Valley Women's Encouragement Conference

Thank you for all the kind comments about the meals. I promised some recipes, and since I can’t remember which ones in particular were requested, here’s all of them.

~Charmin

 

Best Cheese Ball, from Company’s Coming Appetizers

• 2 x 8 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
• 2 cups shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
• 2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tsp. onion flakes
• 1 tsp. lemon juice
• ⅛ tsp. cayenne pepper
• ⅛ tsp. salt
• Pecans or walnuts, finely chopped*

Measure first 7 ingredients into bowl. Mash and mix together. Shape into ball. Roll in nuts. Put cocktail knives and crackers nearby so guests can dig right in. Leftovers may be reshaped rewrapped and frozen if not going to be used within a week. Makes about 3¼ cups.

*For the conference, I rolled the ball lightly in a mixture of paprika and dried parsley instead.

 

Dilly Dip, from Company’s Coming Appetizers

• 1 cup mayonnaise (Hellmann’s!)
• 1 cup sour cream
• 2 tsp. dry onion flakes
• 2 tsp. dry parsley flakes
• 2 tsp. dry dill weed
• 1 tsp. seasoned salt (Hy’s!)

Mix all ingredients in bowl. Chill. Serve with potato chips, broccoli, cauliflower, mushrooms, celery sticks, carrot sticks, bread sticks, radish, cherry tomatoes, green pepper slices and any other vegetable you can think of. Makes 2 cups.

 

Picnic Potato Salad, from an old Purity Cookbook

• 1½ cups mayonnaise (Hellmann’s!)
• 3 tbsp. sweet pickle juice (I use the brine from the dill pickles)
• 1 tbsp. prepared mustard
• 2 tsp. salt (I start with one and add more to taste)
• Pinch pepper
• 8 cups cubed cooked potatoes
• 1½ cups thinly sliced celery
• ½ cup chopped green onion
• ¼ cup thinly sliced radishes
• ¼ cup chopped dill pickles
• 2 hard cooked eggs, chopped (original recipe says 4)

In small bowl combine mayo, pickle juice, mustard, salt and pepper. Set aside. In large bowl combine vegetables, pickles and eggs. Pour dressing over and toss gently. Season to taste. Chill at least three hours.

In case you’re wondering, a triple batch uses 10lb potatoes and fills a punch bowl!

 

Grammie Matheson’s Apple Pudding, family recipe from St. George, New Brunswick

• ½ cup white sugar
• ¾ cup flour
• 1½ tsp. baking powder
• ⅓ c. milk
• 1 cup sliced apples
• 1¼ cups hot water
• ½ cup brown sugar
• 1 tbsp. butter
• 1 tsp. vanilla

Mix together white sugar, flour, baking powder, milk and apples. Put in 1 quart casserole. Mix hot water, brown sugar, butter and vanilla together and pour over batter. Do not stir. Bake at 350°F for 50 minutes.

This works well with other fruits – try your favourite!

 

Gluten-Free Apple Crisp

https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/2014/11/14/gluten-free-apple-crisp/print/

 

Overnight Oats

https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/overnight-maple-oatmeal/

 

Gluten-Free Raspberry Oatmeal Muffins, from Gluten-Free Baking by Kristine Kidd

For the conference, I used blueberries instead of raspberries, and I skipped the initial browning of the oats. I often substitute millet flour for almond meal. I leave the nuts out of the topping and use cinnamon in place of cardamom.

 

 

Pumpkin-Date-Walnut Bread, from Gluten-Free Baking by Kristine Kidd

I often substitute cornstarch for potato starch, and didn’t add walnuts for the conference.

 

 

Sally Clarkson’s Heavenly Oatmeal Muffins, from The Lifegiving Table

When I add a cup of raisins or chocolate chips or fruit, this easily makes 24 muffins instead of 12 as the recipe says.

 

Wild Blueberry-Buttermilk Muffins and Pumpkin-Pecan Muffins, from Rise & Dine Canada

 

Sunshine Muffins and Apple Pie Muffins, from an old Berwick School fundraiser cookbook

 

The apple pie muffins are small, so I mixed up 1 1/2 batches to make the 24 muffins served at the conference.

 

Ted Reader’s Memphis-Style Creamy Coleslaw

I leave the onions and pepper out and reduce the mustard powder to ½ tsp. I don’t know if Memphis cabbages are smaller than ours, but I usually end up doubling the dressing ingredients.

 

Easy Slow Cooker Pulled Pork

Coat a boneless pork loin with lots of taco seasoning. If you have time, wrap it up and let it sit in the fridge overnight. I’ve been trying homemade mix recipes, and this one seems pretty good: http://inashoe.com/2012/07/homemade-taco-seasoning/

Slice up a few onions and put them in the bottom of the slow cooker. Place the pork on top and add a cup or two or chicken stock. Cover and cook on high until the pork shreds easily with a couple of forks: I plan on 5-6 hours on high or 10+ on low. If it doesn’t pull apart, easily, it’s not done! After you shred it all up, add salt and pepper if necessary. I like to serve BBQ sauce on the side so we can all add it to taste.

I do a whole 8lb loin cut in two pieces in my 8 qt slow cooker and slice up four onions for the bottom. Great way to feed a crowd!

 

Cakes!  Sarah increased all cake ingredient measurements by 50% in order to make 3 layers, and used 8″ pans so the cakes would be nice and tall.

Pink Vanilla Birthday Cake

http://sweetapolita.com/2011/06/love-cake-sprinkles/

 

Deep Dark Chocolate Cake

https://www.hersheys.com/kitchens/en_us/recipes/hersheys-deep-dark-chocolate-cake.html

 

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

http://thechurchcook.blogspot.com/2010/10/chocolate-buttercream-frosting.html

 

Hershey’s Best Brownies

https://www.hersheys.com/kitchens/en_us/recipes/hersheys-best-brownies.html

To make them gluten-free, I substitute an equal amount of oat flour for the all-purpose flour. I increased this one by 50% as well and baked it in a 10×15″ jelly roll pan for the conference.

Uncle Marty’s Famous Egg Casserole recipe coming soon!