Are you one of those churchgoers, who, like me, know the struggle of dealing with a rumbling, Sunday stomach? Food for famishing bellies becomes high priority come dinner time. We as Mennonites call it Sunday dinner, but we’re talking about the mid day meal here, not an evening dinner.

Seriously, what is it about sitting through a sermon that makes for ravenous appetites? Social stress of being around people? I realize this is not an issue for some folks but I can  identify with this idea. Or maybe it’s only because we’re eating later than on weekdays? Either way, we Moms know the necessity of having food prepared to feed our starving tribe.

Some folks are perfectly content to arrive home from church and fry up pancakes and eggs, or consume a sad bowl of cold cereal. Hey, if that’s your jam, more power to you. But I’ll assure you, my family and I are far from that stripe of Sunday dinner folk.

Both my husband and I grew up with the  Sunday dinner tradition. The classic meat and potatoes affair, complete with veggies/salads and often a dessert. And that’s how I cook for us now too. I don’t mean a holiday feast, but a well prepared meal. The catch is, I don’t like to spend hours slaving away in the kitchen on Saturday. Been there, done that!

Sunday is a day of rest; in order to honor that, I don’t like to get up and spin around my kitchen for 3 hours, feeling like I’ve done a day’s work before we ever step foot in church. My Sunday mornings vanish like foam anyway.

About February or March of this year, I had an epiphany.  I started making basically the same menu every Sunday.  I was looking for ways to cut back on Saturday food prep, yet still be able to arrive home to a tasty dinner. 

Remember, we don’t like pancakes and eggs for Sunday dinner? Sure, that doesn’t take any Saturday preparation, but it’s not our style. Here are a couple of theories why I don’t like that method.  You don’t have to agree with me.

1) Who in their right mind feels like stirring up pancake batter or frying eggs and bacon  after your home from church? When the whole gang is an hungered and nigh grouchy from empty tummies?! Efficiency and time are of utmost importance when we arrive home- we don’t want to wait yet another half hour or more, fixing food!

2) Sunday is a special day of the week. It’s nice to honor that day with some extra special food. We don’t always have dessert with our everyday meals, but I like to have a  dessert around for the weekend. It doesn’t always happen, but my hubby appreciates it when it does. Sometimes I manage his favorite custard, or a gluten free cake or bars. Other times it’s simply ice cream from the freezer. 

Some people may feel they don’t want to eat much on Sunday because they’re not working hard physically. Maybe they’d rather settle for cold sandwiches for Sunday dinner.  There’s nothing wrong with that. But for myself,  I’m next to ravenous when we get home and needing something more substantial to fill up on; not empty calories.

So let’s dive into our Sunday dinner menu. It doesn’t require any Saturday preparation (unless you make a dessert or prep salad ingredients/ dressing, etc).

Every spring and fall, we raise our own pastured broilers. A freezer stocked with homegrown chickens feels rich indeed! Every Saturday night before going to bed, we pull one of these whole chickens from the freezer and set it in the kitchen sink to thaw. The next morning, I pop it into my Princess House miracle dish, add water for plenty of broth and slide it in the oven. I bake it at 350 for about an hour, then at 9:00 when we leave for church, I turn it down to about 225*. It’s tender and pull-apart delicious when we arrive home around 12:45.

I don’t worry a thing about all those fancy roasting recipes. Rubbing it up with seasonings, squeezing it with lemon juice or filling the cavity with onions.  Our chickens still have the skin on, so I find the flavor doesn’t go into the meat anyway.  I save myself time and energy and bake it plain as day. Then we serve it with a sprinkling of Nature’s Seasoning or whatever strikes our current streak. And by the way, the skin is a coveted delicacy at our table. Crunchy goodness, dripping with healthy fat vibes!

After feasting on that succulent chicken,  I immediately de-bone it.  Then we’re left with a treasure trove of cooked chicken to use for another meal. Hallelujah for leftovers.

Now on to the potatoes. Mashed potatoes was something I did not make often, simply because of the effort it took. You can be sure my family is thrilled to have a weekly dose of creamy potato goodness! Nobody has tired yet of eating these every Sunday.

Here’s my secret. Once a month, I make a super size batch of instant mashed potatoes and freeze them in 3 meal sized portions. (We have potluck at church every 3rd Sunday so I can get by with making enough for the remaining 3 Sundays of the month.) I like using foil pans so I’m not holding up my casserole dishes in the freezer. On Saturday, all I have to do is pull a pan from the freezer and let it thaw all day. I cover it with foil, then refrigerate overnight. About 8:50 A.M, Jerald takes the potatoes to the downstairs oven and puts it in at 175 degrees. It’s such a routine by now, I no longer even remind him to do that or even specify the temperature! With the potatoes being cold from the fridge, this time frame and temperature is perfect to have them thoroughly heated, but not dark around the edges. I love the convenience of two ovens for differing temperatures.

