Feeding the Locusts

When my four dearest friends and our cumulative 24 children get together for tea
or a workday or a family “get-together”, we lovingly refer to our children as
“the locusts.”
It seems that no matter how much food we bring,
they manage to devour all of it before the end of the day.
I am always on the lookout for economical and yummy ways to feed a crowd,
and I am always delighted to share my findings.
This first one is from Nancy, she has made it with elk roast, or hamburger; I have used elk, deer and beef.
I prefer it done with roasts, but if you don’t have access to our economical elk and deer, hamburger is quite tasty too!!

McAninch Meat Filling

6 lbs. meat
I bunch celery
1 green pepper
3 medium onions
1 Tbsp. salt
1 tsp pepper
1 c. catsup
3 Tbsp bbq sauce
1 Tbsp Worchester
1 ½ c water
1 tsp chili powder

Cook all ingredients in a slow cooker, electric roaster, crock-pot, or larger covered dish at 325 degrees for 8 or more hours. Serve on hamburger buns. This smells incredible and tastes even better!! Feeds a lot of people, maybe 20 or so. Thanks Nancy!


Ham And Potato Crock Pot Dinner

I am not a real fan of canned creamed soups, so I usually make my own, but these days of pregnancy, with less energy and more to do, I have broken down and enjoyed the convenience. It is still wonderfully good, even to my finicky taste.

1 boneless ham, the precooked kind, sliced
20 medium potaotoes, peeled and sliced
4 onions, sliced
2 or 3 cups of grated chedder cheese
2 10 oz cans of cream of mushroom soup, or the equivalent homemade sauce
2 quarts green beans, drained

Layer ham, potato, onions, green beans in xl crock pot or roaster, or xl covered baking dish. Sprinkle cheese over, pour soup on top. Cook at 325 degrees, 6 hours or more. You could half this recipe if you are only feeding a dozen or so people, but I think this is good for around 20, and I will blame my pregnant brain for not remembering just how many.


No Fail Bread
This is a very simple recipe given to me by an older lady in our church. She says this was her mother’s recipe, which would date it in the early 1920’s. They are undoubtedly the best, most beautiful rolls I have ever had. My dear friend Tiffany has taken the risk out of bread baking by teaching me to sponge my dough. Since I started doing that, I have never had heavy, or “unrisen” bread.

4 cups very warm water
2 T. yeast
4 tsp salt
4 T. sugar
4 T. oil

Mix these together in a large bowl. Cover and let stand 10 minutes. This is sponging your yeast. The yeast will activate and get foamy. Add in 2 cups of flour at a time until you have used 10 cups of white flour. Knead for several minutes. Turn into a large greased bowl, cover with a light cloth, and let rise 45 minutes. Divide dough in half, then in half again, keep dividing in halves until you have 32 equal pieces. Use a little flour to dust the pieces and keep them from sticking to you. Shape into rolls and put on baking sheet, or, flatten each piece with the palm of your hand for a bun shape, then put on baking sheet. Cover with a light cloth, Let rise for another 45 minutes. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. I like to use ½ freshly ground whole wheat in my rolls. If you do this, the amount of flour will vary. Try adding one cup of white flour and then one cup of wheat flour, mix, and do this again until your dough is only slightly sticky. Adding too much flour will make your loaf heavy, so leave it on the sticky side. Bread is such a great, cheap way to make a meal go further, and nearly everyone loves homemade bread. For a children’s snack, we like to brush the almost done rolls with butter and sprinkle cinnamon-sugar over the tops. They will be gone before they cool. We did this for our Vacation Bible School snack for the last two years with no complaints. Kids just love homemade bread!

Enjoy!!!! Also, here are a couple of current pictures of the house. With our summer ministry schedule we haven't worked on the Lodge for about 1 1/2 months :-(