Old Fashioned Sunday Dinner

Maybe it is because I am turning another year older this week.  Maybe it is because I recently saw the house that I grew up in and it made me really sad (more about that later).  Maybe it is the fact that Fall is on its way here and I always crave comfort foods this time of year.  Maybe I am just an old fashioned girl who likes tradition and carrying on things that those before me did.  I am not sure what it is, but I have been making sure that we have an old fashioned Sunday dinner for the past few weeks, just like we did when I was growing up!

 Tonight I made Moist Baked Buttermilk Chicken.  Tenders for me, thighs for Cody.  Of course Cody would prefer that I fry it, but I don't really like frying in the house and I am doing Weight Watchers and fried foods are too many points!  So far I have made meatloaf and a pork roast.  There are so many options as to what I can make...can't wait to explore them all!  Along with the chicken, I made mashed potatoes and gravy, brown sugar carrots and a nice rustic ciabatta bread.  I always make mashed potatoes and gravy, the flavor of the gravy just changes depending on the kind of protein I am making. 

 My grandma is a great cook and I picked up some tips from her that I would like to share with you.  I am sure some of you already do these things, but if you don't, you definitely should!  

1. I save my bacon grease in a mug and use it when I need some fat and extra flavor.  I had 4 of these amazing vintage Snoopy mugs but somehow Cody lost all but this one.  I didn't want to lose this one so it is my bacon grease holder.  It stays in the fridge and comes in handy quite a lot.  Frying your pork chops in bacon grease is beyond amazing!
2. When you drain your potatoes for mashed potatoes, save some of the water and use it in your gravy.  It really helps the flavor out a lot.
3. Whether you wear an apron or not, throw a dish towel over your shoulder.  It is always right there when you need to wipe your hands, the counter or use it as a hot pad.  I always have a dish towel over my shoulder when I am in the kitchen!
4. And last but not least, every Sunday dinner needs a dessert!

This lemon meringue pie isn't homemade, but it is amazing and it's the perfect dessert to finish off my old fashioned Sunday dinner.  Thank you Marie Callender for your amazing pies.  The crust tastes just like homemade.  I am going to learn to make homemade pie crust like the pros very soon and will be sure to share it with you!

This sweet little picture of handprints is of me and my brother's hands back in 1986.  Josh was 2 and I was 4 when my dad put sidewalks in around our house.  He let us put our handprints in this section in the front of the house so that we could see how much we grew over the years.  They sold that house about 7 years ago and it broke my heart.  That was the only house I lived in for the first 24 years of my life.  I always dreamed of my kids going to visit their grandparent's there someday and putting their hands in our ours to see how they measured up.  Miranda Lambert's song "The House That Built Me" is the perfect song when it comes to the house I grew up in.  The first time I heard it I bawled my eyes out...I could have written that song myself, down to the handprints on the front step! I went to a yard sale next door to it yesterday and I went into the yard to snap this picture.  Sadly, the people that bought it from us lost it and it is in horrible shape.  I started crying because the weeds are as tall as the house, the grass is dead and it isn't the house that I grew up in and loved.  I wish I could buy it.  I also wish I could take this piece of cement out of the sidewalk and keep it forever!

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