Category Archives: Meats

Just an ordinary day? The comings and goings of the Eicher family

Diary of March 1, 2017

3:10 a.m.   The alarm rings—time to get up and prepare Joe’s lunch. I make a pot of coffee. Joe always likes a mug of coffee to drink on his way to work.

3:55 a.m.   Joe leaves for work. He is leaving later since one of our neighbor boys started working at the same RV factory he does. He picks Joe up on his way. After Joe leaves, I usually go back to bed until 6:00 a.m.

6:00 a.m.   I wake the children up to get ready for school. Mose and Susan came over last night to sleep. We had a lot of bad storms during the night so we told Mose and Susan they could come sleep in the house. With the metal roof on their living quarters it makes some pretty loud noise when it is windy and rainy. Everyone was extra tired this morning. Around 2:00 a.m. we had been awakened by a bad thunderstorm which produced some hail.

6:30 a.m.   Mose leaves for work.

7:00 a.m.   Joseph, 14, Lovina, 12, and Kevin, 11, leave for school on the bus.

Nephew Jacob works with wood and made this wooden name sculpture for Lovina and Joe’s granddaughter Abigail Elizabeth. We’re sure Lovina’s daily routine here would have been even more enjoyable with Abigail’s smiles!

7:15 a.m.   Verena leaves to go help out at the daycare. Benjamin is doing morning chores.

8:30 a.m.   Benjamin drives Susan to work with the buggy and our horse Rex. Loretta is washing dishes and I am doing some book work. Income tax time is here so I need to get that ready to take to our tax preparer in town. It is always time consuming, but has to be done.

9:25 a.m.   Benjamin is back and is hauling manure out of the barn. With all the rain the ground is too soft to drive through the barnyard to spread the manure in the fields.

1:30 p.m.   Benjamin leaves to go pick up Susan. She works until 2:00 p.m. today.

2:30 p.m.   Joe comes home from the factory. We are having snow flurries and the temperature is getting colder again. Benjamin and Susan are back. Benjamin went to town to get me some groceries that I needed.

3:30 p.m.   The children are home from school. Brother-in-law Jacob, son Benjamin, and Menno (his daughter Emma’s friend) come to get our two big butchering kettles. They will butcher hogs on Saturday so they need the kettles.

6:30 p.m.   Chores are done and supper is ready. Our menu consists of spaghetti and meatballs, cooked potatoes, lettuce salad, cheese, canned peaches, and white cake. Loretta’s friend Dustin joined us for supper.

7:30 p.m.   Mose and Susan came over for awhile. Susan and some of the children always like to read the Bible together every day. They did this before Susan was married and she tries to keep it up since she still lives on the home place.

9:00 p.m.   Mose and Susan leave the house to call it a day.

9:30 p.m.   Dustin leaves for home.

10:00 p.m.  Everyone is settled down for the night so I will get some rest too.

Our sympathy and prayers go out to our friend Kristine. Her husband John lost his battle with cancer. May God guide her through this difficult trial in life.

I’ll share a recipe for sunrise burritos that daughter Susan tried last night for their supper. We plan to try it tonight for our supper. She didn’t have green chilies so she substituted green peppers (diced) and it worked fine like that.

God bless!

Sunrise Burritos

1 pound bulk sausage
1 small onion, chopped
16 eggs
1/2 cup water
1 cup canned green chilies, chopped
8 flour tortillas
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
1/2 cup salsa
1/2 cup sour cream

Brown sausage with chopped onion. Drain grease from meat. Beat eggs and water. Stir in chilies. Combine egg mixture with sausage and onion. Cook until set (eggs should be soft with no liquid remaining.) Microwave or bake tortilla for about 30 seconds. Fill with scrambled egg mixture. Top with cheese, sour cream and salsa. Makes 8 burritos.

Lovina Eicher is an Old Order Amish writer, cook, wife and mother of eight. She is the co-author of three cookbooks; her new cookbook, The Essential Amish Kitchen, will be published in 2017. Readers can contact Eicher at PO Box 1689, South Holland, IL 60473 (please include a self-addressed stamped envelope for a reply) or at LovinasAmishKitchen@MennoMedia.org.

Tapping trees, baking bread and going to baptism fill February days

We have had a few very warm spring-like days. Son-in-law Mose took advantage of the weather and tapped our maple trees. He also tapped sister Emma and Jacob’s trees. They asked him to cook their maple syrup for them. Son-in-law Timothy is tapping their trees to make their own maple syrup.

Son-in-law Mose uses bags instead of buckets to collect sap from the trees.

The weather has been colder the last few days, which slowed down the flow of the sap. On those warmer days Mose collected quite a few gallons of sap. He’s not looking for a good year for maple syrup though.

