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A YEAR OF SUNDAY DINNERS

THE FAMILY
With every Sunday Sauce my parents ever made, they served us a giant bowl of meatballs to eat with our rigatoni along with some crusty Italian bread. This was a constant throughout the entire Fall and Winter seasons. Meatballs on Sunday and meatball subs for lunch on Monday.

On Sunday mornings when I would come downstairs, my Dad would have the sauce cooking already while my Mom would be rolling out the meatballs. She’d always complain that the meat made her hands cold. When I came into the kitchen, she’d always have me pour in more milk or add more breadcrumbs depending on how the texture felt to her at that moment.

She didn’t have a recipe; she would just eyeball everything and adjust by feel. The thing was that the meatballs couldn’t be too tacky or too dry. She did it for so many years, she just knew the feel. (Don’t worry, I have measured out her eyeball measurements and have a recipe for you!)

The one thing my mom and I go back and forth on is whether to bake or fry the meatballs. I love the flavor of fried meatballs, but she argues that when you’re cooking for a bunch of people baking is just way more convenient and you can cook a lot more meatballs a lot faster. I’ll share baking instructions too just in case, but the flavor from a fried meatball is just a bit more intense.

THE METHOD
The key to a good meatball is the ingredients. High-quality ingredients produce high-quality meals. I combine ground beef 80/20, with milk, egg, breadcrumbs, parmesan cheese, salt, garlic powder, and a little bit of my Sweet Italian Sausage Seasoning.

Combine everything in a bowl. My number 1 tip here is to not over-mix. Mix everything until it is just combined without working the meat too much. The more you mix the ground beef the more dense the meatballs will be.

Once the meat mixture is combined, roll out your meatballs. I usually get 9-10 meatballs per pound of meat. Set them aside and add some olive oil to a saucepan or cast-iron pan. Raise the heat to medium-medium high. You want the temperature to get hot before adding the meatballs, otherwise you won’t get a good sear. Sear the meatballs on each side until browned, about 1 minute per side.

Set the meatballs aside on a paper towel-lined plate or a cooling rack, to let the oil drippings out. In the same pan lower the heat so that you don’t burn the garlic. Remove most of the oil leaving about 2-3 tbsp behind, enough to coat the pan. Add in some sliced garlic and sauté for 1 minute. Pour in the crushed tomatoes and add some salt. Bring it to a simmer and add your meatballs back in. Simmer the sauce for an hour to braise the meatballs to be flavorful and soft! Serve with parmesan cheese.

THE SEASONINGS
So I use two important seasonings in my meatballs, garlic powder and sweet Italian sausage seasoning. Here’s why:

Garlic powder over fresh garlic in meatballs. While using fresh garlic might seem like a good idea, when you’re frying the meatballs, you’re guaranteed to burn any garlic in the mixture. Searing the meat will take longer than sauteing garlic so the garlic will brown and turn bitter which is why I use garlic powder.

Sweet Italian sausage seasoning is one of my favorite additions. I know a lot of people who add pork to their meatballs or even sausage. But I prefer ground beef because it’s soft and flavorful. I add the sweet Italian sausage seasoning to give it some of the flavor that ground Italian sausage would have without adding any of the harder texture pork adds to meatballs.

Delicious savory Italian meatballs braised in a tomato sauce. This is a super simple recipe to make soft and flavorful meatballs that you can serve with pasta or on a sub!

THE FAMILY
Maple Bacon Brussels Sprouts are a classic fall recipe, and I enjoy making them whenever we have roast or pork chops! They are on the menu every Thanksgiving, and I'll even make extra pecans as a snack.

For the most part, I try to add vegetables to our meals because I want every meal to feel balanced, even if it means I end up eating most of the veggies my son pushes to the side. These Brussels Sprouts are not about being healthy though. They are about enjoying every crunchy, savory, and sweet bite that this delectable vegetable has to offer.

Growing up, I remember at Thanksgiving dinners, we’d have one aunt who would make the classic mushy green beans casserole with some moist fried onion on top and I swore when I grew up I'd never serve that. Now every year, I get to choose what to serve at our table, whether it be an everyday Sunday or a Thanksgiving dinner, I'll never subject my family to a beautiful meal that's paired with a vegetable that's an afterthought. I want my family (especially my kids) to eat their vegetables and if I'm serving them something that doesn't taste good, how could I expect them to eat it?

