Luck! Potluck, that is.

[maytagbear]

Tonight (Maundy Thursday,) there is a potluck (covered dish) dinner and service at church. I'm reading, and as a member of Deacons, I have to bring a main dish.

I'm making "Chicken at The Waldorf."

Poach chicken breasts (I prefer thighs, but this is for other people). I like to poach chicken in chicken broth, Swanson's Natural Goodness, and aromatics. I have a clove of garlic, roughly chopped, and two stalks of celery in with the chicken and broth. Chicken should cook slowly to 160F on your instant reading thermometer. You DO have an instant reading thermometer, don't you? Insert thermometer into meatiest section, avoiding bone. When it reads 160F, remove them from the heat. Strain the broth, and make soup, or chill it, remove the fat, and freeze it, in 2 cup portions. I like to freeze broth in zipper lock freezer bags.

The rest of it:

3 tart apples, washed, cored, diced. (smallish dice). Skins left on.

3 sweet apples, likewise.

1 cup seedless grapes, washed and halved.

4 ribs celery, washed and sliced. Use the thin slicing disk of the processor.

1 cup shelled English/California walnuts, coarsely broken.

Hellman's/BestFoods mayonnaise to combine and moisten. For this, I am using the reduced fat Canola variety, because of the lemon flavour.

Salt, pepper.

Let the chicken cool to room temperature. Hand-shred, removing bone and skin. Chicken MAY be cooked skin on, and skin removed after cooking, and no worse for you, says my Registered Dietician. Chicken cooked skin on has a greater margin for timing error, and I think, better flavour, even eaten without skin.

Combine chicken with everything else, cover and chill.

Everyone who likes chicken salad seems to like it.

Just because I can, I am also taking a side dish of Garlic Coleslaw.

1 small green cabbage, washed, cut into sections the size of the processor's feed tube. Remove the coarse, heavy outer leaves.

1 small red cabbage, likewise.

Shred (slice) with the thin slicing disk, if you have it. If not, put light pressure on the food pusher.

Dressing:

1 small piece of one clove of peeled garlic. I mean it. A full clove is too much. Want just a touch of garlic. Also, get away from me with that "garlic powder" or "garlic salt." I mean it, get away from me.

1/2 cup Hellman's/BestFoods mayonnaise.

1/2 cup sour cream. Regular, reduced fat, or if you must, non-fat. I use the reduced fat for this.

Remove slicing disk, put in Steel Knife ("S" blade). Combine garlic, mayonnaise, and sour cream, pulsing.

Pour over cabbage, combine, cover, and chill. If you think it looks dry, combine more mayonnaise and sour cream, keeping it at 50/50. No need to add more garlic. Machine cutting makes it a little more strong. Taste for salt, add if needed (not always), and grind some black pepper into it, maybe 4-5 turns of the peppermill.

People who like a savoury coleslaw love this one.

So, what are some of your potluck dishes?

Lawrence/Maytagbear

 

[polkanut]

Lawrence,

It may be sacrilegious, but could a person use Miracle Whip instead of mayo?

 

[toggleswitch]

Somehow it figures you aren't a breast man!

Sound delicious. Your church is lucky to have you!

I've been trying to get to chuch this Holy Week, but the stress of my job and life and finances is high right now!

Would everyone who wants to kindly say a prayer to whatever you pray to that peace and stability and abundance come to me? I'd appreciate it!

And the same to all of you!

Happy holidays!

 

[maytagbear]

Tim-

A person could use Miracle Whip, if that is what they have in the refrigerator, but I do not recommend it. It would be better in Chicken at The Waldorf instead of Garlic Coleslaw.

I grew up on Miracle Whip, and detest it now. For a number of years, I would buy Hellman's with my own money, and have it in the fridge alongside Ma's Miracle Whip.

The backstory of Miracle Whip is that it was introduced in the Great Depression of the 1930s, as a lower cost alternative to mayonnaise. It was named after the machine that made it. Last time I looked at my supermarket, the price differential was minimal, close to the exact same price as Hellman's.

Lawrence/Maytagbear

 

[rayjay]

Lawrence, I have a question........... Do you need to let the shredded cabbage drain for an hour or so? At times if I do not do this, the Coleslaw gets a little watery.

Thanks.

Ray

 

[Unimatic1140]

would everyone who wants to kindly say a prayer to whatever you pray to that peace and stability and abundance come to me? I'd appreciate it!

For you Steve anything, done. And he's about to go into spin any minute which sends out 24 amps of extra power into the universe, he can do amazing things.

 

[maytagbear]

Ray-

A person could, but I never bother to do that. This particular coleslaw gets eaten so quickly, it doesn't get a chance to get watery.

