Whatever Happened to Sunday Dinner?

Lisa’s cookbook, “Whatever Happened to Sunday Dinner?” has caused a sensation for a very good reason: everybody wants to eat Sunday dinner with their loved ones, their family, their friends, and their neighbors. But who has the time? We live in a world where hectic schedules between our careers and our children’s school and activities are the norm.

But no matter how busy we are, we always crave our family Sunday dinner time. Lisa’s book has been incredibly well received because it contains delicious, authentic Italian recipes made simple and easy for Sunday dinner. It is the only cookbook on the market organized according to 52 five course Italian Sunday menus. The majority of the recipes in Lisa’s cookbook take 30 minutes or less. Simple, fresh ingredients are the hallmark of country rustic Italian food, and this is what Lisa brings to your Sunday dinner table.

Endorsed by the Wall Street Journal, cited and quoted in over 75 newspapers and magazines, such as Oprah, Woman’s World, and Southern Living, Lisa’s cookbook has hit a chord with everyone, from celebrity chefs to home cooks to mothers like Lisa who want to bring their family back to the Sunday dinner table.

The book, which features full-color photos and a history of each recipe, contains 52 Italian-American dinner menus, one for each Sunday of the year! Complete with recipes for a five-course meal, each dinner menu is described in full detail, with every step, from the shopping list to the final delicious bite.

Lisa’s mission for the book is to get families back to the dinner table on Sundays (or whatever day of the week works for you) and make Sunday family day again. “Sunday dinners”, she adds, “can be festive without being fancy. What’s important is that the family is all together – cooking, eating, and conversing.” Included in the cookbook’s introduction, Lisa shares research showing that the family unit is suffering because families no longer experience the conversation and intimacy of eating meals together. She discusses the benefits of Sunday Dinner and offers simple tips to get the family back to the dinner table.

Each of the 52 five-course dinner menus includes recipes for a full meal, including the antipasto (appetizers) and primo (soup, rice or a pasta dish), the secondo (meat, fish, or fowl dish) and contorno (side dish that accompanies the secondo), and the dolce (the Italian word for dessert). Many recipes are illustrated with a full-color photo that offers a visualization of how each meal will appear. Along with each menu, Lisa also offers a a brief history of why she designed a particular menu. It might include recipes that Lisa’s grandmother taught her, recipes that she learned while living in Florence, or ones that are popular in a certain region of Italy.

This cookbook showcases a year of Sunday dinners at Lisa’s home. It’s a glimpse into her Italian lifestyle of family, friends and food. Lisa’s maternal grandmother was born in Sicily and moved to the United States at a young age, while her paternal grandmother was born outside of Naples, Italy and moved to the United States as a young bride at the age of 18. Under her grandmother’s tutelage, Lisa learned how to cook dishes like cannoli, homemade pasta, and her famous Neapolitan Style Three Meat Red Sauce. Later in life, Lisa moved to Italy where she raised her family and learned some of her most cherished Italian recipes. Each recipe has a special story, which Lisa shares with you. As Lisa says in her own words: “I am like you, a Mother, a daughter, a sister… a person who loves to build memories with my family, especially while eating together.”

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