Old-fashioned Sunday dinner is stress-relieving
Instead of heading to a favorite restaurant or running through a drive-thru, why not sit down and enjoy an old-time Sunday dinner?
Restaurants usually are packed at Sunday lunch, and the family picks up the cell phones and waits and waits until everyone is a tad irritable. Is this fun? So much quality time is spent staring at phones or tablets.
How about a no-phones, no-tablet meal around the dining table? Does this sound like a novel idea? Now, some readers probably still have a sit-down Sunday meal, but in 2021 electronics and fast meals reign.
In the dark ages of the ‘50s to even the ‘80s, families had seated meals without electronics. No one was allowed to watch television at Sunday lunch, either, unless there was a major football game on.
Sunday meals do not have to be laborious either. A slow-cooker can take care of the main dish, while a stovetop or oven works for the sides. Dessert can be done from start to finish in an hour. The time spent is rewarding. Family members can communicate.
Early Sunday morning, place a roast into the slow-cooker and use favorite seasonings. A good beef roast can simply be seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic and dry onion soup mix. Stir in some red wine or water. A can of cream of mushroom soup can be added, better yet, add some fresh mushrooms to soak up the wine flavor.
Turn the cooker on high and forget it. In about 4 or 5 hours, check the roast for doneness. If ready, start the sides. A beef roast pairs well with roasted Parmesan potatoes and roasted green peas in brown butter sauce. Both sides can be done at the same time in the oven.
The roasted potatoes take about 45 minutes to an hour to cook while the peas only about 20 minutes or so. Pea-haters even will enjoy this vegetable.
Roasted Parmesan potatoes
1 pound or more new potatoes, cut in halves or fourths; smaller pieces cook faster
1/4 cup good olive oil
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper, to taste
Cut raw potatoes into halves or quarters. Place on baking sheet and drizzle olive oil over potatoes. Sprinkle potatoes with salt and pepper and toss with Parmesan cheese. Make sure all potato pieces are coated with cheese.
Place in 400-degree oven for 45 minutes to an hour, depending on how quickly oven cooks.
Roasted green peas and garlic in brown butter sauce
1 16-ounce package frozen petite green peas
1 stick butter
3-4 garlic cloves, sliced
Salt, pepper, to taste
Pour frozen peas onto baking sheet. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
In skillet, melt butter until it smells toasty and is light brown, but not burned. Add garlic slices and pour over peas. Mix sauce thoroughly with peas.
Bake 20 minutes or so until garlic is toasted on edges in a 375-degree oven.
Blueberry of any kind of berry cobbler
1 stick butter
1 1/4 cup sugar
1 cup self-rising or all-purpose flour (See note)
1 cup milk or canned milk
2 cups blackberries, blueberries or favorite berries
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
Note: If using all-purpose flour, add 2 teaspoons of baking soda per 1 cup.
Melt butter in a microwavable square baking dish. Pour 1 cup of sugar and flour into mixing bowl, whisking in milk. Mix well. Then, pour in melted butter and whisk it all well together. Butter a baking dish.
No rinse and pat dry the berries. Frozen berries work well in cobbler. Pour the batter into the buttered baking dish. Sprinkle the berries over the top of the batter, distributing evenly. Sprinkle 1/3 cu sugar over the top.
Bake in oven at 350 degrees for 1 hour or until golden and bubbly. If you desired sprinkle ad addition teaspoon of sugar over the cobber, along with the cinnamon and nutmeg 10 minutes before cobbler is done.
Serve warm with vanilla ice cream, whipped cream or non-dairy whipped topping. – Part of recipe taken from www.pioneerwoman.com/
Reader needs Marguerite’s recipes
“I found your recipe article for Eggplant Lamberto from the late Marguerite’s Italian Village restaurant in Pascagoula. This was a favorites restaurant of my late husband and I and his family,” said Missy Blackwell. “My mother-in-law, Jeannine Pelham Blackwell, knew Katherine Hunt from their childhood. We always made it at least twice to Marguerite’s each time we visited Pascagoula. “I wondered if it’s possible to request recipes for our family’s favorites: Italian dressing (we used to buy this by the quart and bring it home to Tennessee to enjoy the flavors for as long as possible.). It was a wonderfully seasoned marinated vegetable Italian dressing. The other favorites are she-crab soup and crabmeat Mornay. My mouth is watering just thinking about the food and fellowship there.“Thank you for your article and remembering this great restaurant and its family that was so important in many celebrations,” said Blackwell.
Would Marguerite’s owners share their recipes? If so, please send them to me at my new e-mail, ayeager51@gmail.com/ .Andrea Yeager is a free-lance writer who lives in Gulfport with her daughter, granddaughter and rescued pets. Contact her at ayeager51@gmail.com/ .