So, Maple Bacon Brussels Sprouts are here for you when you want to make your vegetable sides taste as good as the main dish! They will complement your meal rather than being the vegetable side that you have to finish up at the end of your meal. Maybe they’re not the healthiest vegetable but it definitely can break up the monotony of the same thing over and over again.

THE METHOD
This recipe is really simple to make. There are really just two parts to it: making the candied pecans and roasting the Brussels sprouts.

Let's start with Brussels sprouts! This part is so simple. I preheat my oven to 400 degrees F. Then I chop the Brussels sprouts in half and toss them with olive oil, salt, and pepper. I combine them with some chopped-up thick-cut bacon. It's important for it to be thick-cut bacon for the best flavor and texture.

I spread out the mixture on a pan and bake it for 30-35 minutes until both the Brussels and bacon are crispy. While they're in the oven, I make my candied pecans.

This is so easy and worth doing homemade. Heat some butter up in a pan and toss the pecans in. Let them toast while you stir them for a few minutes. Combine them with your Cinnsational Spice Blend and Brown Sugar. Then you can add a little water and vanilla to simmer with pecans until the liquid disappears and the pecans look sticky. I’m on top of the stovetop when I’m doing this. It can so quickly turn to a burnt sticky mess so I’m constantly stirring.

Remove them from the pan and spread them out on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Throw them in the oven for 5-7 minutes.

Once everything is finished cooking combine both the Brussels and the pecans with maple syrup for the best Brussels sprouts you'll ever serve.

Delicious and crunchy Maple Bacon Brussels Sprouts combine with sweet and salty candied pecans for the perfect vegetable side dish for your family. This vegetable side will complement your turkey or roast and I guarantee there won't be any leftovers!

THE FAMILY
It is well known that I have jumped on the soup bandwagon. I was never a soup guy until my wife convinced me that soup can actually taste good. In college, I can remember surviving on canned soups with chicken and noodles and always saying, “one day, I’ll never have to eat soup again.”

I’ve come around big time. Marisa started getting me into some delicious hearty soups that wouldn’t leave me wanting more. At first, I’ll be honest, I still pretended to hate it. But there was something there and I knew I couldn’t hide my secret forever. I was falling in love with soup.

Then when we had our son, one of the first things he had that he really liked was this lentil soup. I mean like, it was the first time he ate all of something we gave him. He just kept looking for the next spoonful. This was probably right around his first birthday, and since then he has loved soup. So, I can always count on this lentil soup to be a family favorite.

It’s so important to find recipes that your family likes. The meals we make each week that your spouse and kids will eat are what we rely on to be able to sit at the table and have an enjoyable half an hour together. Look, I’m not saying every meal is enjoyable and sometimes my toddler doesn’t care if I make him exactly what he asked for. But recipes like our lentil soup take some of the pressure off because you don’t have to think about what meal you’re going to make each night because a big pot will last for a few days!

THE METHOD
There are a couple of key tips for a great soup. Most soups are so easy to make, but if you just throw a bunch of ingredients in a pot and boil it, don’t expect it to taste exceptionally special.

First, layering in the flavors is the best way to get a delicious soup. You start by sauteing the carrots, celery, and onions, or whatever base you have. Then you add something like your tomato paste and tomatoes. It’s important to let each ingredient begin to cook before you move on to the next ingredient. I always bring my tomatoes to a simmer before I add my broth. Then you let the soup simmer for at least 15 minutes before you add ingredients like beans and lentils. Finally, finish it with some robust flavors like lemon or basil to get some delicious fresh flavor with each bite.

Second, I always make sure to season throughout the cooking process. You can’t just throw the seasonings in at the end and hope for the best. Add some of your seasoning at each step to allow the seasonings to slowly infuse your soup with flavor.

Third, I like to do a little blending with lentil soup. I usually use an immersion blender right when the soup is about finished, and I will just blend the soup slightly to add a little more texture. It’s a great way to break up the lentils and beans and make the soup a little thicker.

THE SPICES
Soup is nothing without layering in the seasoning. A bit of basil, parsley, and oregano go a long way in a big pot of soup.

It’s important to add a bit of salt at each step to bring out the flavor at each step and the French Gray Salt does a great job of that.

Two healthy bay leaves simmering in the soup add that subtle background flavor that you will miss if it’s not there.

Try this Lentil Soup with your family and I guarantee it becomes a staple for the Fall and Winter!