My daughters and I assisted sister Emma with her cleaning a few days last week as she prepared to host church services on Sunday. On Saturday, Joe and I plus our sons Benjamin, Joseph and Kevin went to help with the final preparations.

Daughter Susan and I baked ten loaves of bread on Friday to help out for Sunday. I think Emma also had around forty-five loaves of wheat and white bread coming in from some of the ladies in the church. That way we don’t have to bake bread for our own church when we host the services. Jacob and Emma hold church services in their heated attached garage that was added to their house a few years ago.

Now that Emma and Jacob’s turn to host church is over, we will concentrate on butchering. The temperature shows 19 degrees now, so it is perfect weather for us to butcher. We will butcher three hogs here at our place on Saturday. We will give one to Mose and Susan to help fill their freezer and canning jars since they are newlyweds.

We raised the hogs and they grew fast. They are very big and should make a lot of ham, bacon and sausage for us. And of course the family is looking forward to some pon hoss being added to our menus in the next weeks. We like to make plenty of pon hoss to share with others. For those of you who aren’t familiar with pon hoss, it is made with the meat and juice cooked from the bones. We add flour, pepper and salt and it thickens as it cooks. We do this outside in our big black kettle over an open fire. After it has been poured in pans and cooled off and set, it is ready to slice and fry.

Daughters Verena and Loretta attended church in Dustin’s church district on Sunday. They were disappointed that they couldn’t attend the services at Emma and Jacob’s, but they went to Dustin’s sister Grace’s baptismal services that were held the same day. Four other young souls and Grace were baptized into the Amish faith and are now members of the church. This is a big step for the Amish youth to take, and we wish them God’s blessings in life. How pleasing to God when we accept Jesus Christ as our Savior! Life doesn’t get easier with time, so it helps to have God lead the way for us.

God’s blessings to all of you as well. Take care and stay healthy!

Sister Emma made fajitas similar to this recipe when we were there to assist them with cleaning to host church services.

FAJITAS

Marinade
1/4 cup lime juice
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 cloves garlic, crushed
2 teaspoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon liquid smoke
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Meat
1 pound sirloin steak or boned, skinless chicken breasts

Sauce
2 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon lime juice
dash each salt and black pepper

 Vegetables
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 Spanish onion, thinly sliced
1/2 each green, red, and yellow bell peppers, seeded, thinly sliced

Tortillas and toppings
4 flour tortillas
shredded cheese
sour cream
guacamole
tomatoes

Combine the marinade ingredients, and place with meat in a plastic container with cover or a zip-top plastic bag and refrigerate at least 2 hours or overnight.

Discard leftover marinade. Grill meat over medium flame, 4-5 minutes on each side. Cut meat into thin strips. Set aside and keep warm.

Combine the sauce ingredients in a small bowl; set aside.

Cook onion and peppers in oil until brown. Remove from heat. Pour sauce over onions and peppers. Combine meat with onions and peppers. Serve on flour tortillas with desired toppings. Yields 4 servings.

Lovina Eicher is an Old Order Amish writer, cook, wife and mother of eight. She is the co-author of three cookbooks; her new cookbook, The Essential Amish Kitchen, will be published in 2017. Readers can contact Eicher at PO Box 1689, South Holland, IL 60473 (please include a self-addressed stamped envelope for a reply) or at LovinasAmishKitchen@MennoMedia.org.

 

Week marred by illness brightened by kind gesture

We have entered the month of February. The temperature has dropped to the teens again, and we have had several more inches of snow.

Last Friday the girls and I helped daughter Elizabeth with the final preparations for hosting church services on Sunday, January 29. Joe and I and the children went again Saturday so Joe and the boys could help Timothy set up the church benches in their basement. The girls and I helped Elizabeth peel the eggs she had cooked for egg salad. We also mixed the peanut butter spread. I made cheese spread here at home on Friday night. Elizabeth prepared two big roasters with casserole for Sunday evening. It makes it easier to have these prepared so they can simply be put in the oven Sunday afternoon for supper.

Timothy and Elizabeth were both really organized and finished everything that needed to be done by late Friday afternoon. They do not have the biggest basement to host church services in, but there was plenty of room to seat everyone. A lot of Timothy’s family from other church districts attended, but we had a few families missing from our church district. Those families were attending baptismal services in another church district. So it all worked out well.

The menu for lunch consisted of homemade wheat and white bread, egg salad, peanut butter spread, cheese spread, pickles, red beets, hot peppers, raspberry jam, butter, coffee and spearmint tea. For dessert there were chocolate chip, peanut butter, sugar, and oatmeal cookies.

