It's not just potluck anymore…

Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

Thanksgiving in February

Last night’s church service included a celebration of Communion for the 5th Grade class.  Our sign in table for dinner honors our 5th graders and their families for their “Milestone” celebration. Ten tables of 10 were reserved for these families to eat together at dinner.

Everyone eats a lot of turkey during the holidays, so at Calvary we like to have our turkey dinner in the middle of winter.   The kitchen crew sliced and warmed up 228 pounds of smoked turkey breast, and made 18 pans of  mashed potatoes and 8 gallons of turkey gravy.

As an alternative to the mashed potatoes, we also baked up 300 sweet potatoes in a 400 degree oven for 1 to 1 1/2 hours until soft.  Some were so huge we had to cut them into thirds to serve.  The leftover sweet potatoes were peeled, mashed and frozen for future use in a sweet potato casserole.

For a green vegetable side dish, we served 55 pounds of asparagus, which was rinsed, had the ends snapped off, and then steamed for 5 minutes.  On the side we served a ready-to-eat lemony Hollandaise sauce made by Knorr.  The sauce comes frozen and just requires warming before serving.  Towards the end of our serving time, we ran out of asparagus and then cooked up some green beans that we had on hand from the freezer.  We’ll make more asparagus next time!

For dinner rolls, we used Sister Shubert’s yeast rolls which are available at Sam’s Club.  These are very popular rolls:  we went through 24 bags of 30 rolls/bag!  They come parbaked, so you just have to put them in a 350 degree oven for 8 minutes, and they come out warm, golden brown and have that delicious yeasty bread smell.

On Tuesday morning, we made 17 pumpkin spice cakes with cream cheese frosting, baked in half size sheet pans. We also defrosted the extra cookies from the freezer that we made 2 weeks ago.

470 people signed in at dinner last night!  Thanks for coming and we’ll see you next week.  Visitors are always welcome, so bring your friends along.

Next week is Ash Wednesday, so there will be no education classes, just dinner at the usual time, 4:45-6:15 pm, followed by a special Ash Wednesday service in the sanctuary.

Category:

Uncategorized

Tagged with:

Cookie Recipes

Some of the 400 Meyer Lemon Ricotta Cookies we baked today.

Today we got a good start on baking 140 dozen cookies for our dinner tomorrow.  We will be serving 4 different kinds of cookies:  Chocolate Chip, Oatmeal Raisin, Oreo Cheesecake Cookies and Meyer Lemon Ricotta Cookies.  Here are the recipes we used.

The test batch at home of the Oreo Cheesecake Cookies

Oreo Cheesecake Cookies

Makes about 2 dozen cookies

1/2 cup (4 oz) unsalted butter, softened

3 ounces Cream Cheese

1 cup white sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup (2 oz) mini chocolate chips

1/2 cup of oreo cookie sandwich crumbs

1/2 cup white chocolate chips, melted

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350* convection or 375* in regular oven. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.   Cream together the butter and cream cheese with mixer until well combined.   Add the sugar and vanilla and mix well.   Add the flour and mix on low until the flour is incorporated.   Stir in mini chocolate chips.

Scoop the dough into 1″ balls.  Roll in oreo cookie crumbs so cookie is covered. Place cookie balls onto the prepared baking sheet. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, or until the edges are golden and the tops are slightly puffed.  Once cool, drizzle cookies with melted white chocolate.

Adapted from a recipe on the website:   http://multiplydelicious.com

 

Oreo Cheesecake Cookies, 20 dozen (240) cookies 

This amount will fit easily in one batch in the commercial mixer.

5 cups (40 ounces) unsalted butter, softened

30 ounces Cream Cheese

10 cups of sugar

3 Tbsp plus 1 tsp of vanilla extract

10 cups all-purpose flour

24 oz of mini chocolate chips

12 cups of oreo cookie sandwich crumbs (about 4 1 lb 10oz boxes cookies)

5 cups of white chocolate chips, melted (optional)

 

Chocolate Chip Cookies

10 dozen (a double recipe, 20 dozen, will fit in Berkel mixer in one batch)

2 cups butter or margarine

2 cups Crisco (can use butter flavored or regular)

3 cups white sugar

3 cups brown sugar, packed

4 tsp vanilla

8 eggs

9 cups flour

4 tsp baking soda

4 tsp salt

8 cups chocolate chips (48 oz)

Cream butter, shortening, sugar and vanilla.  Add eggs and mix well.  Add dry ingredients and stir until thoroughly mixed.  Drop by heaping teaspoonful onto ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 350* convection for 10 minutes or until golden brown.  Remove from cookie sheet and cool.

 

Classic Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

9 dozen (108)

1 pound unsalted butter, softened

2 ½  cups firmly packed light brown sugar

1 ½  cups granulated sugar

4 eggs

2 tsp vanilla

4 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp baking soda

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground nutmeg

1 tsp salt

8 cups rolled oats

4 cups raisins (or 4 cups chocolate chips)

Preheat over 325* convection. Lightly grease baking sheets or line with parchment.

