It's not just potluck anymore…

Archive for the ‘Photos’ Category

TACO Wednesday! 9-19-18

 

Last Wednesday, we had a good crowd of 400 for our hamburger cookout.  Here’s a look at the dining room scene.  We hope to see you again next week. Bring your friends!

The S’mores Bars were a pretty big hit.  They are really gooey and rich (and a pain to cut), but worth the trouble I think.  Here’s the recipe for 1 pan.  We made 12!

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S’mores Bars  Servings: 576

12 pans/ 48 bars per pan: Make in 12x18x2 inch pans. Cut 6×8

To make 1 pan at a time:

Crust layer:

4 cup graham cracker crumbs

6 TBSP sugar

1/2 tsp salt

12 TBSP butter, melted

Combine ingredients and press into bottom of pan and along sides.  Refrigerate until chilled and set.

Brownie layer:

12 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped (or bittersweet chocolate chips, may use semi-sweet)

1 1/2 cup butter (12 oz)

6 eggs

2 1/2 cups sugar

2 cups flour

2 tsp salt

1 TBSP vanilla

Melt chocolate and butter in microwave about 1 minute, until melted.  With hand mixer, beat sugar and eggs, then add melted chocolate and beat until smooth.  Stir flour, salt and then vanilla into mixture.  Spread brownie layer over graham cracker crust. Bake at 350* convection for 30 minutes, or until center is set when pressed with fingertip.

Topping:

7 oz marshmallow fluff (marshmallow cream)

2 TBSP milk

Whisk marshmallow cream and milk together, then spread over brownie layer.

8 oz miniature marshmallows

2 cup mini chocolate kisses

4 whole graham cracker boards, broken up

Sprinkle kisses and marshmallows over marshmallow topping, then scatter crumbled graham crackers over the top.  Bake at 350* convection for 5 minutes, or until kisses are glossy and the marshmallow topping is set.  Let cool in the pan, then cut into bars.

 

 

Total ingredients for 12 x recipe:

48 cups graham cracker crumbs  (about 12# graham crackers)

72 TBSP (4.5 cups) sugar

6 tsp salt

4.5 # butter

144 oz  (9 #) bittersweet chocolate

18 cups (9 #) butter

72 eggs (6 doz)

30 cups sugar

24 cups flour

24 tsp (8 TBSP) salt

12 TBSP vanilla

12 7 oz marshmallow cream jars

1 ½  cups milk

24 cups mini chocolate kisses

48 graham crackers

 

The worship service last week included a “Blessing of the Backpacks” for our kindergarteners.  Here’s a look at those energetic and adorable Calvary kids:

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Week 1 Update

Calvary Lutheran was a busy, happy place last night, with lots of familiar faces and some new ones joining us for dinner.  Our total count of those signed in for dinner was 445, with 160 of those being kids under 12, and confirmation and high school kids in abundance. The high energy and activity in the dining room, in the classrooms and in worship make it fun to be a part of it all.

IMG_5267  Pastor David announced last night that the worship services on Wednesday night will be entirely different in content from the weekend services. The sermons and puppet ministry will be focused on the curriculum used in the classrooms on Wednesdays, starting with the creation story from Genesis last night.  So for those of us who like to go to church more than once a week, this is great news. Also, our Praise Band only plays on Wednesday nights, and you don’t want to miss them.

 

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New Kindergarten students and their parents received the Milestone “Blessing of the Backpacks” from Pastor Becky during worship last night.  

Here’s a look at dinner and what it takes to feed a crowd of this size.

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Our faithful grillers cooked 160 2 oz sliders and 400 5 oz hamburgers. They’re still smiling through the smoke. The hamburgers required 5 pounds of sliced onions, 2 gallons of dill pickles and large quantities of ketchup and mustard.

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The salad bar featured 10 large watermelons, 24 heads of romaine lettuce, 4 large bags of spring mix lettuce, 15 pounds of baby carrots, 12 pounds broccoli florets, and lots of fresh garden tomatoes and cucumbers that church members donated.

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9 gallons of vanilla ice cream for root beer floats

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and 2 dozen 2 liter bottles of rootbeer.

