Potluck Dinners

How many grew up with/still do potluck dinners at church?

What was the one thing no potluck dinner was complete without?

At our church it was a dessert called Florence's Dessert. It was named after a minster's wife named - you guessed it - Florence. It was a cheesecake dessert with graham cracker crust and either blueberry or cherry topping. At least one person brought it to every dinner.

So, what about your potluk dinners?

All day singing and dinner on the grounds? I'd say meatloaf, deviled eggs and homemade baked beans......and homegrown tomatoes and watermelons during the summer!

Until recently our church membership was predominantly of Germans from Russia by heritage and a staple at our potlucks are german sausage and something that the locals call krautburgers or cabbageburgers. To anyone who has never had one, they don't sound very appetizing but they are really quite good. They consist if fresh cabbage and beef(usually ground but can be cubed) rolled up in a bread dough and baked. The first time I was offered one, I was a bit apprehensive but after trying one, I consider them a special treat.

Another special treat that those old Germans have is something they call grebble and it's a deep fried pastry a bit like a doughnut but not quite and it is superb.

Those are some of the things that I look forward to having at our potlucks.

This post has been edited by High Plains Drifter on 12-Jul-2004, 10:07 PM

The church I was raised in (Presbyterian) had family potluck suppers followed by square dancing in the fellowship hall. While all the food was great, as a child I was always waiting for the square dancing to start. With my uncle being the caller, my cousins and I knew all the steps!

Homemade Ice Cream!!!

On Sunday evening in the summertime, after the fried chicken, mashed potatoes and green beans. Hand-cranked (none of this new-fangled electrical stuff) and made with eggs (from my Aunt Ella's hens) and fresh cream (from my Aunt Stella's cow). The exact recipe is unknown to me, but I'm gonna pull out that old freezer tonight and make some. I can almost taste it now.

For an easy frozen treat try:

2-liter orange soda (1 bottle)
1 can Borden's Eagle Brand milk

Pour into ice cream freezer and freeze as usual. Quick and easy, tastes like a Dreamsicle.

This post has been edited by gtrplr on 15-Jul-2004, 01:37 PM

In our church one of the members used to have a huge U-pick berry farm. Every year we'd have services there followed by a big potluck. It was a yearly tradition that everyone looked forward to. They had a petting "zoo" with goats and rabbits and deer. They had a big hay bale maze. Lots of fun for all. Unfortunately, they sold the farm a few years ago, so now the potluck is at the church. It's okay, but just not the same atmosphere.

Our church being a small congregation of no more than 30 people, we usually had the summer get together at one of the minister's homes. Gave all of us a chance for fun in the pool as well as some really good barbeque. Felt more like a family gathering than a church social event since almost all the members were friends outside of church. Heck, one of the minister's and his son used to take me at least one weekend a month during summer to go skeet shooting with them. It was a full weekend thing with camping, fishing, and the shooting. I always enjoyed it and was pretty sad when it ended.

I remember going to my grandmother's Catholic service in her tiny hometown (population 400, and I'm related to over 50% ). afterwards there was always a celebration called gaudeamus afterwards where everyone went into the rec centre and ate large amounts of ice cream sundays. I doesn't get much better than that

Deviled eggs!! We'd all try to get some with pickles in them - those are the best, you know.

And banana pudding, the real kind with the gently browned merengue on top...

mmmmm good!

At our family Finnish Lutheran church, the only real staple were jello salads. Jello with fruit in it. Lemon jello with grated carrot it. There were at least a half dozen different jello salads at any dinner. After a funeral, there would be pot luck luncheon and sandwiches and jello salads.

I cannot remember our church ever having potluck dinners. I remember they used to have pancake brunches after the 11:00 Sunday Mass every six weeks or so. Also, they'd have special brunches, like father/son , mother/daughter once or twice a year. These days, however, most of the fundraising is done through the Market Day program. The Market Day web site can explain that program better than I can. Here's the URL:

www.Market Day.com