What's for Sunday Dinner?

[NancyP]

Hi,
I would love to hear how you all feed the family after church. I am trying to get us away from eating out so much. We go to church at ten and get home about 12:30. I use the crock pot, but always worry a bit about leaving it on while we are gone.
Thanks, Nancy

 

[ChikeeMomma]

I'd love to hear from others, too! We get home from church and Sunday school around 12:30. I'd love to have a big Sunday dinner, but it seems like Sunday is a crash day for us. I love cooking and baking, but usually don't feel like going all out preparing a meal on Sundays. So we usually eat left-overs or sandwiches and such (or something easy like chili). I grew up having a big Sunday dinner over at Grandma's every Sunday.

 

[KatyTheChickenLady]

Sunday is always a family chicken dinner in our house.

 

[obaan1]

If you are a crockpot fan, cook something long and slow starting Saturday night. (pick a recipe with lots of liquid) Turn off the crockpot before you leave the house for church. It will still be ready to go for you at lunchtime.

 

[donrae]

We tried doing the Sunday dinner but I hated it. And apparently I was the only one who cared. Now, we just do a regular lunch--sammiches, leftovers, chili nachos, leftovers, salami and crackers, leftovers, etc. Much less stress! I do try to do a "nicer" dinner that night, cause during the week everything is a fast fix, but right after church is just not our time

Plus, if the weather is nice, we want to get out and do stuff, not stuff ourselves and then sleep. That was a problem, too

 

[TerriLaChicks]

I usually roast a chicken on Saturday or we put something extra on the pit (Sat night is grill night) and have the leftovers on Sunday, or else we do "breakfast for supper" on Sunday nights.

 

[peeplessinNC]

You could do the 5-hour Roast Sticky Chicken in the oven at 250 and time it to be just about ready when you get home. Some quick-cook vegetables and a salad in the fridge, rolls to heat in the already warm oven and you are good to go! This is similar to a rotisserie cooked chicken from the deli and is really good. You can do more than one whole chicken if you have the space in the oven.

Roast Sticky Chicken

3 pounds whole chicken
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon paprika
3/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 large onion -- quartered

Combine all spices together in a small bowl. Rub mixture into chicken WELL, inside & out, patting into the skin & try to make it evenly distributed. Put in a large bag & refrigerate overnight. If you don't have time for this step it will still be delicious!
You can stuff the chicken cavity with onions just before you put it in to roast.
Roast uncovered @ 250* (YES, THAT'S 250*) X 5 hours (YES, THAT'S 5 HOURS). Baste often w/ pan juices (if you are around) until they caramelize in the pan. Chicken will turn golden brown.

These freeze GREAT & I recommend you make several of them at one time since your oven is on for so long! This chicken is to die for & falls off the bone!!! The carcass can be picked clean and then used to make chicken broth that is also really good!

For Heating: You can bring these straight from the freezer if you want! From the freezer: Put in the microwave on a plate covered w/ papertowels & heat on high X 5-7 minutes. Then, place in a 350* oven X 15-20 minutes or until hot throughout.

Or, you can thaw in the refrigerator overnight, wrap in foil and heat in a low oven for 20-30 minutes.

I have a long baking chicken and rice casserole that I will add to this thread when I get home tonight.

edited to add:

Chicken-Rice Special

1 1/4 cup rice
1 can cream of celery soup
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 chicken bouillon cube
1 cup hot water
1 small onion, chopped
salt and pepper
3 TB melted butter or margarine
chicken pieces
paprika

Mix rice and soups in a greased 9x13x2-inch pan. Dissolve cube in water and add to rice mixture. Add onion and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Stir to mix. Arrange chicken pieces on top. Pour butter on chicken. Sprinkle with paprika for color. Bake at 275 for 2 1/2 hours, uncovered, or covered for 2 hours but uncover the last hour. Serve 4 to 5.

 

[NancyP]

Thanks for the replies, these are great ideas. I can't wait to try the chicken recipes.
Nancy

 

[bigmike&nan]

Yesterday was my wife's birthday. While I was fixing dinner for her one of our favorite tv chefs was on PBS, we love Lidia Bastianich. I've been a fan of hers since the early 90s. She did a ragu that started out with her sauteeing a lot of sliced garlic and then add pork shoulder cut up in small cubes, then some chopped onion and once all that was browned up nicely (about 10 minutes for the pork shoulder) a little white wine and a couple cans of crushed tomatoes. All cooked off in a big dutch oven for about 2 hours the pork shoulder breaks down and makes a lovely ragu. She served it over FARO a grain that she soaked first. That's how they make it in the region of Italy (she called it the instep of the boot) she was covering in that episode. We're going to have bucatinni, which is a fat spagetti like pasta with a hole running thru it. Toasting up some of my homemade ciabatta rolls and rub crush garlic on them, butter them, add a bit of grated cheese and whalla amazing garlic bread.

 

[BettyR]

We always have lots of homemade sausage in the freezer and I'm always looking for a new way to cook it. I found this recipe that used pork and I changed it to sausage. It turned out really well.

French Onion Smoked Sausage

1 package - 2 pounds - of homemade smoked sausage
2 strips bacon, chopped or 2 tablespoons bacon drippings
3-tablespoons vegetable Oil
3 large onions, sliced
1-tablespoon parsley flakes
1/4 teaspoon each salt and pepper
6 tablespoons all purpose flour
2 cans beef stock
1 teaspoon red wine vinegar or cider vinegar
Cooked homemade noodles

Slice sausage. Set aside

In large skillet, fry bacon over med-high heat until crisp, about 5 min or melt bacon drippings in pan. Transfer bacon to a paper towel to drain. Retain bacon fat in the pan.

Brown the sliced sausage in bacon fat, in batches, about 10 min. Transfer to plate.

Add the remaining oil to the pan over medium heat. Add onions, parsley flakes, salt and pepper; cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until onions are golden, about 10 min.

Sprinkle with flour; cook, stirring for 1 min. Add stock and bring to boil, stirring and scraping up brown bits.

Return bacon, sausage and any juices to skillet, stirring sausage to coat.

Cover, reduce heat and simmer until juices run clear and gravy is the right thickness.

Stir in vinegar. Sprinkle with parsley.

Serve over cooked noodles with loaves of hot Gump bread.