I have no family to serve a Sunday dinner to, but I sorely miss the tradition. When I was a little girl we went to my Bubbe's house every Sunday night, for the same dinner almost every time--chicken noodle or matzoh ball soup, roast chicken, some kind of potatoes or stuffing or both, usually something like green beans and salad or coleslaw, and homeade applesauce. Occasionally canned beets or borscht. Dessert was coffee for the grownups and something like macaroons or a few pieces of candy from the candy box. Or one of Bubbe's oatmeal cookies. Then we watched "The Wonderful World of Disney" on TV, and then the "Ed Solomon Show" which is how my Bubbe pronounced "Ed Sullivan."
When Bubbe got a little older it was dinner at our house. Menu varied, but I have no memory of those meals. Guess since it was at our house it didn't seem like as much of a special occasion. I know in the summer mom woud make potato salad and cucumber salad and we'd have burgers on the grill with fresh tomatoes and corn, or grilled chicken.
It's funny, my grandmothers' cooking repertoire was quite limited, they made the same things over and over, but that's what made it so memorable--the consistent quality.

For years and years we did that....and invited the inlaws in.....and I hated it...I felt I spent all day sunday cooking, sitting around a dinner table then washing dishes when I really wanted to be in the yard or doing something else.....and my DH said.."Well then, we won't do that any more....we'll just have sandwiches and I'll grill something sunday night."
and so we did...mostly hamburgers or pork chops.
But when I cooked Sunday dinner, it was mostly pot roast, beef roast or roast Chicken....something that could cook while we were in church.
Linda C

No, we rarely had a big Sunday dinner when I was growing up. What we did have was a big Sunday breakfast after church with lots of relatives attending. It was held on a rotating basis at my grandparents' house or at the home of one of my aunts and uncles (and sometimes at our house too).

The menu varied with whoever was cooking that day. Then we'd all go home of out for a ride or some general Sunday afternoon relaxation and have a light meal in the evening.

Growing up, Sunday was pretty much roast chicken dinner. Sometimes, a beef roast.

When our kids were still at home I carried on the same tradition. Today, I no longer fix a big Sunday dinner but when I do make a roast chicken dinner...it will always be on a Sunday. Traditions die hard, I guess.

/t

I grew up in an Italian family and Sunday was THE day for dinner (supper).

Grandma Vittoria started early -- probably before sunrise; we never knew -- none of us were ever up before her.

There was always pasta and usually 2 or 3 kinds and always including spaghetti. There was always at least two sauces - a light sauce and a husky meat sauce. The meat sauce wasn't "ragu" (tomato base with ground meat); the meat sauce was made meaty by the addition of meatballs, sausage, pork-something-or-other (we LOVED pigs' feet) and/or bracioli (we called our Sicilian version braccioloni -- others call it farsumagru -- and it included sausage, peas and whole eggs).

Sometimes there were some special sauces and pasta amendments: a fish sauce that was out of this world, a sauce of simply toasted bread crumbs (yummmmm), sometimes just olive oil and garlic. There were never any pestos nor cream sauces nor anything with butter.

On the better days, we had a full platter of meats -- the meatballs, the sausage, the braccioloni, the pork thingies that were pulled from the sauce before the sauce was brought to the table.

Sometimes, we had fried meat after a light pasta. The pasta was the "primi", the meat the "segundi", much as you find in the better Italian-American restaurants today. The meat was exactly that -- "fried". It was some inexpensive cut that was thin sliced into cutlets and then beat into scallopines and then fried fast and furious in olive oil. Sometimes great, sometimes chewy.

There was always loaves of fresh-baked bread (or at least what was left of loaves after we ripped them all apart for dipping in the sauces while they were cooking in the kitchen).

Salad was there but I'm sure I didn't eat much of this "silly" food when I was a kid.

Dessert was a wonderful mix of fresh fruit, some of it from grandpa Ambrogio's own trees in the yard.

And believe it or not, I grew up a very skinny kid.

Joe

Sunday dinner was a tradition growing up and I carry on the tradition. I always served Sunday dinner in the dining room with all the good china and silver.

Our kids knew that Sunday dinner was pretty much non negotiable but they could invite anyone they wanted to share our meal with us. As they got older and had boyfriends and girlfriends I had to let them have Sunday dinners with the other family as well...but I never liked it! We were a little lax in the summer becasue we would often be driving home from the cottage on a Sunday.

Once Meredith went away to University and Chris was no longer at home Clive and I still carry on with a full Sunday dinner but I must admit it is often eaten in front of the TV!

Typical fare is roast beef and Yorkshire pudding, Roast chicken or turkey with stuffing, roast pork,squash and mashed potatoes with gravy or ham baked beans and scallop potatoes.

Tonight is eye of the round, oven baked mini potatoes, cauliflower and broccoli with a cheese sauce.