Category Archives: Salads

So many Amish weddings lately that it’s hard to keep up

October 20, 2017 Lovinas Amish Kitchen 7 Comments

It is a typical October day. Leaves are gradually changing color, evidence that autumn is here and making such beautiful scenery. Also, the sunsets have been absolutely breathtaking lately.

Laundry will be on the list to do today. I should be helping sister Emma today with her painting, but I am trying to heal a sore toe and painting would not have helped. I know being a cook at the wedding tomorrow will already make it hurt more.

On Tuesday daughter Susan and I helped with wedding preparations for the wedding at son-in-law Mose’s parents’ house. We diced carrots, celery, onions and potatoes for the dressing on Friday. The potatoes and carrots were cooked until softened a little so that they will be softer when the dressing is baking. We also peeled and sliced a bushel of peaches and added pineapples, orange juice concentrate and sliced bananas to make fruit slush for the wedding. Bacon was fried up and crumbled for the corn chip salad that will be served. Other jobs were completed as well.

Last Thursday was a lovely day for Clint and Hannah’s wedding. I will try to remember the menu. With so many weddings lately, it’s a little confusing to remember what was served at which wedding! On the menu were: baked and barbecued chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy, dressing, green beans, corn chip salad, bread buns, honey, butter, fresh fruit mixture, pineapple dessert, cherry delight, frozen mocha dessert and candy bars. Candy bars are usually served at the end of each wedding meal.

Sunday, October 8, was Loretta’s special friend Dustin’s birthday. Mose butchered a few of the chickens, and Dustin fixed the whole chickens on the grill. Also on the menu were red potatoes and mushrooms (also fixed on the grill), sliced cheese, celery and carrots with ranch vegetable dip, cake and ice cream.

We wish Dustin another year filled with love and happiness. May God bless him for being such a wonderful friend to our daughter Loretta. With her disability it takes time and patience, and Dustin is always there for her. He made it possible for her to go deer hunting for the first time. She does very well with the crossbow when they do target practice. I’m sure, though, that once the deer is right in front of you, it can be a greater challenge!

Daughter Elizabeth was here yesterday and finished sewing Susan’s cape and apron for the wedding. I had the dress finished. It was a different pattern to sew, so it took a little more time.

We plan to butcher our 95 chickens on Saturday (although we had 100, the count is down to 95). I’m not sure we will get to all of them, but hopefully most of them. We will leave some whole and cut up the rest for frying or grilling or baking.

Chicken fajitas (shown above) and apple crisp were features of Lovina’s fall menus this week.

Last night we made chicken fajitas for supper. We had apple crisp for supper a few times this week. I also made some to take along this past Tuesday. We love it warm with a scoop of ice cream on top. I usually make this when apples are in season. It is on page 186 of my newest cookbook, The Essential Amish Cookbook.

I will share the recipe for corn chip salad this week. God’s blessings to all!

Corn Chip Salad

Salad:

1 head iceberg or romaine lettuce
1/2 pound shredded cheddar cheese
1 pound bacon, fried and crumbled
6 hard-boiled eggs, chopped
2 1/2 cups corn chips, crushed

Toss together all ingredients except corn chips. Mix dressing with the salad, and add corn chips just before serving.

Dressing:

1 cup salad dressing
2 tablespoons vinegar
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar

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 Cookbook, is available from 800-245-7894. Readers can write to Eicher at PO Box 1689, South Holland, IL 60473 (please include a self-addressed stamped envelope for a reply) or at LovinasAmishKitchen@MennoMedia.org.

Salads

Canning, cleaning, and “flying” horses fill Lovina’s week

August 18, 2017 Lovinas Amish Kitchen 4 Comments

It is 10:00 p.m. Wednesday evening. Everyone has headed to bed except the girls and me.

I forgot all about writing this column until after daughter Elizabeth, Timothy and Abigail left for home. They came over for a while after supper. We had so much fun with Abigail. I was helping her walk and let go of her hands and she stood by herself for quite a while until she noticed I had let go of her hands. She will be eleven months old tomorrow. Time sure goes way too fast.

