Today is potluck lunch day after Mass. Mmm. We attend a tiny mission parish church that is out in the country, actually in a field. We park in the grass. Needless to say, the potluck meals are a real treat with some fine and ever changing offerings from people who know how to use simple and available ingredients to their best end.
The tiny little church was built by Baptists I think, but the Methodists also worshipped there, I’m told. Then, some years before it was purchased by the Catholics, they alternated weeks. I look at the stained glass windows, and the names etched in them in remembrance, and wonder about my brothers and sisters in Christ who came before.
Although this church is modest in size, and very, very rural in location, it’s a red brick building with stained glass windows, a small porch with traditional white columns, and of course, a befitting steeple. People had to have really sacrificed, and very likely did much of the building themselves. It’s right in the middle of fields and rural country homes, with even a small mechanic’s garage down the road. Another church at the end of the road, and people still worship there too. Obviously, most worshippers probably walked to church every Sunday.
I like to imagine a time and place where simple country people loved God enough to squeeze out dimes and dollars and hours after a long day’s work to come together and build a house of worship. One that would last through generations and denominations, life and death, pain and sorrow.
I am grateful for those who came before and built something so lasting and wonderful. I reflect on how our offerings to God get used in his wonderful plans and the good and grace of his works and plans go on and on.
Just last week, a relative and friend sent me a two sentence text. She could never have known that the information she shared with me would be the answer that spurred me to finally address a big and awful spiritual mess in my life. Just two sentences telling me about something available that I needed. We don’t talk often, but she gave me a great gift, one that the Holy Spirit had been nudging me about.
May we live in prayer and grace and good, that the good God may use our life and labors to his own merciful and ever loving ends, for generations after we are gone. Look not at what your actions accomplish today. You will not live to see what God accomplishes with your last penny.
I hope you’ll share some of your favorite fall recipes here, especially if they come from a church cookbook! I’m in the mood for pumpkin but we’d all enjoy anything fall. Apples, squash, sweet potato, pecan, root vegetables.
Here’s what I’m making today.
https://www.thepickyapple.com/blog/2008/11/22/pumpkin-crunch-cake/
I love the idea that a house of God has been used for different religions. It gives me that feeling that we are all God’s children.
I am sorry if anyone finds this disrespectful of a particular religion, but I genuinely feel that many religions can each be the right path.
Also, I look forward to stealing everyone’s recipes. Thank you in advance! ♥️
“God has no religion.”
(Mahatma Ghandi)
I’m convinced that in our day of judgment God won’t pay any attention to the name above the door.
AMEN.
Truth💕
There are no Catholics, Methodists, or Baptists in heaven — only Christians.
God doesn’t care how or where we worship, just that we do.
Good worship impels good deeds. Gratitude to God is a form of worship.
[I just had a typo where I typed “worship” as “warship”. Worship is a warship in many ways, against our sin, as we navigate through life.]
and love one another
I think it’s different Protestant denominations (Baptist, Methodist, etc.) and Catholics.
Not many religions, but Just one type of religion, Christian. I guess you could say it’s a non-denominational church.
You can’t be a Christian, if you don’t believe Jesus Christ is the only way.
I church hop, I go to an Episcopal, and two churches w/out denomination, there is also one I will attend from time to time, next week they are meeting in a barn. At first one of the churches frowned on me for not being dedicated to their church and be a member. I am a member to God. I like going to different churches. It is how I found ones I like.
I refuse to be like a friend of mine that doesn’t really like her church but it is where she has gone all her life, says she would feel guilty if she left.
I can’t say that I like that idea, I believe spirits are attracted to certain callings. For some reason I get a catch in my spirit at that thought. Maybe we need to be descriptive in “religion”, actually that even creates a pit in my inner being. Religion has always been a tool for control, needed but we grow into a better way.
I do believe every religion brings a piece of the puzzle, that truth was torn and thrown into the wind about our spiritual education. God or man?
I do not ascribe to only “one way” and that anyone, except for Jesus himself, carries the only truth. Such as baptism, or sprinkling. Repentance, yes.
a part of the Bible I have many questions about is John 21:25, “the whole world would not have room for the books.” Makes me extremely home sick, wouldn’t you wish to sit at Jesus feet and just listen? Relationship must be present for a “religion” to be profitable.
David ate the food off the alter. In perspective, can you withstand that inner test filtered through your religious beliefs? If not, examine your relationship.
Methodist, Baptist, and Catholic are all Christian. Different denominations, but still Christian. Denominations are man made.
I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except through me. John 14:6
sunbeams all come from the sun
Menagerie I love your posts. They are always a welcome break from the political mess we are living in and helps me remember that we are all sharing this planet together due to the grace of something much bigger.
Enjoy your fall food.
My favorite is caramel covered apple!
No recipes to share but your mission parish/church sounds wonderful!
