sunday dinner Archives | Heavenly Homemakers

On Sunday, we got home from church at 11:55. We were eating lunch by 12:02. It was a hot meal of Lasagna Casserole, green beans, and sweet corn.

How did we do this? Oh, it is my most favorite trick I’ve come up with for eating a healthy meal in a timely manner. Why have I not been doing this forever?

But I’ve got to warn you. If you…

1. Don’t like the thought of leaving the oven on in your house while you are away, or
2. Feel like there is a food safety issue with leaving a casserole in the oven for a little extra time…

You will not like this tip. And I’m okay with that.

But I’ve done it over and over this fall and it has saved my neck, provided healthy meals for my family, and been a huge time saver!

Plus, our house hasn’t burned down even one time. Nor have we gotten sick from practicing this method.

We have experienced an episode of extra crispy cheese on top of our Cheesy Beef and Rice. I apologized to my family, and they said, “Do it like this every time!” Apparently crispy cheese is a great addition to our culinary experience.

Here’s what I’ve been doing:

I make a casserole on Saturday and put it in the fridge. On Sunday morning I either:

Bake it for an hour before we leave for church, then turn off the oven before we leave, letting the casserole sit in the oven while we’re gone. When we get home, I turn the oven back on for a few minutes to rewarm while I make veggies. Or I
Put the casserole in the oven at 200° right before we leave for church, letting it cook slowly while we’re gone. It is hot and ready to eat immediately when we get home.

I have also grabbed a frozen casserole out of the freezer, put it directly into the oven, turn the oven on to 200°, and when we come home it has thawed and cooked and is ready for us to eat. (Always be sure to put a glass casserole into the oven and THEN turn the oven on. This prevents the glass dish from cracking as it heats slowly as the oven heats.)

This meal prep method has worked well for me with the following dishes:

Lasagna Casserole
Cheesy Beef and Rice
Cheesy Salsa Enchiladas
Creamy Chicken and Rice Casserole
Beefy Enchilada Bake
Bbq Brisket and baked potatoes (cooked on low heat all morning while we’re gone)

I’ve also done this successfully with a Roast Beef Meal or a Roast Chicken and Veggies.

I’m telling you, with just a little work ahead of time, we have been able to walk through the door and be greeted with delicious smelling food – hot and ready to eat. I not only do this every Sunday now, but I’ve been doing it in the evenings when we leave for soccer games. We get home from a game, wash our hands, steam some veggies or get out a salad we’ve made ahead of time, and we’ve got dinner.

Healthy, convenient, easy, inexpensive, quick – I’m pretty sure this method of making a meal on the fly covers it all.

Ever tried doing this before? Have any healthy casserole ideas that would work well using this method? Are you okay with leaving your oven on a low temp when you leave the house?

In my effort to prove that cooking healthy food does not have to take a long time, I got a wild hair last Sunday and asked Justus, our 12 year old, to time me to see how long it took me to prepare our noon meal.

This is what all women think about while getting their families ready to head out the door for church on a Sunday morning, right? “Hmm, I wonder how long it takes me to put our meal in the crock pot? Since Sunday mornings are always so calm and relaxing, we should get out the stop watch…”

Okay, you’re right, this is not typical. At least not at my house. Maybe you do a better job than I do of being organized on a Sunday morning, but I guarantee, my thoughts usually have nothing to do with a stop watch and everything to do with making sure my boys are actually getting themselves out of bed and finding the shoes that should have been placed by the door last night like I asked, but instead ended up on the window sill behind the curtain. (That was, of course, just a fictitious scenario that I made up off the top of my head. Shoes have never been found on window sills at my house as we struggle in vain to leave for church on time…) ;)

Anyway, knowing that this was a very healthy, yet very easy meal to put together, on Sunday I asked Justus to see how long it took me to make our lunch. I had not done anything ahead of time. The crock pot was still in the cabinet. The roast was still in the freezer.

Still in the freezer? Yes, rock solid frozen it was. (That’s one of the great things about Italian Roast!)

Justus started the clock, and I got to work. Out came the crock pot. I headed to the freezer in our storage room and grabbed a roast. Back in the kitchen, I opened the roast and put it in the crock pot. (In case you are concerned, you should know that after all of this extremely hard work, I didn’t even break a sweat.)

I then dumped some frozen green beans and some baby carrots into the crock pot. (Yes, I did cheat and use baby carrots. It’s all I had on hand and shucks, even I use “convenience” foods sometimes.)

I finished the job by sprinkling on some Italian Dressing Mix that I had already made up and had stored in my pantry. I plugged in the crock pot and turned it on (always recommended). Then, I was done. Justus, how did I do?

One minute, forty eight point nine seconds. Total. To make a complete meal for my family to come home to and eat after church.

Italian Roast with Green Beans and Carrots

Why yes, our house did smell good when we walked in the door. Why yes, this is one of the easiest meals to make. Why yes, we really have found shoes on window sills before when we’re trying to leave and be on time for church. But you probably figured that out already. ;)

What’s one of your favorite, quick and easy Sunday meals?

How To Have a Hot, Healthy Meal Waiting For You When You Get Home From Church (or From Wherever)

How Long Does it Take to Make Sunday Dinner?