*banner made by Bekah Jennings. Check out her Etsy Shop!This month was our "big" enrichment night. The theme we went with was: Bloom Where You Are Planted. I was really excited to have this as our theme because the area we live in is really transient. There's a lot of military/army/naval bases around here, and families are only stationed here for a few months at a time. So we have new faces in the ward every couple of months. You'd think it would be hard to get to know each other but it's not, because the more permanent families are so welcoming to the newbies, and the newbies seem to jump right in. I totally love it.
Anyways, we started the night off with dinner. Since the theme of the night was Garden-esque, so was dinner. We had a Cheesy Garden Vegetable soup, and a Garden salad, and homemade breadsticks. For dessert, because March is also the Relief Society Birthday, we had some gals from the ward donate birthday cakes.
After dinner, we had three mini-classes for everyone to attend: Look to the Son for Strength, Nourish Yourself, and Weeding Out The Excess. We had fabulous teachers who taught each class three times, so that everyone had the opportunity to attend each class. (I was the rotatation Nazi. Each rotation was to last about 10 minutes so I would knock and give people their 2 minute warnings.... I'm good at the bossing.)
It was super fun, and we got a lot of great feedback. I'm just glad that we have such wonderful sisters in the ward that are willing to share their talents.
Anyways, we started the night off with dinner. Since the theme of the night was Garden-esque, so was dinner. We had a Cheesy Garden Vegetable soup, and a Garden salad, and homemade breadsticks. For dessert, because March is also the Relief Society Birthday, we had some gals from the ward donate birthday cakes.
After dinner, we had three mini-classes for everyone to attend: Look to the Son for Strength, Nourish Yourself, and Weeding Out The Excess. We had fabulous teachers who taught each class three times, so that everyone had the opportunity to attend each class. (I was the rotatation Nazi. Each rotation was to last about 10 minutes so I would knock and give people their 2 minute warnings.... I'm good at the bossing.)
It was super fun, and we got a lot of great feedback. I'm just glad that we have such wonderful sisters in the ward that are willing to share their talents.
Table Centerpiece: Coffee Filter Roses in painted Terra Cotta pot, wearing a tutu.
Beverage of the night: water with Cucumber slices. We only used one cucumber for all eight tables. nice.
One of the donated cakes: store bought chocolate cake, with caramello candy bar on top, then drizzled with caramel syrup. yummy.
Entry table: topiaries (donated by wedding planner in training) programs sitting in basket, sitting in a wreath. And of course, the poster that had been promoting the activity for the last few weeks.
I try to do a program for the big activities, to give people an idea of what's going on. And I always see a couple of people jotting down notes and ideas from the classes too. I just like handouts.
Speaking of handouts, everyone received a copy of the recipes for the night. BECAUSE THEY WERE DELICIOUS. seriously. Make these for dinner this week, you'll be blown away.
Cheesy Vegetable Soup – Rebecca Cook
To an 8 quart stock pot add:
- 5 Tbsp. chicken soup base
- 5 cups potatoes, peeled and diced
- 2 cups carrots, diced
- 2 cups broccoli, diced
- 5 cups water
- 1 cup celery diced
- 1 large sweet onion, diced
Cook in chicken based water for 10-15 minutes, or until vegetables are softened, then add:
- 1 can kernal corn
- 2 cups half and half cream
- 16 ounces Velveeta
- 1 pound diced cooked ham, optional
- 3 cups milk
In another pan, heat 1 cube (1/2 cup) margarine until melted. Take off heat and stir in ¾ flour until smooth to make roue
Add roue to soup, stirring constantly. Heat until soup is thick and creamy, do not boil.
French Bread Sticks - Kris Brown
- 2 ½ cups warm water
- 2 sticks butter, melted
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- Kraft Parmesan Cheese,1 bottle
- 2 tablespoons dry yeast
- Garlic salt, to taste
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 2 tablespoons oil
- 6 cups flour
In a large bowl combine water, sugar, and yeast. Let stand for about 5 minutes or until foamy. Stir in salt, oil, and 3 cups of the flour. Stir vigorously. Add remaining 3 cups of flour and mix well. Let stand 10 minutes. Stir down. Repeat this process 5 times, which will take one hour.
Place dough onto a floured board. Knead only enough to coat dough with flour so it can be handled: divide in half.
Melt butter and pour a small amount into the bottom of two 9 X 13” pans. Mix parmesan cheese w/ garlic salt to taste. (I usually use one bottle of Kraft Parmesan Cheese and approximately 1 teaspoon garlic salt for this recipe.) Pinch off small pieces of dough, roll in to a 9” strip (width of your baking pan), roll strip into melted butter then in parmesan cheese/garlic salt mixture and place in baking pan. Repeat, placing strips next to previous strip until pan is full. Let breadsticks rise about one to two hours or until double in size. Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown.