As a person that has attended hundreds, if not thousands of church potlucks one recipe that no one ever complains about is a bag of potato chips and a liter of Coke.
No better food on the planet than a church potluck.
“Hot Dish” has multiple meanings.
Definitely some of my fondness childhood memories, small church social’s along with Sunday dinner at Gramma’s house 🤗🤗🤗🇺🇸
As a young adult, I once fried up a couple of rabbits from a recent hunt. I slid them in between platters of skillet fried chicken. One of the older ladies in the church came up to me after and thanked me for the rabbit as it brought back memories from her youth when her dad would bring in fresh rabbit.
My dad was the oldest, growing up in the Depression, and his two younger sisters always wanted the drumsticks if they had chicken and he was such a good big brother he let them. But he always said that he was thrilled when they got hold of rabbit, because they had four legs!
My Uncles always raised ducks chickens geese we’d butcher and prepare for Sunday dinner 🤗🤗
Fondest 😁
Also as a military brat bringing home the single GI’s after going to the NCO club after church to give them a little home atmosphere 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
My family did the same with football players attending the local college where I grew up. For my husband and I, it was traveling musicians.
Amen to that!
Extra thought: Some local churches offer regular Wednesday night potlucks along with brief prayer meetings. This can be especially good for people who might be isolated otherwise.
There is a Protestant Hispanic church next door to one of my nieces. This church has a small group of men (who are probably outstanding cooks) cook a sort of barbecue outdoors.
Several times when I have visited her, I have noticed a lot of trucks with working men just off work pulling into the parking lot to join and eat. Also women with young children probably also just coming off work shifts, coming to join in the dinners. They were doing this again on Friday night. I was impressed.
Cooking for large groups is more economical in time and supplies than cooking for just 1-3 people alone at home. My professional/ working/ grown kids are exhausted by evening/end of day. They sometimes order food deliveries and really appreciate when I cook and clean for them. What a kindness to the community, to share meals together
A good prayer meeting is one thing I can’t find, unfortunately. I prefer those over Bible study. The one you described sounds nice.
My Baptist church has an honest to goodness prayer meeting on Wednesday evenings, after singing some of the old, old hymns. But we rarely do the old hymns on Sundays. I guess they are catering to the younger ones on Sundays and letting us old folks go wanting for some good singing.
i wish the left, naysayers and haters could understand.
There are none so blind as those who will not see.
Well… technically this is not “my recipe”. But a relative cooked it for us last night and the flavor was divine!
Pasta with leeks and cashew
https://www.purplecarrot.com/plant-based-recipes/mafaldine-pasta-with-melted-leeks-scallion-cashew-cream
(No I am not vegan or vegetarian, but they are, sort of? And have introduced me to lots of tasty food combinations that I didn’t grow up with, but I love. The lemons always add a superb extra kick)
The photo of the finished dish is mouth watering.
I looked up mafaldine pasta and tarragon which are new to me. Found out that mafaldine pasta are long wide ribbons with scalloped edges and made in a special way using traditional bronze dies. And tarragon I discovered is an aromatic, leafy green herb –which was described as having a bit of a licorice flavor? Arugula though I know and love. What a treat, thanks for sharing.
I grow tarragon because I love to make chicken salad with it (also with walnuts mixed in like this recipe). I am going to try this recipe – it sounds terrific and we should try some meatless stuff around here.
Menagerie, I loved this post. I was raised in a Baptist Church in a small town and my faith was established in its sanctuary. 10 years ago I was sad to hear that they were “remodeling” and ripping out the wooden pews for “stadium seats”- I moved away from the town for college and have not lived there full time since. But my mother’s cousin is active in that church now and he salvaged a pew for me! He made it into a mini pew and it is in my bedroom. It means so much to me to have something wept on, prayed on, worshipped on from my own walk and from the many decades that wood served as a witness to the congregation – many of whom I knew and loved, the moving of the Holy Spirit. The music and voices singing hymns of praise. I just love it so much but didn’t really think before of the tithes and offerings that originally purchased that pew. I bet it was originally made around 1910.
Thanks for sharing this with us!
Tarragon is the essential flavor in the famous French Béarnaise sauce, which tastes to me a lot like mayonnaise – except for the tarragon flavoring.
Fantastic on fish – particularly trout.
Leeks!!! Which are as Welsh as they come, from the home of my heart.
Before I moved to Wales, I’d never tasted leeks or parsnips. What discoveries for ye olde tastebuds.
Always served for what the British call “roast dinners” comprised of roasted something…be it lamb, chicken, turkey, or beef…roasted vegetables, including parsnips and carrots, fresh peas, sprouts, two types of potatoes (roasted and mashed), and if we were lucky, Yorkshire pudding with delicious gravy.
And I must say this…British cooking is much maligned and joked about. But I found that because it is what I call plain cooking, it takes a very good cook indeed to produce a delicious dinner as I’ve described.
