A few weeks ago I spent the better part of three days cooking a whole bunch of food. It’s sort of weird, but I love to plan and shop and cook for a crowd. It’s strange, I know, but I’d rather cook for 40 than 2, and while I realize that this pretty much makes me THE FREAK OF ALL NATURE, it’s one of those quirky little things I enjoy.

And for this particular round of brunch-y offerings, I made some of our family’s favorite treats.

I made sausage balls.

(Those sausage balls hadn’t been baked yet, by the way, but they were on their way into the oven when I snapped a picture with my phone.)

(I just wanted to clarify so that no one worries if I enjoy serving up a delightful side of salmonella as a compliment to the brunch-y offerings.)

I made homemade granola – which is probably one of my all-time favorite foods.

One reason I like making granola so much is because my friend Merritt’s recipe is so good and so easy. I don’t know where I’d be in life without it. Except that I’d probably be at a place in life where I wished for a really delicious granola recipe.

This would probably be a good time to confess that I double the amount of butter in Merritt’s recipe, though.

Doubling the amount of butter is my inalienable right as an American, after all. I believe it’s covered in the Constitution or some other government-y type document. It’s all very official.

And I also made pound cakes. So many pound cakes. So many, many pound cakes.

I made so many pound cakes, in fact, that I had to get sort of inventive with where I put them after they cooled. I needed my countertop space so that I could keep cooking, so I wedged in my pound cakes on the breakfast room table between pans of granola and Ziploc bags filled with sausage balls. And when I ran out of space on the breakfast room table, I decided that my next best option was to set one of the pound cakes in a breakfast room chair.

What can I say? I was tired and it was the fourth pound cake of the day and I was fresh out of food storage ideas.

About that time D walked through the kitchen, and I said, “You know what? I’m going to fix myself a Diet Coke, make a plate of cheese and crackers – and I’m going to play catch-up with the DVR for a while. I think I need to take a break.”

So that is exactly what I did.

Once I was back in the kitchen a little bit later, I started gathering ingredients so that I could mix up some hash brown potato casseroles. I walked to the refrigerator to grab the cheddar cheese, and I couldn’t help but notice something sort of peculiar out of the corner of my eye.

I walked over to the chair to get a better look.

It was the strangest sight, y’all. I couldn’t figure out what in the world had happened. I mean, I know my people enjoy sweet treats and all, but they typically make good use of utensils when they eat. Thankfully it is not the norm for them to just bend down and start gnawing the sides off of a pound cake.

I was oh-so-puzzled.

But then I heard the pitter-patter of little feet behind me.

And when I turned around, I realized that somebody had come back for seconds.

Apparently Ally finds pound cake to be TASTY.

I take issue, though, with the fact that she didn’t clean up after herself afterwards.

She didn’t even have the courtesy to throw the SaranWrap in the trash. She just slung it over to the side of the chair all devil-may-care-like. LEFT IT ON THE FLOOR, EVEN. I guess her dessert-related enthusiasm caused her to take temporary leave of her good manners.

Clearly we’ll have to work on that.

I think it’s only fair.
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Last week I posted a new giveaway from Sprite; there’s a $100 Shutterfly.com gift card up for grabs!

Oh, I loved your comments about Sunday lunch. And yes, we do typically call it “Sunday dinner” in these parts. But I thought maybe saying “Sunday dinner” would make y’all think I was talking about supper – which would still be delightful, of course – so I went with the more typical diction.

There. I feel that I’ve overexplained enough. Remember, I am nothing if not a deeply annoying overexplainer.

Several of you asked how it’s possible to get post-church lunch on the table in a timely fashion, and I really don’t have a great answer to that question because, well, I’ve only done the big Sunday dinner thing twice. I do know, though, that whenever I cook for a crowd (I’ve bored you with those details already), the key is to do as much as possible ahead of time. Use the crockpot whenever you can. Buy a dessert at the bakery or put together something really simple the night before (brownies from a box, vanilla ice cream, chocolate syrup, the end). And setting the timer on the oven is a great idea, only it doesn’t work for me because the clock on our oven is broken, thus rendering the timer feature completely useless.

But if it did work, well, you know, ACES.

