Photo by WayTru
My brother, Ted, rocks the pecan pie world.
A few years ago, he grabbed a recipe for pecan pie from my mom. He made a few pies for the family. They were delicious. So Ted decided to make a few more pies to bring to a church party. They were delicious too. And everyone knew it.
After that, Ted started getting requests for his pecan pies. Everyone wanted one (or more): grandparents, friends, arch enemies. Ted’s now become known for his pecan pies.
As a side note, Ted doesn’t even like pecan pies that much – not even when he first started making them. Instead, he makes them to give away. He makes them because everyone else loves them.
So as usual, I’ve got to ask a question:
…why am I mentioning this?
Because cooking is a fantastic way to serve others. It doesn’t have to be elaborate. It doesn’t have to be costly. It’s actually better if it’s not because you can do it more often.
Cooking is personal. It’s on a different level than giving away a new tie or new plant. Cooking gives more of yourself away. And that’s exactly what gifts should do.
Remember the days when neighbors made cookies for new neighbors? Me neither. Let’s make it happen.
Okay, here’s that quick and easy recipe idea I promised you:
Chocolate covered, potato chips
(Hey, I said quick idea, not healthy idea)
Melt some chocolate chips in a narrow but deep pot (or dish if you want to use a microwave). Dip the potato chips in the melted chocolate (leave part undipped so you can see what kind of chip it is once you start experimenting with different flavors). Lay the dipped chips on waxed paper. Place in a refrigerator or freezer until chocolate hardens. (Now here’s the best part) Serve.
It’s as easy as Sunday morning. You have no excuses now. Enjoy!
Serving Suggestions:
(1) Do you have a specialty recipe? Drum one up. Heck, you could run down the street and grab a bucket of chicken, anything. Become known for giving away a particular, wonderful dish. (And don’t keep your recipes secret. For that matter, let us know what you make in the comments.)
(2) Try making some chocolate covered, potato chips. And giving them away.
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Yummy. Back in college, when girls I knew got dumped, I would come over, make rice, sausage and arepas, and watch “Runaway Bride” with them (since I think its the perfect post-breakup movie), and if they liked to read, I’d also leave a novel in their hands when I left. I soon became known as the comfort-food-comfort-book-chick. Now they’re all fat, happy and married and moved away.
Although now that I think of it, I’m not sure how comforted they were the next day because I don’t remember EVER washing any dishes when I made a mess in their kitchen.
Good post.
Nice, Amanda… you might have had some of them breaking up on purpose just so you’d come over. :>)
In what you did, I love the idea of just being there. That’s underrated, but oh-so-comforting. Thank you for sharing that.
-Marshall Jones Jr.
Love your blog! Don’t really know how I got here but I’m glad I did!
Thank you for the serving suggestions in each post. I believe MOST christians (including myself)/good hearted people are all dying to serve but get lost in the “HOW?”
Gracias! for giving the theory + practice…
Adriana,
Wow! Thank you. I’m certainly glad you’re here.
I’m right with you. I know for myself it’s easy to stick with learning all the “theory” without ever putting it into practice. It’s easy to do that because at least for myself I never feel like I know enough… when I really should just get to serving and learn as I go. So yes, the Serving Suggestions are good for me too because they keep me thinking about how to apply this practically. I’m glad you’ve enjoyed them.
Again, thank you for contributing.
-Marshall Jones Jr.