Recipes From the Relief Society Broadcast Dinner

Jeannie's Strawberry Cake

Cake:
Mix one package Pillsbury yellow cake mix according to package directions.  Bake using the guidelines for your pan size (Lasagna pan size is best, measuring 10-1/2 X 14-3/4 inches.

Cream Topping:
One pint whipping cream, very chilled
One 8 oz package cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup powdered sugar
Just whip this all together and chill.  I promise, it will work!

Fruit Topping:
Mix one package Danish Dessert - strawberry flavored - according to directions on box for pudding.
Rinse, hull and slice 1 pint fresh strawberries.

Assembling it all:
Spread cream topping on cooled cake.  Arrange sliced strawberries over top of cream filling.  Carefully spoon, then spread cooled Danish Dessert over the top.  Chill until serving time.


Chicken Gravy

1 quart chicken broth (no salt added)
1/4 cup butter
5 Tblsp flour
1/8 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp salt
4 oz cream cheese

Melt butter in large skillet over medium high heat.  Add flour, salt, garlic powder and thyme.  Whisk until flour is lightly browned.  Pour in the stock and whisk until thickened.  A general rule of thumb is that when the gravy comes to a boil it has thickened as much as it's going to.  Reduce heat to low.  Add the cream cheese and let it soften, still gently whisking the gravy.  When cream cheese is fully melted, whisk more vigorously to combine well.  Serve hot.


Sweet and Sour Sauce - mild

I used Emeril Lagasse's recipe for Sweet and Sour Sauce.  You can find the recipe here.  It's a little over halfway down the page.  The only modification is I left out the chili-garlic sauce so it would be mild.  If you like it hot, do add that.  :)


Thai Spicy Sweet and Sour Sauce

1 cup rice (or white) vinegar
1 cup sugar
2 Tbsp soy sauce
1/4 tsp salt
2 Tbsp chili-garlic sauce
1 Tbsp chopped garlic

Heat the vinegar and sugar in a saucepan on high heat for 3-4 minutes, until the sugar dissolves.  Add soy sauce and salt and stir.  Continue cooking at moderately high heat for 10 minutes, until the sauce thickens somewhat.  Remove from the heat*.  Add chili-garlic sauce and the garlic.  Stir to blend and let cool.  Serve.

*I actually cooked my sauce for a minute or two after I added the chili-garlic sauce and the garlic.  This tempered that hot, raw garlic taste a bit. 


Thai Peanut Sauce

5 oz roasted unsalted peanuts
4 cups unsweetened coconut milk
2 Tblsp red curry paste
2 Tblsp sugar
3 Tblsp lemon juice
3 tsp fish sauce

Blend or process the peanuts until they are fine meal.  Reserve.

Heat half the coconut milk in a saucepan at high heat and add the red curry paste.  Stir to dissolve and continue cooking at high heat for 10-12 minutes, until the oil from the coconut has risen to the surface.

Lower the heat to medium-high and add processed peanuts.  Stir and add the rest of the coconut milk.  Bring to bubbling boil.  Lower heat to medium and add sugar, lemon juice, and fish sauce.  Cook stirring occasionally for 15-20 minutes, until the sauce has thickened somewhat and the oil has returned to the surface.

Take off the heat and let rest for a half hour.  Stir to blend oil that has risen to the surface.  It should be the consistency of thick cream.  If thicker than that, add a cuople of tablespoons of water or coconut milk and blend.

The sauce can be served lukewarm or reheated to piping hot.  Leftover sauce can be refrigerated (where it will solidify) and then reheated on a low heat, thinned down with some water or coconut milk.  It can also be frozen and reheated another day the same way.

General Relief Society Broadcast

The General Relief Society Broadcast is September 24, 2011, at 6 p.m.  You can watch it on the BYU channel or come to the church and watch the satelite broadcast with your sisters.  If you come to the Billings East Stake Center (1640 Broadmoor Dr.), we will have a delicious dinner at 5 p.m. and the broadcast at 6.  Hope to see you there!

See complete information about the broadcast here.

General Relief Society Broadcast and Ladies Night Out

On September 25th, we met at the Stake Center for the General Relief Society Broadcast, with a light dinner before the broadcast.

If you missed the broadcast, you can view it here, download MP3 files, or print out the talks to read.

It was very girly, with lots of pink organza, finger sandwiches, fresh fruit salad and tomato bisque soup.

The cupcakes were so pretty we used them for center pieces. It was the most delicious center piece ever! The cake stands were made from "orphaned" decorative plates, teacups, stemware and bowls. Here's a tutorial on how to make them.