Lawrence/Maytagbear

 

[lordkenmore]

I prefer thighs, but this is for other people

I know my attitude won't friends and influence people, but here it is: you don't like my ingredient choices? Tough. Next time, YOU make it!

I would make adjustments for some things. If I had a wonderful recipe for something many people consider "icky," I wouldn't make it. I won't take Octopus Surprise to a potluck. (For that matter, I won't be making it for myself--I only mention it to make a point!) For my elegant little tea party, I'll serve Boring Black rather than Lapsang Souchong, even though I really like Lapsang Souchong. But catering to other's tastes only goes so far. By the time you get done making adjustments, you can easily end up with something as boring as a TV Dinner from Safeway. Raising the question--why not save time and effort, and heat up 75 Banquet dinners to take to the potluck?

 

[lordkenmore]

Also, get away from me with that "garlic powder"

It really puzzles me that garlic powder sells so well. Real garlic isn't THAT much work. Although, I will stay that garlic powder is more tolerable than some forms of garlic. I remember reading how great garlic in a jar is (not dry--regular minced or diced or somehow hacked up, then packed in a glass jar). I got a bottle, and absolutely hated it. Maybe it was just that brand, but the experience was so awful that any time I see it in the store, I grab real garlic for protection.

 

[lordkenmore]

And yes, both these recipes look good. Lawrence, weren't you talking a while back about starting a cooking blog? With recipes like this, it could be a real success.

 

[maytagbear]

Because, for one reason,

we're expecting 150-275 for this event. I'm not the only one bringing a main dish, at least 14-23 others are, as well.

Also, I usually like to cook, and if I say so myself, I am a better than edible cook. Since I live alone, I don't find cooking for myself to be too appealing, it's nice to belong to a potluck crazed church.

Do let me know when you're brewing a pot of Lapsang Souchong. It is one of my all time favourites, and one of the rare teas I drink without either sugar or milk.

Lawrence/Maytagbear

 

[randycmaynard]

Sounds like a wonderful chicken salad..........

Very similar to what my wife makes. Very seldom have food left to bring home from church dinners/suppers..... she's one good cook. Our church has a lunch after morning service every 4th Sunday of the month and the last one, this past Sunday, she made a coconut cake and two pecan pies - nothing left to bring home. One of my favorites of her pies is the amaretto pecan that is flavored with real amaretto though the alcohol part is taken out via the baking but the flavor is still there and they never last long anywhere we take them. Mostly made during the Thanksgiving/Christmas holidays.

Maybe we should post up some of our favorite recipes - might be very interesting it's always fun to try something new.

Going to miss not playing organ at church for Easter.... always enjoyed playing the Palm Sunday, Holy Week and Easter services. Easter is the one time that I could blow the dust out of the pipes, rattle the windows and shake the floor and no one complained about the organ being too loud and when it comes to celebratory services like Easter I'm very liberal with the registrations and the full organ (Tutti) always got brought into the mix several times on Easter. Such fun.... there is just nothing on earth like the sound of fine pipe organ.

 

[randycmaynard]

Ment to add - for those who will ask........

I'm not playing this year - the last church I was at as organist I left a year ago. They wanted to go towards all contemporary P/W music and while you can get away with some things on the organ, most of the contempo stuff just does not work well with it. That church has not used their organ in a single service since last April 26th - the last weekend I played.

One thing about the southeast US these days is that most southern baptist churches (my background) are severly restricting the use of the organ and many are tossing them out along with their very talented organists. Only the "downtown" churches seem to stay the course on the organ and more traditional approch in worship services. Of course, when I began to realize that I didn't buy into everything baptist is when I began to be at odds with the leadership at my last church. I accept the core truths, the uncompromised gospel, but other things gave me issues and I prefer a more traditional, if not liturgical, approach to worship and other things.

Well, where did that come from? Didn't mean to wax irritated on the subject..... kinda got away from the recipe. Chasin them rabbits aginn - lol!

 

[lordkenmore]

"Also, I usually like to cook, and if I say so myself, I am a better than edible cook. Since I live alone, I don't find cooking for myself to be too appealing, it's nice to belong to a potluck crazed church."

I know how this works--I also live alone. It's hard to get the enthusiasm to cook just for myself. I've read of people (often women who've lost their husbands) who manage to cook a real dinner every night, served at a real table, even with a glass of wine. I've never managed to be this ambitious.