Loretta’s friend Dustin surprised Lovina by volunteering to make his special skillet meal. The recipe appears in this week’s column.

On Friday night after coming home from helping Elizabeth, I had a nice surprise. Loretta’s special friend Dustin came with groceries and prepared supper for us. This was such a treat to me, as I had been thinking that I would have to come home and prepare supper yet. For the recipe this week, I will share one of the dishes he made for us. I hope you will enjoy it as much as we did. Since Dustin doesn’t have a recipe for this dish, he helped me write one down the best we could. I told him I would name it Dustin’s Skillet, and he laughed.

I have left the not-so-good news for last. Sister Susan had been sick for a while and couldn’t attend church services at Timothy and Elizabeth’s house. Monday morning she ended up in the emergency room and was admitted to the hospital. She was there three days and then released to come home.

Little Abigail had a cough and it worsened over the weekend. Elizabeth took her to the doctor on Monday morning. The doctor said she has bronchitis and croup. Since they don’t have insurance, the doctor said they could try treating her at home for one night, giving her breathing treatments with a nebulizer. We still have the nebulizer that we had to use a lot on son Kevin, so they borrowed that. Elizabeth took Abigail back to the doctor the next day, and she was better than before. They are still giving her the treatments, and she seems to be getting better. Sweet little baby: she could still smile at us even though she had a fever. I’m thankful sister Susan and Abigail are both on the mend. Good health means so much!

May God bless you, and may you stay healthy. Thanks to all you readers for keeping Verena and our family in your prayers.

Dustin’s Skillet

1 pound breakfast sausage
1 pound bacon, cut into small pieces
12 ounces shrimp, cooked, with tails cut off
2 green peppers, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
8 ounces fresh mushrooms, sliced

In a skillet, fry together sausage, bacon and shrimp until sausage and bacon are cooked. Drain grease and put skillet back on burner. Add chopped green pepper and onions. Cook briefly. Then add sliced mushrooms and stir while heating until vegetables are hot.

 Lovina Eicher is an Old Order Amish writer, cook, wife and mother of eight. She is the co-author of three cookbooks; her new cookbook, The Essential Amish Kitchen, will be published in 2017. Readers can contact Eicher at PO Box 1689, South Holland, IL 60473 (please include a self-addressed stamped envelope for a reply) or at LovinasAmishKitchen@MennoMedia.org.

Lovina unveils three recipes from her forthcoming cookbook

In order to take a little time off from writing this column, I’m sharing three recipes from my cookbook coming out in April,
(Herald Press). I, and about half my family, were down with the flu as my deadline for the column approached this week, so this “vacation” comes at a good time. There is a lot of stuff going around and I know many who are sick. It is that time of year. I hope your family is well.

Enjoy trying one or more of these: the first one for caramel corn we enjoy when we have time to play games as a family, such as on New Year’s Eve or Day. The second is for a salad using uncooked frozen peas that might make you think ahead to spring; finally, an easy recipe for BBQ chicken sandwiches using chicken you’ve cooked and cut into pieces.

Photo by Lucas Swartzentruber-Landis

Party or family gathering

QUICK CARAMEL CORN

1 cup butter
2 cups dark brown sugar, packed
½ cup light corn syrup
½ cup molasses
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking soda
6 quarts popped popcorn

Melt butter in a 4-quart saucepan. Add brown sugar and corn syrup.

Heat to boiling and boil for 3 minutes, stirring frequently. Add the molasses and boil for an additional 2 minutes, continuing to stir frequently.

Remove from heat and add vanilla, salt, and baking soda, stirring briskly.

Pour over popped corn and stir until popcorn is thoroughly coated.

Salad

Photo by Lucas Swartzentruber – Landis

PEA AND CHEESE SALAD

1 (12-ounce) package frozen peas, thawed, or an equivalent amount fresh peas, cooked until just tender
1 cup celery, chopped
2 hard-cooked eggs, chopped
1 cup Colby cheese, cubed
½ cup radishes, sliced
¼ cup green onion, chopped
1 cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon prepared mustard
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon seasoned salt

In a medium bowl, combine the peas, celery, eggs, cheese, radishes, and green onion. In a small bowl, stir together the mayonnaise, mustard, sugar, and salt. Pour mayonnaise mixture over the vegetable mixture and mix well.

Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Make sure the peas are well drained or the salad will be watery.

Meat

BBQ CHICKEN SANDWICHES

2 cups celery, diced
1 cup onion, diced
1 cup green bell pepper, diced
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
4 tablespoons butter
6 cups chicken, cooked and diced
¼ cup brown sugar, packed
2 cups ketchup
2 teaspoons prepared mustard
2 cups water
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
Salt and pepper, to taste

In a Dutch oven or large pan, sauté celery, onion, bell pepper, salt, and pepper in butter until tender, about 5 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients and simmer over low heat for

1 hour, stirring occasionally. Serve on buns.

