‘Love your neighbors as yourself.’ Matthew 22:39
Today is day 5 of our week of love and we are going to talk about ways we can show love to our neighbors. My mother and her friends really knew how to show love to everyone at our church. They had a phone chain that was buzzing when another member was sick or in need. Those ladies could cook up a storm and make sure other needs were taken care of, I was so blessed to grow up in a church of love!
When should you take a special “prize” to a friend? My answer is anytime! What if a friend has a a big test coming up? Wouldn’t they love to get a two liter Coke with this cute tag around the neck of the bottle? How about a child that has been sick and out of school for awhile? Drop off a stuffed animal and some warm cookies.
My mother and her friends had a rotation as to who was going to bring each dish to their friends in need. Mother’s favorite meal was chicken and rice. It was easy to make and stayed warm for the drive over to its destination. I love taking dessert as my contribution to the meal. My favorite dessert to take is Sopapilla Cheesecake! It is a super yummy, super easy dessert to make and a crowd favorite. The recipe is at the bottom of this post!
There are so many health issues today, you need to put a label on all of the dishes you take to your neighbors. Tell them what is in the pan and a list of ingredients if you can. There are so many pretty tags out there, or you can type one up on your computer.
Mother and her friends always wrote their name on a piece of tape and put it on the bottom of the dish. One of the ladies, either Mrs. Price or Mrs. Kennedy would go by the neighbors house and collect the dishes a few days after the meal was delivered. Then all of the dishes were put in the church parlor kitchen to be collected by their owners. Today we have so many options of disposable containers, it‘s much easier to take your meal in something that doesn’t have to be returned.
SOPAPILLA CHEESECAKE
2 cans of Pillsbury Crescent Rolls. 2 -8 ounce packages of cream cheese. 1 1/2 cups sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla 1/2 cup melted butter 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
Heat oven to 350 degrees Unroll 1 can of dough and spread it out on the bottom of a 9×13 baking dish. Stretch it out to cover the entire bottom of the pan. (I usually lightly grease the pan, but most people don’t.)
Unroll the second can of crescent rolls over the top of the cream cheese, make sure the cream cheese is entirely covered with the dough.
Bake 30-35 minutes until edges brown. Allow to cool before you cut into this deliciousness!!!
This is the perfect dessert to take to a friend. You can easily cook this in a foil pan and transport it by adding a plastic lid. You can even cut the recipe in half for a smaller family.
Can you think of anything else you can do to help a neighbor in need? Can you help mow their lawn, shovel snow, run carpool for a few days? My mother said not to ask if someone needs help, most of the time they will say no. Just be observant and help where you can! We should always show love where we can!