IPC's Family Fun Night

It was a beautiful October day for our annual Family Fun Night. Our children's director Amy Martin sure knows how to throw a party.

Snow cones.....

Cotton Candy....

Petting Zoo......


Pony Rides (say hi to Mocha!)

Super Duper slide

And our downtown parking lot and church front lawn is filled with kids. Big kids....

Little kids......



with lots of cotton candy eating....


Some are excited about their costumes...others are definitely not. Sam, your "Sam-wich" costume is awesome!


Candy corn eating contest.....

It was a wonderful time had by all...with kids getting their fill of candy and carbonated drinks. Yes, we Presbyterians know how to party.

Thanks, Ames. You did it again.

Herb Pesto

In the IPC Kitchen, pesto is used quite frequently to flavor just about everything we serve for lunch. Traditionally, a mortar and pestle were used to crush fresh basil leaves, garlic, pine nuts, cheese, and olive oil. However, with the use of a food processor, you can easily prepare a delicious pesto with unlimited variations.

Here are some samples of food we prepare using herb pesto:

Pesto chicken and shrimp pizzas


Pesto chicken breast for sandwiches or to top on salads


Pesto added to remoulade for fried green tomatoes

To achieve creamy texture, process fresh herbs, kosher salt first, then add pine nuts, and olive oil.

Add a little mayo, sour cream, and prepared horseradish and you have fantastic sauce for sandwiches.

Fried green tomato BLT with pesto aioli.

Orzo salad mixed with pesto and fresh vegetables

Pesto Crusted Pork Loin

And pesto quiche


Pesto can be made and frozen in ice cube trays for easy use.

Print This Recipe

Herb Pesto

Makes 1 Cup

2 cups packed fresh herbs such as basil, cilantro, Italian parsley, or combination of these herbs

1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 cloves garlic
1/4 cup pine nuts
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil, extra if freezing
1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan or your favorite hard cheese

Freshly ground black pepper and extra salt, to taste

Combine the herb and kosher salt in a food processor and pulse until coarsely chopped. Add garlic, pine nuts and process a few quick pulses. Add 1/2 cup of the oil and process until fully incorporated and smooth. Season with pepper and extra salt if needed.

If using immediately, add all the remaining oil and pulse until smooth. Transfer the pesto to a large serving bowl and mix in the cheese.

If freezing, transfer to an air-tight container or ice cube tray; drizzle a little oil over the top. Freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw and stir in cheese.

Note: Try adding parsley to your basil pesto to give it a vibrant green color

Tangy Glazed Pork Loin (The Spirit of Food)

I am so excited to be able to post this recipe from the The Spirit of Food.

Wipf and Stock Publishers graciously allowed me to post five recipes from the book and this is one of them!

Meet Ann Voskamp. She is the daughter of a fifth-generation farmer, married to a seventh-generation farmer, and is raising six children of the next generation of farmers. A monthly columnist for DaySpring (Hallmark), a global advocate travelling for Compassion, and the author of One Thousand Gifts: A dare to Fully Live Right Where You Are (Zondervan 2011). Ann writes daily of her farming family's dirt-common lives at her award-winning Web site journal, www.aholyexperience.com

My kitchen ladies told me tonight that this is the best pork loin I have ever cooked in last three years in IPC Kitchen! Now THAT is a high, Southern compliment! Thank you, Ann, for sharing the recipe.

Rubbed sage, salt, pepper, and mined garlic is rubbed well on the pork loins. I needed 12 whole loins to feed my church family. Want to get in shape? Come work in the kitchen with me.

Glaze is made with vinegar, water, sugar, corn starch, and soy sauce for rich flavor.

Cook sauce mixture in low heat until slightly thick and bubbly.

Brush on the glaze and finish cooking.

For whole loin, cook until thermometer reaches the internal temperature of 145 degrees F. And let rest for 30 minutes before slicing. Brush on extra glaze and serve.