Just ingredients as they were grown or produced…no fancy preparation or presentation or sauces to hide over or undercooked food. There is an art to cooking a perfect roast dinner, as I came to appreciate. Nothing in this world like sitting down to such a dinner as that.
Even better to dine on it in a 15th century farmhouse with its thick walls and mullioned windows on a cold perhaps snowy Welsh evening, with candles, a roaring fire in the inglenook fireplace…surrounded with friends and family.
It has been over fifteen years since we enjoyed such an evening…but the memories are still fresh and sweet. And without price.
Thank you, Menagerie, for the opportunity to relive them.
Thanks for sharing your Welsh memories.
You are most welcome, Sunrei
Thankyou Menagerie for offering a delicious break from all that’s going on in the world. I took a peek at your recipe and it looks quite easy and doable, my kind of cooking! Maybe I can dig one of mine out to share too.
“relative and friend” –caught my eye. Such a treasure to have a relative who is also a friend.
It’s Great advice to Pray to The Holy Spirit for guidance.
Guidance in the AM, gratitude in the PM. That’s my prayer challenge for November.
Amen.
First and foremost, dear Menagerie, I pray that you find resolution and healing from the big and awful spiritual mess in your life. May God grant his Mercy upon you and give you peace.
Secondly, your sweet and wonderful little country church sounds just charming and a place in which someone like me would love to worship. Tis the season indeed for yummy dishes and church ladies are the best cooks! Your cake looks delish. Please post a review and later I will pull out and post a recipe for the best cranberry chutney I have ever tasted. Blessings to you and yours.
Thank you!
I am handing that recipe off to my chef. I will report back the results.
Will be trying it with Gluten Free cake mix!
Ha ha. That’s what I do! I have a friend who loves to grocery shop and cook. I just give him inspirational recipes and he loves it. Within a week he has prepared them. I cannot wait to eat the pumpkin cake.
Menagerie, you did it again!
You’re Americana intermixes our history: the land, family, God and food.
Thanks for the two sentences.
-They hit home❣️
Time to use that lonely box of cake mix and crank up the oven. Yes, I’m going to try your recipe. Yum!
-Have a very blessed Sunday.
✝️❤️🇺🇸
Your words are more delicious than your food – and satisfy the soul for a much longer time! I too attend and lead a small rural church in a building built in 1935. Cozy, comfortable, and with memories of 3 generations of worshippers. I only pray and I can make a positive mark for our “good God”. Thank you for that description
Our church has a fall chili lunch. Everyone brings their own home made chili to share. There are sandwiches and deserts. My wife says I can not take my chili as no one will eat it because it is too spicy. I said it is supposed to be chili, not soup. I am still threatening to buy some of the chili in a tube from the grocer and claim it is a special recipe to see what comments I get. Then again, it’s not about the chili, is it?
Spicy chili is okay if it comes with warning labels.
My son-in-law makes some spicy chili! And it is good even though I am not keen on hot/spicy flavors. I just can’t take the shock of expecting one thing and then BAM! On the taste buds
Here is my chili recipe m/l:
2-3 pounds ground pork. (sub lean beef optional)
1 pound ground venison or mutton if you can find it. If not, more pork or maybe ground turkey.
Spicy Italian sausage, about 8 oz, chopped fine. (I have even used salami.)
Bacon, 1/4 pound or so, chopped
2 big cans crushed tomatoes (or chunks)
2 little cans, maybe 3, tomato paste.
Water so that base looks like weak tomato soup.
1 huge whole onion or two smaller ones, chopped
1 tbs minced garlic
1/4 cup sun dried ground ancho or chipotle chilies.
1/4 cup m/l brown sugar (sub maple syrup or agave) if you don’t like sweet, adjust way down.
2 tbs, maybe more, smoked Spanish paprika
3 to 4 discoverable sized bay leaves
Big dash black pepper
1 tbs cumin
1/2 tbs thyme
1/2 tbs oregano
1 tbs salt to start and then salt to taste at end. Depends on how much salt in tomato ingredients.
Brown the ground meats until fully rendered. Set aside and drain.
Put a dash of olive oil in bottom of stew pot and brown bacon, add onions and caramelize when bacon is about done, add garlic and saute for about 1 minute at end.
Add liquids to pot (leave bacon grease in pot) and bring to simmer. Adjust tomatoness by adding paste to increase or water to decrease.
Add seasonings and bring to a low boil. The key is to get the tomato level and spiciness correct based on aroma and taste. Once you are satisfied the base is ready, add the meats. Use aroma and color to adjust. You can add a bit of sun dried chilies at this time if you want, but remember that it will get spicier as it simmers. That is why you judge spiciness by aroma, not by taste. I know it sounds like guesswork, but if you stick your head in the steam rising off the pot and think “that smells spicy,” it will be. You can always increase heat later, but you can never cool it down without affecting the other flavors.
