A Weekend of Cooking

Guess what I did this weekend? I cooked. And then I cooked some more. I think I spent 90% of the weekend in the kitchen. What’s even more surprising is I actually enjoyed the experience. Normally, I do like to cook, but I don’t like to spend HOURS in the kitchen. However, this turned out to be a fairly fun and therapeutic experience for me.

We had two big Thanksgiving events this weekend and both involved cooking something. The first event was hosted by my friend and her roommates. It was a potluck early Thanksgiving at their house. So I made two dishes for that – A corn and green bean casserole, and a pumpkin bar recipe I actually found via wordpress! Some bloggers really come up with great recipes. I could have made just one dish, but I felt ambitious.

That same day I also peeled, boiled, and mashed 15 lbs of garlic mashed potatoes for an early Thanksgiving dinner our church was hosting for people in the community the following day (Sunday).  It was a great event and such a blessing to be able to help serve in that way.

I enjoyed cooking for both events. However, cleaning up afterwards, not so much. I wish I had taken a picture of my kitchen. NIGHTMARE.

Corn and Green Bean Casserole

 

Creamy, Garlic, Mashed Potatoes

Pumpkin Bars

 

The only recipe I managed to screw up slightly were the pumpkin bars. My large glass dish was already in use, so I decided I would put it in my smaller dish and just trim the recipe down a little. The bars still tasted delicious, but they were just kind of mushy and messy since I crammed everything into a much smaller dish than I was supposed to. Oh well – 2 out of 3 aint bad .

 

Click here for the Pumpkin Bar recipe -
http://willowbirdbaking.wordpress.com/2011/10/02/easy-sopapilla-pumpkin-cheesecake-bars/

 

They are delicious!

 

I used Alton Brown’s Garlic Mashed Potato recipe. I will post my corn and green bean casserole recipe at a later date – that one is also to die for! It’s also one of the easiest things to make.

 

 

Also, if you are interested:
http://www.elementnj.org/
 - Element Church – We are a new church in North Brunswick, NJ. If you are looking for a church in the area, check them out. Also click on the website to see the Thanksgiving event as well as some of the other events coming up.