Feedback on the Sunday night feeding paradigm.

I wrote a few posts ago

 

--- augh!  I would love to say "a few days ago" but my blogging is so infrequent right now! ---

 

about our shift to eating prepared cold "party food" for Sunday dinners:  cheeses, crackers, cured meats, olives, cut veggies with dip, etc.   So that Sunday can be a day of rest for the cook, but Sunday dinner can still be a feast:

 At least two kinds of crackers... are set out in bowls, and sometimes a take-and-bake baguette is popped in the oven and sliced. Someone slices salami ... someone arranges 2 or 3 kinds of cheese... If we have leftover deli meats of other kinds, those go out as well. (An alternative to the sausage-and-cheese platter: lox and cream cheese on cocktail rye. Mm.) We keep a small stock of jars and cans of fancy olives and preserves and spreads and pâtés and things... and one or two of those goes on the table. We cut up peppers and celery and carrots and radishes, and put them out for dipping, either with bought hummus or with good olive oil, salt, and pepper.... We open wine or beer, and the kids may have juice boxes or soda if they have some. It takes maybe 20 minutes to put on the table and is not hard to clean up.

And it feels like Sunday.

+ + +

 

Today I got some feedback from a reader named Jenny in New Orleans:

 

[T]hank you so much for your recent "what we do about Sunday night dinner" post!!

 

We live mere blocks from the in-laws, and our regular Sunday routine has been Mama-made brunch here after Mass, then over to the in-laws' house in the afternoon for playing-and-supper. As the in-laws are aging, they've decided to drop back to more like twice-a-month Sunday get-togethers (when everyone shows up, my MIL is cooking for 22 people!!).

 

I totally  understand, and actually sort of prefer to have our Sundays to ourselves, but we were definitely languishing in the but what about supper area. We don't have the means to go out every week, but--like yours--my husband wasn't interested in me cooking a whole 'nother meal (especially since we do a fairly full brunch mid-day). And leftovers or sandwiches just weren't special enough.

Well, after your post, we've seen the light!!

Every Christmas, one of our kids' (girls: 8.5, 8.5, 7, 5, 3 months; boy: 2) favorite traditions is eating a "snacky supper" (read: you don't have to sit down, you can walk around, food is arranged in a buffet-type style on the table) while we decorate the tree on Christmas Eve.

And now!! We're doing it on Sundays!!

You're right--it strikes exactly the balance we were looking for between "special" and "easy". (I even put it out on paper plates because I've already run the dishwasher after brunch.) We've done cheese, crackers, fruit, deviled eggs, leftover tuna salad, ham chunks, chips-and-salsa, hot dog bites... it's awesome. Everyone loves it, it relieves the near-temptation to just go out, it's super-easy to clean up, and I can keep my eye out for crackers and such on sale at the store.

And one of the best things, to me, is that it's allowing us to establish our own Special Sunday Routine Treat that will already be in place when the inevitable happens and going-to-grandma's on Sunday is done with. It's flexible and quick enough that we can accommodate the occasional Sunday afternoon outing--a pool party, a quick trip to the museum to catch the closing-today exhibit--and still do our "regular" Sunday Snacky Supper.

So: thanks. It's a great idea, it works perfectly for us, and I'm really glad you mentioned it.

Awesome!  

Anybody else try it?

Comments

[Kristina]

I very much like this idea.
For Sunday Mass we sometimes end up at the 5pm mass (also known as last chance mass) because of scheduling - one son was teaching Religious Ed another had confirmation class so the timing worked. Your idea works perfectly with the busyness of what should be a day of rest.
Another idea which I like for the midday meal is an overnight slow cooker roast. I recently read an article (sorry no link saved) on why to cook a roast overnight. The idea was that many roasts, soups, stews etc.. develop their flavors to a greater extent the second day. A quick reheat and lunch is served. After a restful day (or ahem, busy Sunday) a snacky party platter for supper is ideal. Paper plates, too.. Just yes :)

[Sarah]

Oh, this was genius and very helpful! Sunday dinner is usually a made from scratch meal, either before he heads to work, or when he returns (gorvenment shift work). But, on his days off, when we are trying to rest together as a family, this is an awesome idea. Festive, easy, fun foods we all love? Done and done! It's simple. Thanks for a great idea.