We are still busy cleaning for the church services we will host in two weeks from Sunday. The girls have been cleaning out drawers and kitchen cabinets. I am sorting through dishes that I hardly use. I am giving them to my daughters and what they don’t need I will put in a garage sale. What doesn’t sell I will put in our local free store. It’s like they say—one person’s junk is another person’s treasure. Over the years things accumulate and I like to get rid of things that just sit around.

Yesterday we washed off walls, ceiling and windows in Joe’s and my bedroom. We also have a bathroom beside our bedroom so that was cleaned from top to bottom. We cleaned furniture, curtains and the bedding was washed and put back on. Today I cleaned our closet. My mending is piling up though and I keep hoping to get it caught up before church.

On Friday evening, neighbors, friends, and family will gather to help my sisters Verena and Susan move their furniture back to their house. It has been stored in our basement for over three months since their fire. The construction on their house is now done. It is a good thing that we can now clean our basement next week.

My tomatoes are ready to start canning. I will start with tomato juice since I ran out. I have plenty of V-8 canned yet, but it is too spicy to put in soup alone. I sometimes mix it with tomato juice.

I canned dill pickles for daughter Susan last Saturday. Mose’s mother sent dill and other pickles home with Mose and Susan Friday evening. Mose and Susan went to his grandma’s sale of her personal belongings so I thought I would can the pickles for her.

Son Kevin, 11, has been doing odds-and-ends jobs for us. He always has the dogs trailing after him. They just adore him. Daughter Verena’s Yorkie puppy Ricky is almost six months old and is looking like a little fur ball. She took him to the vet for another round of shots.

Kevin was burning trash out in the barnyard while we were washing clothes in the basement one day this week. Daughter Susan looked up and saw our whole herd of horses and ponies go flying past the window. They headed straight for neighbor Joe’s yard and galloped north. Our pony Stormy was in the lead like usual.

Susan ran to get a scoop of grain so she could bribe the horses into coming back. Fortunately, my husband Joe and son-in-law Mose had an early day and had just come home from work. I’m not sure if Stormy saw Susan shaking the scoop of grain but he decided to circle around the fence around our field and head back home. Once they were in our yard we corralled them back through the gate. I think Kevin won’t forget to chain the gate next time he burns trash. The gate was shut but not chained and it seems those ponies know exactly when it’s open.

Try this lettuce salad if you want to make a salad the day before serving it.

God’s blessings to all!

Layered Lettuce Salad

1 head lettuce, cut into bite-size pieces
1 cup celery, diced
4 eggs, hard cooked and diced
1 (10 ounce) package frozen peas, uncooked
1/2 cup green pepper, diced
1 sweet onion, thinly sliced
8 slices bacon, fried and diced
2 cups mayonnaise
2 tablespoons sugar
4 ounces cheddar cheese, shredded

Layer the first seven ingredients in a 9×13-inch dish. Mix mayonnaise with sugar. Spread on top as if frosting. Top with cheese. Cover and refrigerate 8 to 12 hours. At serving time, garnish with additional bacon and parsley if desired.

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, is available from 800-245-7894. Readers can write to Eicher at PO Box 1689, South Holland, IL 60473 (please include a self-addressed stamped envelope for a reply) or at LovinasAmishKitchen@MennoMedia.org.

Salads

That time the toddler conspired to free the baby from the playpen . . .

July 7, 2017 Lovinas Amish Kitchen 5 Comments

Another week has gone by, and it’s time to get another column on its way. This will wrap up June already. Half of 2017 is now history.

We are invited to a wedding in Berne, Ind., tomorrow for Lana, the daughter of one of Joe’s cousins. She is getting married to my cousin’s son, Abe. It doesn’t look like it will work for us to go. It will be Joe’s last day of work before a week’s vacation. We appreciated the invitation, though.

Saturday will bring us into July. Daughter Loretta was born to us on July 1, 2000. Her birthday goes with the year, so it’s always easy to remember her age! She will be 17. Son Benjamin is 17 until July 14, when he turns 18. Loretta always teases Benjamin that she caught up with him in age—although that only lasts for two weeks.

