Families ditch the dine-n-dash and use Sunday dinner to slow down and get together

The text messages usually begin shortly after church. 'What's the plan for dinner? What should we bring?' This is the modern beginning of the traditional family Sunday dinner for George and Judy Bushlack.

Starting at 6 p.m. on Sundays, their Marion home becomes a buzz with their five children and spouses along with 17 grandchildren and plates and plates of food.

This family tradition began more than five years ago after their oldest daughter's family moved back from Atlanta and lived with them for a few months.

'It was a natural thing to have our family come to Mom and Dad's on a Sunday evening,' Bruce Bushlack says.

In Iowa City, 120 members of Grace Community's Downtown Church finishes church services and gathers around tables, a Sunday dinner tradition that started in March in part because the University of Iowa dorms on the east side of the Iowa River don't serve Sunday evening meals.

While serving a tangible need was part of the goal, church members also wanted to building relationships beyond an hourlong church service, says Downtown Church pastor Jason Blackley.

'It's a lost thing in our society, but mealtime is really meant to be a time of conversing with one another,' Blackley says.

For many ancient cultures, eating a meal with someone is one of the most intimate ways you could know them, he said. 'Inviting someone over to eat a meal in your home was a huge act of hospitality and an act of love of toward someone in your community or in your family.'

In Iowa City, the Rachel DeMaris and Micah Zirnhelt family began hosting a weekly meal of family and friends in January.

While their crew might be small, you wouldn't know it from the raucous laughter, lively discussion, and 1980s songs sung by a 6-year-old. And, of course, there is the food, including the chocolate layer cake that DeMaris and her sister, Shari, have eaten almost every birthday or special occasion since they were kids.

We had a very specific purpose in mind when we decided to set up the weekly get-together — togetherness, DeMaris said.

'We all live in the same place, but it's so easy to not spend time together. Not because you don't want to but because it gets away from you,' she says.

Meal planning for the DeMaris and Zirnhelt clan typically begins the day or two before over Facebook with everyone chiming in with what they would like to cook.

'For the most part, we don't cook anything so outrageous that we wouldn't have cooked it just for ourselves,' Zirnhelt says. 'It's not the roast or the whatever. We cooked what we would probably have had for dinner anyhow.'

Sunday dinner roasts are a thing of the past for some families, but this isn't just about the nuclear family. For Isabel Laessig, it's about the virtual family.

Laessig is the Tampa Bay, Fla., blogger behind FamilyFoodie.com and SundaySupperMovement.com. She began Family Foodie in August 2011 after her daughter told her that the Sunday family meal is what she would miss the most when she left for college.

The importance of the Sunday meal resonated so much with Laessig that she realized that to get more families to gather at a weekly meal, she couldn't do it alone. So she founded Sunday Supper Movement and connected on Twitter in January 2012 with eight other bloggers to hold their first #SundaySupper virtual dinner. Laessig received such a huge response that it turned into a weekly Sunday dinner event reaching an audience of 2 million to 3 million each week.

'It's all about community and making people a part of that,' Laessig says. 'At the core of most families, they want that feeling of time around the family table. There is really nothing quite like it. As much as it is about the food, it's also about the other things that come together with it, the conversations. It will change the family.'

Bruce Bushlack knows he is fortunate to have all of his children in the area and relishes the weekly meal.

'It's amazing to build family relationships and watch them grow,' he says.

And while food may play an important role, DeMaris believes it's really more about the company than the food.

'The food is just a reason to gather,' she says. 'Our purpose is not to show off any fancy cooking skills. We cook the food we like and that's it.'

Laessig hopes that lessening the pressure of fancy, perfect meals will encourage families to begin their own Sunday tradition.

'One of the things we try to convey with Sunday Supper Movement is that this isn't about being a 1950s mom staying home and cooking all day every day,' Laessig says. A lot of families are busy. This is the new way of the future.'

Sunday dinner effort benefits seniors, Meals on Wheels

Karen Huber from the Cedar Rapids area is on a mission to see more families share sit-down Sunday dinners with their senior loved ones. The reason? New research shows that 50 percent of surveyed families living near senior relatives feel they do not share enough meals with older loved ones, losing an important family connection.