Print This Recipe

Tangy Glazed Pork

Recipe of Ann Voskamp

Serves 8

Meat

2 teaspoon rubbed sage
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
2 cloves of garlic crushed (I used freshly minced garlic since 12 loins needed to be cooked)
1 (5 pound) boneless pork loin or pork roast of choice

Sauce

1 cup sugar
2 tablespoon cornstarch
1/2 cup vinegar
1/2 cup water
4 tablespoons soy sauce

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

Bring your pork to almost room temperature before baking.

In a bowl, mix sage, salt, pepper, and garlic, thoroughly and then rub all over the pork roast. Cook in an uncovered roasting pan on the middle oven rack for approximately 3 hours or until a meat thermometer reads at least 150 degrees F.

For the sauce, combine sugar, cornstarch, vinegar, water, and soy sauce in a small saucepan and place on low heat. Stir occasionally until the sauce begins to bubble and slightly thicken.

Then remove from heat and brush the roast with glaze 3 or 4 times during the last 1/2 hour of cooking. Pour remaining sauce over the roast and serve.

My Personal Note: For Pork loin or tenderloin, cook until internal temperature reaches 145 degrees F. (25 to 45 minutes depending on the size). Cover loosely with foil and let rest 30 minutes before slicing.

5 of 31 Recipes

Photos of Vinita's Pecan Pie (The Spirit of Food) & Basic Pie Crust

Vinita Hampton Wright is a novelist and senior book editor at Loyola Press in Chicago. Her novels include Velma Still Cooks in Leeway (winner of Logos Book Award, Best Fiction 2000) and Dwelling Places (Christianity Today Award for Best Fiction 2007). Vinita has conducted the workshop The Soul Tells a Story, for six years across the country. The workshop explores the creative process and how it interacts with spiritual formation.

To women for whom cooking is both art and reputation, preparing meals only half fulfills their life purpose. To be validated is to be eaten out of house and home. -Excerpt Grandma Virgi's Feast

I served Vinita's fantastic pecan pie at the Wednesday Noon Service lunch today. I have never tasted a better pecan pie than this one and the lunch crowd whole heartedly agreed. The texture of the pie was just perfect and a hint of ginger and cinnamon gave the pie unexpected and wonderful flavor. There is a secret ingredient to this recipe. But I can't tell. You will have to get the book to get the recipe to get the secret! It will be worth it. I promise.

Since I can't post her pie recipe here, YET, let's have a quick tutorial on flaky, homemade pie crust, shall we?

Pulse flour, sugar, salt. Then add chilled butter and vegetable shortening.

You want to have very coarse, crumbly mixture, like cottage cheese curds. Be careful not to over process.

After adding ice cold water, place a sheet of parchment paper and roll out the dough.

Flip the rolled dough over your pie plate and gently peel off the paper.

Using floured thumb and index finger, gently flute the edge. Or press the tines of a fork against dough to flatten it against rim of pie plate.

Freeze while you are preparing the filling. When ready to bake, brush the edge with beaten egg white.

Pour Filling

I usually coarsely chop the pecans so the pie will have a cleaner cut.


Bake until filling firms up.

I loved how Vinita's pie filling was so wonderfully firm, not gooey and runny.

Print This Recipe

Basic Flaky Pie Crust

(makes two 9-inch pie crusts)

1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (6 1/4 ounces)

1/2 teaspoon table salt
1 tablespoon sugar
6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter (3/4 stick), cut into 1/4-inch slices
1/4 cup chilled solid vegetable shortening , cut into 2 pieces
4 tablespoons ice cold water

1 egg white, to brush on the edge of the crust

1. Process flour, salt, and sugar together in food processor until combined, about 2 one-second pulses. Add cubed chilled butter and vegetable shortening and pulse in one-second burst about 8-10 times until all flour is coated and mixture resembles coarse crumbles. Empty into a large bowl.

2. Sprinkle water over mixture. With rubber spatula, use folding motion to mix, pressing down on dough until dough is slightly tacky and sticks together. Add more water if needed. Divide dough into two. Flatten dough into 4-inch disk.

