Enrichment night details

I had the most amazing Enrichment night last week! You must forgive the details. I will post them here and you can take whatever portions of these details for your own. I am posting them as my own journal and for reference as I plan future Enrichment nights. I hope you enjoy! I certainly did!

Our dinner was a progressive dinner. If you’ve never been to one, it is where you rotate to different places (usually homes, but in this case, rooms) for each course of your meal. I decided to have 6 different rooms to make this possible. Instead of having a 6 course meal, I split the rooms in half so that there were two salad rooms, two appetizer rooms, and two entrée rooms. Then I assigned each room a theme. The themes came from the 6 objectives on the Relief Society’s web page. Here they are and here is the link!

Build faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and teach the doctrines of the kingdom
Emphasize the divine worth of each sister
Exercise charity and nurture those in need
Strengthen and protect families
Serve and support each sister
Help sisters become full participants in the blessings of the priesthood

I asked 6 very talented sisters in our ward to each decorate a room and table according to the provided theme. They did an amazing job! This was no easy task with our white cinderblock walls and plastic chairs. They hung curtains and wreaths, posted quotes on the wall and pictures of the Savior. Several of them picked one particular color and created the whole room that color. Some had their room lights dimmed and lit with the soft light of white Christmas lights. Some had toole on the walls and on the chairs. Many of them also had some small gift they gave each sister to remember the theme in that room by. I overheard one sister say she could hardly tell she was in the church building. It felt more like she was walking into someone’s home!

We began ON TIME with a song and prayer in the Relief Society room. We all came in Sunday dress. This was so delightful because we usually meet in the gym, but the RS room is cozy with padded chairs and the Spirit is always there. As I led the music during the opening song, there were sisters who were crying. I could tell this was going to be a very special night.

When each sister arrived, they received a dinner card from Melissa. The front of the card had a short bio on one of the 14 presidents of the Relief Society. The inside of the card listed the room and food assignments for the evening. Our objective was to stir things up a bit. Unless a young woman came with her mother, no two sisters were to have sat in the same room together the whole night. Melissa went to a LOT of work to make these cards work and I was so impressed with how it all flowed so nicely.

The sisters who decorated their rooms were given the title of “Hostess”. I asked them to remain in their rooms the duration of the evening so they could serve the sisters who came to their room. Since these sisters went to so much work to bring special items from home, we were concerned about things getting touched or broken. Having the hostess stay in the room solved that.

To add another element to the evening, I asked 6 more women if they would play the role of “Discussion Table Leaders”. They knew the 6 themes a head of time and as they visited the rooms in their dinner card, they would lead the sisters in that room in a spiritual discussion about that specific topic. I asked these sisters to come spiritually prepared, to pray about their assignment and to seek for inspiration as they led the table discussions. The purpose for this was two fold. 1) to bring the spirit into the evening and 2) to prepare us spiritually for the keynote speaker at the end.

With 3 courses being served, that meant we had 3, twenty minute rounds where the sisters would eat, discuss and mingle in their assigned rooms. The only complicated portion of the whole evening was the fact that I had asked each Hostess sister to stay in her decorated room. With all the work they went to to decorate their room and serve the sisters, it wouldn’t be right to ask them to eat only what was being served in their particular room! So, I delivered the other portions of the meal to each of them with each new round. I was also the “1 minute alarm’ and “dinner bell”. In our U-shaped church building, this meant I got some great exercise that night!
After the 3 rounds of food rotations, the sisters all met back in the Relief Society room for our keynote speaker, Sister Sherrie Downs! She was bright, cheerful, and funny. She had a wonderful wisdom about her and gave us a spiritual feast far greater than the food we had just partaken of. I am sure we could have stayed and listened to her all night long! When I stood to close the evening with a song and prayer, I found again tears on the cheeks of many of the sisters. I knew there were many sisters there that night who were in need of this special night. It was my main driving force behind all I did. The adversary played a heavy role through the weeks leading up to this evening, but as I saw smiles and tears and heard remarks afterwards, I felt the Lord’s influence and knew He was in charge.

To finish off the evening, we gathered in the lobby for more mingling and cheese cake! This gave us all an opportunity to visit with those whom we had not yet seen and to share our experiences with each other.

When all was cleaned up, put back, and everyone had gone home, Tracie mopped the kitchen floor while I sat and ate some dinner. We talked about how things went and she said her only bit of criticism was that she felt like she didn’t get enough time in each room. I agreed.