This Italian Lentil Soup is a delicious combination of vegetables, cannellini beans, and lentils with a bright lemony finish. It's an easy meal to prepare for your family and one that stores well in the freezer.

THE FAMILY
There’s a moment when you’re a kid that your tastebuds change, and you start liking new flavors. You’ll never see it coming and you won’t remember it happening, but there are so many foods I remember explicitly disliking but as an adult, I love them. But there is definitely a time where your mom served you something and you hated it and then the next she served it, you liked it (or maybe she threatened me enough that I caved into like it).

Whatever it is, stuffed peppers feels like one of those foods. What’s nice about a stuffed pepper is you can just serve the stuffing if you have a kid who is picky about peppers. My son loves the stuffing, but there is no convincing a 3-year-old to put peppers in their mouth.

As a kid, you go from the feeling of trepidation of the pepper touching the stuffing, then you can eat the stuffing out of the peppers and you start asking for seconds, and then finally you almost can’t be bothered NOT to eat the pepper. Now stuffed peppers is one of my favorite foods and honestly, I’m like when the heck did that happen.

We usually don’t eat stuffed peppers until the beginning of Fall and once it starts entering back into the rotation, it’s always a nice meal to switch it up. It’s an easy meal prep meal, and the leftovers are just as good, if not better.

THE METHOD
I love stuffed peppers with braised ground beef and sausage. I start by searing the meat in a deep saucepan, and then breaking it apart until it is completely browned. Getting a good sear on the meat is one of the most important steps to get the most flavorful sauce.

Once the meat is browned, I set it aside and sauté some onions in the same pan. Once the onions are nice and soft, stir in a little white wine to deglaze the pan. Then add the crushed tomatoes and bring it to a simmer and add in some delicious spices like basil, garlic, oregano, salt, and crushed red pepper. I stir the meat back in and let it simmer in the sauce for about 30 minutes to help get it really soft.

The flavor of this sauce is unreal with hints of basil, oregano, and garlic. The crushed red pepper gives it the tiniest bit of zing to really pull the flavor to the front of your mouth.

THE SPICES
To make sure all of the flavor hits perfectly, you need to add salt to the dish. The French Gray Salt is so perfect for this dish and helps elevate the sauce to the next level.

These stuffed peppers literally melt in your mouth. Share the recipe with your family and make this their next family dinner.

Baked to perfection, these Italian stuffed peppers are the perfect combination of flavor and texture with a rich and creamy filling topped with melted mozzarella cheese. These are just as good when you serve them as leftovers and they get to marinate in the fridge overnight!

THE FAMILY
You heard right. Our salad always followed dinner. Typically, we’d enjoy our pasta and whatever meat we were having first and followed that up with some salad and piece of Italian bread. The salad was a palate cleanser and as my grandmother would say, “helped with the digestion.” The bread would be used to mop up all the sauce and juices on your plate. There was an expression, “fare la scarpetta” or “make the little shoe” and it referred to the piece of bread you used to sop up all the sauce. It was bad luck to leave food on your plate.

One of my favorite family memories was eating at my dad’s cousin’s house. We had a summer house in upstate New York, and they had the house right next door. We would walk down to their house for dinner and my aunt made the best salads with just vinegar and oil. It was like magic. I remember in the beginning, my brothers and I wouldn’t even touch the salad. We would need ranch dressing and a plate of lettuce if we were going to have any salad. Eventually, it grew on us though.

Since having kids of my own, I really want to avoid giving them the store-bought dressings right out the gate. This classic Italian Dressing is one we make all the time and it’s so easy, plus it is a million times better than the store bought one. The texture is so much smoother and silkier.

THE METHOD
It’s simple. In a mason jar, you combine your oil, vinegar, and lemon. Add in your seasonings and Dijon mustard. Mix it all together until well combined. I really like to put it in a mason jar because I can shake it up to emulsify the dressing and make it really creamy.

There is also an old school way to emulsify the dressing. You can mix everything in a bowl except the oil. Then slowly drizzle the oil into the bowl whisking vigorously until everything is combined. Doing it this way will infuse the other liquids between the fat cells of the oil.

Since oil and vinegar don’t mix, emulsification will never last forever so always except to shake it up again on your next use.

I love to serve this dressing over a simple salad of romaine, Roma tomatoes, cucumber, red onion and pepperoncini. It’s simple and easy for an after-dinner vegetable. The dressing can also be used to marinate chicken breast and chicken thighs for grilling.