Simmer (not boil) for 2 hours.
Take off stove to cool and refrigerate overnight. Next day, return to stove and bring to boil. Simmer for another hour.
Garnish with cheese, onions and whatever you like. Beans are OK. I use pintos from the can added at final heating. No pasta for me, but if you insist go ahead.
That’s my favorite chili – in the roll from the grocery store. Add ground beef cooked with onions, a couple of cans of beans, a couple cans of water and you are there!
Catholic church in Olpe Kansas, “Window on the Prairie”.
My father attended there. Your article reminded me of it.
http://www.windowontheprairie.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Olpe03.jpg
https://www.windowontheprairie.com/2011/07/19/st-joseph-church-olpe-kansas/
We lived in Hamilton and my dad taught school in Olpe many years ago. What memories!
My sister-in-law makes this and it’s absolutely fantastic. I asked her for the recipe and she said it was in their Zion Episcopal Church cookbook. So I bought the cookbook.
Thank you, so simple but never thought of it.
Air fryer so I don’t need to heat up my oven for just me?
I put broken up bay leaf between the slices.
What kind of potato do you use? Starchy russets (baking potatoes) or firmer white/yellow?
Re the yummy-sounding pumpkin cake dessert, a nice printable version can be accessed by clicking on the symbol below the recipe.
My family tried this with our Sunday roast. Loved it!
It will be added to our side dishes from now on.
Thank you!
What an uplifting post. Thank you!
That recipe looks wonderful.
I’m always looking for new recipes. We have a bushel of Michigan Apples coming next week. I love trying to bake different apple pies, crumbles, breads and butters. They made great little gifts last year.
The Fall scents in cooking and baking invoke those happy memories of weekends at the Cider Mill, the beauty of the fall foliage, and some long missed family and friends.
Here are two favorites of mine. Cut back a tad on the oil in this recipe.
Best. Apple Cake. Ever. Not Kidding!
This recipe is not mine, it’s from a deceased gentleman who was a friend of the family.
Grease and flour 9×13 pan and preheat oven to 350 degrees.
1 and 1/4 cups oil
2 C sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp baking soda
1tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
3 C all purpose flour
3 C apples peeled and chopped into bite sized pieces
1 C chopped nuts
2 tsp vanilla
Blend oil and sugar. Sift all dry ingredients and add to mixture. Beat eggs slightly and add to batter. Add vanilla, then fold in nuts/apples. This is a very thick, stiff batter. The baking apples make it moist. Bake 45-50 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean Cool and top. Bake 45-50 minutes.
Topping
1 C brown sugar
1 stick butter
1/4 cup evaporated milk
1 tsp vanilla
Cook in heavy saucepan to full boil. The recipe says to beat, then cool and top. I don’t. I just cook the glaze, cool to lukewarm and top the cake by pouring it on. If you get the right apples, there is no better cake.
Some years ago when I volunteered for the Pioneer Days at the local Audobon Society property, I learned about aebleskivers from another volunteer teaching cooking on an open fire. They’ve been favorites of our family ever since, although we tend to prefer other flavors than apple. The whole family gathers around, jockeying for me to make their favorite filling in each batch, and snatching them up hot out of the pan. Last time I did this I had another family member beside me, and we did two skillets at a time. If you’re interested, Lodge makes a great aebleskiver pan. Often you’ll find them in antique stores. Probably more likely to do that up north than down here in the South.
Wow!
Can’t wait to try!
I made applesauce then used it as some oil replacement in apple bread. That helped and intensified the flavor.
Love those stories of family gatherings.
I can’t wait to get back to recreating some of those precious memories.
I have been slowly repainting walls and cabinets and doing minor remodeling my house. Any real cooking has been sidelined but I’m learning some new carpentry skills. I bit off more than I can chew -but we’ll get there.
Apple cake recipe is just what I was looking for to use up the apples from our tree. Thank you! It sounds deliscious.
Fall is the best time of year with the harvest, the last blooms in the garden, the beautiful colors and the slanting light as the day darkens earlier. God thought of everything, including the seasons to tudor us through life, did He not?
Sent to my daughter with a husband and triplets plus one. The kiddos all enjoy being the kitchen with their mother, who is an amazing cook and baker She has included them since they were old enough to stand on steps tools to help with whatever she is concocting. This is a keeper!
This may be a recipe for fresh apple cake I have had for at least 50 years, haven’t made it in many years. My icing is boiled to a soft ball stage or something, then it hardens when you put it on the cake. I may have to try it again.
Homemade hot applesauce. Good anytime of the year but best during the middle of winter. The smell of apple and cinnamon filling the house on a dreary day…great memories.
My favorite desert after desert is a Ole Smokey Moonshine Eggnog. A mason jar full will last from Thanksgiving until about Christmas, one ounce at a time.