Now I hear what your thinking:  instant mashed potatoes?! That’s not healthy! I admit, they’re not the epitome of wholesome food, but I’ve finally concluded, for convenience sake and for my happy family’s sake, we can surely eat this once a week without spiraling into a health apocalypse.  Instant potatoes are soooo much easier than peeling aaalllll those potatoes! Plus, these freeze so well! Now back to the potato method….

I hesitate to share my recipe because it’s never exactly same from one time to the next.  But here’s my estimates:

Instant mashed potatoes

7 cups milk/ water. I use milk but sometimes add in water to stretch it.  Add a couple Tablespoons butter while heating.

3 ¹/² – 4 cups Idahoan potato flakes

1- 1 ¹/² blocks cream cheese-  8 oz. size

1 large scoop sourcream- probably about 1 cup

1 good teaspoon salt

A good sprinkling of ranch dressing mix- probably 2 Tablespoons or so. (I use a different version of ranch mix because I like to avoid the MSG in the Hidden Valley Ranch stuff. 

Heat the milk to warm but not scalding. Pour in about half of the potatoe flakes and beat well.  Add in the remaining ingredients and beat again. Last, add in the remaining flakes as needed.  This can vary quite a bit.  I’ve learned it’s best to keep them pretty runny! So if in doubt, go for the runnier side rather than too thick.  They will thicken right up as they heat. So if you get them to the right consistency while making them, they will end up too thick once heated. Always do taste testing to check about salt, ranch mix, or the desired taste of cream cheese.

Every Sunday, my family raves about my potatoes. It makes me feel like I’ve aquired a Master’s degree in Culinary Arts.

Now, let’s get on to the veggies. The first 6 or 8 weeks, our vegetable was green beans fried with bacon. We’ve discovered we like them blanched and frozen better than canned. Plus, the long beans look so dressy fried up with  bacon. Not to mention delicious! But I’ve changed it up lately, with a variety of hot vegetables. Partly because the green beans took too long to cook after we got home. Although I did discover it works to put the frozen beans in the oven, covered, with a little water, just before leaving for church. (Same temperature as the chicken) Then they’re ready when we come home. If I want to fry bacon for the beans, I’ll have it diced and frozen, then dump it in the frying pan just as we leave.  It can thaw all morning. All you need to do is turn on the burner as soon as you get in the door.  Better yet is fry it ahead of time and you’ll only need to reheat it.

As soon as we’re home, I drain the broth off the chicken and make gravy. At first I didn’t even bother making gravy, (because of the time factor,of course) but we’ve got onto it now. And I can do it real swift like! In the morning I put my gravy shaker with water and pan for the gravy right by the stove. The pan is ready to grab when I drain the broth. The shaker is ready to add my thickner.

If I need water to cook veggies, I fill the kettle half full in the morning and set that on the stove top too. Just before going out the door, I grab a bag of frozen veggies and throw them in the sink to thaw while we’re at church. 

If I make a lettuce salad, I like to have it prepared ahead of time. I don’t add soggy things like cheese or cucumbers until we’re ready to eat. But sometimes I make it after we get home while I’m cooking the veggies and stirring gravy. Or if it’s a salad with a dressing to stir in, I’ll have all my ingredients prepared ahead of time. When you get home, grab, dump and stir and it’s ready to eat. Pulling a prepared bowl of salad out of the fridge not only feels efficient; it is efficient!

As for the dessert, I will generally make it on Saturday. Unless I have something I can pull from the freezer. 

And that’s it! There’s no energy spent every week, figuring out what to have for Sunday dinner. It’s speedy and not much time spent cooking. It’s all routine. All it takes is some fore thought and preparation. Did you ever think of it that waiting until the last minute to decide a menu really cuts down on options? It does! Just pause a moment and think about it now if you’ve never done so. 

Figure out what your family loves and work ahead to make that menu happen. Maybe your method is a crockpot meal thrown together Sunday morning. Or maybe you like putting a roast in the oven on low heat all night. Plan ahead; you will love the convenience of being prepared! And you’ll get to relish a satisfying Sunday dinner without sacrificing your precious Saturday. Bon Appétit! May your Sundays be filled with a delicious helping of joy!