Our Week in Meals #243

Good morning, and happy Sunday! We spent another hot and humid summer week splashing in the river, swimming at the pool, and visiting with friends and family. All of the highlights from the past few days, along with our easy dinners, are included in today’s roundup of Our Week in Meals.

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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 was the 4th of July, and I started my morning with a walk in the beautiful, cooler temps with three of my friends at Mollie’s farm.

Casey and I picked more blackberries along the side of the road,

and we joined friends for a pool party and fish fry that evening.

My plate included fried fish, mac and cheese, vinegar coleslaw, deviled eggs, tomato, cucumber and onion salad, and some veggies.

I was in charge of dessert, so I brought along Chi-Chi’s White Texas Sheet Cake and decorated the cake in red, white and blue sprinkles.

Keith was home for the Monday holiday, so we all packed up and headed to the pool with a picnic lunch.

We had pulled pork for supper,

which we paired with Southern squash casserole,

watermelon, mac and cheese,

and blackberry muffins.

We stayed cool on an otherwise oppressively hot Tuesday by swimming in the river at our friends’ farm.

I brined sweet tea chicken thighs all afternoon, which Keith grilled when he came home from work. The chicken is equally good when it’s roasted in the oven, if that’s more convenient.

Plus buttermilk biscuits and roasted broccoli on the side!

Wednesday included more river time with friends, a return to our little local library for the first time in ages, and a stop at Yoder’s Country Market for buttermilk, ice cream, and a handful of other staples.

I also finished a book called The Dearly Beloved by Cara Wall, which I absolutely loved. This “moving portrait of love and friendship set against a backdrop of social change” traces two married couples whose lives become entangled when the husbands become copastors at a famed New York City congregation in the 1960s. Amid turbulent changes facing the city and the church’s congregation, Wall offers a poignant meditation on faith and reason, marriage and children, and the ways we find meaning in our lives. A gorgeous, wise, and provocative novel that is destined to become a classic.

Speaking of books, a blog reader named Kari recently sent me a copy of her book, ‘Tis the Season for Poetry. It’s a lovely compilation of famous poems, psalms, prayers and activities divided by the twelve months of the year. I’ve been reading a selection from the July chapter to the boys each night when we do our read aloud before bed, and I love how it’s a quick, easy and approachable way to introduce the kids to seasonally-appropriate works.

While we were out and about for the day, I left dinner slowly cooking in the Crock Pot. So convenient! We had Slow Cooker French Dip Sandwiches with potato chips, sliced garden tomatoes and cucumbers, and coleslaw on the side.

Thursday was a fairly quiet day — we ran a couple of errands in the morning and took care of work at home. The weather was really nice early in the day, but we had crazy wind and rain come through that afternoon (thanks to Tropical Storm Elsa), which even blew out a window in the general store building on the front of our property. That was definitely not a fun mess to clean up…

I made my favorite Taco Salad for dinner, which we served alongside extra corn, tortilla chips, salsa, and guacamole.

The sun returned on Friday!

We spent the day at home — cleaning, packing for our weekend trip, and making an ice cream pie in preparation for our family dinner here on Sunday.

I served Spinach Stuffed Shells for supper,

along with garlic bread, green salad, and roasted yellow squash.

My brother’s family flew from Florida to Baltimore for my nephew’s lacrosse tournament this weekend, so we headed up north on Saturday morning to watch Charlie play — and to see everyone for the first time in 18 months!

We stayed at the Inner Harbor that evening…

…and had a tasty dinner at The Water Street Tavern, including Old Bay Shrimp and Maryland Crab Soup.

And that’s all for this week! We’re off to the National Aquarium this morning, and then back home to host our family for a cookout later today. Thanks for joining me here, as always, and have a great Sunday!