Our Week in Meals #150

Good morning, and happy Sunday! The boys had a short week of school this week, so we’ve spent the last few days squeezing in outdoor fun, indoor responsibilities, and plenty of time with friends. All of the highlights, along with our easy dinners, are included 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…

Sunday started with an early dog walk with my girlfriend, followed by a trip to the grocery store with Spence.

After lunch, I took Gibbs to a birthday party for the rest of the afternoon. It was HOT out there, so the giant water slide was a big hit!

Since the temps felt like July, we grilled hot dogs and hamburgers for supper. We paired the burgers with grilled potatoes, roasted acorn squash, roasted Brussels sprouts and roasted green beans — the perfect cross between summer and fall!

“Charlie Brown” joined me for a short dog walk on Monday morning before school, and the rest of my day was a quiet one at home.

I took care of work behind the computer, and then scooped up the boys early from school so that we could get to their dentist appointments in Charlottesville.

We just had a few minutes to eat dinner at home before rushing back out the door for Spencer’s football practice, so I prepped dinner in advance and warmed it up when we needed it. On the menu: Healthy and Easy Pumpkin Soup, side salads, and Orange Cranberry Corn Muffins.

Tuesday morning was a beautiful time to be outside, so I headed over to my girlfriend’s farm for a walk after the kids went to school.

I snapped this photo to show Spencer, since he’s always interested in the jobs that John Paul’s tractors are doing!

I returned home for lunch and an afternoon of work — including a deep clean of the refrigerator (it had been far too long)! I recently bought these refrigerator organizer bins, which greatly helped to corral the drinks, kids’ snacks, yogurts, etc. Now if I can just keep it this way for awhile…

Then we were in the evening rush of homework, dinner, and Gibbs’s football practice.

I made a batch of our favorite marinara sauce (an easy 20-minute recipe!), which I served with frozen Italian meatballs and spaghetti. If you have a few extra minutes for some homemade meatballs, these are our favorite!

Plus a side of Garlic Roasted Broccoli…

We were blessed with another beautiful fall day on Wednesday before the heat returned with a vengeance. Other than a quick errand in town for the school PTO, I spent the rest of my time at home cranking out some work. Since it was a short school week for the kids, I knew that it would be my last day to get anything accomplished around the house!

We had dinner together at home before heading out to the sports fields for Casey’s soccer practice and Spencer’s football game. The highlight was my Dump-and-Bake Pork Chops with Apples and Stuffing, which we paired with rice and a salad. So easy, and so flavorful!

Thursday started bright and early with a pretty sunrise, followed by an 8:15 a.m. yoga class at the gym.

The boys tagged along and spent time in the kids’ room, since they had the morning off from school. As a result, I treated them to Halloween donuts afterwards!

Plus an iced pumpkin spice coffee for me on a 90 degree day!

We picked up subs for lunch, which the kids ate while I was setting up for the Book Fair at school. Then the rest of my afternoon included working at the Book Fair on behalf of the PTO, serving the teachers a faculty dinner (catered by Chik-Fil-A!), and meeting with each of the boys’ teachers for our parent-teacher conferences.

Sorry — no photo of the roast beef sub that I scarfed down in between conferences!????

By the time we made it back to the house, I needed to feed everyone a quick dinner and get Gibbs out the door to football practice.

Knowing that I wouldn’t be home all day, I planned an easy slow cooker meal that would be ready and waiting for us: Crock Pot Pulled BBQ Chicken sandwiches, plus coleslaw and potato chips. Five minutes of prep for a dinner that everyone likes!

The boys had another day off from school on Friday, so after the gym and errands in the morning, we went on a fun outing for the afternoon.

Just a few miles down our road is Liberty Mills Farm — home of the largest corn maze east of the Mississippi! We stuck with the easiest section of the maze, and then spent the rest of our time playing in the kids’ area and picking out pumpkins.

Of course, we finished our visit with cups of homemade pumpkin ice cream!

Keith was at a baseball game with his brother that night, so the boys and I picked up their dinner of choice: pizza! I planned to make a salad at home to serve on the side, but when I opened the bag of lettuce it smelled really funky! Instead, I threw the lettuce in the trash and decided that the toppings on my slices of pizza would just have to count as the veggies for my night…

Speaking of cozy, I curled up on the couch and finished my latest book — Silent Auction. This is the fifth book in Jane Cleland’s Josie Prescott Antiques Mysteries series, and it was another fun, smart read. Once you get into the story, you won’t want to put the book down until you figure it all out! Here’s a quick summary…

The autumn foliage is in full fiery glory on a beautiful day in the little coastal town of Rocky Point, New Hampshire. Josie Prescott arrives at the town’s renovated lighthouse to conduct an antiques appraisal and is horrified to discover the bludgeoned body of her neighbor Zoë’s beloved nephew, Frankie. The owners of the lighthouse are avid antiques collectors, and Josie soon begins to suspect that a scrimshaw tooth from their collection may be the key to solving the crime that has shaken Rocky Point, and broken her dear friend’s heart.

Saturday morning started with an early run to Yoder’s Country Market so that I could pick up some lunch meat, pimento cheese, chicken salad, broccoli salad, and fresh Virginia oysters for a recipe that I’m photographing this week. The kids managed to find some warm, homemade donuts to buy as well!

The rest of our morning was spent in Rappahannock County cheering on Casey’s soccer team.

The kids then had haircut appointments after lunch, before we finally made it over to our friends’ house for dinner. I brought along a salad with apples, pecans, cranberries, feta cheese, bacon and balsamic dressing, which we had with grilled steaks and twice-baked potatoes.

Plus carrot cake for dessert! Such a fun Saturday evening!

That’s where I’ll leave it for today, friends! Thank you so much for stopping by and spending some time with us. I hope that you’ve found a few new recipe ideas to include in your own meal plan in the week ahead.❤️

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links. I may earn a small commission for my endorsement, recommendation, testimonial, and/or link to any products or services from this website.