Anyway, after I read y’all’s comments yesterday, I made a quick list of meals (besides the classic crockpot roast, carrots and potatoes) that would be fairly easy to pull off after church. They’ll require a little Saturday night prep, but now that we can’t all sit around and watch “The Love Boat” and “Fantasy Island,” what else do we have to do since Captain Stubing and Tattoo are nothing but a faint (albeit precious) memory? Plus, the payoff of the prep time is all manner of Sunday dinner deliciousness. Not to mention fellowship. Hallelujah.

Chicken Divan – I only use 1 can of cream of chicken but add a little more mayonnaise than this recipe calls for, and I also like to use a little curry powder. But the basic premise is the same. I’d buy a rotisserie chicken, assemble the dish on Saturday night, then pop it in the oven as soon as we got home from church. Serve with salad and rolls. Sometimes Mama would serve this with fresh fruit and poppyseed dressing, and we were all blessed beyond measure as a result.

Lasagna – Use your favorite recipe (I can’t find mine online) and assemble Saturday night. Put it in your oven when you leave for church and set the timer. Or make a yummy crockpot version that you can put together before you head to the church house. Serve with salad and French bread.

Chicken and Asparagus Casserole – Initially I was going to suggest chicken pie, but this chicken and asparagus dish is so pretty and festive and colorful. It’s great with just about any side dish, and if you make it the night before, it only takes 30 minutes for it to be ready for lunch. And truthfully, it takes me almost 30 minutes to get ready for Sunday dinner; those yoga pants are gonna jump on my person by themselves, now are they?

Crockpot Chicken & Dressing – If there’s any dish that brings out my inner Jerry Clower, it’s this one. This isn’t something my mama made when I was growing up, but it just tastes like the South to me. So good. And it begs for peas and turnip greens and maybe even a little okra on the side. TASTY.

Meatball Sandwiches – Melanie’s recipe is a favorite at our house. Make your meatballs the night before, then let them simmer in the crockpot while you’re at church or heat them up on the stove when you get home. Serve with potato salad that you made the night before (or that was lovingly prepared by your local Publix).

Eggplant Casserole – Don’t roll your eyes. Seriously. Because this is one of those dishes that might sound a little iffy but is SO, SO GOOD. You can serve it as a main course (Mama always put chopped ham in ours when it was a main course), or it’s a wonderful side with fried chicken (leave the chicken frying to the professionals at the Popeye’s or the Bojangle’s). Perfect with baked beans and rolls. Also a great reminder that we tend to forget about the eggplant, but the eggplant, it is enjoyable.

Pork Tenderloin – I don’t think there’s any cut of meat that I cook more for company. It soaks up marinade, cooks quickly, and falls into the category of “identifiable meat.” It’s great with potato casserole (make ahead, cook when you get home). I made cheese grits as a pork tenderloin side this past Sunday because I forgot to buy potatoes. And when I mentioned that I might just cook some white rice instead, Alex said, “THAT’S not the mama I know!” So cheese grits it was.

Chicken Cakes – Another great recipe of Mel’s. You could mix up the chicken cakes Saturday night, form them into patties, then quickly pan fry them after church on Sunday. Serve with sweet potato casserole and butterbeans. Then sign contentedly.

Spaghetti – Make sauce Saturday night. Cook noodles when you get home Sunday. Throw a little parmesan on the plate, grab a hunk of bread and you’re ready to roll.

Taco Salad – This is my all-time favorite simple meal. I brown a couple of pounds of ground beef with all the taco seasonings. I chop up a head of lettuce, open a bag of tortilla chips and unzip a package of flour tortillas. FANCY. Then I set out bowls of yummy toppings: grated cheese, black beans, tomatoes, sour cream, onions, Ranch dressing, queso dip, salsa, etc. People can either build their own salad or make nachos or make soft tacos. It’s even better if you use cute paper plates, because the clean-up is practically non-existent.

So. There you have it. And I know that there’s really nothing new under the Sunday dinner sun, but sometimes it’s good just to remember the options. Or, you know, you can always go out to eat. The important thing is to find the option that is most relaxing and recharging for you and your family.

All that being said, I will now return to my regular bloggy box. The box where I talk about bacon and Mississippi State sports and TV. And butter. And also mascara.

The end.