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We also went through 500 ears of “petite” corn on the cob, 150 chocolate milk and 100 white milk half pints, 12 gallons of Crystal light lemonade, and 240 ice cream sandwiches. These guys didn’t want the ice cream to melt, so they had to sacrifice and have dessert first.

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It’s gonna be a fun year at High School Youth Group! Come and join them in the youth room at 7:00 every Wednesday night.

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Last, but not least, don’t forget to bus your dishes! And if you want to experience the joy of helping others, sign up to help scrape dishes or run the dishwasher (Larry will be happy to train you), or help wipe tables and vacuum after dinner. Thank you!

Ash Wednesday Service and Meal 2017

Calvary’s 7th Graders and their families will be celebrating a Milestone of service to others this Wednesday. They will put their intentions into action as they prepare and serve the evening meal for us.  Please join them for a Baked Potato and Chili Supper from 4:45-6:15pm on March 1st.  The Ash Wednesday worship service will follow at 6:30pm.

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Last week we enjoyed a little taste of Mardi Gras and and an early Fat Tuesday with andouille sausage and shrimp jambalaya and bread pudding. The high school youth of our church led the worship service and shared their message to “Love One Another” and pay forward a kindness to others. Over 50 high school students participated in our services on Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday. A huge thank you to these kids and their faithful leader, Tom Martin, for sharing their inspirational talents with us.

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The Making of a Church Supper

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On September 28th, we served about 500 people a meal of pasta, meatballs and marinara sauce, a salad bar, garlic bread and garlic knot rolls, and homemade cookies for dessert.  Pre-cooked, frozen meatballs, are browned in the oven and then mixed with Sysco’s deluxe marinara sauce.

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Lots of delicious greens are tossed together for the salad bar.

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Frozen prepared garlic toast is loaded onto full size sheet pans, ready for the oven just before dinnertime.

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Garlic knot rolls are made with by rolling pizza dough into knots, spraying with garlic mist and sprinkling with kosher salt and parmesan cheese before baking.

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75 pounds of rotini noodles were cooked on Tuesday morning, rinsed in cold water and tossed with olive oil, refrigerated overnight, then boiled for 90 seconds just before serving to rewarm them.

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100 dozen homemade cookies were baked on Tuesday morning.

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And most importantly, you need good help at the end of the night for clean-up

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The next week we served Johnsonville Beer Brats and hotdogs (pre-cooked, browned up on the grill), homemade warm German potato salad, a salad bar and chips.

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Pre-made pie crust sheets were filled with apple pie filling and rolled up, sprinkled with cinnamon sugar and baked to make apple strudel.

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3 different kinds of kuchen were delivered to us by Pietz’s Kuchen Kitchen in Scotland, SD for a special authentic German treat.img_2025

Italian Dinner 9-28-16

Last week we had a full house of 560 for our chicken dinner.  We served 1000 pieces of chicken from Pizza Ranch, and we’re sorry if anyone had to wait a little for the chicken to arrive.  We were amazed at how fast they were able to cook up an extra hundred pieces and get it delivered before the end of dinner service. Here are a few snaps from the dining room on Wednesday night:

This week we’ll be having an Italian Dinner of rotini pasta with spaghetti sauce and meatballs, caesar salad bar, fruit salad, garlic knot rolls, and homemade cookies for dessert.

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Dinner starts at 4:45 pm and ends at 6:15 pm.  Worship begins at 6:30, with a special presentation of Bibles to our 3rd graders in the Milestone Celebration.  We hope you can join us to celebrate with them and their families.

BANANA CAKE for a Crowd with Cream Cheese Frosting

Here’s the recipe for the banana cake we made this week.  This recipe makes 5 9×13 size cakes, cut into 24 pieces per cake.  We made the recipe 5 times for a total of 600 pieces of cake, using 12 1/2 pans (12x20x2 inch size plus 1 9×13 pan).