'For seniors, it's not what's on their plate that matters most at mealtime — it's who is at the table with them,' says Huber, owner of the Home Instead Senior Care office in Cedar Rapids. 'When seniors share meals with a companion, they have a better mealtime experience — both nutritionally and emotionally.'

Almost 75 percent of the people surveyed said they only sit down for a family meal with senior loved ones for special occasions, events or holidays. They say a big part of the problem is time — both not having enough of it and conflicting schedules.

To encourage families to make time for these meals, the Home Instead Senior Care Foundation is donating $1 to Meals on Wheels America (up to $20,000 total through July 31) for each person that commits to regularly scheduling family dinners at SundayDinnerPledge.com. Pledging to have a sit-down dinner with loved ones will help to ensure other seniors will have a quality meal through the Meals on Wheels program.

Home Instead Senior Care has partnered with celebrity chef and mother of four Melissa d'Arabian to develop easy, nutritious recipes. It also includes tips on how to involve seniors in meal planning and preparation.

For more information, or to make your pledge, visit www.SundayDinnerPledge.com or call Home Instead Senior Care at (319) 247-0400 in Cedar Rapids or (319) 427-4004 in Vinton.

Recipes

Garlicky Sirloin Steak for a Crowd

1 large boneless sirloin steak, approximately 3 pounds, trimmed of any surface fat

3 minced garlic

1/3 cup Worcestershire sauce

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

4 tablespoon vegetable oil

fresh ground sea salt and pepper

In a medium bowl whisk garlic, Worcestershire sauce and lemon juice.

Place boneless sirloin steak in a resealable plastic bag and pour in marinade. Press air out of the bag and seal tightly. Refrigerate for one hour.

Remove steaks from bag and discard marinade.

Let steak stand at room temperature for about 20 minutes.

Brush steak with oil and season with salt and pepper.

Grill over high heat until cooked to desired doneness. About 5 to 6 minutes on each side for medium-rare.

Remove from grill and let sit for 5 minutes.

Slice thin on cutting board and serve warm.

Source: familyfoodie.com

Mom & Me Cookbook Chocolate Cake

Cake

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 1/2 cups white sugar

2/3 cup butter-flavored shortening

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 large eggs

2 cups cold water

1/2 teaspoon red food coloring (optional — gives cake a darker tone)

3 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoon baking powder

2 ounce semisweet baking chocolate

2 ounce bittersweet baking chocolate

Caramel frosting

2 sticks unsalted butter

2 cups light brown sugar

1/2 cup evaporated milk

2 teaspoon vanilla

4 cups powdered sugar

Using a mixer, cream together salt, sugars, shortening and vanilla. Add eggs and mix until just incorporated. In a separate bowl, combine the water, vanilla, and food coloring (if using). In a third bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and baking flour. Beat in wet and dry ingredients alternately. Add the baking chocolate and blend until mixture is a consistent color.

Pour into two heavily greased and floured 9-inch round pans. Greasing with shortening and adding a parchment paper circle to the bottom of the pan is recommended to avoid sticking. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes, until toothpick inserted comes out clean. The cake should slightly pull away from the pan at the edges. Cool completely before removing from pans. Chill in the refrigerator or freezer before icing to prevent crumbling.

For the frosting, melt the butter in a sauce pan. When fully melted, add brown sugar and evaporated milk. Cook for 2 minutes over medium heat, stirring constantly.

Add the vanilla and then remove from heat. Combine the mixture with the powdered sugar in a mixing bowl and beat until smooth. Chill until desired consistency.

Source: This recipe originated in a church cookbook from the 1960s that was owned by Rachel and Shari DeMaris' grandmother, Martha Johnson.

Lemony Potato Salad

3 pounds small boiling potatoes, unpeeled and cut into bite-sized chunks

1 1/2 cups chopped celery

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1/4 cup finely chopped scallions

1 teaspoon grated lemon zest

2 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Cover potatoes with water in a large pot and season well with salt. Bring to a boil and simmer until tender, about 12 to 20 minutes.

While potatoes cook, stir together celery, mayonnaise, scallions, lemon zest, and lemon juice. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Drain potatoes and cool completely. Add to dressing and toss to coat.

Source: This recipe, adapted from a version originally appearing in Gourmet magazine, is a DeMaris family favorite.