I grew up in a Baptist school and Presbyterian and Methodist churches. If there’s one thing I know about these places, it’s that when you have a potluck or some kind of get-together involving food, the dishes are always A+. Southern church ladies always know how to make a good potluck dish.
I collect church cookbooks. I have a collection right now of. . .probably 40 or 50 of them. They were in abundance at the book sale, and I really enjoy going through them and seeing the similarities and differences between the dishes and seeing a little insight into the people of a particular church.
Last year, for her birthday, my sister Katie requested a Chocolate Chess Pie in lieu of a cake. I’d never in my life made a chocolate chess pie. I didn’t even know what was in a chocolate chess pie. But I said, “You know, if anyone will know how to make it, it’ll be a Methodist lady.”
So I pulled a Methodist church cookbook off my shelf and, lo and behold, there was a Chocolate Chess Pie recipe.
Long-ish story short, this week is Methodist Week. I took 5 recipes from 5 Methodist cookbooks and made them all. It was like a week-long potluck.
The first book hails from Kipling United Methodist Church in Kipling, NC. It seems they celebrated their 150-year anniversary last year, and that’s pretty cool.
The recipe itself is from Howard and Gladys Robbins, and I Googled both of them, but could find out if they were still at the church, or still in the area, or anything like that.
Dennis especially loved this recipe. He said it reminded him of his grandmother’s house. It was really, really good for being so simple.
My favorite thing about these recipes is how vague the amounts and directions are. A “package” of chicken. “Some” carrots. It’s a different method of measurement, for sure.
Let Methodist Week commence!
Chicken with Broccoli Casserole
Serves 3-4
Here’s the original recipe:
