This weekend I had the honor of cooking for the new members/ guests at our amazing church. I can’t even explain how much fun it was cooking for a crowd in our church’s new kitchen…plastic gloves, hair nets, disinfectant and all…I had a blast. Here are some photos of the day.
A HUGE Thank you to my friends Christina and Michelle for helping me with food prep and set up! Also, to Alice who runs the kitchen at the church- she is amazing. Thanks to the Stopp family and our church for letting me be part of this ministry! Also, thank you to those who helped us clean up.
My van was FILLED with food, drinks, vases…you name it.
Alice and me making a HUGE pot of Grandma Ruth’s Spaghetti Sauce! We also had ground chuck and Italian sausage cooking on the stove top.
2 large salads made with Romaine, tomatoes, olives, croutons, cheese and seasonings. We semi-homemade the dressing with Good Seasons, oil and Red wine vinegar, a little sugar, and parmesan cheese.
This mixer was amazing! It whipped up our Pineapple Fluff in no time at all! (I multiplied this recipe by 3)
Our Cream Puffs/Eclairs – these were purchased, placed in muffin cups and sprinkled with powdered sugar.
3 very large lasagna’s baking in the convection ovens. One was meatless-and was appreciated as some people didn’t eat meat at the event. That is something to always be considerate of when you are cooking for a crowd-meatless items.
GFS Garlic Toast- I was very impressed by this product. SO many people told me they smelled this baking in the oven while service was going on…YUM (not to mention easy)
Lasagna’s done! This also smelled delicious baking …
Our buffet warmer- this was a very convenient way to cart the warm food into the room. We filled it with water, turned it on and placed the pans of lasagna with covers on to keep warm. We also had room for the bread.
Getting ready- We had some “kido” food in case they didn’t want lasagna. Their menu included Peanut butter and Jelly sandwiches, Pumpkin shaped sugar cookies, chips, carrots and veggie dip and juice boxes.
Some easy decorations. We don’t have a ton of time to decorate as the room was being used for first service and lunch started after second service. So we used white paper rolls for table coverings and set out these pretty glass vases with floating flowers. We also had balloons for the main table.
Setting up the main table. Cutlery, salads, extra parm cheese and sauce, pastries and the kido table at the end.
The kido table
Garlic bread and lasagna in the warm buffet.
Kristen and Michelle serving punch. This was made with fruit punch, 7up, frozen strawberries, and rainbow sherbert. We also had bottled water, sodas, and juice boxes.
Alice and me after a full weekend of cooking!
These are such inexpensive decorations…I paid 99 cents a vase at Marcs and have reused them for SO many events. Fill them up with water and place a daisy inside and you have a very elegant/festive centerpiece.
Is this beautiful or what?! A room filled with fellowship.
Menu for the day:
Garlic Toast
Italian Tossed Salad
Eclairs/Cream Puffs
Pineapple Fluff
Simple Party Punch (I added frozen strawberries)
Kids Menu:
Peanut Butter and Jelly (25)
Carrots with Veggie dip (3 large bags)
Chips (25)
Pumpkin Shaped Sugar Cookies (25)
Juice Boxes (25)
| Lasagna for 50 Adults |
- 8 pounds Mozzerella (Pre-shredded)
- 15 lbs Ricotta Cheese (whipped preferred)
- 6 eggs
- 2 Tbsp parsley
- 1 Tbsp Garlic Powder
- 5 lbs ground beef (butcher preferred)
- 5 lbs Italian Sausage (butcher preferred)
- 9 (9oz) boxes of Barilla flat /no boiling required Lasagna noodles
- 3 cups Parmesan Cheese (for inside the lasagna)
- Sauce:
- 51 oz cans of Tomato Sauce
- 2 51 oz cans of Tomato Puree
- 1 51 oz can of Tomato Paste
- 1 51 oz can of water (add this slowly and to your desired consistency-you may not need all of this)
- 3 green peppers cut in half/cores and seeds removed
- 6 stalks of celery cleaned off
- 3 Tbsp Garlic Powder
- 1/2 Sugar
- 1 Cup Parmesan Cheese (into sauce)
- 2 Tbsp Parsley
- 2 Tbsp Oregano
- 2 Tbsp Sweet Basil
- Place all sauce ingredients in a large pot (I used 2 to prevent burning). Place halved green peppers and full celery in for flavoring only-these will come out of sauce before serving (do not dice-leave in tact). Let sauce simmer all day. Brown Italian Sausage and Ground Chuck. Beat 15 lbs Ricotta Cheese (whipped preferred),6 eggs,2 Tbsp parsley, 1 Tbsp Garlic Powder together in a large mixing bowl. Set aside. Place Mozzarella cheese in a large bowl.
- Assembly:
- Line up 3 20x12x4″ Chaffer pans (we are doing 3 layers)
- Ladle sauce in bottom of each pan to cover fully
- Layer noodles over sauce (I used 12 noodles a row)
- Spread Ricotta Cheese mixture over top
- Sprinkle with Mozzarella Cheese and Parmesan Cheese
- Sprinkle with ground chuck and Italian sausage
- Ladle sauce over to cover
- Begin again- 3 layers. Top with cheese and sprinkle with parsley
- Bake:
- Convection oven heated to 350 for 1 hour 15 mins. Uncover and bake 20 more mins. Keep checking because every oven is different.
*Keep in mind I made 1 lasagna with no meat.
Ladies, I hope I can be an encouragement to you to do this very thing at YOUR church! If you have the gift of hospitality, it will be such a blessing for you-not to mention those on the receiving end 🙂 Much love goes out to you…Thanks for reading.
I love it! Where were you when I joined our church 10 years ago?!? LOL
Clare
Looks like a wonderful time was enjoyed by all…including the two sweet cooks! “;o)
it looks amazing! I do have the gift of hospitality and I LOVE entertaining and cooking etc but have never done it in the arena at church. I bet you are an amazing blessing at your church!
Blessings,
Mel
Please feel free to stop by: Trailing After God
Looks like fun!! One of favorite things is cooking for our church. I love to see happy faces and bellies.
What a fabulous blessing to new members/visitors in your church. I run away from cooking for a crowd simply due to lack of timing/planning skills 🙂 What a fabulous gift you have and share with others & look how good you and Alice looked at the end …. I would have looked like I went through a batte zone!
I could smell this cooking during the service – you made my mouth water girl – too bad I’m already a member lol!!!
I saw my sister in the pics serving up drinks – she’s just like you – always serving!!!
Thanks for your meal ministry – we are so blessed to have you at our church!
Courtney
Thank you Courtney!!! Blessed to be a part of the church 🙂
Major kudos for doing this for others! I am not sure what the occasion was or who paid for it but it took a lot of effort on the ladies who volunteered to get that massive meal together. I’m sure God was smiling down on the beautiful image you helped create!
Janelle, You are just amazing. The meal looked so good. Thanks for sharing your weekend with me.
I always love reading what your meals are. They look so good. Where did you learn to cook so well????
Someday you can start a catering busness.
Janice
That is so awesome. What a great community to be part of.
Wow! This is absolutely amazing! What a blessing you are to our church!!
It looks like Mike Young pretended to be new so he could eat your food. 🙂
Thank you for the recipe – I think it might work for an upcoming event. The only thing I would like to point out is that vegans don’t eat any poultry (eggs) and don’t eat beef/sheep (cheese). Would you explain what went into the no meat version?
Hi Carole! It was not vegan, just vegetarian 🙂 No meat.
Your recipe sounds so yummy! Our group will soon be hosting a meeting for about 50 people. I have printed out your recipe (thank you for posting) and plan to use it for our lasagna main dish.
One question: How many 51 oz cans of the Tomato Sauce are required?
Thank you.
I would love to make this for a homeless shelter next week but I have a question on the amount of ricotta cheese. Is it actually 15 pounds or 5? I was looking at your original recipe for Grandma Ruth’s lasagna and it only used 1 pound.
5 <3