Our Week in Meals #82

Another week of summer is in the books, and I’ve got another roundup of easy dinner ideas to share. Let’s jump right into 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 poured rain all day on Sunday, so naturally my boys found every mud puddle on the property. I won’t even tell you how many times we changed their clothes and bathed them before lunch.

That afternoon we piled in the car and drove south of Charlottesville to visit Aunt Barbara and Uncle Gary for the evening.

The rain stopped in Nelson County, so we got outside for a short hike, played wiffle ball with Uncle Gary, and had a cookout to celebrate Barbara’s birthday!

Burgers, coleslaw, baked beans, veggies, fruit…perfect!

The sun returned to Central Virginia on Monday morning — just in time for the older boys to go to Sports Camp.

It was “football day” at camp, and Spencer desperately wanted to be out there with them…

While Gibbs and Casey were occupied for the first part of the day, Spence and I returned home to take care of house chores and to make a batch of my Quick and Easy Banana Pudding for dessert that night.

This is truly the perfect prep-ahead, no-bake summer treat (and it only takes about 15 minutes)!

It’s an old recipe from the blog back in 2013, but I wanted to update the photos to do it justice. I love looking back at some of these older posts — Gibbs and Casey were such babies, and Spencer wasn’t even born yet!

I picked the kids up at 11:30, we had a quick lunch at home, and then went to the pool for the afternoon.

I hijacked Keith’s fancy coozie to keep my Spindrift cold!

And summer afternoons call for an ice cream snack at the General Store.

We had Beef Shish Kabobs with rice for supper that evening, which I will share on the blog next month. Delicious meal!

Thanks to morning sports camp and babysitter help, Tuesday was a productive day around here.

I walked with Mollie in the morning while Mary Kate stayed with Spencer, ran errands in town, and got some writing done at the library before I had to pick up the older boys at lunchtime.

The kids got haircuts that afternoon, which was one more nagging chore that I could check off of the to-do list. Their hair grows so fast, I was tempted to give them all buzz cuts for the summer (I didn’t)…

I made a really tasty new recipe for dinner that evening, which I will share on the blog next month. This Dump-and-Bake Bruschetta Chicken was a fun twist on my oldie-but-goodie “No Work” Baked Chicken, and I loved the addition of the fresh tomatoes. We just had dinner rolls for an easy side.

While his brothers were at camp on Wednesday morning, Spence harvested the string beans from his plant in our garden. He sprouted the seed for the bean plant at preschool this spring, so he was very proud of his homegrown veggies.

He picked a total of about 6 beans, which he shared with his brothers at lunchtime.????

He also watched the farmer make hay across the street while playing with his own tractors and hay balers on our porch.

I took all 3 of the boys for a swim at the pool that afternoon, and then came home for some rest and dinner.

We had one of my current favorites — One Skillet Egg Roll-in-a-Bowl (made with ground turkey that night)!

Since that’s a pretty low-carb, light meal, I also prepared heated up frozen veggie potstickers to add filling carbs to the meal for the boys.

Casey helped me make this dinner, which I shared on Instagram Stories. If you enjoy that “live action” behind-the-scenes stuff, be sure to follow me here!

Mollie and I met for a beautiful walk on Thursday morning while our older boys were at camp,

and then I ran a few errands before pick-up at lunchtime.

This Virginia applesauce is almost as good as homemade!

After a morning of sports camp and a full afternoon of swimming at the pool, I think I finally wore out my kiddos…

They were also starving all afternoon! I can’t get enough food in their growing bodies.

Casey’s pool snacks! Remember these? Such a throwback to my childhood.

All of my Simply Mailed subscribers should get excited, because these delicious (and healthy) Greek Turkey Burgers will be on an upcoming meal plan!

I tested the recipe for dinner that evening, and I love how they came out. These burgers include spinach, feta, sundried tomatoes, herbs, and a Tzatziki sauce on top. I just grilled them on my indoor grill pan.

Even my beef burger-loving husband enjoyed his!

I tested a few recipes on Friday morning as well while the boys were at camp, and found myself with a refrigerator full of leftover veggies that needed to be used up.

Whenever I have some refrigerator clean-out to do, I just toss all of the vegetables on large baking sheets that have been lined with foil. Drizzle the veggies with olive oil, season with spices of choice, and add a dash of salt and pepper. The veggies roast at 425 degrees F for about 20-30 minutes.

I keep the roasted vegetables in the refrigerator and use them in salads, wraps, or bowls for lunches and dinners.

We went to the playground to ride bikes that afternoon,

and stopped for ice cream cones in town on the way home. Fridays in summer!

Dinner that evening was a giant Chinese Chicken and Cashew Salad — loaded with flavor and texture!

We packed a lot into Saturday!

While I met a friend for a walk in the woods that morning, Keith took the boys to get new bikes.

Spencer attended a friend’s birthday party after lunch (where he devoured Christina’s homemade chocolate cupcakes and ran around the playground for an hour),

and then we all headed to the pool to cool off with a quick dip.

After a beautiful week of mild temperatures, the summer heat returned on Saturday!

Dinner that evening was a meal that I knew Keith would especially love. Spence has been requesting “sausages” recently (he loves this dinner!), so I planned one of Keith’s favorite sausage dinners — 3-Ingredient Grilled Beer Brats!

In keeping with the German theme, I made a German Potato Salad (as well as a regular green salad) to serve on the side. We also had the applesauce that I bought at Yoder’s earlier in the week.

I’ll share the potato salad recipe on the blog soon!

And that’s where I’ll leave it for the week! I hope that you found some new meal inspiration for your week ahead. Enjoy, and thanks for stopping by the blog today!

Need some help planning your family’s meals? When you join Simply Mailed, I will send you 3 quick-prep dinner recipes and a grocery shopping list each week (for about $1 per week!!!). This super-affordable service takes the stress out of dinner, saves you time and money, and brings your family together at the end of the day. There are even options for smaller households of just 1 or 2!

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