Brother Lent, our audiovisual specialist, was an honorary guest at the dinner. Thanks for all you do, Brother Lent!

We had a great time chatting during the meal...

and catching up with our friends throughout the Stake.

It was great to see so many sisters there.

We hope to see you all again next year!

Triathlon

On Friday, August 20th several women in our stake, along with some of their friends, gathered for our FIRST annual "Wild Woman Triathlon". Ranee Berg (Hilltop) and Brenda Snizek (Skyview) organized it, figured out the course, put it together.

Can you believe how many amazing women participated?

There were also plenty of family members there to cheer everyone on.

Everyone met at Lake Elmo for the first leg of the triathlon. Friday was an extremely
hot day--temperatures were near 100. Lake Elmo was pretty warm, too.

The swim was about 400 yards.

Can you see the boats? They held members of the stake there to help swimmers stay on course, rescue swimmers, or give help to any women who needed it. You will be glad to know no one needed rescuing-- everyone made it out of the lake alive!

When the sisters got out of the water, their bikes were waiting for the next part.

Off they went--they left Lake Elmo, crossed Main, and joined the bike trail on Mary Street.

There were all kinds of bikes-from professional road bikes to more ordinary everyday bikes, and there were all levels of skill among the bike riders.

The biking segment was just short of 16 miles long. Wow!

The trail crosses Wicks Lane and eventually leads back to Lake Elmo.

Next was running.

The women ran 2+ times around Lake Elmo.

By now these sisters had been swimming, biking, and moving for well over an hour in the hot sun.

Our sisters are really tough!

The running part of the triathlon was about 3.1 miles.

It was pretty exciting to see our sisters finish the triathlon!

We want to make this triathlon a yearly event. Come join us, you've got a whole year to prepare!

If you don't feel you can do the entire triathlon, come next year and do the parts you want to. You can do one leg of the triathlon, two legs, or parts of each if you don't think you can do it all. It was lots of fun and a great feeling of achievement for those who took part.

Salsa Recipe #2

Another Salsa Recipe! This one is by Robbin Stott.

Green Tomato Relish
12 Large green tomatoes
12 large tart apples
7 large onions
6 cups white sugar
5 cups vinegar
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon pepper
1 table spoon allspice
1/2 tablespoon cloves
2 tblespoons cinnamon

Chop and shred tomatoes. Add 1 tablespoon salt, and soak overnight.
Drain. Add chopped and shredded apples, chopped and shredded onions, sugar, vinegar, pepper, allspice, cloves, and cinnamon.
Cook until done, approximately 60 minutes.
Seal hot. Makes about 12 pints.

Salsa Recipe

A big THANK-YOU to all our presenters at last Saturdays Relief Society Activity. I learned something from each one of them And thank-you to all of you who attended. Sisters came from Forsyth and Hardin as well as our in-town units. And thank-you to those sisters who made salsa for our tasters table. I'm working on posting the recipes for you but right now have just one. It was made by Cheri Johnson and is Yummy! Thank you Cheri for sharing with us.

FRESH SALSA

Cheri Johnson

2 Cans diced tomatoes or equivalent amount of fresh tomatoes

2 Green Peppers chopped

1 Red Pepper chopped

2 Medium size sweet onion chopped

2 Jalapeno's chopped

1 bunch Cilantro chopped

2 Cups corn, frozen, canned or fresh

Chopped garlic to taste

Salt to taste

Ingredients can be as large or small as you want. If you want the salsa hotter leave the seeds in the jalapeno's. Combine all the ingredients and season to taste. It is best if it is refrigerated overnight or at least several hours.

A quick reminder! We will be tying quilts for Hearts and Hands this thursday, 6-9pm at the stake center. Bring a pot luck food item if you like, your friends and family and join us.

"All is Safely Gathered In"

We've waited all summer, survived hail storms and a tornado! Finally we are seeing the fruits of our labors. Which for me means a few peas, lettuce, beans appearing as if by magic and the first ripe red tomatoes. Now the work begins anew as we gather and preserve our gardens bounty.

This coming Saturday, August 7th is the Stake Relief Society Harvest Seminar. It starts at 10am at the Stake Center. We are going to meet in the multi-purpose room next to the kitchen. Some of the best gardeners and people in the know will be presenting ideas on harvesting and preserving your garden produce. Bring a paper and pencil and your questions and join us for an opportunity to learn from the "experts."