Planning an evening like this doesn’t go without using all your faculties and resources. It took me an hour to fill all 7 crock pots with food and 30 minutes to load my car just to get to the church. I smiled as I pulled out my platters and large bowls. I hadn’t used some of them since I was Enrichment leader in Kirksville 3-4 years ago! When it was time to lock up, I got in my car to drive home and noticed it was 10:30pm. Since I had thrown my back out earlier that week, by this point I pretty much couldn’t walk any more. But my car was full of stuff, so I grabbed my cell phone to call Derek hoping he hadn’t gone to bed yet. He was on the treadmill and said he was waiting for me. I knew before I pulled into the garage that he had already cleaned up the BBQ sauce that was spilled all over the countertops and dining room table. That the pinto beans, Jenga blocks and other various small toys my children had spilled all over my living room floor were no longer there and the dishes that had completely filled both sinks and every inch of countertop were washed and put away. Derek is just like that. He brought the kids home from the church, fed them, played with them, put them to bed. Then he cleaned the kitchen, dining room and living room. When I pulled in, he unloaded my car, put away all the food, and served me a plate of cheesecake. He grabbed two chairs in the dining room and sat down next to me as if the night was young and he had all the time in the world. “Tell me all about it Emily. How did everything go?”

The secret to the success of this night was the many hands. 6 talented women decorated rooms. 6 spirtual women lead discussions. (Their rolls could have easily been reversed.) There were at least 6 women who helped behind the scenes. And there was inspiration. It was all wonderful!

Now for the menu!

Because the meal was being served in so many different rooms throughout the church, I wanted nothing to do with carting food around or trying to keep it warm. So, that is why I picked food I could make in crock pots. That way the food stayed warm and in each assigned room with no carting!

In the Salad rooms, we had a delightful green salad. I made it up and Melissa threw it together. So here is what was in it:

Salad
Baby spring mix lettuce
Baby spinach
Strawberries
Cherry tomatoes
Craisins
Sunflower seeds

Salad Dressings were:
Ken's Stake House Lite Raspberry Walnut Vinaigrette
Ken's Stake House Buttermilk Ranch

For the Appetizer Rooms we did a Bread Pot Fondue. I used Sourdough bread loaves for the “pot” with a platter of bread pieces, baby carrots and broccoli for dipping. Holly made the fondue and it turned out fabulous! I don’t know what kind of alterations she made to the recipe, but she did have to significantly increase proportions. I found this recipe on Allrecipes.com. The instructions tell you to put the ingredients in the bread bowl, then put it in the oven for an hour. One reviewer mentioned that hers never heated through in the cooking hour and another suggested cooking the fondue on the stove first, then putting it in the bread bowl. With the nature of this event being so time sensitive and cooking for so many people, I opted to take the reviewer’s advice and asked Holly to cook it on the stove, then transfer it to the two crock pots so we wouldn’t be sweating any disasters! I couldn’t thank Holly enough for her willingness to cook this. It was delicious and everything turned out perfectly! Here is the recipe straight from Allrecipes.com!


Bread Pot Fondue
1 (1 pound) loaf round bread
1 (8 ounce) package shredded Cheddar cheese
2 (3 ounce) packages cream cheese
1 1/2 cups sour cream
1 cup cooked ham, diced
1/2 cup chopped green onions
1 (4 ounce) can diced green chile peppers
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon butter, melted

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Cut a circle in the top of the bread. Remove top, and set aside. Hollow out the loaf, reserving removed bread for dipping.
In a medium bowl, mix the Cheddar cheese, cream cheese, sour cream, ham, green onions, green chile peppers, and Worcestershire sauce. Spoon into the bread bowl, and replace the top. Wrap loaf tightly in foil, and place on a baking sheet.
Bake until cheese is melted and bubbly, about 1 hour.
Meanwhile, cut reserved bread into small pieces. Toss with oil and melted butter, and place on the baking sheet. Toast in oven until golden brown, about 10 to 15 minutes.

For the Entrée Rooms I used my Father-in-law’s prized Dutch oven recipe, (well, if it isn’t prized yet, it is after this event! I got rave reviews about the ribs.) baked potatoes, and orange-glazed carrots.

