Feeding a Crowd

One of the things I love about small towns

is the loving care that pours forth at the death of a community member.

  On such occasions, the ladies bring their best salads for a dinner after the memorial service,

where the family and friends may gather. 

My grandma was famous for bringing her baked beans to funeral dinners. 

She did make great beans, and I would have loved to keep the tradition,

but that spot was already taken in our community,

so I looked for an original salad to feed a crowd. 

I wanted something special,

something that would not be duplicated, 

so I choose a bread and crab salad that a friend brought to a wedding years ago. 

I have never run across this kind of salad anywhere else.  

While putting it together this morning, I thought it would be a good recipe to share.

  It is not for the careful eater,

as it is scrumptuously loaded with fat.

BREAD CRAB SALAD

2 loaves bread, cubed

3 cups butter, elted
12 hard boiled eggs, chopped
2 c. chopped onions
2 lbs. imitation crab
2 jars mayonaise
salt and pepper to taste
dash of tabasco
In a large bowl, pour butter over cubed bread.  Stir to coat.  Add eggs and onions. Stir well. Cover and chill overnight.
Mix in chopped crab and mayo.  Season to taste with salt and pepper and tabasco.
This makes a huge salad, and, there are NEVER any leftovers.  :-)

 

Grandma's Baked Beans

2 large cans baked beans, drained
1 small onion chopped
1 (14 oz.) can pineapple chunks
1/4 c. mustard
1/2 c. molasses
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. catsup
3 TBSP butter

Saute onions in butter.  Add to beans in a casserole dish.  Stir in pineapple with about half the juice.  Combine other ingredients and stir into bean mixture.  Bake at 325 about 2 hours.

People said these were the best beans around for miles. 

Grandma's faithful contributions to community gatherings has left an impression on me. 

She was a good neighbor, 

and I am sure much love and tears went into her pot of beans

as she prepared them for the grieving family.

  She didn't stop there though, 

often times, she was the very one who was caring for the ailing person before they passed. 

For years she was the one who organized the dinners. 

Her Christian care and concern went beyond a sympathy card

to being that hands and feet of Jesus to the hurting around her.  

She probably never thought she was leaving a legacy,

or making impressions on a freckled granddaughter. 

She just lived the way she thought she ought,

and in passing,

left big footprints to follow.