needed a meal that we could eat in stages, since the boys need dinner before practice and Keith doesn’t get home until later. The solution that night? My Buffalo Ranch Chicken Tacos. I normally prepare the chicken in the slow cooker, but that day I tried a version in my Instant Pot, which also worked well (I just had to cook the chicken longer than I initially thought I would since it was frozen)!

The kids eat the shredded ranch chicken in tortillas with taco sauce, while Keith and I love the addition of spicy buffalo sauce. It’s a customizable meal, and the leftovers are great too. The meat is tasty over a salad or served with rice (or cauliflower rice) like a burrito bowl.

I felt like I spent Thursday running around town. Some days are just like that, right? Totally consumed by errands! It’s amazing how quickly the day flies by and I feel like I hardly accomplished anything.

After dropping the older boys off at school, I picked up an online grocery order and returned home to put everything away. I then had to get to a doctor’s appointment in Charlottesville, so I dragged Spence along with me. Fortunately, my mom was able to meet us in town so that she could entertain Spencer outside while I was in the doctor’s office.

I packed him a picnic lunch and some stale bread so that he could feed the ducks in the nearby pond!

We stopped at Costco while we were in town, and finally made it home with just enough time to put away all of the Costco goods before heading back out to pick up the kids at school.

Keith was meeting friends for dinner that night, so the boys and I were on our own. I took advantage of a night off from the kitchen and just served myself some scrambled eggs, toast, and a side salad. Sometimes simple just hits the spot!

We went from snow on Monday to 80+ degree sunshine on Friday, and trust me — nobody was complaining!

I walked with Mollie and then photographed a recipe in the morning while Spence was at preschool, before returning to the school to help set up for our annual fundraiser.

I have a bunch of these daffodils in my kitchen right now, and they make the whole house smell like spring!

There was a silent auction, with potluck-style food contributed by the preschool parents. I was assigned an appetizer, so I turned to my favorite 5-Ingredient Creamy Spinach Dip. With a tray of crackers and fresh veggies, it came together in no time.

The kids and the adults snacked on munchies throughout the evening, which I counted as “dinner.” We were also treated to a performance by the preschoolers, which is always cute entertainment.

We spent Saturday morning on the soccer fields for multiple games, but this week it was sunny and warm (unlike last weekend when we were standing in the snow)!

I recruited my boys to help clean up the raised garden beds that afternoon to get us ready for spring planting.

And dinner was inspired by the gorgeous weather — turkey burgers on the grill!

That’s where I’ll leave it for the week, and I hope that you have a lovely Sunday! I’ll be back on the blog tomorrow with a new, fresh and fruity side dish. See you then!

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