Meet our writers

Win $1,000

Go60 YUM - articles about food and the joys of dining
YUM articles - The enjoyment of food

Food Ventures

Return to Sunday Dinner: Remembering Grandmother’s Table

By Ann Hattes
Rate this item
(0 votes)

The last of a generation that knew only organic gardens and slow-cooked food, she recalls childhood memories of raising, preparing and sharing food with family and neighbors during the years of the Great Depression. Highlights include rare recipes like Yellow Jacket Soup from Cherokee ancestors, plus old time favorites like corncob jelly and leather britches.

Sunday dinner was once an American institution, a time for loved ones to enjoy together the bounty of wholesome foods. Russell Cronkhite, executive chef for 12 years at Blair House, the guest home of the president of the United States, believes families can reclaim this tradition. “The Sunday table offers our children a constant place of wonder and comfort to find rest and reassurance….a quiet place to consider life’s challenges and to place them into perspective.”

Cronkhite’s cookbook, Return to Sunday Dinner – The Simple Delight of Family, Friends and Food (Thomas Nelson press) is a call to establish your own powerful family tradition to be enjoyed by generations to come. He has created 24 complete chapters/menus to guide and inspire with easy to find ingredients. Memorable meals to be savored include slow-cooked beef brisket, cider-glazed pork loin, chicken and dumplings, and scrumptious desserts like banana black-bottom cream pie. Try his Honey-Hazelnut Acorn Squash or Roasted Carrot and Parsnip Puree.

When traveling over the river and through the woods to return to Sunday dinner at grandmother’s house, consider taking along a means of communication in case you are out of cell phone range. One such option is the Motorola Talkabout MT350R radios, ideal for active outdoor excursions. Perfect year round for life’s everyday adventures, grandchildren, grandparents and parents can communicate with each other when snowshoeing, cross country skiing or snowmobiling, and in other seasons, when camping and fishing.

These units feature reliable two-way communications up to a 35-mile range with actual range limited by terrain and weather conditions. Hands-free capability, NOAA weather channels and a weatherproof design provide protection from wet weather conditions like snow and rain splashes as well as dust. Stay connected when working up an appetite in the great outdoors and hear important weather alerts too.

Seeking to preserve family food traditions and folklore passed down from her grandmother, author LaVerne Littleton has penned Come Home, It’s Suppertime (Bookstand Publishing). She hopes it will inspire others to write their own stories and recipes. The last of a generation that knew only organic gardens and slow-cooked food, she recalls childhood memories of raising, preparing and sharing food with family and neighbors during the years of the Great Depression. Highlights include rare recipes like Yellow Jacket Soup from Cherokee ancestors, plus old time favorites like corncob jelly and leather britches. Cooking secrets and natural healing recipes are also included. For example, substitute crushed potato chips for bread crumbs when you make a meatloaf.

Or to keep a roast or poultry from sticking to the bottom of your cooking pan, use celery stalks to form a rack in the pan. Celery will add moisture and flavor. And to keep chocolate cakes brown on the outside, grease pans and dust with cocoa instead of flour.

 


Recipes:

Honey-Hazelnut Acorn Squash

Roasted Carrot and Parsnip Puree

 

Ann Hattes has over 25 years experience writing about both travel and food for publications both in the US and internationally. A senior living in Wisconsin, she’s a member of the International Food, Wine and Travel Writers Association and the Midwest Travel Writers Association.

Meet Ann