Oh my gosh guys, my weekend was so so so insane. I told you guys about all the million things I had going on and I’m happy to say I survived! I’m also happy it’s OVER!
My goal this week is to get all my Christmas shopping done and Christmas cards ordered so I can just sit back and enjoy the rest of the Christmas season. I want to spend some time sitting by the tree, listening to Christmas music, making Christmas treats, going on Christmas drives and enjoying some time with the kiddos. I love Christmas….just not the busy, hectic part of it all.
Anyway, I thought I would give you guys some “visuals” from my crazy weekend. My poor kitchen got killed and still hasn’t quite made it back to normalcy.
Just to recap, I was in charge of helping with the food for our church Christmas party Saturday night. We planned to have 300 people come! Crazy.
Even though it was a daunting task, I didn’t mind helping at all. One of the things I really love about our church is that everyone helps! There are always so many people willing to pitch in and help in any way; setting up, cooking, passing out flyers, decorating, entertainment, cleaning up, etc. I love it.
Soooo, I was more than happy to “take my turn” because so many others work so hard as well. I ended up cooking almost 40 pounds of roast beef (2 other people cooked the same amount of roast as well.)
Eeeewwww. That’s a lot of cow! I’m so sorry to all my vegetarian friends out there. Actually, I’m sorry to all y’all because this pic is pretty gross.
I cooked all the meat overnight in these roasting pans and it turned out so tender and flavorful!
I had Kev shred it all and it pretty much just fell apart….it was so tender!
I also made some Cheesy Potato casseroles as well.
We had a bunch of other people make these potatoes too, but I made a few pans so we would be sure to have enough! These potatoes are actually very popular in Utah and are often called “Funeral Potatoes”, lol.
It’s quite common in the LDS (aka Mormon) church for members to come together and make a nice dinner for a grieving family after a funeral. These potatoes are often served and that’s why people call them “Funeral Potatoes.” Needless to say, they can be served any time though! I will share the recipe in a minute.
I also made a couple desserts. We asked a bunch of people to bring desserts, but we wanted to make sure to have enough so I made a couple things as well. I made Scotcheroos and Seven Layer Bars.
I think it goes without saying that these treats are obviously NOT healthy, but they are the perfect thing to make for a large group of people. They are both very quick and and so easy to make!
I also made 200 homemade rolls (by choice!) and afterward I decided I was crazy.
I LOVE homemade rolls so much and wanted the Christmas dinner to be “special.” Store bought rolls are just not very yummy. 🙁
Anyway, here’s my crazy kitchen during the process….
In fact, I don’t think this picture does it justice. It was pretty nuts.
It was a great party though and everything turned out well. AND, it’s OVER! Oh, and FYI, we also served green salad and Jello salad, but I didn’t have to make any of that. 😉
Anyway, I thought I would share the recipe for “Funeral Potatoes” with you guys. There are a million and one different variations of this recipe, but this is how I make them.
Oh, and you CAN make these potatoes a little healthier. I will include healthier substitutions and options in parenthesis as well.
Funeral Potatoes
- 1 (2 pound) package frozen hash browns; thawed (you can boil and shred real potatoes if you prefer)
- 1/4 cup butter (you can cut this to 2 tablespoons for a healthier option)
- 1 (10.75 ounce) can cream of chicken soup (you can use my Cream of Chicken Soup Substitute recipe!)
- 1 (8 ounce) container sour cream (you can use light or fat free sour cream)
- 1/2 cup onions; chopped
- 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese (you can use light varieties of cheese)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- dash black pepper
- crushed cornflakes or Ritz crackers (can can omit this step altogether if you like!)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In large saucepan, melt butter over medium-low heat. Add onion and saute 3-5 minutes or until tender.
Add hash browns, soup and sour cream. Mix well.
Add cheese, salt and pepper. Mix well.
Place mixture in greased 9 x 13 pan. Top with cornflakes or crackers if desired.
Bake, covered, in preheated oven for 40 minutes.
This is really a yummy recipe! You can even add some ham to it and call it dinner. YUM!
Well, I gotta go clean up my thrashed house after this crazy weekend. Enjoy your Monday!
Holy Cooking Queen! Wow. That’s a lot of food and so very nice of you to offer to cook it all. 🙂 I just pinned those potatoes – yum!
It was kind of insane. I’ve always loved this potato recipe….I hope you enjoy it too! 😉
Wow — you did some serious cooking!!! I don’t think I’ve ever tried roasting beef to shred (I always do it in the crock pot).
I love those potatoes – we call them cheesey potatoes and my one concession to tryng to make them healthy is to use fat free sour cream!!
It was crazy and I don’t feel like cooking dinner ever again, lol! I know, it’s tough to make the cheesy potatoes healthy, but they are so yummy!
Any chance you’ll share the roast beef recipe, too? 😀
Sure! I will “officially” share it on my next blog post, but I’ll also tell you right now because it’s such a simple recipe. You just put a roast (I used rump roast) in an electric roasting pan, Crock Pot or roasting pan in the oven fat side up. Cover it about half way with water and then season it however you like. I used garlic salt and seasoning salt for the church party (had to keep it gluten free), but I’ve also used onion soup mix and other spices. I cook it overnight (usually put it in around 8:00 pm) at 250 degrees. Then, in the morning I turn up the oven to 350. If using a Crock Pot, I would just keep it on low the entire time. It’s ready to eat by morning, but I usually keep it cooking until late afternoon so it will be more tender. We either slice it or shred it and enjoy! Just make sure to check on it periodically to make sure the water doesn’t run out. If the water starts to get low, just add more. That’s all there is to it! Super simple.
Thanks! I have 18 people staying with us for the weekend and these two recipes will let me enjoy them… thx again.
Wow, 18 people!?? I hope you survive. 😉 Good luck!
You are a superwoman!
Thanks! I’m definitely feeling the effects of a crazy weekend today. I’m so worn out. 😉
Everything looks amazing and I can tell you put a ton of work into it. 200 homemade rolls – WOW! I don’t know that I have ever made 1 homemade roll. I grew up in a family that always bought them from the store so now I am guilty of doing the same.
Ya know, my homemade roll recipe is pretty simple, but just a little time consuming. I was definitely sick of making rolls after all of this, lol!
OMG that’s a lot of food!! lol I don’t know if I could’ve done all that #respect
It WAS a ton of food. I don’t know if I actually knew how big of a project I’d gotten myself into until it was all over! I just kept on pluggin’ away….somehow it worked out. 😉
I can’t believe you cooked 40 lbs of roast beef! That is insane! But also incredibly generous of you. Don’t you love slow cookers? I hope you get some time to relax and enjoy the season next weekend!
I KNOW!! I’ve definitely never had that much meat in my house at one time. I really do love slow cookers…they make life much simpler.
Amazing job Melanie! Everything looked great! We have our annual Christmas party at our house this weekend. I have already started setting up tables and freezing cookies, but I like everything to be as fresh as possible, so will spend the day (and night) before baking up a storm. We usually get about 90 peeps. It is crazy, but so fun! Enjoy your Christmas music and tree time now.
I hope your party goes well! 90 people is A LOT to host at your home. Wow. I hope you have a wonderful time!
Wow. Melanie girl you’re amazing!!!! Like, seriously, I would die of stress even attempting half that much food. I really don’t know how you did it all ….. Oh yeah, you’re superwoman! That’s a lot of work, I’m impressed! Those rolls…drooling 🙂
Ha ha ha, you’re so funny! It was quite stressful, but fortunately I didn’t realize how big of a deal it was until I was right smack in the middle of it! I’m so glad it’s over. 😉