3. Place dough on a parchment paper sprinkled with flour and roll out dough into circle about 1/8 inch thick and large enough to cover your 9 -inch pie pan with one inch overlap. Take the rolled out dough on the parchment paper and put dough side down onto pie plate, pressing and shaping into pie plate mold. Have 1-inch overhang on each side.

4. Gently peel off parchment paper. Trim overhang to ½ inch beyond lip of pie plate. Fold overhang under itself; folded edge should be flush with edge of pie plate. Flute dough (see photo above) or press the tines of a fork against dough to flatten it against rim of pie plate. Freeze until firm. 15-20 minutes.

5. When ready to use, beat egg white with a fork and brush egg white on the edge of the crust.

Bake or us as directed in your favorite pie recipes.

Note: Pre-made pie crust can be well covered and stored in freezer up to a month.

4 of 31 recipes

Simple Bolognese Sauce and Hunter Cattle Co.

I had the pleasure of visiting my friends at Hunter Cattle Co. in Brooklet, Georgia. It was so great to re-connect with Debra Ferguson and family again after many years. Their lives are wonderfully busy with children, grandchildren, cattle, and chickens on their 350-acre ranch.

Hunter Cattle Co. is a family owned and operated ranch, specializing in grass-fed beef. Grass-fed beef is as lean as wild elk or deer. And compared to grain-fed beef, it is four times higher in Vitamin E, six times more of Omega-3 fatty acids, and has fewer calories. But who's counting? It's just so tasty and healthy for you.

Hunter Cattle Co.'s newly opened storefront is filled with family photos and heirlooms.

The store also carries local and organic honey, dairy, pastas, and chicken.

A newly born calf only a few days old.

All their cattle are raised and finished on grass with no hormones, steroids, or antibiotics.

Their ground beef had much brighter red color with smaller speckled fat.

Sauté chopped onions in olive oil first, then add herbs and garlic. Add ground beef.

When it begins to brown, add milk. I know, know...it seems weird to do this, but milk makes ground beef tender and the finished sauce is wonderful.

Then add some white wine for great flavor.

Add canned tomatoes and a few dried bay leaves. Then simmer, uncovered until liquid is reduced for about 2-3 hours.

Serve on spaghetti topped with oven roasted onions.

Print This Recipe

Simple Bolognese Sauce
Serves 8-10

3 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium minced onion

1 teaspoon oregano, dried

1 teaspoon basil, dried

1/2 teaspoon pepper flakes

3 whole cloves fresh garlic, grated
2 pound ground beef chuck
1 teaspoon table salt

1/2 cup whole milk
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 (28 ounce) can whole tomatoes , packed in juice, chopped fine, with juice reserved

1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes

2 dried bay leaves

Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Heat olive in large, heavy-bottomed Dutch oven over medium heat; add onion, dried herbs, and pepper flakes and sautè until softened but not browned, about 6 minutes. Add garlic. Add ground meat and 1 teaspoon salt and crumble meat with edge of wooden spoon to break apart into tiny pieces. Cook, continuing to crumble meat, just until it loses its raw color but has not yet browned, about 3 minutes.

2. Add milk and bring to simmer; continue to simmer until milk evaporates and only clear fat remains, about 10 minutes. Add wine and bring to simmer; continue to simmer until wine evaporates, about 10 minutes longer.

3. Add canned crushed and chopped whole tomatoes and their juice and bring to simmer; add dried bay leaves, reduce heat to low so that sauce continues to simmer just barely, with an occasional bubble or two at the surface, until liquid sauce is very thick, about 2 1/2 -3 hours.

4. Adjust seasonings with extra salt and freshly ground pepper to taste and serve over hot pasta of your choice. (Can be refrigerated in an airtight container for several days or frozen for several months. Warm over low heat before serving.)

Hunter Cattle Company
430 Driggers Rd.
Brooklet, Ga. 30415

Phone: 912-823-BEEF

email: grassfed@huntercattle.com