Community Love with a Community Dinner

Love in the Name of Christ was demonstrated last night by the group that does community dinners in our town. This group was organized last spring and is called Community LinC (the name - Linc stands for Love In the Name of Christ). Volunteers from several churches come together twice a month to serve a meal to anyone in the community, regardless of need. The effort is supported entirely by donations and hosted by our church. It is really good to see the connections that happen between people that don't usually have the opportunity to be a part of such a group.
This meal was our Valentine meal and included bacon wrapped burgers, ranch potatoes, salad, roll, and  chocolate sheet cake. The pastors grilled 150 burger patties, and only 12 were left - a success!  Recipes for the potatoes and cakes are adaptations of some common preparations with good results.

Ranch Potatoes
This is a good recipe for a covered dish or family gathering. Prepare ahead and cook in the slow cooker - partly cook potatoes on the range top for a 3 hour cook on the slow cooker or for an all day cook in the slow cooker, put the potatoes in raw. I've even done a smaller prep of these with reduced amounts in the microwave. 

Ingredients:
5# red potatoes (leave unpeeled, chop into medium size pieces, about 3/4 inch)
1 bottle (24 oz) Ranch dressing (use about 3/4 of the bottle)
1 # bacon (cooked and crumbled)
1 small (16 oz) container sour cream
3 cups shredded cheese

Directions:
Parboil (partially cook) potatoes, drain. Mix all ingredients and put into a slow cooker. Cook on low for 3 hours. 

Sheet Cake

This is similar to a regular cake with mix, but adds baking cocoa and sour cream for extra richness. A 'sheet cake' is usually baked in a larger pan to make a flatter cake which serves nicely for a group. Slightly melting the commercial frosting makes it spread like a glaze and set up a little more. 

 Ingredients

1   box Betty Crocker® SuperMoist® devil's food or butter recipe chocolate cake mix

1/2   cup sour cream

1   cups water

2   tablespoons unsweetened baking cocoa

2   tablespoons butter, softened or vegetable oil

3   eggs

1   container (1 lb) Betty Crocker® Rich & Creamy chocolate frosting

Directions

1.     Heat oven to 350°F (325°F for dark or nonstick pan). Spray bottom and sides of 15x10x1-inch pan with baking spray with flour.

2.     In large bowl, beat cake mix, sour cream, water, cocoa, butter and eggs with electric mixer on low speed 30 seconds, then on medium speed 2 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. Pour into pan.

3.    Bake 22-25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool about 45 minutes.

4.    Spoon frosting into small microwavable bowl. Microwave uncovered on High 20 to 30 seconds, stirring once, until pourable. Spread frosting over cake.