Entertaining with a Joyful Spirit

What a delight it is to travel the country and be in many of your homes. I have thoroughly enjoyed being in many lovely homes. By lovely I mean any combination of beautiful, welcoming, accommodating, restful... I could go on because my heart is full! All this traveling and being the "guest" tends to make me homesick after awhile, though. I have always had the mindset that in entertaining, you try to return the favor within a short amount of time. So, if we have been blessed to be in your home, consider this an official invitation to come to ours, and let us serve you!

Well, we are home right now for a short period of time, and our church is in revival. I have always loved entertaining in the parsonage, and if my daughters are happy to let the Lord lead them into the ministry partly because they share my love for serving, I will be so grateful! However, now that we are filling a layman's role in our home church, I have a unique opportunity to pass along to them something of what my mother passed along to me. Mom was an awesome friend to the pastor's wife. She was and is a tremendous mentor to me in the art of hospitality as a layman. Part of this is entertaining the pastor and family and the evangelist during revival. I rounded up my girls, and we got to work putting on a spread. I would like to share some of our dishes with you~~

Banana Apple Bread

This recipe came from a church cookbook my sister-in-law gave me. It must have come from a sweet grandmother because the ingredients are not listed in the typical order, and it just says, "Mix all together and bake for about an hour." I just like to imagine that I learned this one at my grandma's counter!

Classic Salad

Betty Crocker is my new best friend! {smile} This is the alternative recipe on a Suddenly Salad mix. I picked what veggies I wanted to add, changed up the dressing according to the directions, and it turned out sooo yummy!

Cube Steak Casserole

My husband loves to hunt, and a wonderful side benefit to that is a freezer full of venison cube steak! For years, I fixed it breaded and fried, then I breaded it with fish fry mix, then I tried breading it with flour, then I varied the recipe and fried it with... I'll stop there! I was in a bad rut! Well, just a few little clicks on the computer that sent me to cooks.com gave me a whole new lease on life with this delicious steak! I marinated it in an A-1 marinating sauce, layered it in the bottom of the dish, put onions on the meat, sliced potatoes on top of that and smothered it in cream of mushroom soup. Covered it tightly with foil and baked it @ 350 for 1 1/2 hours. So basic, but my family loves it! They lick the dish clean!!

We also had veggies and rolls, and I made peachy delight for dessert. The girls were very involved in the preparation, and we had so much fun.

Well, that's a little peek into my day/evening. Planning and preparing for company and the evening meal is so enjoyable to me. I'm looking forward to the opportunity to have you in my home!!

(By the way, our evangelist is Rev. Tony Ross. His message is still so fresh and powerful! We were honored to have them and the Jones's in our home today.)