Makes 15 good-sized sandwiches.

Lovina Eicher is an Old Order Amish writer, cook, wife, and mother of eight. She is the co-author of three cookbooks; her new cookbook, The Essential Amish Kitchen, will be published in 2017. Readers can contact Eicher at PO Box 1689, South Holland, IL 60473 (please include a self-addressed stamped envelope for a reply) or at LovinasAmishKitchen@MennoMedia.org.

Tragic buggy accidents: Grief for others weighs on Eicher hearts

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day. The children have their Thanksgiving feast at school today. Their cooking class teacher has to have a lot of patience to show all the students how to prepare this meal. Daughters Verena, Loretta, son Benjamin, and I plan to attend the feast. It is rainy here so Benjamin doesn’t have construction work today. Daughters Susan and Elizabeth and baby Abigail plan to go too.

Then on Thursday, our family is invited to have Thanksgiving dinner at sister Emma and Jacob’s house. A few of the children have other plans, but the rest of the family will go.

We have so many blessings to be thankful for, and not just on Thanksgiving but all year long. Do we thank God enough for all our blessings? How thankful we should be to have a warm house to live in and a bountiful harvest stored for the coming year. And also to be able to spend the day with family.

Unfortunately not everyone will be spending their day this way. Our thoughts and prayers go to the families of the two young girls that were instantly killed in a buggy wreck this past Sunday evening. The girls, and two boys who were giving the girls a ride home, were hit from behind by a truck traveling at a high rate of speed. The girls, Michelle, age 16, and Rebecca, age 17, were cousins. (Cousins of each other, not cousins of my family.) They leave to mourn their parents, brothers and sisters, grandparents and a lot of extended family. One of the boys is in the hospital in critical condition and the last we heard has not responded. I just can’t imagine how the families must feel. Let us keep them in our prayers so that God can help them through this difficult trial in life. We do not understand why things like this happen but we do know God makes no mistakes when bad things happen. The funeral for the girls will be on Thanksgiving Day.

Also in our prayers is cousin Leah as she is in the hospital in critical condition. She and her husband Joe and their two sons were in a buggy when they were also hit from behind. Leah landed in front of the car, which stopped on top of her. She has extensive head injuries. We talked to her sister Martha’s husband, David, yesterday. We haven’t heard many details so we were glad to talk with him and find out what really happened. Leah lives in the Berne, Indiana, area and is Uncle Emanuel and Aunt Leah’s oldest daughter. Her sister Martha was my age and we had so many good times growing up. Now we hardly see or hear from each other. Life gets busy with our own families.

I had another doctor appointment this week. The blood clot is still improving and I’m doing as well as can be expected since the surgery four weeks ago. I can tell my energy level isn’t normal yet but it all takes time to heal. The girls do a wonderful job helping me. I have to keep reminding myself to be careful and remember that the work won’t run away (although it would be nice if it would sometimes. Ha!).

Son-in-law Timothy brought us a deer that he shot. He had it all venison2016ground up and ready for the freezer. The family was all here Sunday evening for supper, so husband Joe grilled deer steaks on the charcoal grill, which we all enjoyed.

God bless all of you this holiday and keep you safe.

Jerky

 12 pounds lean meat (optional: beef, venison, pork)
1 cup Tender Quick
8 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon red pepper
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon salt petre
1 tablespoon Accent or meat tenderizer
1 cup brown sugar

Slice meat 3/16 inches thick. Mix remaining ingredients thoroughly in a bowl. Use entire seasoning for 12 pounds of meat.

Layer your meat in a tub or on trays. Using a shaker with large holes, sprinkle seasoning between each layer. Let set 24 hours. Bake at 325 degrees for 15 minutes. Flip over, bake another 15 minutes.

Hint: We use parchment paper on bottom of trays. When finished baking, meat still looks wet. Take your meat out of tray and discard remaining juice. Meat will dry up and still be moist. Good luck!

 

Lovina Eicher is an Old Order Amish writer, cook, wife, and mother of eight. She is the co-author of three cookbooks; her new cookbook,
will be published in 2017. Readers can contact Eicher at PO Box 1689, South Holland, IL 60473 (please include a self-addressed stamped envelope for a reply) or at
LovinasAmishKitchen@MennoMedia.org.

Lovina shares turkey casserole recipe from her forthcoming cookbook

plasticcanvashobbydaughterlovina
Daughter Lovina is enjoying making projects out of plastic mesh and yarn.

Week after week goes by so fast! Christmas is only five weeks away from Sunday.