THE SPICES
You want to keep it fairly simple when it comes to anything like this. That’s why I love to just use the Selefina Italian Seasoning, a pinch of crushed red pepper, salt, and black pepper.

You want to use simple, but high-quality ingredients. Some Italian seasonings can be incredibly overpowering. Selefina has the perfect combination of flavors, and they taste fresh. You don’t need a ton of their seasonings to infuse the dressing with a delicious flavor.

A delicious and zesty Italian dressing infused with Italian seasoning to top your favorite salads and take them to the next level. It's an easy homemade recipe that will have you questioning ever buying dressing again.

THE FAMILY
Zucchini and squash were the ONLY vegetables we ate all summer. My dad would always have a tomato salad on the table, but I don't think we can count that as a vegetable. Zucchini was a constant though because my mom grew it in the garden, so we always had way too much of it.

Typically, our go-to recipe would be to wrap them in aluminum foil with olive oil and spices but occasionally we would have these delicious, marinated zucchini chips with fresh mint. It was always a special occasion when my parents made alla scapece because it can be quite a bit of work individually flip each zucchini and squash slice. Of course, a couple would drop through the grates. I can still hear my dad yelling a few choice words when they would fall through.

But one thing about this dish is that there would never be a single piece of zucchini left when we made it his way. The crunchy little chips soaked in olive oil, garlic, mint and lemon were addicting. They were always the perfect addition to steaks or chicken thighs.

THE METHOD
The classic way to make zucchini alla scapece is to fry the zucchini but I swear by grilling them. They get so much crunchier, and the flavor is way more intense. In the summer, I can make a huge batch of these all at one time on the grill instead of trying to fit them in a frying pan.

The key to this recipe is how you slice the zucchini and squash. If you cut them any thicker than half an inch, they will come out chewy and soggy. Slice them less than half an inch and you'll get these charred crunchy little chips. The heat from the grill will cook most of the liquid out of them leaving you with the perfect texture.

First, I lay them out and drizzle one side of the slices with olive oil and then sprinkle them with salt and pepper. I preheat the grill to high and then I toss them on. In the meantime, I whisk together the marinade. Once I grill both sides of the zucchini, I toss them in the marinade and serve them.

THE SPICES
The two most important flavors are the Italian seasoning and the fresh mint. A great Italian seasoning flavors the marinade, and the mint gives the zucchini a great finish flavor.

A light and fresh vegetable side dish. This Italian dish combines light and crispy zucchini and squash medallions with a garlic mint marinade for a side dish that will guarantee no leftovers.

THE FAMILY
Growing up, we never ate spiedini. I can remember seeing it at this deli my dad used to take me to when I would go to work with him. It was this old school Italian deli. There was this old woman who would make trays and trays of food. When they would run out that was it they were out. She used to make the best eggplant parmigiana in the world. But I always remember seeing the veal spiedini.

My father-in-law's mother used to make veal spiedini. She would roll up the veal with tomato sauce and skewer them but cook them in the oven. He remembers they used to have raisins in them. I don't know what's up with the old Italians and raisins but they do love that stuff.

But this chicken spiedini is one of my family's favorites now. Everyone gets their own skewer. My son loves that because he gets to pull his pieces of chicken off the skewer (anything that lets him play with his food is a win these days). I love to make it on Sundays because I can buy a big pack of thighs, chop them up, and make a huge batch to last Sunday dinner and some meals throughout the week!

THE METHOD
In the summer, the grill is the only way to go. After we moved down to North Carolina, I dreaded cooking inside in the summer. It's so hot and humid here. Our first apartment didn't have air conditioning in the kitchen, and it was BRUTAL. Whenever I can make our meals on the grill, I'm all for it.

My one piece of advice is always making sure you have extra propane. Ask my wife. I'm the king of running out of propane while food is on the grill.

The key to this recipe is marinating the chicken. Let it marinate for a few hours before tossing in the breadcrumbs will let the lemon and garlic flavors really penetrate the chicken. It makes it so tender and delicious.

THE SPICES
I marinate the chicken with the salt, ground peppercorn, and ground lemon peels, along with garlic, lemon juice, olive oil, and Dijon. The marinade is so important to the flavor of this dish.