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16 1/4 cups flour

2 1/2 Tablespoons baking soda

2 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 pound plus 14 ounces unsalted butter, at room temperature

10 cups sugar

15 large eggs

10 cups mashed ripe bananas

3 Tablespoons vanilla

7 1/2 cups buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350*. Grease bottom and sides of cake pans.

Sift or whisk together dry ingredients in a large bowl.

In large mixer bowl, beat butter until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add sugar, beat until smooth.

Add eggs, mix well, then add in bananas and vanilla. Mix until combined.

Add half the flour mixture, beating on low just until incorporated, about 1 minute.  Add buttermilk, beat about 15 seconds.  Add remaining flour, beat just until combined, scraping bottom as needed.

Pour cake into cake pans. Batter should be about halfway up sides of pans.

Bake for 40-45 minutes, rotating pan halfway through baking.

Cool cakes completely before frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting for 12 1/2 cakes (12x20x2 inch). We divided this into 2 batches in our large Berkel mixer.

5 pounds butter, softened

10 pounds cream cheese, softened

7 Tablespoons vanilla

18 pounds powdered sugar

Beat together butter and cream cheese until well blended.  Beat in vanilla, then slowly add powdered sugar, blending well after each addition.

Dinner and Easter Walk

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It’s Holy Week at last, and Calvary Lutheran Church is hosting a special Easter Event on Wednesday night.  There will be dinner as usual from 4:45-6:15pm, featuring Pizza Ranch’s delicious Broasted Chicken.  Either before or after eating dinner, everyone is invited to head upstairs in the education wing to participate in an Easter Walk through several Faith Discovery stations.  There will also be a worship service as usual from 6:30 to 7:00.  All members of Calvary and visitors are invited to come for dinner, worship and the Easter Walk.

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Menu for Wednesday night, March 23, 2016

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Pizza Ranch Broasted Chicken, Cheesy Church Potatoes, Fruit Salad, Broccoli Salad, Salad Bar and Cherry Crisp

I’ve posted the recipe for the Cheesy Church Potatoes before.  Here’s the link to help you find it if you’re interested:  Cheesy Church Potatoes

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Orange Chicken, Mandarin Cake and Oriental Slaw Recipes

Last week’s recipes were requested by a blog follower and fellow church cook.  We served 375 people with Orange Chicken with an Asian vegetable blend, Oriental Coleslaw with Ramen Noodles, the weekly salad bar, and Mandarin Orange Cake for dessert. I’ll start with dessert first, because life’s too short not to…

Mandarin Orange Cake

Serves 40 in 12x20x2 inch cake pan, cut 8×5.

Make 14 times for 540 pieces (total ingredients needed is in parentheses)

 

FOR THE CAKE:

This recipe makes one 12x20x2 inch pan or two 9×11 inch pans

2 boxes (18.25 Oz. Box) Yellow Cake Mix, any brand will do (28 boxes total)

8 oz Margarine, Softened  (7#)

28 oz Mandarin Oranges, drained, 1 Cup Juice Reserved (4 #10 cans)

8 whole Eggs  (9 dozen plus 4)

2 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

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FOR THE TOPPING:

8 oz Vanilla Instant Pudding Mix  (4 28oz packages)

40 oz Crushed Pineapple, Juice Reserved  (6 #10 cans)

1 cups Powdered Sugar  (14 cups)

8 ounces, fluid Frozen Whipped Topping (such As Cool Whip) (7 16oz containers)

Extra Mandarin Orange Slices, For Garnish

 

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. For the cake, combine cake mix, margarine, 1 cup juice from the mandarin oranges, eggs, and vanilla. Beat for four minutes on medium-high. Add drained oranges and beat again until pieces are broken up and small. Pour batter into greased and floured 12x20x2 inch baking pan and bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until golden brown and set. Remove from oven and cool completely.

 

Once cake is cool, blend juice from drained pineapples with the vanilla pudding mix. Add powdered sugar and mix, then mix in whipped topping. Stir in drained pineapple. Spread on cooled cake and refrigerate several hours.

To serve, cut cake into squares and top each square with a mandarin orange slice.