Yesterday our children didn’t have school due to fog. At first they had a two-hour delay, but cancelled after the fog didn’t lift. We have phones in an out building in this community. The school always leaves us a voice mail if school is delayed or cancelled. This makes it so much easier than it was years ago if there was a delay. When we lived in Indiana we didn’t have a phone on the property. If there was a delay the girls would still get ready and just wait to see if the bus would come. It was always easy for them to entertain themselves but it would have been nice if they could have slept later on those mornings. We could use our neighbor’s phone if they were home but I didn’t want to leave the children alone to go call the school. Days like that always seemed short for me.

Now it is 8:00 a.m. and daughter Elizabeth and granddaughter Abigail just arrived by buggy. Izzy also came along so she stays out of Crystal’s way. Crystal doesn’t let Izzy near her new puppies (see last week’s column). Izzy is nosy and tries to go as close as possible until Crystal chases her to the other end of the house.

Daughter Susan is leaving soon to go to work until 2:00 p.m. She was glad she could hold Abigail a little before she leaves. She will take the buggy and our horse Mighty today. The campgrounds are around five miles from here. She does hire a driver to take her some days but then it gives her less income if she has to pay a driver. This job doesn’t pay nearly as well as the factory did, but then she isn’t as rushed at work either.

Son Joseph, 14, went with son-in-law Mose deer hunting yesterday. His day off of school was enjoyable. They saw an eight-point buck come their way. Then something scared the buck off. Joseph was really hoping to get a shot at it. Maybe next time!

Abigail’s smile just gets sweeter! She is full of smiles today. Elizabeth had her to the doctor last week for her two-month checkup. She weighed 12 pounds 3 ounces and is 23 3/4 inches long.

essentialamishcookbookI am excited about my new cookbook coming out next April. It is called The Essential Amish Cookbook: Everyday Recipes from Farm and Pantry. The publisher, Herald Press, comes up with the title. But my family spent a lot of time helping with this cookbook. This is the first cookbook I published without working with a co-author. I have had lots of great help from family and friends. The recipes were all tested since I often cook without measuring ingredients. This will make it easier for those of you that don’t cook often and need exact measurements.

I’ll share one of the recipes that will be in the book. This recipe will come in handy with leftover turkey after Thanksgiving dinner. It is supposed to be made the day before but if you make it in the morning it will work well also.

We have a nice fall day with the temperature at fifty degrees and sunshine. Looks like the girls will wash laundry today. God bless!

Turkey Casserole (Overnight)

 2 cups cooked turkey, chopped
1/2 cup celery, diced
1/2 cup green pepper, diced
1/2 cup onion, diced
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
6 slices of bread
1 1/2 cups milk
3 eggs
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

In a bowl, combine turkey, celery, green pepper, onion, mayonnaise, salt, and pepper. Cube the bread and place half in a large greased casserole dish or 9×13 inch baking pan. Pour turkey mixture over the top and add remaining bread cubes.

In a bowl, mix milk, eggs, and cream of mushroom soup and pour over top of casserole.

Let stand in refrigerator overnight. Top with cheese and bake uncovered at 350 degrees for one hour.

 

Lovina Eicher is an Old Order Amish writer, cook, wife, and mother of eight. She is the co-author of three cookbooks; her new cookbook, The Essential Amish Kitchen will be published in 2017. Readers can contact Eicher at PO Box 1689, South Holland, IL 60473 (please include a self-addressed stamped envelope for a reply) or at LovinasAmishKitchen@MennoMedia.org.

 

 

Surprise puppies pop up for Elizabeth’s family

Thanksgiving Day is only two weeks away*. Unbelievable! Time goes so fast. And today baby Abigail is two months old.

I went to the doctor to have the rest of my staples removed. I still have the blood clot in my leg so I need to be careful with that. I’m trying to take one day at a time and be patieapplesforapplesaucent as I heal.

applesaucemaking2016The girls and I canned applesauce this week. We did one bushel for Susan and Mose and two bushels for us. I need to be careful when work like that has to be done. The girls don’t let me do too much and are all very good at keeping an eye on me so that I don’t do too much.

Susan didn’t like the long hours she was working at the RV factory so she quit her job there. She now works in the kitchen of a campground facility. They serve meals to groups of people. So far she enjoys it and works three to four days a week. I am so glad for her help here at home as well.

The chimney is up in the pole building and Mose and Susan are enjoying the nice even heat from their coal stove there. We were glad for the warmer days until they had heat in there. This morning’s temperature was in the thirty’s so heat in the house felt good.

