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Hello, hello friendly faces! Happy October! I hope that you’re all enjoying the beautiful fall weekend! I’m back today with another round up of Our Week in Meals, so let’s get right to it!
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 was down-and-out with a stomach bug on Saturday, but after 10 hours of sleep I woke up Sunday morning feeling much better. While Keith did some yard work, I made a meal plan and grocery list for the week and then dragged Spencer with me to the store.
The rest of the afternoon was relatively quiet as we stayed close to home and took care of some of the chores that I had neglected when I was stuck in bed the day before.
Swings,
soccer,
and collecting “nature.”
Our Sunday supper was a great way to use up the leftover oven-roasted turkey breast that I had prepared the week before. This was Dump-and-Bake Turkey Tetrazzini, which I served with breadsticks and salad. Recipe coming next month — it’s a good one!
Spencer decided that Monday was a good day: after I picked him up from school at lunchtime, he sat and watched plenty of tractor activity from our front porch.
The farmer across the street was baling hay,
while other farmers were passing by on the road. Best entertainment for a 3-year-old!
The older boys had soccer practice that evening, so dinner was an easy dump-and-bake meal that a reader named Rachel recently shared with me: Chicken Broccoli Rice Casserole! You can’t go wrong when those three ingredients are in the mix! I’ll share the full details in a separate post next month…
Spencer and I hung around the house on Tuesday morning while I spent some time testing a few new recipes. When we were both ready for fresh air after lunch, so I grabbed my laundry basket and headed to the shade in the backyard.
I folded laundry on the picnic table while Spence played. The weather was beautiful, but I do think that I got a few leaves in the laundry before bringing it back inside!
Still watching the tractor across the road…
I dragged the little guy to my haircut appointment later that afternoon before picking Gibbs and Casey up from school.
The only time that my hair ever gets blow dried or “styled!” ????
Keith was gone for a business dinner that evening, so the boys and I enjoyed an easy and healthy slow cooker meal that we all love: Garlic & Herb Slow Cooker Pork and Vegetables.
This time I omitted the potatoes from that recipe and instead served Aunt Bee’s 3-Ingredient Cheesy Potato Casserole on the side. I’ll share the casserole recipe later this fall since it’s a staple on my family’s holiday table — and it’s a recipe that you all need to have!
I went over to Mollie’s farm for a walk on Wednesday morning after dropping the kids off at school. I snapped this photo of John Paul’s hay bales because I knew that Spencer would be impressed (he was)!????
I took our dinner inspiration from this week’s Simply Mailed meal plan. We had to be on the soccer field for practice again that night, so I fed all of us an early supper that I had prepped in advance: Chicken and Stuffing Casserole served with peas. This is an oldie-but-goodie recipe that’s always a hit!
The weather was a bit cooler on Thursday (finally), so Spencer was happy to spend most of his day outside while I stayed home to take care of some work around the house.
We picked up eggs and a loaf of bread from my neighbor, and then brought the older boys home from school. Spencer’s always happiest when he has his brothers around, but unfortunately 3 is a crowd and it often ends in a fight. After a few minutes of “battles” with their army men, the situation deteriorated quickly (just being honest…it’s not all roses around here)!
I made a new recipe for dinner that night, which was a definite hit: Cheeseburger Soup! This was actually a reader request, so I got to work in the kitchen and finally nailed it! We had the soup with biscuits (Spencer’s favorite!) and a salad. The soup recipe is coming to the blog soon!
Friday was a busy one! The boys had the day off from school because it was a teacher work day, so we planned a visit to see my parents. We took advantage of a trip through Charlottesville and stopped at Costco on our way.
This is the type of stuff that makes its way into my cart when I have 3 boys in tow.
It’s so big, it lights up, and it’s loud!
We picked up subs for lunch on the way and ate with my folks once we got there.
My dad prepped the dough for a batch of Monkey Bread before we arrived, so the boys helped to roll it out while we were there. This smelled so good baking in the oven! It wasn’t as sweet as some other Monkey Bread recipes that I’ve tried, and the dough was very similar to a challah bread. Delicious!
The final result was the biggest loaf of Monkey Bread I’ve ever seen! You can guess what we’ve been eating for breakfast recently….
In addition to the Monkey Bread, my parents sent us home with a bag of apples from a local orchard, plus this delicious pumpkin butter. ‘Tis the season!
The kids stayed busy the rest of the day with hunting for golf balls,
and building Legos.
I picked up a grocery order at Harris Teeter on our way back through town that evening, and then we had a simple dinner once we returned home: Spinach Salad and a Rotisserie Chicken from Costco, plus a loaf of bread from my neighbor.
We all crashed early that night, and were back up and ready to hit the soccer fields bright and early on Saturday morning.
Pumpkin Spice Cinnamon Roll coffee on the sidelines.????
Casey had a 9:00 a.m. soccer game here in Madison, and Gibbs had a game in Orange around lunchtime.
Fortunately the weather was beautiful for spending the day outside on the sidelines.
For dinner Keith grilled steaks that I picked up at Costco on Friday, which I served with a tortellini pasta salad (also from Costco) and the leftover spinach salad from the night before. Easy and tasty!
And after waking up at 5:00 a.m. and not taking a nap, Spencer was so tired from the day outside that he cried most of the evening, was too tired to eat dinner, and went to bed around 6:30 p.m.! Hah! The stressful life of a 3-year-old!????
That’s where I’ll leave it for today. I’m busy in the kitchen this morning, and then we’re planning to join my folks for Sunday supper. Have a great week!
Need some help planning your family’s meals? When you join Simply Mailed, I will send you 3 quick-prep dinner recipes and a grocery shopping list each week (for less than $1 per week!!!). This super-affordable service takes the stress out of dinner, saves you time and money, and brings your family together at the end of the day. There are even options for smaller households of just 1 or 2!
Hi-
That monkey bread looked so delicious, I was wondering if you could send us that as a recipe. You can’t show us something like that and leave us with our tongues hanging out, LOL!
Thanks
Hah! You’re right, Carolyn — not fair to show pics and no recipes! 🙂 I don’t have the recipe since my dad prepared the dough on his own before we arrived, but he said that it was a recipe from James Beard’s cookbook, Beard on Bread. I found this recipe online, which looks the same (we used dried cranberries instead of currants): https://www.recipecircus.com/recipes/Stella/BREAD/James_Beard39s_Monkey_Bread.html
Thanks! This will be one of the recipes I try as soon as it cools off. It’s still in the 80’s in S Texas where I live!
I really need to come and live at your house because you always have the best meals! Yum!
Thank you, Kristy! I have a lot of hungry mouths to feed, which is great motivation to actually cook! 🙂