As I reread what I posted above, I probably sound a little cranky. Still, I figure one can't please everyone. For something like a potluck, I think I'd try to make something interesting, although not "too far out." Some people won't like it, but it's probably better than the boring "same old, same old." That's what I like about those recipes above--they should appeal to many, but it's not the boring "I've seen this 5 million times!" type of dish.

I remember seeing a Frugal Gourmet episode, where Jeff Smith said there was something he could not stand to eat. I think it was scalloped potatoes. He'd seen this particular dish show up once too often at church potlucks.

 

[lordkenmore]

Church changes

IMPORTANT NOTE, based on some hot threads here: This is observation about churches, not intended to set off a debate about religion!

I'm surprised at how dramatically churches have changed, tossing out "old fashioned stuff." I attended one service at a church in my area. The place is probably conservative--probably too conservative for me to go regularly. And yet, the place is so contemporary feeling. If I recall right, there was no organ. They had video projection. Etc, etc, etc. I was really surprised by it all.

I guess one can argue that one needs to do what one needs to do to appeal to a modern congregation. Particularly in this part of the country, which has one of the worst--if not the absolute worst--church attendance in the US.

I, myself, sort of mourn the passing of the old. I can understand the argument that old ways of doing things can "obscure" what's important. But done mindfully, they can be profound, and a way of better understanding that which is important.

 

[toggleswitch]

Interesting.

The view within my brand of Voo-doo (religion) is that one must be raised to the level of the sprituality/religion, not change the religion to bow down to the level of society/the masses.

We were taught MODERN AND BIBLICAL Greek to be able to read the New Testament in the original language and to understand the liturgy, whch is in the original Greek as it was nearly 2,000 years ago when it was written by Saint John Chrysostom(os) ("The Golden-Mouthed")

In English it loses something. Really. It does.

Whant most people don't understand (even Christians who beleive this stuff) is that Father, Son and Holy Spirit is symbolic/metaphorical for body, mind and spirit, all of which must work together to have a (well) functioning human being.

The differencee between religions are basically different interpretations, manifestations and celebrations of the laws of the universe. Not any one is superior to any other. No ONE belief system has a patent on "THE" truth.

http://www.ocf.org/OrthodoxPage/liturgy/liturgy.html

 

[maytagbear]

Anyway...

both are complete, covered, and in the fridge.

Now to shower again, and get dressed and ready.

The blog is on my list. Really, it is. I'm teaching myself about digital photography. I think I know how to write, and I know I know how to cook.

I did mean it, however, about other people's dishes.

Chicken at the Waldorf is in a Pyrex Sculptured, and the coleslaw is in a 50s square yellow Pyrex.

Best practise is not to transport in breakable containers, but it's not far, and my friend who is taking me is a careful driver.

Lawrence/Maytagbear

Said it before, but here is the link again:

Home - United Church of Christ

United in Spirit and inspired by God’s grace, we welcome all, love all, and seek justice for all. We are the United Church of Christ. Keep up with how God

ucc.org

 

[lordkenmore]

IMPORTANT NOTE: This is not intended to start that fight I mentioned earlier. It's simply to give my views, such as they are.

"The view within my brand of Voo-doo (religion) is that one must be raised to the level of the sprituality/religion, not change the religion to bow down to the level of society/the masses."

I agree.

Still, one can argue that one needs to appeal to the masses in order to serve them. One can also be cynical, and say that if one doesn't do this, attendance will drop, meaning lower collection plate revenues. (I, myself, am not that cynical--but the income is important for some things, like keeping the heat on in the church.)

"Not any one is superior to any other."

I think this is WRONG! At least, sort of. A given religion IS superior IF it provides a road of growth and understanding for a given person. Of course, the particular "superior religion" will vary person to person. It can even vary based on the point in someones life.

I remember one example. A certain religion--call it "Church X"--is heavily into ceremony. It always seemed to me that the ceremonies had a way of becoming all that mattered.

Then, one day, I was talking to a woman. A member of Church X. She was a nurses aid, worried about a dying patient, and she told me she was going to her church to do an appropriate ceremony for her patient.

The light flashed on. I realized that this church wouldn't work for me. But it did work for her. It gave her a way to understand.

Since that time, I've tried to be neutral about spritual paths other than my own. (Although, it can be hard when it comes to far out Christian conservatives who are insisted that their vision needs to dominate.)

 

[lordkenmore]

Lawrence--you do know how to write.

Photography isn't that hard. Moving the photos from the camera to the computer is pretty easy. The worst part is actually still what was bad with 35MM--the setup and care with taking the original photo.

Those serving dishes sound stunning. They may be more fragile, but they should be more appealing than the usual Tupperware serving piece.

Unless, of course, the Tupperware is a vintage piece in some outrageous color.