What do you get when you take 25 women (always an interesting start), get them up before 8 a.m. on a Saturday (can anyone say “sleep deprivation”?), and seclude them in a fluorescently lit church basement for nearly six hours? Besides some major coffee overconsumption, apparently you can actually wind up with a pretty rad women’s conference. We did, anyway.
This past Saturday was our “Titus 2 Super Saturday” at the church, and it was more than worth forfeiting some sleep for. Our guest speaker was Debbie Cotchey from Plainfield Bible Church, and we also had three “homegrown” speakers, one of whom was my mom. (Great job, Mom! Thanks for not using too many embarrassing anecdotes involving me.)
I was excited to be asked to cater lunch for the event. (Um, twist my arm? Ha.) So I spent all day Friday shopping, prepping, cooking and baking, and otherwise getting ready. The menu:
- “Gourmet” mini sandwiches (two kinds: turkey/cranberry/cream cheese on Hawaiian bread and ham/turkey/salami on mini bagels). I didn’t get any pictures of these, though I wish I had. Cut in half and toothpicked, they were really pretty.
- Spring pasta salad with homemade vinaigrette. I loved the dressing for this (shallots, garlic, and thyme=crazy fragrant), and the fun pasta I used.
- Hot baked spinach dip with Wheat Thins. This dip is a favorite of mine. (And, yeah, I worked hard on those Wheat Thins. Ha.)
- Fresh fruit (strawberries, pineapple, and green and red grapes)
- Cranberry white chocolate cookies
- Mini raspberry cream brownies
- Almond cheesecake bites
Below are a few random pictures of the process (not too many; unfortunately, I kept forgetting to get pictures). I didn’t get any the day of the event, since we were busy rushing around getting it all prepared and set out. Oh, well. This is typical for me, picture-wise: all food, no people.
Hauling in all those bags would make a pack mule proud.
I’m in love with this kind of pasta (radiatore). Pretty, isn’t it?
Homemade vinaigrette dressing.
Tomato and basil. I’ve decided that the answer to “I wonder who first thought up that combination?” is “Whoever first smelled the two together.” Mm.
Lots of colorful salad ingredients.
Stuffing everything into the fridge was a work of engineering. It did fit, though.
The “conjoined twins.” Yes, I took a picture of a strawberry…um, of strawberries…is it one or two? Good grief. Look at the thing!
Mini chocolate chips getting sucked into the brownie-batter vortex. Lucky them.
Cookies cooling on my new favorite kitchen item: the stackable cooling racks! (They also collapse for storage. Brilliance.)
Cheesecake bites. I had SO much fun with them. Loved how they turned out.
And they were yummy, too.
Anyway, all in all, it was a great Saturday, and I'm definitely looking forward to next year!
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