Return to Sunday Dinner by Russell Cronkhite

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When we lived in the same city as my in-laws we spent almost every Sunday together eating lunch after church. Sunday dinner was one of those meals where you didn’t count calories. It also meant making memories, because after the food was eaten and the dishes were moved back to the kitchen, it was game playing time…this was important, because it’s what lead to dessert .

I’m sure those of you that grew up in a church going crowd, experienced that as well. It was the meal that was prepared for and looked forward to all week. You knew that Grandpa would fall asleep on the couch and snore away the afternoon, or that lemon meringue pie that your Aunt makes the best, would appear on the table. And after all these years, Sunday Dinner brings back some of your favorite memories.

For me today, I admit, we don’t carry on that tradition any more. I think my daughter has sort of lost out on it. We eat our large meal at supper, not after church on Sundays, and it’s not usually any different than any other night of the week.

I’m not sure if we’ll ever actually have “Sunday Dinner” per say in our home, but I have enjoyed reading traditions and perusing the recipes out of Russell Cronkhite’s new book “Return to Sunday Dinner.”

I’ve made a few of the recipes already including the “Family Favorite Meatloaf with Brown Sugar Glaze”, the “Slow-Cooked Beef Brisket” and the “Baked Apples with Walnuts and Cream.”

The book is divided into 24 different chapters, each creating a menu suitable for varying occasions, and it is filled with beautiful pictures of the recipes.

Some of the recipes are very unique, and others, to me, require a lot more work than I would generally do, but there are tips at the end of each chapter that will allow you, in the hustle and bustle of life, to get Sunday Dinner on the table by preparing some of the items ahead of time.

This recipe book is a bit ‘magical’ in nature, but I don’t think you’ll recognize that until you pick it up yourself and it takes you back in time to the Sunday Dinners of your childhood, and you recognize comfort foods of days gone by that have your mouth salivating by the remembrance of them, and peaked interest in making some new recipes that you have not yet tried.  Perhaps they will become the traditional recipes of the future generations of your family’s Sunday Dinners.

Return to Sunday Dinner is available at retail stores and online for an msrp of $27.99.

The publisher provided you me with a complimentary copy of this book through BookSneeze®. All opinions are my own.

Review by Tammy Litke.