Try apple pie moonshine. You can make it with a quart of shine, caster sugar, cinnamon, and apple cider and juice. It needs to sit a few weeks. Of purse the quality and taste depends on who you know. You can still find some guys who brew some good stuff down here.
Mmm. That looks delicious Menagerie. I am totally trying pumpkin apple crunch.
Nice. I love the idea of walking to my church. I grew up in suburbran NJ but our home was walking distance to Sunday Church and Cathecism class. A fond rememberance of my sister and me walking to Sunday Mass together. Dad was the Catholic in the household and mom a Methodist. Sunday mornings Dad stayed in bed and went to the Noon Mass. We kids had to go to earlier service and then off to the classrooms.
Side bar: One sunday, my dog was following me as we walked to church. I kept yelling “go home” which he ignored. Entered Church and sat upfront with my classmates. Sometime during the sermon, in trots Fido, looking for me. The parish preist stopped, asked who’s dog this was. Being young and not sure of things, I was embarassed. Stood up, Fido ran over, I scooped him in my arms and walkd the entire length of pews to put Fido back outside. I was convinced I was going to get my knuckles rapped by a ruler wielding nun ! They were tough cookies in those days.
I fell off my diet wagon so many times. Once more.
Oh well.
Wonderful story, Menagerie. Quiet eloquence. Thank you and be well, friend. 🙂
Thank you Garrison, that’s a wonderful compliment for a writer as fine as you!
For another fine example of “farmers getting together to build a church”, you might look up something called, Cathedral on the prairie. in Hoven, South Dakota. The history is awe inspiring.
Thank you!
Another Church. St Fidelis Catholic Church in Victoria Kansas. Nicknamed Cathedral of the Plains.
Settlement of Germans from Russia
Yes . Very amazing church and area.
There were many of these beautiful German churches in Colorado (31) from the Volga region. Most with similar architecture, beautiful stained glass, hand painted murals and beautiful woodwork. At one point the second largest ethnic population in Colorado behind Hispanics.
Gorgeous church, stunningly beautiful!
I will try that recipe! Not too fussy and pumpkin pie is a favorite of everyone here with me.
For pumpkin pie I always use the recipe on the can of Libby’s pumpkin puree, with less sugar. It is perfection.
I often use the Brunswick Recipes cookbook from St. Andrews Episcopal Church in Lawrenceville Virginia that my mama gave me in 1974. As well as the classic recipes, I love browsing the names of the sweet ladies who contributed each one. They’re all passed on now, but what dear memories they left behind!
Being a PK I have about 100 of those old church cookbooks. Sometimes I sit on the couch and read through them as relaxation. They are indeed something to cherish. I still prefer using them for recipes as opposed to reading and cooking a recipe off my computer or phone. Something about an open cookbook and following the directions makes it feel right.
This is our fall favorite. I roast the pumpkin, mash it in food processor and freeze up in two cup portions for recipes. Just finished putting two big pumpkins in the freezer. Your neighbors will love it when gift them with a pan for themselves.
Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls
2 tbls instant yeast
3/4 cup scalded milk
1/2 cup warm water
1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp salt
1/3 cup coconut oil
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup pumpkin
½ tea pumpkin spice
¼ tea cloves
½ tea cinnamon
6 ¾ cups flour
Heat oven to 170 and shut off. Add a large pot of hot water in bottom to keep oven warm to raise dough.
In a bowl, mix milk, water, sugar, salt, oil and yeast.
In the bowl of mixer, mix eggs into pumpkin, spices and yeast mixture. Add flour and stir at lowest speed with dough hook. Increase speed to 2 and mix the dough about 8 minutes. Put in greased bowl and turn the dough over to grease the top. Cover with plastic wrap and towel. Let rise about 60-90 minutes.
Punch down the dough and roll out to 9×20. Cover with ¼ cup softened butter, sprinkle with mixture of ¾ cup brown sugar, another ½ tea pumpkin spice and 2 tea cinnamon. Roll up and pinch to seal and put slices in 3 9 inch greased pans. Let rise for 45 minutes. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes.
Maple glaze: melt 4 tbls butter, ½ cup brown sugar, ¼ cup cream, ½ cup maple syrup, ¼ tea salt. Whisk and heat to hard boil for 1 minute. Drizzle on when they come out of oven.(pumpkin spice= ½ tea cinnamon, ¼ tea ginger, 1/8 cloves, 1/8 nutmeg)
Making apple pies with cooking apples from my neighbor’s trees. The apples would never sell in a grocery store because they are speckled, have occasional worm holes or knicks. But they are the best-tasting.
2 pie crusts either homemade or frozen deep dish
apples, enough to slice and layer in pie crust
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
pinch of salt up to 1/8 tsp.
