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Good morning, happy Sunday, and welcome to September! This week included some fall favorites, a fun thriller, and lots of kids’ sports. 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.
This Week’s Meals
Now, let’s back up to last weekend…
I met Adria and Mollie for a walk at Mollie’s farm on Sunday morning, and then spent the rest of the day at Spencer’s soccer game.
Fall might be on the way, but summer temps were still hanging this past week! That night we grilled burgers for supper…
…and paired them with corn on the cob (which I just put in the oven for ease), our go-to house salad, and frozen onion rings.
Shall we chat books? I’ve got another fun mystery-thriller to share: The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware. So many surprises throughout! The author really has a knack for weaving together an entertaining page-turner.
Back to the weekday scramble on Monday!
My entire morning was spent at the doctor’s office for my annual physical. I treated myself to a donut and a cappuccino afterwards (my fav breakfast, always)!
Keith took Spencer and Casey to golf lessons that evening, while I picked up Gibbs from his team’s practice. Spence wanted me to take his picture in his new golf shirt — “straight pars” according to his grandmother!
As usual, dinner needed to be quick, easy, and something that we could reheat in shifts. That night I made dump-and-bake salsa chicken, which we served with rice and cheese in flour tortillas as “chicken burritos.” On the side, I made a bowl of guacamole to go with tortilla chips and extra salsa.
After a walk with Ashley on Tuesday morning, I stopped by Yoder’s to get some fresh local tomatoes, deli meats and cheeses, etc., and then spent most of the day in the kitchen working on new recipes.
We were off in multiple directions again that evening — a doctor’s appointment for Casey (he’s been dealing with growth-related chronic knee pain for years now, so he’s taking a break from soccer at the moment), soccer practice for Spencer, and a golf match for Gibbs. As a result, dinner consisted of sandwiches that we made and ate on the go. I stocked the fridge with a variety of options from the Yoder’s deli and let everyone pick their own combinations. Mine was a classic favorite — a tuna melt with sharp cheddar and one of those great summer tomatoes. Plus chips and fresh fruit on the side!
Can you just see the heat and humidity in these photos?!
I got out early for a walk on Wednesday, and then spent the rest of the morning running errands in Culpeper.
We may have experienced record-breaking high temps this week, but that didn’t stop us from pretending it’s fall. An iced pumpkin spice latte with a side of Teddy!
We ate a late supper after Spencer’s soccer practice, which I stayed home to prepare while Keith was out at the fields. Again, pretending there was a chill in the air with a dump-and-bake chicken broccoli rice casserole…
…and a basket of easy one-bowl pumpkin muffins and canned cranberry sauce.
After a short walk, I took Gibbs to an orthodontist appointment on Thursday morning.
So many birds on a wire!
Keith went over to the valley for Gibbs’s golf match after work,
while I stayed home with the younger two boys. We spent some time at the driving range after school,
and had American chop suey and sweet and fluffy cornbread with corn for supper.
Friday included an early Pilates session with Adria and Ashley in Culpeper, another quick stop at Yoder’s for some staples like bread, buttermilk, and peanut butter, and a short visit from my parents.
Knowing that I would be out of the house until late that night, I planned a dinner that I could make in advance and we could reheat in shifts as we needed it: baked pancakes with pancake mix, plus bacon, yogurt, and fresh fruit.
And that brings us to Saturday! Spencer’s soccer team is in a tournament this weekend, so our day was spent cheering on the sidelines at multiple games.
His last game wasn’t until 6:00 p.m., so I took him to that while Keith and the older boys got sushi for dinner and watched college football on TV! After his match, Spence and I had a late supper at Timberwood Grill before heading home to Madison. Steak salad and a side of sweet potato waffle fries for me…
So there you have it, friends — another week of easy dinner ideas! 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 Labor Day weekend!
Wow, your boys are growing up fast! It’s amazing how tall they are. I really enjoyed reading the blog this morning, & the recipes look great, as usual. Have a great rest of your weekend!
Hi, Leslie! I know, it’s crazy! The teenagers especially…they just seem to grow overnight! Feeding and clothing teenage boys is no joke, either. 🙂
My husband used to say that he didn’t know what our son looked like when he became a teenager, all he ever saw was his butt hanging out of the fridge while he was looking for eats!
Haha! That’s pretty accurate. They are always ready to eat!
Growing up in Rhode Island, American Chop Suey was a very common dinner in my house. I made it often when my girls were growing up. I use my grandmother’s recipe. The ingredients are different from your recipe. We do cook our elbow macaroni first, then add it to the rest of the ingredients.
Besides the elbows, we use ground beef, can of tomato soup, 8 oz. Can of tomato sauce, few squirts of ketchup. My aunt told me that if she has some onion she chops it up, and if she has some cheese she chops that up also and throws it in. When making it for my family, sometimes I used the onion but I always used the cheese. It was added before baking just like the other ingredients. Then we always baked it in the oven uncovered.
I love that, Debbie! It definitely seems like chop suey (or goulash) is a regional dish that every home cook prepares in a slightly different way. Your version sounds delicious! Thank you for sharing. 🙂
Wow, Debbie. Maybe we can get Blair to make “stuffies” for the boys, and have a coffee milk! She needs to be fully immersed in Rhode Island cuisine! 🙂
Hah! That’s funny, Tim. You’re speaking another lingo!
Made your pumpkin muffins and they went over with a bang with my husband. Thank you for the recipe.
Loved seeing the picture of Teddy. He is so so cute. The photos are all very pretty. Love the colors of your area. So very green I would love walking each morning even if if it were sprinkling your yoders sounds like a great place to shop.