Our Week in Meals #401

Good morning, and happy Sunday! This week included classic summer fun — the pool, the County Fair, and time with friends. 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…

I met Mollie for a walk at her farm very early on Sunday morning, in an attempt to beat the heat. It was already very humid!

Back home, I spent some time working on a couple of new recipes in the kitchen, while Keith took the boys to the pool.

Then it was a quiet afternoon in the air conditioning — watching soccer on TV and taking care of chores for the week ahead.

For supper that night, we had Italian sausage and peppers, which we paired with a loaf of crusty Italian bread…

…rosemary roasted potatoes, and a big green salad with red wine vinaigrette.

Let’s chat about books! I recently finished The Mystery Guest by Nita Prose, which is the sequel to The Maid (which I loved). This was another entertaining, heartwarming story featuring the endearing and quirky Molly the Maid as she sets out to once again solve a mystery at the Regency Grand Hotel.

While Keith and Spencer played pickleball with friends bright and early on Monday morning, I headed up the road for a walk.

Nature is so colorful!

The rest of my day was filled with appointments: Gibbs to a quick doctor’s checkup in Charlottesville, and Teddy to the vet for more diagnostic tests to try to figure out what’s ailing him. By the end of the week we had learned that he has a rare chronic disease of his lymphatic system. Sigh. Not the news that we were expecting for our spritely pup who isn’t even 6 years old yet! While there’s no cure, we’re hoping that we can manage his symptoms with diet and steroids. I’m feeling relieved to at least have some answers right now. He’s also doing well at the moment, so that’s good! Thanks to so many of you who have inquired about him and reached out to check on him over the past week!

Finally back home, I kept supper quick and easy: this 30-minute tomato basil soup with grilled cheese sandwiches. Comfort food…for summer!

Tuesday!

My parents came for a visit, and I planned to serve Chick-Fil-A cobb salads for lunch. Instead, the boys vetoed the salad idea in favor of sandwiches (of course). We just turned the same ingredients into fried chicken sandwiches, and everyone was happy! Plus onion rings on the side…

It was over 100 degrees outside, so the boys and I headed to the pool that afternoon. Not much else to do on a day like that!

Supper included sheet pan steak fajitas, as well as Spanish rice, tortilla chips, and guacamole. Definitely a family favorite!

Wednesday was another scorcher, so we were all up and out of the house early that morning. Keith took the younger two boys to Charlottesville for soccer training, while I took Gibbs to play golf, and then met my friend Ashley for a short walk.

Keith grilled Italian dressing chicken for supper…

…and I made a batch of Aunt Bee’s shrimp pasta salad, as well as a tomato cucumber and onion salad with garden veggies that needed to be enjoyed. Instead of preparing a separate dressing for the tomato salad, I just used extra Italian dressing leftover from the chicken.

Flowers from Adria’s farm on Thursday morning! She even arranged them for me…

The rest of the rainy day was largely devoted to running errands in Culpeper with the kids, including the car wash, Target, and lunch at Chipotle.

We had breaded pork chops for supper,

along with the homemade applesauce that I recently canned, steamed broccoli, and store-bought dinner rolls.

Friday started with an early Pilates class with a friend in Culpeper, followed by cooking and photographs in the kitchen.

Keith took the boys to play golf after work. Gibbs had a lesson, while the younger two played mini golf and hit balls at the range. I enjoyed the quiet house while I prepped supper! We had bbq meatballs,

as well as cornbread muffins and a side of coleslaw.

Fortunately, it was a lovely evening — less humid and a bit cooler — which meant a perfect night for watching bull riding at the Madison County Fair!

Soft pretzels acquired!

It was so much fun cheering for local cowboys from Madison and the surrounding counties, as well as participants from Kentucky, North Carolina, and even as far away as Central and South America.

And that brings us to the weekend!

I dodged the rain for a walk on Saturday morning…

…and took the kids bowling in Charlottesville that afternoon.

We picked up pizzas on the way home, watched a movie, and played many rounds of Guess Who? for the rest of the evening!

So there you go, 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!