,v t Cooking For A Crowd BY BONNIE BRECHBILL Franklin Co. Correspondent These recipes all come from a cookbook compiled by the Old Order River Brethren. The River Brethren serve a fellowship meal after most Sunday morning wor ship services: hence the need for many crowd-size recipes. The meal is simple but filling, and, in our congregation, usually consists of one hot dish, various finger foods such as potato chips or carrot and celery sticks, fruit and dessert. In cold weather, cof fee or tea is usually served. The family who sponsors the worship service provides all the food ex cept the dessert; the other sisters bring in a pie or cake or cookies -- whatever the host family plans. In our congregation, a Sunday service -- called “meeting” - may include 80-250 people, depending on which districts are worship ping together that particular day. We serve the meal cafeteria style and usually use disposable plates. Immediately after meeting is over, the brethren set up long tables for the cafeteria line. The sisters help the hostess in the kitchen and carry items out for the food line. Sharing a fellowship meal together ~ and sharing the work of setting it up and washing the cups and silverware afterwards - promotes closeness among the brotherhood. It helps us get ac quainted with visitors and pro vides an opportunity to catch up on the lives of brothers and sisters who live in other districts. Because the meal is kept simple and because everyone helps, the hostess is not overburdened. I have often chatted with visitors to my own meeting while the other sisters did the dishes. As many preparations as possi ble are done on Saturday -- for instance, when 1 serve barbecue, I brown the meat and stir up the sauce Saturday afternoon. Sunday morning, I mix them together in an electric roaster and by the time meeting is over, my barbecue is ready. Occasionally, of course, things don’t go that smoothly - at least for me. (The sisters who grew up helping their mothers to make “meeting meals” never seem to have these problems!) The last time my husband and I had meet- Recipe Topics If you have recipes for the topics listed below, please share them with us. We welcome your recipes, but ask that you include accurate measurements, a complete list of ingredients and clear instructions with each recipe you submit. Send your recipes to Lou Ann Good, Lancaster Farming, P.O. Box 609, Ephrata, PA 17522. Jan.- 7- 14- 21- 28- Home On The Range ing, I didn’t serve anything hot, but just had sandwiches. I made a batch of Florence’s cheese spread and bought three gallons of chicken salad. The 228 sandwich rolls ran out long before the chicken salad did. Fortunately, I had a loaf of bread in the freezer, and everyone got a sandwich. 1 still had a lot of chicken salad left over. My worst miscalculation was not one of quantity, however, but of cooking time. I filled the large electric roasters with about 200 frozen fish fillets and expected them to cook in an hour or so. The ones around the edges did; the ones in the middle were still fro zen solid at noon. I frantically flung them on cookie sheets and baked them all in the oven - no time to chat with the visitors that day! The recipes printed here shouldn’t give you any of those problems as they are all specific as to quantity and length of time required to cook. Even with the inconvenience cooking for a crowd sometimes causes, I wouldn’t want to see our church give up the Sunday noon meal. Sharing what has happened our lives the past week and discussing the morning’s teach ings seems to go better over a sandwich of Carrie’s pressed chicken or a bowl of Emma’s rice soup. CHEESE SPREAD FOR SANDWICHES 4 pounds Velveeta cheese 1 pound sharp cheese 16 Ounces cream cheese 8 hard-boiled eggs 4 jars pimento peppers 1 medium onion 8 eggs, beaten 'A cup sugar (8 tablespoons) 'A cup flour (8 tablespoons) 'A cup vinegar (8 tablespoons) 'A cup prepared mustard (8 tablespoons) 2 teaspoons salt Grind Velveeta cheese, sharp cheese, cream cheese, boiled eggs, peppers and onion. Cook, stirring until smooth, the remain ing ingredients. Mix these two mixtures together well, using your hands. Serves approximately 100 people. This freezes well. Family sized portions of this recipe can be made easily