2 tablespoons flour
1/2 teaspoon vinegar
1 tablespoon butter
Make the crusts and slice the apples in whirls until they are a mound in the center above the crust about 1 inch. Put sugar into a small bowl. Add flour, cinnamon, salt, and flour. Mix until completely combined. Add the 1/2 tsp vinegar and smash it into the dry mixture until it is well mixed. Pour the sugar mixture on top of the apples and dot bits of butter on top. Put on the top crust and pinch it together on the edges.
Place pie in oven on bottom rack at 400 degrees with no cookie sheet below it. Bake 30-40 minutes. Remove pie from oven. Place on cookie sheet and put foil around the edges if you want a lighter edge. Put back in oven for 30 -45 more minutes until top crust is nicely browned and apples are cooked through.
Sounds like a great pie. In my neck of the woods, Rapa scrapple is cooked until crisp and then added to apple pie before baking. Pork and apples go well together. Add some finely grated cheddar to the crust makes it even better.
I’m learning so much from everone’s shared recipes —just looked up scrapple — admit ingredients not expected. Does scrapple taste like liverwurst? Is this a speciality in certain parts of the country? As a child we put applesauce on top of pork chops so perhaps the recipe is a similar taste?
Enjoying Menagerie’s post immensely — reading everone’s contributions today, I feel like I’m doing a bit of time travel to old days of community pot lucks and cultural travel through all range of creative culinary dishes.
It doesn’t taste strong like liverwurst. But it does taste porky. It’s an Amish recipe to use up every part of the hog. Waste not, want not.
My family always made a turkey stuffing that was 4 simple ingredients: large apple, small-medium onion, pound sausage, and a batch of mashed potatoes (not sure of the quantity there – we all tend to modify it to taste).
My dad fried up the first three ingredients and mixed them into the potatoes. Served it warm in a bowl (wasn’t very pretty to the eye, but boy is it yummy).
Sometimes my parents would bake it for a while in a pyrex bowl. They usually mainly stuffed the turkey with it, getting up extra early to do so.
In later years my siblings (mostly moonbats) who make it have gotten worried about cooking it inside the bird, so they don’t. But nobody ever got sick or worried about such a thing in my childhood, and it gets a lot of flavor from the turkey juices when it’s done that way…
does sound yummy, esp w Thanksgiving approaching!
2lbs beef stew meat 1″ cubes- 1 cup water- 4 medium carrots- 4minced garlic cloves- 2 tsp salt- 2 tab instant beef bouillon- 1-t0 to 12 lb pumpkin- 3 tab oil- 3 large taters- 1 large green pepper- 1 medium onion chopped 1/2 tsp pepper- 1 can chopped tomatoes- brown meat in oil, cut and peel taters and carrots, green pepper into preferred size, add water and cut veggies to meat in pan simmer 2hours add bouillon and tomatoes wash pumpkin cut hole in top remove insides brush pumpkin with oil, put pumpkin in baking pan fill with stew ,bake at 325 for 2 hours do not overbake , scoop out a little pumpkin with each scoop of soup 8-10 servings 🙂 😉
Love beef stew in the fall. I used to enjoy an old cider-based beef stew recipe I’d cook up when the weather got cold. I’d swap stew recipes with you, but mine seems to have disappeared some years back though I still keep an eye out for it –probably slipped into pages of a book (or lost to some over-zealous cleaning project)
Your recipe is the first I’ve ever heard of using a pumpkin as the bowl – really like that idea!
Credit goes to my Auntie who’s got a PHD in home economics and is a Hostess with the Most’ess at all her gatherings as was my Mother 🤗🤗🇺🇸
An apple cider beef stew recipe for you. Hope it is close to what you had. https://togetherasfamily.com/slow-cooker-apple-cider-beef-stew/
Thank you, it seems close, a couple of differences, but I am going to try it out. That was so nice of you, I had missed that particular flavor of fall.
A few years ago, my husband and I were out riding through the country/mountains in western NC. We came across this little white church, just south of Blowing Rock, that had an historic marker. When we went inside, it was simple, quiet, and soul warming. There was spiritual peace.
I don’t remember the denomination; it was not important to me. What a blessing to stumble across this church that was so inviting!
Let us count our blessings daily.
Menagerie, I always appreciate your mental health breaks amidst the politics. I could envision your beautiful little church and surroundings, and I feel like this entire post is a prayer.
Love all the autumn foods and look forward to trying many of these, including the pumpkin bars.
Your posts are always inspiring, Menagerie. It’s chilly, damp and cloudy here today. So tonight is a Senate Navy Bean Soup night. Ham, beans, onion, salt and pepper – five ingredients, that’s it. Creamy, smoky and so delicious.
https://unpeeledjournal.com/u-s-senate-bean-soup-recipe/
Here is a very easy bean soup recipe which calls for white wine. I have made a bean soup, maybe the senate bean soup, using wine and it is surprisingly good.