Daughter Verena sprained her arm and the doctor wants her to keep it in a sling part time so she doesn’t overuse it. She reached into the Maytag washing machine to see if more clothes were in there. The agitator of the washing machine somehow pushed her elbow against the machine. It was very painful at first but an x-ray at the hospital showed no fractures—only badly sprained. We were so thankful to hear that nothing was broken.

Different families from our church district are still bringing in our supper three times a week. I just can’t be thankful enough for their kindness. This has been so much help to the girls as well.

Also, thanks to all that have sent cards, etc. I feel more than blessed!

Timothy and Elizabeth’s Yorkie dog Crystal gave birth this week to five little puppies. We are glad that all is okay with Crystal and the puppies. The puppies were unplanned. Our rat terrier dog Rover is the father to the puppies. We now know to be more careful when someone lets Crystal outside to go to the bathroom. The puppies are very cute and Crystal is being a good mother but it wasn’t on Timothy and Elizabeth’s agenda to take care of puppies yet. Such is life—always full of surprises!

It looks like a nice, sunny day to wash laundry. Days like this will be few before the snow starts flying.

Our new chickens are finally starting to lay eggs. We were getting short in eggs so I’m glad the hens started. After they are laying good enough we will butcher the old hens. I am low in chicken broth since Susan’s wedding. It takes quite a bit of broth to make chicken, noodles and dressing for a wedding crowd!

Try this easy dish. Although it takes more baking time, it is nice to just put it all in the oven to bake. God’s blessings!

Seven-Layer Supper

1/2 pound uncooked bacon, chopped into 1/2- to 1-inch pieces
1 1/2 pounds ground beef
4 potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
1 onion, sliced
4 carrots, thinly sliced
1/2 to 1 teaspoon salt, to taste
1/2 to 1 teaspoon pepper, to taste
1/2 to 1 teaspoon garlic salt, to taste
1/2 to 1 teaspoon seasoning salt, to taste
1 to 1 1/2 cups water

Place ingredients in order listed in greased 9×13-inch pan, pouring water over all until nearly covered. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 1/2 hours.

 

*A reminder that Lovina writes her columns for newspapers about a week before you see them here. Newspapers run them first. 

Lovina Eicher is an Old Order Amish writer, cook, wife and mother of eight. Formerly writing as The Amish Cook, Eicher inherited that column from her mother, Elizabeth Coblentz, who wrote from 1991 to 2002. Readers can contact Eicher at PO Box 1689, South Holland, IL 60473 (please include a self-addressed stamped envelope for a reply) or at LovinasAmishKitchen@MennoMedia.org.

 

Cozy days and a hog roast top a week with autumn colors peeking out  

 

Signs of autumn are everywhere! The trees here in southern
Michigan are absolutely beautiful as the leaves start changing color.

Its 5:45 a.m. and son Benjamin is leaving for work. My husband Joe left around 3:40 a.m. for his job at the RV factory. Son Joseph is fallcolorsohiogetting Bessie the cow in for her morning milking. Benjamin feeds the horses and Joseph takes care of the cow and calves.

It is raining this morning after some gorgeous autumn days. The temperature is staying in the mid-fifty’s. It looks like laundry will be put off until tomorrow. Daughter Verena plans to bake monster cookies today. We will take some to church on Sunday at our neighbor’s house. The rest will be for lunches and snacks around here.

buggies2
The Eichers could have used one of these double buggies (seen parked at Susan and Mose’s wedding this summer) for the trip to Dustin’s home.

Saturday we took four horse and buggies from here the six and one-half miles to Loretta’s friend Dustin’s place. They live to the west and the roads get more rolling, making it a little harder for the horses to pull the buggies up and down the hills. The brakes on the buggies help a lot. Joe and I took Ginger our twelve-year-old horse. Joseph, Lovina, and Kevin took our pony Stormy. Benjamin and Verena took our four-year-old horse Mighty and Mose and Susan took our three-year-old horse Rex. All the horses did a good job with the rolling country roads. Dustin came to get Loretta. Timothy, Elizabeth, and Abigail had the farthest with thirteen and one-half miles from their house to Dustin’s.

The hog roast was in honor of Dustin and his dad’s October birthdays. The hog began roasting in the early morning hours. The meat was very delicious and seasoned just right. Lots of other food was served along with the pork. It was a nice, sunny, and warm day to sit outside and watch the food being prepared. We headed for home towards evening and spent the evening over at Mose and Susan’s (in the pole building). Nobody was hungry for supper so we enjoyed popcorn and apples. We played the game Aggravation which is always exciting. Lovina and Kevin wanted to spend the night at Mose and Susan’s even though it’s just fifty feet from our house. They have a spare bed and a fold out couch so the children found a place to sleep. Lovina and Kevin say Susan makes the best hot chocolate in the mornings. Lovina said it’s so cozy over at Mose and Susan’s.