by dividing the above portion into 8. Warm Up With Soup Homemade Breads Oat Bran Recipes Sugar Free Eating f f fT rr t f f'T'f w rrrMrrvf rr«r» r rjrr r v * ** - - . S 'A quarts dried beans (navy beans, pea bean, etc.) 15 3 /< gallons water 10 '/> quarts shredded cabbage 10 'A quarts tomato juice or cooked tomatoes 5 'A quarts diced celery S 'A quarts cubed carrots 5 A quarts cubed potatoes 5 'A cups uncooked rice 7 cups chopped onion 21 beef bouillon cubes or broth from soup bones 7 tablespoons salt 5 'A teaspoons pepper S 'A teaspoons basil 10 'A pounds ground beef Soak beans in water overnight in a 20-quart kettle. Next day di vide into 3 (20 quart) kettles and simmer beans 45 minutes. Add all the ingredients, but ground beef and bring to boil. Brown beef in skillet and add to boiling soup. Cover and simmer 1 hour. Serves 150 or more. RICE SOUP 12 quarts rice beef broth 4 pounds brown rice 4 quarts chopped, cooked roast beef or ground beef salt and pepper to taste In a heavy 20 quart kettle bring broth to a full boil. Add meat Bring to a boil and add the rice. After it boils, turn to low and simmer 1 to 2 hours. (The more you stir it, the thicker it gets.) Season to taste. We made 3 can ners for lovefeast meals. Emma Sander Florence Myers approximately 40 large scrubbed potatoes melted butter 3 to 4 cups water thyme, basil, oregano (optional) Pour water in bottom of greased electric roast pan. Roll potatoes in melted butter with seasonings if desired and place in pan. Cover. Bake at 350° for 2 hours, turn very low and steam an additional hour. crowd? Make several batches of lasagna, freeze until ready to use. Then into the oven and bake until thoroughly heated. iga pop frozen POOR MAN’S SOUP Nancy Funk BAKED POTATOES Ruth A. Conley PRESSED CHICKEN 35 pounds chicken 3 to 4 tablespoons salt pepper to suit taste 3 'A to 4 quarts broth 2 cups vinegar 5 tablespoons gelatin Cook chicken with salt and pepper until soft; debond and re move skins. Place chicken slices lengthwise in oblong pan. Bring broth to boil. Add vinegar and gelatin (softened in small amount of cold water). Add to chicken. When jelled, slice with electric knife. Serveds 100 to 125 people. For Family Size Use: 1 (3 to 4 pounds) chicken 1 'A teaspoons salt '/• teaspoon pepper 3 cups broth 4 tablespoons vinegar 1 tablespoon gelatin Carrie Shirk Featured Recipe For the judges in the Woman’s Day Specials/Prego spaghetti sauce Quick Family Favorites Recipe Contest, there was something about Holiday Hambalaya that made it a winner. The recipe, sub mitted by Roxanne Chan of Albany, California, is a hearty, deli cious stew of juicy ham cubes and features Prego Extra Chunky spaghetti sauce with sausage and green pepper, com, rice, olives and onions. Equally important to the judges, however, was the fact that stew dishes signify “home” for many families. They appreciated the family appeal of this dish, as well as its appetizing appearance and good nutritive value and labeled Holiday Hambalaya a winner. HOLIDAY HAMBALAYA 2 tablespoons butter or margarine 1 large onion, chopped 1 jar (13.5 ounces) Prego Extra Chunky spaghetti sauce with saus age and green pepper 2 cups cubed cooked ham 2 cups cooked rice 'A teaspoon chili powder 1 cup cooked whole kernel com 14 cup sliced pitted ripe olives Vi cup chopped fresh parsley Sour cream 1. In 4-quart saucepan over medium heat, in hot butter, cook onion until tender, stirring often. Add spaghetti sauce, ham, rice, chili powder and com. Reduce heat to low. Cover; simmer 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. 2. Stir in olives and parsley. Serve with sour cream. Makes 7 cups or 6 servings. BEEF BARBEQUE 17 pounds ground beef 3 large stalks celery 12 green peppers 12 large onions 1 (7 pounds 2 ounces) large can ■. ketchup ,■ 1 'A cups brown sugar 1 Vi cups vinegar . 3 tablespoons dry mustard > Worcestershire sauce, salt and i pepper to taste * Brown hamburg in a skillet. Chop vegetables fine in a food * processor or blender. Mix with ; remaining ingredients. Add * drained browned beef. Mix thor oughly in large electric roast pan. Bring to a full boil, then simmer 1 hour. Fills approximately 120 rolls. ; Ruth A. Conley (Turn to Page B 8)
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