The house smells so good right now. Very filling soup. There’s a good reason why it has been on the cafeteria menu for over 100 years.
Very good stuff. Sometimes do this with a hambone with a little extra ham left on it. Crockpot comfort food.
I buy shank half hams when they go on sale after Christmas and Easter. I cut off the meat to freeze and pressure cook the bone to make stock and can it. Exactly what I used for making the soup today. The stock is very good in many recipes.
What a descriptive, cerebral, beautiful post Menagerie. Enjoy your day.
Once a year homecoming Sunday. All day summer event with multiple visiting pastors and a huge potluck after normal services.
The afternoon speakers following the meal had to be very good and very animated to hold people awake. Picture those little handheld fans waving and wives elbowing husbands to stop the snoring.
Best fresh squeezed lemonade ever from a huge GI canvas canteen hung in an ancient oak. Fried chicken that can’t be purchased or imitated today.
A recipe suggestion for your basic beef stew or potroast is to sub in rutabaga for one half of your potatoes. It adds a very mild sweetness much like cabbage does in Colcannon as mildly sweet compared to mashed potatoes.
Thanks for bringing that memory Menagerie.
An extra tidbit for combining your veggies. Rather than straight green beans try a one to one ratio of blackeyedpeas/green beans with a clove of garlic.
Alternatively try pinto/green bean dish without garlic.
“fresh squeezed lemonade” Nothing matches fresh squeezed…. but a lot of lemons involved … not to mention the occasional lemon juice squirted in one’s eye
For those amongst us watching the carbs/Dirty KETO!
Whizz together pecans and oats and stir into melted butter. Pat into a pie dish to make a crust. Refrigerate.
Whisk heavy cream, and fold in pureed pumpkin with quarter cup of allulose.
Place into chilled pie shell, and chill a further 2 hours before serving. Drizzle with Smuckers sugar free caramel sauce, and enjoy!
I don’t have precise amounts, I just make by eye and mouth feel!
“cooking by eye and mouth feel” — I like to think of it as ‘improv cooking” it’s own artform. I got into full on improv cooking in part do to a lack of ability to plan ahead. I’d want to cook something, have limited or no ingredients to fit a recipe so would pull whatever I found out of fridge and pantry and mix things together in unique ways. Surprisingly it often worked!
I do a whole lot of that with food too. As a musician I couldn’t live without improv. ☺️
Thank Menagrie for the post! For feeding the belly and the heart of those of us here at the CTH.
The crunch cake sounds so yummy!! Might have to give it a whirl myself.
I love fall, old churches, old cookbooks and potlucks. I loved your post.
I always think of soups, stews and chili as the weather turns colder. Southern Veggie Beef Soup is my favorite.
1 lb ground chuck
1/2 cup diced onion
1/4 cup red bell pepper
1-2 carrots, sliced
1 potato, peeled and diced
1-2 celery stalks, chopped
1 14 oz can stewed tomatoes with juice
1 can beef consomme soup
1 14 oz can V8 juice
Salt, pepper, garlic powder
Brown meat in a stock pot and then drain in colander. Saute onion,pepper, carrots, celery and potatoes in pan drippings. Return meat to pot. Add remaining ingredients plus 1 cup water to the pot. Use seasonings to taste. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer 45 minutes.
I also add frozen corn and green beans and a little fresh chopped cabbage (if I have it) in the last 15 minutes.
MEATBALLS!!!
For busy Congreationalists that have to come up with something on the fly for fellowship after services.
1 crock pot
1 bag of frozen meatballs
1 jar of better quality marinara sauce
1/2 a squeeze bottle of grape jelly
1 teaspoon red chili flakes
Few squeezes of BBQ sauce
Couple teaspoons of balsamic vinegar.
Mix all that stuff up in the crockpot… get it to church 30 mintes ahead of time and plug it in on high.. after services unplug it and place entire crockpot on the serving table.
Oh heck yeah I’m making that yummy looking dish!
When the world starts to get to me beyond withstanding, I read the words of the Lord Jesus Christ in his Beatitudes.
I wish, I could remember every word without having to look them up, if i could I would say them in my mind everyday of my life.
And he opened his mouth! Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. “Blessed are the poor in spirit”, what a fascinating statement.
When we think of the Kingdom of heaven, we think must be where God is or somewhere out there! But in the end of all these things, God will be right here on what we call earth. Guess what not a single person on earth or spirit being will stop that form happening. That is the future of those that believe.
Thanks, Menagerie!
Always look forward to your posts Menagerie and will never forget your posts about your grandson Conner and his Christmas pumpkin. I hope he is doing well.
