Hi Ladies!
Twice a year I get the pleasure of making lunch for our church’s new member and guest luncheon. It is typically a pretty busy weekend for me and my family…I grocery shop for a ton of food, pile everything in my kitchen (it feels like Christmas!!!), cook the night before and the morning of and haul everything over to the church! Then, our Pastor is there to greet us with a crew of volunteers ready to help unload and set up. Call me crazy, but this is actually SO MUCH FUN for me!
Here is a sneak peak into my weekend. I wish I would have gotten more photos, but I was bussssyyy!!!
(I had 60 people to cook for today- we have had up to 120)
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| I made 2 of these huge salads. Lettuce, tomatoes, red onions, cucumbers, olives, and croutons. |
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| I really like the containers at GFS…these are about $2 and have lids. I can also reuse them! |
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| My son “getting in on the action” crushing Heath bars for “Better than a Hug Cake” |
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My semi-homemade dressing. I like to use Good Seasons All Natural with olive oil, red wine vinegar, and sugar to taste.
Line em up!
My husband cutting “Better than a hug Cake”– I am VERY blessed to have such a supportive husband. I thank God for him every day. 
 My son watching me make a simple lemonade punch
 The lemonade takes on the color of the berries…pretty isn’t it? Very nice for Spring and Summer.
(recipe below)
The kids area had PB and J, chips, carrots, silly cookies and juice boxes
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Meatball subs- I placed them in sauce in the crockpot until ready to serve. Then we sliced fresh hoagie buns and loaded them up while people were in line.
Chicken Salad Croissants- These I prepared before we got to the church.
“Better Than a Hug Cake” in slices for easy serving.
“Pineapple Pretzel Fluff“- this is ALWAYS such a huge hit! Very easy and economical.
My Pastor, me and my dear friend Christina getting our picture taken by my son 🙂
Menu
Chicken Salad on Croissants
Meatballs Subs with Mozzarella
Tossed Salad
Chips/Dip
Berry Lemonade
Iced Tea
Water bottles
For Children:
PB&J
Carrots
Chips/Dip
Juice Boxes
Lemon Berry Punch
Lemon Berry Punch
Servings (12)
1 container of Simply Lemonade
1 bag frozen mixed berries
Ice
Pour together and enjoy!
This was SUCH a blessing for me to serve our church today in this way. I am very grateful, honored, and humbled to be part of this amazing church.
“Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fevor,
serving the Lord”
~Romans 12:11
Keep serving your families and others Ladies!
Thanks for letting me share my day with you.
Love to you, Janelle
Keep serving your families and others Ladies!
Thanks for letting me share my day with you.
Love to you, Janelle
Please e-mail me at JMNehrenz@me.com to be a guest blogger on Meal Ministry Mondays. I would love to show off your love for the Lord and His people!
AWESOME!!!! As I have said – every church needs a Janelle and we are SOOOOO lucky to have you girl!!!
Loved seeing Pastor Rob in there too!!;)
Love you!
Courtney
Great job Janelle! Nice balloons you had there!lol Seriously glad I could help you in some way today:) What a blessing the food was to those new members!! Kimmy
Just awesome Janelle! I have cooked for crowds before – 60 plus people and finding economical recipes that are easy to prepare is always a challenge. I bought a huge punchbowl at a garage sale to use for parties – never thought of using frozen berries though. Most non-alcoholic punches I see served at parties are concoctions of ginger ale and orange/lemon fizzy drinks that are full of artificial colours – the ones that send kids loopy. I am stealing this idea for my next girl's party! Do you have a section for cooking for a crowd? I'm always looking for ideas for recipes that serve lots of people! I notice I get a lot of hits from google for my pumpkin curry recipe which I entitled 'Curry for a crowd.' That is what people must type in when searching for large quantity recipes.
What an great job you did! Would never attemt such a thing. Love to cook but seems like everytime I try to do something for a special event it "floops".
Have you posted the "Pineapple Pretzel Fluff" and "Better than a Hug" Cake recipes? They both sound wonderful.
I'm going to give the Lemon Berry Punch to our Women's Enrichment Leader. Think they might like it for a change in there old standard.
Once again a beautiful spread of food! Praise the Lord that he uses you in this way and that you are willing. Your talent is wonderful! Would love the recipe for Pineapple pretzel fluff and Better than a hug cake.
Jen Mooney
Thank you my friends 🙂 Jagette and Jen, click on the words…there are links to their recipes! You guys are such an encouragement to me. Ann-you will love the lemon berry punch..def a healthier alternative! I have been thinking about doing recipes for "cooking for a crowd" -you read my mind! God is just taking me by the hand and I am following His lead! Love to you, Janelle
wow, did you cook and bake all of that? either way that's very impressive! our church has about 1500-2000 at the one location so one person doing it all is sort of out of the question ha ha.
I'm very curious as to what exactly is a meal ministry…none of the churches I've been too have ever had anything like this.
Everything looks amazing. I'd love it if you would share the recipe for silly cookies.
Blessings Janelle for putting God´s words in ACTION!!!! 😀
awesome! great for birthday parties too!!
Very inspiring! What a wonderful thing you do for your church and the new members. They are blessed to have you in their church!
God Bless You!
Marcy Rachiele
Thank you Marcy…we have a great time doing it….I love knowing that our church is growing!!!! I always agree that "a christian without a church family is like a fish out of water"….it may take time to find the right church, but it is so worth it. Getting connected in ABFs (small groups) is where we really grew spiritually and gained many friends. Love to you!
Eating in Winnepeg- Thanks girl! Our church is actually pretty big too! Our outreach is AMAZING!!! I don't know if I could list everything our church does to share God's love with its members and the community…we also reach out to the inter-city. The pastor above's wife makes breakfast every Sunday for the children who live in the inter-city areas and buses them into the church…she amazes me! We finally got a kitchen built at our church, which will make life a lot easier! But, we have managed to feed a TON of people without one. God is SO good. Oh, Yes…I make all the food for the member/guest function!
Hi Janelle, I just had to tell you that I found your website last year and made this meal for a campout party we had for our kids and their friends. We are a large family that hangs out with other large families, so there were 35 kids plus 8 parents 😉 The food was such a hit that we are going to have the same party food this year, too! Thanks for sharing your talents 🙂 I know it must be a lot of hard work, thank you!
Thanks so much Amy!! Thats great news!!!