When I was growing up, Sunday lunch was always a big deal. We didn’t go out to eat very much, so Mama always fixed a big ole meal after church. I remember roast with carrots and potatoes as a staple, but fried chicken, beef stroganoff, turkey and ham were also in the rotation – with lots of fresh vegetables on the side. And rolls. Always rolls. OH SWEET MERCY THE ROLLS.

If we weren’t eating at Mama and Daddy’s house on Sundays, it was usually because we were having a big family lunch at my aunt’s house. We did this more times than I can remember; my aunt would fix her meal and Mama would fix her meal and then we’d combine everything into a gigantor family potluck. When my grandparents were alive they’d join the fun, too, and my Mamaw Davis would bring a homemade chocolate pie or her homemade apple tarts or some other dessert that would make you weep by virtue of its sheer deliciousness. There was never a shortage of sweet tea or coffee, and after lunch the grown-ups would sit around the big table and visit while the kids ran around outside or walked down to the Jitney Jr. to buy some gum. Or maybe even some Bit-O-Honeys if we were feeling particularly crazy.

A piece of candy cost two cents, by the way. TWO CENTS. Which means that if you were in possession of a whole quarter, you could just about afford to send yourself into a post-candy sugar coma.

It was a simpler time.

And just so you know, now I’m all teary-eyed just from thinking about my Mamaw and Papaw Davis. WHEN DID MY BRAIN TURN INTO A HALLMARK COMMERCIAL?

For whatever reason, I’ve never really latched on to the Sunday lunch tradition since I’ve been the one doing the cooking. I cook all during the week, and occasionally I’ll make a big pot of red beans and rice or chili or something on Saturday night, but I typically leave Sunday lunch to the the experts at the restaurants. We don’t have family here, and we’re too far away from everybody to just hop over to my hometown for a Sunday meal, so eating out has been a pretty practical solution.

A few weeks ago – seemingly out of nowhere – I decided that I wanted to make a big ole Sunday lunch. Roast and carrots. Mashed potatoes. English peas. Homemade chocolate pudding. But since that much food is way too much food for three people, I texted my friend Leigh to see if she and her family wanted to join us. Leigh and her husband are originally from Mississippi, too – were even at Ole Miss the same time my brother was – and Leigh and I love to swap Southern stories. Hers are always the best.

Anyway, Leigh and her family came over for Sunday lunch a couple of weeks ago, and it was so much fun. They didn’t get to stay for long after we finished eating because we were under a WINTER STORM WARNING and there’s a small mountain in between our house and theirs, but I loved every single thing about having company on a Sunday. I loved using my pretty dishes, cleaning up afterwards, having some tasty leftovers for supper – the whole thing. It reminded me of how I grew up. And more than anything else, it was comforting to spend part of the afternoon with friends who feel like family.

Today is D’s birthday, and last week I thought that instead of cooking him a big birthday supper – which is what I normally do – I was going to cook him a big Sunday birthday lunch. Leigh and her family came over again, and I pulled out my favorite green dishes. We had pork tenderloin, cheese grits, squash casserole, butterbeans and rolls (OH HAVE MERCY THE ROLLS). I fixed D’s favorite tres leches cake for dessert. After we ate Leigh and I sat at the dining room table and drank coffee while the fellas went into the den and talked about electronics and movies and whatnot.

When we finally got up to start tackling the dishes, we realized it was 3:30 and couldn’t believe it. We’d spent over two hours talking about everything and nothing: the sermon we heard this morning, our young’uns, our ish-ahs, our TV habits, and so much more. There’s just something about eating a meal together in the middle of the day – with a whole big afternoon stretching out before you – that slows down the pace of life a little bit. And I’m not exactly sure why it’s taken me thirteen and a half years of marriage to figure that out.

After our company left and I loaded the last of the plates into the dishwasher, I walked into the den where D was in the process of rescuing some soldiers from a rogue alien army on the Xbox, and I made a proclamation.

“THAT,” I said, “was DELIGHTFUL. And I think from here on out – at least a couple of times a month – I’m going to make a big ole lunch on Sundays, and we’ll just invite whoever comes to mind.”

“I think that sounds great,” he said.

And so that’s our plan.

What about y’all? Do you go out to lunch on Sundays? Or do you cook a big meal? Do you have people over? Do you get together with your extended family? Do you remember the Sunday lunch traditions from your childhood? I’m strangely curious.

And if you feel led to share any favorite menu ideas, well, you just go right ahead.