We recently moved to a new home in another state. We are close to small family farms. When I first arrived, I started exploring the local Catholic churches to find where I was supposed to be. One church I found was a very small church in this nearby farming community – a very small modest stucco building. It’s lovely. The priest is from Poland – a long way from home. But is a wonderful speaker and I enjoy his homilies. One particular homily he spoke of how people would tell him how difficult it is to read the whole Bible. He talked about making a commitment to read each of the psalms every day. Kind of like, how does one eat an elephant? One bite at a time. Anyways, I’ve been doing it and it gives me a time of quiet in the morning in addition to my regular prayers. I also appreciate pulling myself away from politics because it can be so overwhelming. We all could use some quiet time devoted to Our Lord.
Here is what I’m making today – it’s not especially cold here and am not from Louisiana so I’m not sure if this is authentic, but I have a smoked turkey leg that I need to use up. Have never used it in gumbo but feelin a little adventurous today 😉
https://www.thekitchn.com/gumbo-recipe-23255645#post-recipe-305620179
I love reading the Psalms. I also like to alternate Psalms, Proverbs, and Wisdom. If you want a really great experience with the Bible, I could not say enough good things about Bible in a Year podcast with Father Mike Schmitz. It follows a chronological timeline, so it’s easier to follow, and it unfolds the story of God’s creation and people and salvation in a wonderful way. The brief commentary really helps. It’s usually about a 20 minute a day recording, a little more on some days.
Ok, I’m doing this. Before I turn to my politics in the morning, it feels so necessary to win in midterms, I am going to spend some time with my bible. I need to get that before I move on to stuff that feels so awful right now. The gumbo sounds lovely on a cool afternoon 🙂
Drunken Punkin’
Not my recipe — I actually don’t even have the recipe — but my sister makes a sweet potato pie with booze in it, that we jokingly call drunken punkin’ — a Thanksgiving favorite.
Just take any recipe for sweet potato pie and substitute whiskey for some of the other liquid in the recipe. Delicious!
I really enjoy you’re writing style Menagerie…What a Gem you are.!
Thank you very much!
Your name is so much better, we call it pumpkin dump cake. It is the only pumpkin dessert I will make because for some reason, I no longer like pumpkin pie. I am going to give pumpkin cornbread a whirl to see if I like that.
There is nothing like attending a country church. They are the best. One I go to does not have indoor plumbing, porta johns are it. On Communion Sunday they do potluck outside under the trees w/picnic tables, and in the winter they do breakfast foods inside. The church I attend on a weeknight has the best preacher, but the church is just plain ugly, it drives me nuts, it lacks the warmth and history that the other church has.
The pumpkin crunch cake looks delicious! I am definitely going to make that one. Thanks, SD.
Sorry – I meant thanks, Menagerie….
Retired Magistrate here: We go to a little country red brick church down the road from us. It was moved by horse drawn wagon back in the 20’s when it was in the way of the Scioto River diversion. After the move it was added onto several times.
Our church has Sunday socials once a month, which are in fact potlucks. Some great cooks attend our little church and everyone signs up for something different.
Our denomination is Christian Union which was started after the Civil War to bring both Northerners and Southerners together to worship JESUS who can heal all wounds.
Currently, on Wednesdays, in our gathering room, we are watching the American Heritage Series by David Barton on the founding of our country and we then have question and answer sessions afterwards. It has been very enlightening to see how far our country has strayed from its founding principles. Our pastor is also giving out voter guides with each candidates position on various issues.
We are a small congregation, love the LORD and we are starting to grow. Everyone enjoy this beautiful GOD given Sunday.
that would have been a sight — church being moved by horse drawn wagon. It must have been tiny for that to be possible (before the later additions I mean).
And it tugged at my heart strings knowing that the congregation so loved their church that they would find a way to physically relocate it.
Why do you have to keep telling us you are a retired magistrate? I got it a long time ago.
I enjoy her every word. Totally.. 🙂
Same here. Thank you Marcia!
“I am grateful for those who came before and built something so lasting and wonderful.”
Indeed. http://frankclarke.dx.am/2001FR/html/a264.html
Mom made something similar except pumpkin eggs milk and sugar used can of apple pie filling.
My family fall fav is to raid the sweet potato bin at the supermarket for the skinniest sweet potatoes!
Nothing thicker than two inches. And the longer the better!
We simply wash them bake them in their skins on a cookie sheet – on tin foil- at 300* for 40 minutes or until they are soft.
No pricking, no slathering of oils, nothing.
Let them cool a bit so you can handle them easily.
We serve them as they are, in their skins and peel them like a banana and eat them.
Those skinny ones are so overlooked but they are the sweetest of them all.
So simple. And fun.
what a treat to enjoy Mass in such an environment. There is a Catholic Church in Salmon Idaho. It probably could crowd in 75 people. For many years my friend and I went to Sunday morning Mass there. It’s made completely of Idaho stone and at 8 a.m in November it is cold,,so dress warm. We were able to have Mass with wine. And singing in a stone church is divine. Californians never get to have wine because our congregations are so large. Anyway, if your’e passing through, check it out. The folks there are super friendly.