Yesterday daughter Elizabeth and baby Abigail came here for the day. And of course the dogs Crystal and Izzy had to come along. Abigail is used to the dogs when they bark.

We all had fun holding Abigail. She is five and one-half weeks old and starting to coo and make such cute facial expressions. After a day at Grandma’s house she is probably glad to rest and get away from all the attention.

Sister Susan is planning a big surprise happy 50th birthday party for sister Verena this Saturday at the community building. Her birthday was August 22. More on that next week.

A happy birthday goes out to son-in-law Timothy. His birthday was October 18.

Try this recipe that a reader shared with me from Peru, Indiana. God’s blessings!

German Sausage Chowder

1/2 pound smoked sausage, chopped
2 cups chopped potatoes
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 carrots, chopped
4 celery ribs, chopped
2 cups water
4 cups shredded cabbage
salt and pepper to taste
3 cups milk (divided)
3 tablespoons flour
1 cup shredded Swiss cheese
parsley (optional)

Combine first five ingredients with water and cook until nearly tender. Add cabbage and cook until tender. Stir in 2 1/2 cups milk. Blend 1/2 cup milk with flour. Stir into soup. Cook and stir until thickened. Stir in cheese. Enjoy!

 

Lovina Eicher is an Old Order Amish writer, cook, wife and mother of eight. Formerly writing as The Amish Cook, Eicher inherited that column from her mother, Elizabeth Coblentz, who wrote from 1991 to 2002. Readers can contact Eicher at PO Box 1689, South Holland, IL 60473 (please include a self-addressed stamped envelope for a reply) or at LovinasAmishKitchen@MennoMedia.org.

 

Definition of a ‘handful’? Loading baby and two dogs into a buggy

It is Thursday already, and this column should have been written yesterday! The sun is shining brightly, with the thermometer showing 62 degrees this morning.

Son Benjamin is home, as he doesn’t have work today. I hope he can clean up the remainder of the garden. We still have hot peppers, green peppers and cabbage in there.

Hot peppers from the Eicher garden, canned and ready to spice up winter meals.
Hot peppers from the Eicher garden, canned and ready to spice up winter meals.

Tonight we will go pick Concord grapes at the local U-Pick. We will also get our apples for applesauce. We are out of grape juice and applesauce, so it will be good to fill some jars with both. Timothy and Elizabeth and Mose and Susan will also go along to get grapes and apples.

Baby Abigail will be four weeks old on Saturday. She is sweeter than ever!

Daughter Elizabeth and Abigail came here for the day yesterday, and of course Crystal and Izzy (the Yorkies) came along. So Elizabeth has a handful as she gets Abigail and the dogs into the buggy! Abigail loves buggy rides, so at least she isn’t crying while they travel the almost seven miles. Their horse, ShiAnn, is a safe and sound horse for Elizabeth to drive. I keep reminding Elizabeth to take it easy, but she has a hard time not working too long. Since she became a mother, she has found out how your all nights of sleep are gone.

Monday was a cold, rainy day, so we put off laundry until Tuesday. Since we skipped washing clothes I cut out daughter Loretta’s dress, cape and apron for an upcoming wedding. I sewed most of it yesterday.

Tuesday we did our laundry, and after it was all washed and hung on the lines, we went over to Timothy and Elizabeth’s house to wash their laundry. It was a nice sunny, breezy day, so the clothes dried really well. It was almost dark by the time we made it home.

Mose had grilled hamburgers and Susan had heated up leftover pizza casserole for supper. Susan had made pizza casserole and baked five loaves of bread on Monday after she came home from work. She made a small casserole for us to take to Elizabeth’s. We took it along to her on Tuesday so she had an easy supper for her and Timothy.

Last Thursday Joe and I, along with daughter Verena and my sisters Susan and Verena, traveled to a wedding in Berne, Indiana. It turned out to be a beautiful day for the wedding of niece Arlene and Robert. Daughter Verena was a tablewaiter at the wedding. I was a cook and had to help make the lettuce salad. My five sisters—Leah, Verena, Liz, Emma and Susan—and I, and also sister-in-law Sarah Irene, were all on the job of making salad. It is always enjoyable to work with family.

On the menu were barbecued chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy, chicken and noodles, dressing, mixed vegetables, lettuce salad, cheese, homemade bread and cinnabutter (peanut butter with cinnamon flavor). Niece Susan made it but I didn’t get the recipe. Desserts were tapioca pudding, mixed fruit salad, pecan, cherry, blueberry and pumpkin pie and angel food cake with strawberry topping. Wedding Nothings were on the menu as well.