 

 

Crispy Orange Chicken

 450 servings 

Mix the following ingredients in large pots, bring to simmer:

3 gallons orange juice

24 cups brown sugar

9 cups orange marmalade (about 72 ounces)

6 cups soy sauce

½ cup parsley

4 Tbsp chili flakes

4 Tbsp minced garlic

2 Tbsp dried thyme

Mix 3 cups cornstarch with 3 cups cold water.  Add to sauce and whisk.  Simmer until thick.  Remove from heat and add:

3 cups rice vinegar.

 

130 # tempura breaded frozen chicken breast nuggets or strips, cooked in oven at 350* for 20-30 minutes until 165* and lightly browned.  Toss chicken with orange sauce. Keep warm until served, and if the crust becomes a little soggy, as ours did after sitting in the warming oven over 45 minutes, return to 350* oven for 5-10 minutes to crisp up again.

Serve with rice if desired and mixed vegetables. For 450 servings, we used three 30# cases frozen Sysco Stir fry Vegetable Blend, quickly cooked in boiling water. Have extra orange sauce and soy sauce available on the serving table for the rice and vegetables.

 

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Oriental Coleslaw

12 servings

Mix together just before serving so noodles don’t get soggy:

16 oz  pre-shredded coleslaw mix

4 green onions, thinly sliced (about ½ cup)

1 3 oz pkg chicken or oriental flavored Ramen noodles, broken up

½ cup slivered almonds, toasted

½ cup sunflower kernels

 

Whisk dressing ingredients together:

½ cup vegetable oil

¼  cup vinegar

1 TBSP sugar

1/8 tsp pepper

Flavor packet from Top Ramen noodles

 

400 Servings:

30# coleslaw mix

16 cups green onions

33 pkgs ramen noodles

16 cups slivered almonds

16 cups sunflower kernels

16 cups vegetable oil

8 cups vinegar

1 cup sugar

4 TBSP pepper

33 flavor pkts from noodles

 

 

Recipe Sharing

This week at Calvary Lutheran in Rapid City, we served 400 church goers with roasted pork loin, wild rice pilaf, a salad bar and dinner roll and a homemade marble cake.  Here’s how we did it…

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Roasted Pork Loins with Wild Rice Pilaf

Servings: 450

180 pounds pork loin roasts (4 1/2 cases from Sysco)

Cut pork loins as needed to fit into steamtable pans, fat side up. Sprinkle liberally with Montreal Steak Seasoning and add about 2 inches of water to pan. Cover tightly with foil and roast at 300 degrees in convection oven for about 3 hours, or until pork reaches a temperature of 155*. Cover loosely with foil and let rest 15 minutes before slicing.

Make 8 full size steamtable pans of wild rice pilaf, using 2 boxes of Sysco Long Grain and Wild Rice Blend per pan.  Add water to pans as directed on box and use seasoning packet. Saute vegetables (see below) and add about 2 cups of the mixture to each pan.  Cover with foil and bake as directed on box.

Total amount for saute’d vegetables:  4 cups chopped onions, 4 cups chopped green peppers, 8 cups sliced canned mushrooms. Saute in butter until tender.

 

Marble Sheet Cake with Chocolate and Vanilla Frosting

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Chocolate Marble Sheet Cake

This recipe makes 4 half sheet pans for 120 servings. Cut 5×6 for 30 pieces per pan.

Make recipe 4 times for 480 servings in 16 half sheet pans.

 

6 cups butter (3#), softened

9 cups sugar

Beat butter and sugar in mixer until creamy.

Add 12 eggs, a few at a time, just until blended after each addition.

Add 4 Tablespoons vanilla

Whisk dry ingredients together:

15 cups flour

6 Tablespoons baking powder

1 Tablespoon salt

Add flour mixture alternately with 6 cups half and half, at low speed, just until blended.

Divide 8 cups of the batter into a separate bowl.  Stir in 1 ½  cups unsweetened cocoa, 1 cup hot water and 1 ½  cups sugar.

Spread vanilla batter into 4 greased and half sheet pans.  Spoon chocolate batter on top and swirl into vanilla batter with a knife.

Bake at 300* convection for 25-30 minutes.  Cool completely before frosting.

 

Vanilla Cream Frosting

Make recipe 3 times to frost 8 sheet pans

10 oz butter

10 oz shortening

7 pounds powdered sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup instant nonfat dry milk

4 Tablespoons vanilla

2 cups water

 

Cream butter and shortening in mixer until light and fluffy. Combine dry ingredients and add to butter mixture, alternating with the water to blend smoothly.  Add vanilla and more water if needed to make a thinner frosting.  Beat for 5 minutes until mixture is creamy.

 

Chocolate Cream Frosting

Make recipe 3 times to frost 8 sheet pans

Make recipe as directed above, with the addition of 16 oz unsweetened cocoa to the dry ingredients.  Add an extra 1 cup of water, adding more if needed to get to spreading consistency.

 

The Meals We Share

Spaghetti, salad, breadsticks, brownies, fruit pizza…sunshine and 70 degrees outside!  Thanks for joining us for a fun dinner last night at Calvary with a buzz of excitement in the air for the arrival of spring.

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Fruit Pizza:  Makes 48 squares, when cut 4 x 6.  Use 2 half size sheet pans (13″ x 18″ x 1″)

3 cups butter (softened not melted)

2 cups powdered sugar

6 cups flour

Mix and pat into 2 half size pans.  Line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper first.  Bake 20 minutes @ 300 degrees in convection oven.  Cool.

24 oz. White chocolate chips

Melt chips in microwave and add:

4 1/2 ounces whipping cream

16 ounces softened cream cheese

Beat all together and spread on cooled crust.  Make sure the cream cheese mixture seals against the sides of the pan, otherwise the fruit will seep to the crust and make it soggy.  It is not a good idea to cut the pizza ahead of time, it will also make the crust soggy.

Refrigerate a couple of hours or overnight for the cream cheese mixture to harden.

Make the glaze and let it cool before spreading over cut up fruit of your choice.  If using bananas, be sure to put the glaze on soon after cutting bananas to keep them from turning brown.

Glaze:

1/2 cup sugar

2 Tbsp plus 1 tsp corn starch

1 cup pineapple juice

1 tsp lemon juice

Cook on stovetop until thick, stirring constantly.  Cool and spoon over fruit.  Let set before serving.

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Next Wednesday, March 18th,  the church will be taking a Spring Break to give volunteers and staff a much deserved break from teaching, singing, planning and cooking.  See you back on March 25th with a Loaded Baked Potato and Salad Bar on the menu for dinner.

If you have 6 minutes, please enjoy this Oscar winning animated short film about the joys of discovering delicious food and sharing a meal with someone you love.  It will make you go “Awwwww” at least once.

Retro Dinner October 22, 2014

WE'RE TURNING BACK THE CLOCK

 WE’RE TURNING BACK THE CLOCK

You’re Invited to join us for a

Retro Dinner Party

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Calvary Lutheran Church’s

Wednesday Evening Meal

October 22, 2014 from 4:45 pm-6:15

Suggested donation … $3 for Kids under 12 … $5 for 12 & up

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 Pigs in a Blanket

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Pimento Cheese Stuffed Celery

Deviled Eggs

     Deviled Eggs 

Iceberg Lettuce Salad

Iceberg Lettuce Salad

Strawberry Jello with Bananas and Strawberries

Strawberry Jello with Bananas 

Chicken Pot Pie

   Chicken Pot Pie

Yeast Rolls

             Yeast Rolls

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   Ruby Fruit Party Punch

Mayo.Cake.Recipe

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Kids, just be glad we’re not going with the menu recommendations in the 1950’s Cooking For the American Homemakers cookbook! Mmmm….liver and potato pie and cabbage with lemon juice.

While looking for recipes in my grandmother's recipe box, I found a bible verse tucked into the middle of the chaos of recipes. God speaks where you least expect it.

While looking for recipes from the 50’s and 60’s in my grandmother’s recipe box, I found a bible verse tucked into the middle of the chaos of recipes. God speaks where you least expect it.  What encouragement for our Wednesday meal ministry at Calvary Lutheran Church. 

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