Our Week in Meals #402

Good morning, and happy Sunday! This week included a trip to North Carolina, a lot of golf, and plenty of fresh summer peaches. 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 my friend Barbara for a walk on Sunday morning, Keith took the boys to the pool, and packed our suitcases for this week’s quick trip.

The best BLT sandwiches for lunch, woohoo! These are also a totally acceptable dinner, by the way…

Spence got some golf clubs of his own, so of course he had to test them out in the yard!

Supper that night was more classic summer fare. Keith was in charge of the grilled burgers,

while I pulled together the okra and tomatoes and the fruit salad.

Now let’s chat books! This week’s novel was a perfectly light, fun read for the season: Annabel Monaghan’s newest, Summer Romance. This is the same author who wrote Nora Goes Off Script, which I also really enjoyed. It’s the romantic and funny tale of a professional organizer whose life is a mess — and the summer that she gets “unstuck” with the help of someone unexpected from her past. This is just one of those really easy, feel-good stories!

On a very rainy Monday, we packed up the car to head a few hours south to Durham, North Carolina. A soccer game on Tuesday evening was the main reason for our trip — but first — a stop in Nelson County to drop Teddy off at my parents’ house.

We arrived in Durham by lunchtime, and had a delicious meal at It’s A Southern Thing — a very cool restaurant in an old tobacco factory.

I had the smoked chicken salad sandwich on a homemade brioche bun (our waitress’s recommendation) and a side of collard greens. Loved it!

We then stopped at the Durham Bulls stadium and fan shop,

checked into our rooms at the Washington Duke Inn & Golf Club,

and walked around Duke University’s campus.

We waited out a thunderstorm inside Cameron Indoor Stadium, and then the sun came out!

After a quick swim at the hotel pool, we grabbed dinner at Dain’s Place. This local dive bar near campus happens to have exceptionally good food! We got burgers, chicken sandwiches, a basket of the crispiest shoestring French fries, and this spinach salad with chicken, cranberries, sliced apples, pickled red onion, and blue cheese with balsamic vinaigrette. It was perfectly balanced and totally hit the spot.

Plus Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream for dessert! I had a scoop of brambleberry crisp and a scoop of buttercream birthday cake. Heaven.

Since I’m the “early bird,” I procured the donuts, coffee, and croissant sandwiches from Early Bird Donuts on Tuesday morning…

The boys went for another swim in the hotel pool before we eventually headed over to Chapel Hill for the rest of the morning.

A walk around campus, a stop at the University store to get merch for my aunt (an alumni!),

and lunch at Sutton’s Drug Store on Franklin Street. Such a classic!

Sandwiches, onion rings, milkshakes, and fountain drinks hit the spot!

They didn’t get to play a round of golf at the hotel while we were there, but they at least spent some time at the driving range that afternoon.

Carolina BBQ was on our mind, so dinner at The Original Q-Shack was a must! Spencer said it was the best restaurant he’s ever been to! The pork was incredible (more tomato in the sauce than the classic vinegar-based Carolina sauce, but still delish), and those hush puppies were pretty special, too…

And finally — the reason for our time in NC to begin with — the Manchester City vs. Celtic game in Chapel Hill.

We all had a blast!

Our last stop before leaving North Carolina on Wednesday morning was breakfast at Elmo’s Diner. Everyone ordered pancakes, and our plates were clear by the end…

Then it was back to Virginia, picking up Teddy along the way. We made it home by lunchtime and spent the rest of the afternoon unpacking, doing laundry, and watching the US men’s soccer team’s first Olympic game.

Knowing that I wouldn’t have the time or desire to make much for supper, I planned ahead before we left town. On Monday morning, I thawed some leftover shredded beef from this Crock Pot pot roast that I had stashed in the freezer. On Wednesday evening, I just reheated the beef, sauteed some bell peppers and onions, and assembled “steak and cheese” sandwiches using loaves of Italian bread.

Plus a simple green salad with pepper jelly vinaigrette on the side, as well as French fries from the freezer.

The rain held off so that I could get out for a walk on Thursday morning…

Dropped these two off at the golf course for their first tee time together!

And made a stop at my favorite local farm stand for some fresh peaches, plums, and tomatoes.

Dinner that night was an oldie-but-goodie: healthy (baked) chicken Parmesan, along with pasta and marinara, plus frozen garlic breadsticks and another salad using the leftover dressing from the night before.

Friday morning was devoted to many different errands in Culpeper. Since we live in the middle of nowhere, it’s most efficient for me to batch everything together and hit all of my stops in one day. Not necessarily fun, but effective!

It was cool and breezy — almost felt like New England (at least for one day)…

Keith took the boys to golf that evening, while I stayed home to prep dinner. We had sheet pan shrimp and potatoes with vegetables, along with a side of rice.

And peach crisp with vanilla ice cream for dessert!

Adria came over for a walk on Saturday, and I spent the rest of the morning testing some new recipes in the kitchen.

After lunch we headed over to Greene Hills, where Casey and I played pickleball while the other boys hit golf balls.

Supper was quick and easy: dump-and-bake chicken and rice with summer veggies — a simple way to take advantage of some of our garden’s produce!

Before I sign off for the weekend, just a quick note to let you know that my website is featured in the September/October issue of Taste of the South magazine!

This is one of my favorite publications, so I was really honored when they requested an interview. If you’re a subscriber, be sure to check it out on page 13!

That’s all for now, friends. I hope that you’ve found something new to add to your own table in the days ahead. Thanks for being here, and have a wonderful Sunday!