Crispy Chicken

1 1/2 cup crispy rice cereal, crushed
2 tablespoons flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon thyme
1/4 teaspoon poultry seasoning
1/4 cup melted butter
4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts

Combine the first five ingredients. Dip chicken in butter and then into cereal mixture. Put in an 11 x 7-inch pan. Drizzle with remaining butter. Bake at 400 degrees for 20–25 minutes.

Lovina Eicher is an Old Order Amish writer, cook, wife and mother of eight. Formerly writing as The Amish Cook, Eicher inherited that column from her mother, Elizabeth Coblentz, who wrote from 1991 to 2002. Readers can contact Eicher at PO Box 1689, South Holland, IL 60473 (please include a self-addressed stamped envelope for a reply) or at LovinasAmishKitchen@MennoMedia.org.

How Lovina’s new mattress made the children late to school

Mornings are very cool lately here in southern Michigan. Another sure sign that autumn is here.

Our house seems extra empty this week. Daughter Verena, 18, is helping daughter Elizabeth with house work and the baby this week. Son Benjamin, 17, left Sunday afternoon with some friends for Pennsylvania. We miss them and look forward to having everyone home again for the weekend.

Baptismal services were held at our neighbors for a young girl in our church. This was held on Saturday instead of Sunday in order to make it possible for some friends to attend the service.

Monday we did laundry here and then went over to Elizabeth and Timothy’s house to do their laundry. It was a sunny, breezy day after the early morning rain was over. And of course, we had to take time to hold sweet little Abigail! She is such a precious baby to all of us! She smiles a lot! Her eyes seem to be turning blue.

Verena stayed there and daughter Loretta and I came back home which was already after suppertime. Son-in-law Mose had made supper for everyone on the grill. Brats and hot dog sandwiches were on the menu. I was so glad I didn’t have to get supper after doing all that laundry. I told my husband Joe that after that long day I actually felt like a Grandma! Ha, ha!

Friday evening Joe bought a new Serta mattress for our bed. We were certainly needing a new one. Well, between the mattress and a long day Monday, I was extra tired Tuesday morning. I woke up at 3:00 a.m., prepared Joe’s lunch, and when he left at 3:40, I went back to bed and set my alarm for 5:40 a.m. When I woke up the sun was shining and I looked at my alarm and it was 7:45 a.m. already. The school children were still in bed and the bus had stopped by around 7:00 a.m.

Joseph, 14, quickly milked our cow Bessie and did the other chores while daughter Lovina, 12, and son Kevin, 11, helped pack lunches and made each of them a grilled cheese sandwich for breakfast. I called our friend Beth and asked if she would give the children a ride to school which she did. They arrived at school a half hour late. What a way to start the day! Joseph and Kevin were awake lying in bed but said they thought there might have been a fog delay and I left them sleep in. They had fun teasing me that they were tardy because I slept in.

Tomorrow at 5:30 a.m. we head for Berne, Indiana, to attend the wedding at brother Amos and Nancy’s for their daughter Arlene, marrying Robert.

Our thoughts and prayers are with Timothy’s cousin Paul’s wife, Mary. She was a passenger in a minivan which was rear-ended while they were waiting for a semi-truck in front of them to turn. She has multiple injuries and a long recovery ahead. Life has changed for their family. May God be with them as they go through this difficult trial in life. We wish her a complete and speedy recovery. The driver of the minivan Mary was riding in was killed instantly and our sympathy goes to his family. The funeral will be held at the local funeral home tomorrow. He was well known in the community and worked as a driver for Paul and Mary’s sawmill for years. We never know what our future holds.

I will share this recipe. It is a well-liked meal around here. God bless!

Italian Sausage and Potatoesitaliansausagepeppersbread

6 potatoes, sliced
1 large onion, sliced
2 large green peppers, sliced
2 pounds Italian sausage (sweet, mild, or hot; prefer Johnsonville        Brand, 5 links in each package cut in thirds)
1/2 cup olive oil
salt, pepper, oregano to taste

Mix sliced potatoes, onion, green pepper, salt, pepper, and oregano with olive oil. Bake in 9×13 pan covered (I use size larger) for 1/2 hour at 350 degrees. Remove from oven and drain. Cut sausage in pieces and add to potato mixture. Continue cooking for one hour or until sausage is done. Some broil this to finish cooking, uncovered, until sausage is browned.

 

Lovina Eicher is an Old Order Amish writer, cook, wife and mother of eight. Formerly writing as The Amish Cook, Eicher inherited that column from her mother, Elizabeth Coblentz, who wrote from 1991 to 2002. Readers can contact Eicher at PO Box 1689, South Holland, IL 60473 (please include a self-addressed stamped envelope for a reply) or at LovinasAmishKitchen@MennoMedia.org.