3500 Swedish Meatballs

This is another photo from the 1958 Spokesman Review. You gotta love the outfits.
Can you imagine making 3500 meat balls?
They did in 1958 - wow- thats a lotta meatballs.

Here's the recipe posted in the Spokesman Review

Martha's Meat Balls
2/3 cup fine dry bread crumbs
1/2 cup cream
1 pound ground beef
1/2 pound ground pork
2 egg yolks, slightly beaten
1/2 cup milk
2 tablespoons minced onion
1 teaspoon salt
1/3 teaspoon pepper, 1/8 teaspoon allspice, 1/8 teaspoon ginger, 1/8 teaspoon cloves
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg, 1/4 cup shortening

Soak crumbs in cream. Grind meat together three times. Mix all ingredients well. Chill. Form into small balls and brown in hot shortening. Add small amount of water to skillet and cover or place in a covered roaster and steam in a slow oven (275 degrees) until done about 1 hour.

I'm not sure this particular recipe of Martha's made it into the cookbook. You will find Meatballs with vegetable sauce. There are also Porcupine Meatballs and before you send your hubby out to find a porcupine let me just say it does call for ground meat. (1/2 beef 1/4 pork) I think it is the rice that maybe gives them a bit of a porcupine appearance.

In the Quantity Cooking section you will find Polynesian Meatballs that uses 9.6 lbs of lean ground beef. It does not say how many meatballs that will make but it sure is a lot of ground beef.

I may have just found Martha's Meatballs in the Swedish Favorites section. The recipe is attributed to Martha Meyer.  I missed it because it is called Kottbullar (I'm going to guess that is Swedish for meatball.) If one Kottbullar recipe is not enough there are two others on the same page.

Just in case you want to know a bit more about the origins of the Swedish Meatball, I found article for your further enjoyment and study. http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=1006052528758

Table Graces

It's funny to see our gym all decked out like this. Back in the day First Covenant put on some BIG dinners called Smorgasbords. I guess in some ways we are still feeding lots of people. Now we open our building on Thursday and Sunday to feed 100 - 200+ of our  homeless and poor neighbors.

One of the features of the Bit of Sweden cookbook that I especially like is the section with Table Graces or prayers. There are 20 of them.
So if you are getting tired of the old God is great, God is good, Let us thank Him for our food.
You might be ready to try one of the ones in the Bit of Sweden cookbook. I will share a couple of my favorites.

"Dear God, we thank you for our food,

for life and joy and play. 

We praise you for the special things 

you give to us this day." Amen

I think this one is my favorite. I would probably add give us a heart to actually be your hands and feet. To not just talk but to be out making a difference in the lives of others.

O Lord, bless this food to our use,

And us to Thy service,

Make us ever mindful of the needs of others.

In Jesus' name, Amen

There is also a Kitchen Prayer and I have given you just the first part of it. Get the cookbook I know you will enjoy the rest of the graces contained in it's pages.

"God bless my little kitchen, 

I love it's every nook,

And bless me as I do my work, 

Wash pots and pans and cook. 

And may the meals that I prepare 

Be seasoned from above 

With Thy great blessings and Thy Grace

But most of all, Thy love...."

A Bit of History - Smorgasbord

From the Spokesman Review Nov. 1958

The first Smorgasbord at First Covenant Church took place in 1938. I found this newspaper from 1958. I believe they continued to do the Smorgasbord once a year well into the 1990's.
Back in 1958 they served 600 people 2 nights in a row. They served hot dishes like Swedish brown beans,  Swedish meat balls, baked salmon, potato sausage, potatoes au-gratin. Cold dishes included things like boiled tongue, pickled herring, head cheese, as well as lots of molded salads, relishes, pickles, homemade jams, crackers, breads, cheeses, and of course, Swedish rice pudding.
Every table was trimmed and had huge baskets of homemade breads. The ladies all wore bright bodices, and lacy Swedish caps and striped aprons.
Each table also had various family treasures from Sweden.

I tell you all this because First Covenant Church was founded in 1888 and it is from these ladies and this Swedish heritage that our Bit of Sweden cookbook began. The fist cookbook was published early in the 1900's by the Aurora women's Sunday School class. In 1948 they undertook a new cookbook and named it Bit of Sweden. The second edition was published in 1966 as the joint effort of First Covenant and Minnehaha Covenant.  The first two editions sold 12,000 copies.  The current 3rd edition was published in 1990. You will find a more detailed account of the history of Bit of Sweden in the cookbook.