Cream together butter and sugars until light and fluffy.  Add eggs to butter mixture one at a time, beating well after each.  Add vanilla and beat well.   Combine dry ingredients except oatmeal, add to egg mixture, and stir to blend.  Do not overmix. Stir in oatmeal.   Add raisins and stir just until combined.

Scoop onto baking sheets and press lightly to flatten.  Bake 12 to 14 minutes for soft, chewy cookies; 15 to 18 for crunchy.  Cool 5-10 minutes on baking sheet before removing to cooling rack to cool completely.

 

The test batch of Meyer Lemon Cookies.  These are meyer lemons, which are more orange colored than regular lemons and have a sweeter flavor.  You can find them in 1 pound bags at Wal-mart right now.

Meyer Lemon Ricotta Cookies

Makes 50 cookies
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (12 ounces, weighed measurement)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 stick (4 ounces) unsalted butter, softened
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 (15-ounce) container whole milk ricotta cheese
3 tablespoons lemon juice, squeezed from about 2 Meyer lemons
1 lemon, zested (Meyer lemon if available)

Glaze:

1 1/2 cups confectioner sugar (measure first, then sift)
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1 lemon, zested

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F in convection oven, or 375 degrees in regular oven.

In a medium bowl combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

In the large bowl combine the butter and the sugar. Using an electric mixer beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating until incorporated. Add the ricotta cheese, lemon juice, and lemon zest. Beat to combine. Stir in the dry ingredients. Do not over mix.

Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Spoon the dough (about 1 1/2 tablespoons for each cookie) onto the baking sheets. Bake for 12 minutes, until slightly golden at the edges. Remove from the oven and let the cookies rest on the baking sheet for 20 minutes.

Glaze:
Combine the powdered sugar, lemon juice, and lemon zest in a small bowl and stir until smooth. Spoon about 1/2-teaspoon onto each cookie and use the back of the spoon to gently spread. Let the glaze harden for about 2 hours. You can glaze cookies while still warm.

Adapted from the recipe on the website:  thechurchcook.blogspot.com Thanks for the recipe!

Category:

Dessert Recipes, Uncategorized

Tagged with:

I love Wednesdays!

So here’s what happens at Calvary Lutheran on Wednesdays from September through the end of April:

  • 1:00  Volunteers start cooking and setting up for dinner
  • 4:45  Dinner service starts, continues until 6:15
  • 5:00  Session 1 of Wednesday School for 3 year olds through 5th graders. Classroom activities for 30 minutes followed by 15 minutes of music in the sanctuary
  • 5:30  Session 2 of Wednesday School for 3 year olds through 5th graders. Start with music in the sanctuary for 15 minutes followed by 30 minutes of classroom time upstairs
  • 6:20  Gathering music by the Praise Team band begins in the sanctuary
  • 6:30-7:00  Contemporary Worship service
  • 7:00-8:00  Pre-confirmation (6th and 7th graders), Confirmation (8th and 9th graders), High School (10th-12th graders), Adult Education, and Alleluia Choir practice (7:15-8:15).  And lots of volunteers in the dining room and kitchen doing clean-up!

It’s just a beehive of activity. The parking lots are full, with overflow into the strip mall and office parking across the street. Many people like to come early for dinner to get a good parking spot. Our double buffet tables with 4 serving lines keeps the wait time to a minimum, and there is rarely much of a line except at 5:45 when music class ends.  Then there’s a little rush, the kitchen crew starts to sweat a little, hoping that the food won’t run out. Sometimes we pray a little, thinking of the parable of Jesus sharing the loaves and fishes with the multitudes.  And somehow it works, every week, and no one is turned away hungry.  We don’t make special kids’ meals, which sometimes encourages our 160+ kids under 12 to try new foods (remember the couscous and hummus?).  We don’t serve any foods with nuts, making the meals safe for those with severe nut allergies. But unfortunately we can’t cater to all the dietary restrictions, like gluten-free, vegan or sugar-free options.  That would just be beyond our time and budget constraints.  Most people can find at least part of the meal that they can enjoy.  What we do offer is a well-balanced meal, mostly homemade right in our kitchen. Our goal is that our church families and visitors can sit around tables together, engage in caring conversation, get to know each other, and nourish body and faith. It’s a goal worthy of the efforts we put in each week. There’s a lot of love in our food, even if it’s not always seasoned or cooked to perfection. New volunteers are always welcome, no experience necessary! Email me @ kschleusener@gmail.com if you’d like to get involved.

 

Category:

Uncategorized

Tagged with:

Faith, food and fellowship still top the menu after 2,000 years | Church Executive

Faith, food and fellowship still top the menu after 2,000 years | Church Executive.

Interesting story on food service in one of the largest food service ministries in the country.  To compare it to us, First Baptist of Orlando served 225,000 meals last year (including banquets and other events), while Calvary Lutheran served about 12,000 (Wednesday meals only).  They have a 4 walk-in coolers and 8 reach-in coolers…we have a 3 door refrigerator.  Kind of puts things in perspective.

Category:

Uncategorized