After the chicken has marinated, I add garlic powder, salt, and Italian seasoning to the breadcrumbs to season them and toss the skewers in breadcrumb.

Chicken Spiedini is a delicious and tender chicken skewer recipe made with chicken thighs marinated in lemon, garlic, and olive oil, then tossed in seasoned breadcrumbs. It is grilled to crispy perfection on the grill for the perfect summer chicken dish!

THE FAMILY
We eat eggplant like it’s going out of style. Whether it's eggplant parmigiana, eggplant rolatini, marinated eggplant, or grilled eggplant, eggplant is a mainstay in our diet. But you have to change things up as the seasons change. We can’t eat a tray of eggplant parmigiana on a Sunday in the middle of a southern summer.

Whenever I know we’re doing Sunday grilling, I always grab an eggplant. Slice it, season it with olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder. It’s the perfect vegetable with dinner or to snack on while we have something on the barbecue.

One of my mom’s signature recipes is eggplant parm, so whenever my dad eats these, he always has to add the caveat that he prefers eggplant parm. My whole family agrees, but I have never once made these and had a single leftover. The longer we sit at the table, the more people keep coming back for more of these crispy eggplant.

THE METHOD
Usually when I make eggplant, I have to salt the eggplant for 20 minutes on each side to remove the moisture, but when you’re grilling you get to skip this whole step. The grill gets so hot and there is no flat surface that keeps the moisture in the eggplant, so they get nice and crispy.

The best part about making these on the grill is that I can make them all in one shot and they take less than 10 minutes to make. When I use a pan, I can only cook 5 slices at a time, but when I grill them, you get it done so much quicker.

It’s so hard to time your dishes to be done at the same time. Because these eggplant cook so quickly, you can finish cooking your main meal and throw these on after. Your dish will still be hot as these are coming off the grill ready to eat.

THE SPICES
I like to keep it simple. This should be quick and easy. Just season the eggplant with a little garlic powder, onion powder, salt, and pepper. Depending on what you’re making you can switch up the spices. Make it a little smoky or spicy with paprika or cayenne pepper.

The best part about this dish is how versatile it is. It can work with any Sunday dinner you make. My son eats these like they’re potato chips. They’re so addicting and a great way to make eggplant in the summer.

A delicious and easy side dish perfect for when you grill out on the weekends. Grilled eggplant is the most addicting vegetable dish that you will ever indulge in.

THE FAMILY
I can remember being a kid and pretending to like the peppers because my Dad liked them. For some reason peppers did not agree with my palate as an 8-year-old. Whenever my dad cooked, he made it seem so cool, so I told myself I had to like it. Whether it was stromboli, Sunday sauce, or sausage and peppers. He always had everyone crowding around him as he explained why his recipe was the best (and he wasn’t wrong).

This was a dish that we grew up having every other week in the summer. If we weren’t having sausage and peppers, it was steaks and chevalatta. We would always have enough sausage and peppers to last us a couple days. My brothers and I would always have ours with some Italian bread with butter and my Dad and Mom would have theirs on a sandwich.

Sometimes my dad would use the leftovers to make pizza or sausage and pepper rolls. This dish is a great family dish because it’s versatile and it makes for great leftovers. The one part I hated about cooking it when I started cooking on my own was having to go outside just to grill the sausage. I wanted to do the whole thing on the grill.

THE METHOD
I LOVE using my cast iron pan on the grill. It’s the perfect tool for the grill because it can handle that high heat and it perfectly chars the peppers and onions. I just don’t love recipes that are half on the grill and half in the oven. The notion of turning my wimpy oven on when I have my grill roaring feels ridiculous.

The cast iron pan is the most versatile tool in the kitchen, and everyone should have one. With a large cast iron, you can feed an army of people on a Sunday with sausage and peppers.

THE SPICES
Sausage and peppers is a delicious and savory dish from the pungent fennel within the sausage to the delicate and subtle flavors of basil, garlic, and parsley. I season the dish in layers with Himalayan salt and Black pepper to bring out the flavors of the peppers and onions.

There is nothing like sitting down to a table with a plate of savory Italian sausage and vibrant bell peppers and onions all sauteed together until tender and flavorful. This recipe is perfect for any occasion, especially a Sunday Dinner.

Sausage and Peppers is a classic Italian American meal with savory hot and sweet sausage combined with charred peppers and onions for a flavorful dish! This recipe is great because it can be made start to finish on the grill with a cast iron pan!