Country Style Ribs
I planned for ½ pound per person. You can buy these at Costco and Sam’s Club for between $1.68 and $1.99/lb. They usually come in a package of about 7 strips for about 7-8 lbs. That means one package can feed generously 14-15 people.

The BBQ sauce is:
1 part of one kind of BBQ sauce (I used KC Masterpiece)
1 part of a second kind of BBQ sauce (I used GV honey BBQ sauce)
1 part apple sauce (I used GV apple sauce, plain)

My mother-in-law said just pick what ever kind you have on hand or like. The idea is to mix flavors a little. When I was buying BBQ sauce, I could see by all the different kinds on the shelves that you could really have a lot of fun with this recipe.

Slow cook for 7 hours on low. (I don’t recommend putting all 7-8lbs of meat in one crock pot. I am still apologizing profusely for the messy crock pots that had BBQ drippings all down the fronts of them.)

Lynn washed, wrapped and cooked all 50 potatoes for me. She put them in Tracie’s roasting pan and set it on warm. I am forever grateful for her willingness to help! We hand maybe 10 potatoes left over which was great! I also had sour cream and butter on the tables along with salt and pepper!

For the carrots, I had the vision of orange-glazed carrots, but have never made them. I knew they would compliment the ribs nicely and would crock-pot well, but didn’t quite take the time to put much thought into it until the morning of. I found several crock pot recipes on the internet and finally settled on one again from Allrecipes.com. Because I was planning on 48 people, I significantly changed the recipe. So, here is what Allrecipes.com had:

Marmalade-Glazed Carrots

Ingredients
2 pounds baby carrots
1/2 cup orange marmalade
3 tablespoons cold water, divided
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon butter, melted
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1 tablespoon cornstarch

Directions:

In a 3-qt. slow cooker, combine the carrots, marmalade, 1 tablespoon water, brown sugar, butter and seasonings. Cover and cook on low for 5-6 hours or until carrots are tender.
Combine cornstarch and remaining water until smooth; stir into carrot mixture. Cover and cook on high for 30 minutes or until thickened. Serve with a slotted spoon.
I didn’t have any orange marmalade, but had purchased some orange juice concentrate. I also didn’t want to get into a lot of spices, but hoped to keep things simple. So, here is my recipe! You can alter it how you like to feed your own masses, little or big. I don’t think I have ever prayed so profoundly over food before! I definitely didn’t want soggy carrots, yet was nervous putting so many carrots in each crock pot. In the end, they turned out A dente and savory. Just as I had hoped!

Orange-Glazed Crock Pot Carrots (Emily Style!)

Ingredients

2 – 5lb bags of carrots divided into 3 medium crock pots set on low. This meant each crock pot was about 2/3 full.
3 sticks of butter melted
1 ½ cup water
1 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon pepper (or less!)
1 can of orange juice concentrate
Cinnamon to taste
½ cup cold water and 2 T cornstarch mixed

Directions:

Mix butter, water, brown sugar, salt, pepper and orange juice well, spoon over carrots. Lightly dust carrots with cinnamon. Cook on low in crock pot for 7 hours, stirring once or twice. The sugar in the glaze will pull out the liquid in the carrots so you will end up with a lot more liquid in the carrots. Just before serving, pour in the cornstarch mixture to thicken the sauce.

I chose 4 different cheese cakes for desert. Lisa was kind enough to make one of them for me at the last minute since they can be a bit time consuming. 2 were fruit based and 2 were chocolate based. Next time, I think I will do 3 cheese cakes instead of 4 and make 2 chocolate and 1 fruit.

Brownie Swirl Cheesecake

1 8oz package brownie mix
Grease bottom of 9-inch springform pan. Prepare basic brownie mix as directed on package; pour batter evenly into springform pan. Bake at 350 degrees, 15 minutes. (I couldn’t find an 8-oz package, so I made a 19oz one and used a little more than half of it on a 10-inch springform pan. I baked it for 20 minutes instead.)
2 8oz packages cream cheese softened
½ cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
1 cup milk chocolate pieces, melted

Combine cream cheese, sugar and vanilla, mixing at medium speed on electric mixer until well blended. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Pour over brownie layer. Spoon melted chocolate over cream cheese mixture; cut through batter with knife several times for marble effect. Bake at 350 degrees 35 minutes. Loosen cake from rim of pan; cool before removing rim of pan. Chill. Garnish with whipped cream and maraschino cherries, if desired.

