Our Week in Meals #397

Good morning, and happy Sunday! This week included Father’s Day, a heat wave, and lots of pool time. 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…

Sunday was Father’s Day!

I made French toast for breakfast using a loaf of cranberry walnut bread that I bought at The Corner Store in Sperryville the day before.

Then Keith and the older two boys made the trip up to Washington to attend the Nationals baseball game with his dad, his brother, and our nephews.

Meanwhile, Spence chose to stay home, so we had the day to ourselves. We went for a hike, had lunch at Subway, and made a stop at Target in Culpeper.

The guys were home in time for a late supper, so we had a delicious Father’s Day meal: garlic and herb grilled chicken breast, a Southern squash casserole, a house salad with candied pecans, and a basket of 3-ingredient biscuits.

Let’s chat about books! This week I read The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer — a unique story about a young woman who enters into a competition organized by her favorite children’s author. The winner of the contest will receive the single copy of the author’s latest book. It’s part-mystery, a touch of romance, and mostly a clever, whimsical, and hopeful tale about the power of childhood stories. Loved it!

Monday started with an early walk with Keith.

The flowers lining the roads are so beautiful right now!

The boys and I ran errands and got haircuts before lunch, and then spent time at the pool that afternoon.

For supper we had an easy “no peek” pork chop and rice casserole,

along with Southern-style green beans,

a tomato salad with basil and balsamic (since our cherry tomatoes and basil are thriving at the moment), and a skillet of cast iron cornbread.

I met my friend Ashley for a walk on Tuesday morning, and then took the kids back to the pool for the afternoon. It was too hot to do much else!

I had prepped supper earlier in the day so that I could pop it in the oven when we got home that evening: stuffed shells with meat, plus a green salad with red wine vinaigrette and store-bought garlic bread.

It’s tough to beat the smell of freshly-cut hay…

After an early walk on Wednesday, I took Gibbs to his golf clinic, and then spent the rest of the day working in the kitchen — testing a new recipe and re-shooting an old one.

Meanwhile, Keith and the younger two boys played pickleball and swam at the pool. Here they are getting ice cream in their bathing suits at the Wolftown Mercantile Country Store on the way home…

We had King Ranch chicken casserole for an early supper before Keith and Spencer headed out to play soccer with friends. On the side, I added tortilla chips and guac, as well as corn.

I dragged the boys to the DMV with me to renew my license on Thursday morning (which actually was very quick and easy), and then we made our way to a park in Culpeper for rollerblading and walking.

Spencer and Gibbs had orthodontist appointments that afternoon. Look at that smile! Round one of braces…off!

Keith grilled steak tips for supper that night,

which we paired with pesto pasta (taking advantage of the fresh basil outside), a baguette that we picked up from Panera while we were in Culpeper that morning, and a cucumber salad using some of the cucumbers that Casey picked from our raised beds. Tasted like summer!

Friday morning…

I took Gibbs to a golf lesson before lunch, and then had a relatively quiet afternoon at the house.

We had grilled salmon with a lemon, garlic, and herb marinade for supper,

along with Southern potato salad, another green salad using the leftovers from earlier in the week, and some dinner rolls from the freezer.

Soccer in the yard before bed!

Smoothies have been on repeat in this house recently — not only because of the blazing heat, but also because Gibbs’ teeth are sore after his braces were tightened. Saturday morning started with chunky monkey smoothies, but this flavor is also a favorite.

Highlights from the day included an early walk,

watering his garden,

a pitcher of sun tea,

and an afternoon in the air-conditioned bowling alley in Charlottesville.

After bowling, we stopped for burgers, chicken tenders, onion rings, fries, and this reuben sandwich at Martin’s Grill before heading back to Madison.

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!