10-12 servings.

Because I made this in the 10-inch springform pan, I 1 ½-ed the recipe and baked it 45 minutes instead of the 35. When I dropped the melted chocolate and began to marble, by the time I was done marbling, the chocolate sunk to the bottom and did not disperse as much as I would have liked. If I were to do this again, I might add a little butter to my melted chocolate and warm it a bit longer to liquefy it better for marbling. I never got a taste of this one, it went like hotcakes, I’m assuming it was good.

Amaretto Peach Cheesecake

3 T butter
1/3 cup sugar
¾ cup flour

Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Blend in egg. Add flour; mix well. Spread dough onto bottom of 9-inch springform pan. Bake at 450 degrees, 10 minutes.

3 8oz packages cream cheese, softened
¾ cup sugar
3 T flour
3 eggs
1 16oz can peaches drained, pureed
¼ cup almond flavor liqueur

Combine cream cheese, sugar and flour, mixing at medium speed on electric mixer until well blended. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add peaches and liqueur; mix well. Pour over crust. Bake at 450 degrees, 10 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 250 degrees; continue baking 1 hour and 5 minutes. Loosen cake from rim of pan; cool before removing rim of pan. Chill. Carnish with toasted almond slices and additional peach slices, if desired.

10-12 servings.

I did not have almond flavor liqueur, so I googled it and finally decided to go with a heaping 1 to 1 ½ teaspoons of almond extract. I thought it was delightful, though it had a hard time competing with the chocolate cheesecakes! I shared some with my neighbors and they loved it. I also didn’t notice the part about draining the peaches, so I did add some liquid when I pureed them. I think the liquid helped because it turned out very moist. I really liked this one and would definitely make it again!

Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake

1 ½ cups (about 18) Oreo cookies (excluding the cream centers)
2 T butter, melted

Combine crumbs and butter; press into bottom of 9-inch springform pan.

4 8oz. packages cream cheese
1 ¼ cups sugar
3 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 6oz package semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted
1/3 cup strained red raspberry preserves

Combine 3 packages cream cheese and sugar, mixing at medium speed on electric mixer until well blended. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well until blended. Blend in sour cream and vanilla; pour over crust. Combine remaining package cream cheese and melted chocolate, mixing at medium speed on electric mixer until well blended. Add preserves; mix well. Drop rounded measuring tablespoonfuls of chocolate cream cheese batter over plain cream cheese batter; do not swirl. Bake at 325 degrees, 1 hour 20 minutes. Loosen cake from rim of pan; cool before removing rim of pan.

1 6oz package semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted
¼ cup whipping cream

Melt chocolate pieces with whipping cream over low heat, stirring until smooth. Spread over cheesecake. Chill. Garnish with additional whipped cream, raspberries and fresh mint, if desired.

10-12 servings.

The only change I made to this recipe was to more than double the amount of raspberry preserves I added. I tasted it with just the 1/3 cup and the chocolate was overpowering. I really wanted the raspberry to stand out and doubling it did the job. Also, I buy the cannery’s raspberry jam which comes WITHOUT the seeds, so I didn’t have to do any draining! Sweet!


Lattice Cheery Cheesecake

1 20oz package Pillsbury’s Best Refrigerated Sugar Cookies

Slice dough into 1/8-inch slices. Arrange slices, slightly overlapping, on bottom and sides of greased 9-inch springform pan. With lightly floured fingers, seal edges to form crust.

2 8oz packages cream cheese, softened
1 cup sour cream
¾ cup sugar
¼ teaspoon almond extract
3 eggs
1 21oz can cherry pie filling

Combine cream cheese, sour cream, sugar and extract, mixing at medium speed on electric mixer until well blended. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Reserve ¼ cup batter; chill. Pour remaining batter over crust. Bake at 350 degrees, 1 hour and 10 minutes. Increase oven temperature to 450 degrees. Spoon pie filling over cheesecake. Spoon reserved batter over pie filling in criss-cross pattern to form lattice design. Bake at 450 degrees, 10 minutes. Loosen cake from rim of pan; cool before removing rim of pan. Chill.

10-12 servings.

Lisa did an amazing job on this cheesecake! She opted for a graham cracker crust instead of the sugar cookie (a great choice). Any other changes, she will have to post! I got to sample some of this one and it was delicious! Thank you Lisa!