That was a few rough years when those two were toddlers! Growing up that close in age meant there was a lot of competition between the two.

I remember one day when Loretta and Benjamin were young and we were still living in Indiana. We had an attached garage, where I did my laundry. Back then I had to heat all my water on the stove in the house and carry it to the washing machine in the garage. Joe would fill up big garbage cans with cold water for me so I didn’t have to carry all the cold water. At first we had a washing machine without a motor, so it had to be operated by hand. But that is what I had grown up with, so I was used to that.

Still, I was pretty excited the day Joe brought me home a Maytag washing machine with a motor. We had only one motor, so Joe would take it off the pump jack that pumped the water from our well and hook it up to my washing machine. So if I decided I wanted to do laundry when Joe wasn’t home, I couldn’t. Finally, I figured out how to switch it myself. If there’s a will, there’s a way!

Now to get back to the story I started: on laundry day, I would put Loretta in the playpen while I carried hot water. She could crawl by that time, and I didn’t want her to get in the way. She didn’t like not being able to get out of the playpen. One day I went in to check on her and Benjamin. He had climbed up on a chair, reached my scissors in my desk and cut a hole in the playpen netting so Loretta could crawl out.

It still makes me shudder to think how easily he could have cut himself or Loretta doing that! Loretta was all smiles about the fact that her big brother helped her escape. Needless to say, the playpen didn’t work very well after that, what with a hole in it.

Another time, after we moved to Michigan and Loretta was three and Benjamin four, I was hanging out laundry. It was chilly that day, and I thought Benjamin and Loretta were entertained enough with their toys. Joseph was taking a nap, and the three oldest were in school. I would hang out one basket of laundry and then come in the house to check on the little ones. That day I found Benjamin and Loretta scrubbing my brand-new oak kitchen table with dish soap and scouring powder! They told me they wanted to “help” me. They had managed to use up almost a bottle of dish soap and a big can of scouring powder. I caught it before it did too much damage to the finishing on the table.

Lovina shares a delicious recipe for Italian Cucumber Salad—great for using ample fresh garden cukes!

I must say that Benjamin and Loretta have both grown up to be kindhearted young teenagers. But they are typical teenagers, so life still isn’t dull with the two of them. We have five teenagers in the house, so there’s never a dull moment!

So a happy birthday to Loretta! We wish her many more happy years. We plan to get together somewhere for pizza with the family of Dustin, Loretta’s special friend, in honor of Loretta’s birthday.

My daily prayer is that God will give Joe and me guidance to show our children a good example of serving such a wonderful God that we have, in good times and bad times.

May God bless all of you!

Italian Cucumber Salad

2 cups cucumbers, peeled and sliced
1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
1 cup onions, sliced
1/2 cup green peppers, chopped
1/2 cup Italian dressing

Mix vegetables together. Add dressing and toss.

Salads

Lovina’s daughter heads east; children learning to like dandelion greens

April 7, 2017 Lovinas Amish Kitchen 2 Comments

It is good to see the sun shining today after some dreary weather.

Next week Joseph, Lovina, and Kevin will be home for spring break from school. Saturday is already the first day of April. I am hoping for a warmer week while the children are home. We want to get the yard cleaned up and ready for mowing when the grass starts growing.

Daughters Verena, 19, and Lovina, 12, will stay at a friend’s house from Friday night until late Saturday night with the friend’s one-year-old son. They babysit for him a lot so he is used to having them around. His parents are leaving town and asked the girls if they would stay with him.

Then Sunday morning early, Verena will leave for eight days with the lady she works with at a local daycare center. There will be others going with them as well and they will be travel to various states as far as Rhode Island. I will have more details when she is back. I hope they have safe travels. We will miss Verena while she is gone, but I am glad she gets to go. Most of her expenses will be paid. It will be a nice break for her to get away from everything. I was teasing her that she’s going farther east than I’ve ever gone. Ohio is the farthest east I have been.

She works three days a week at the daycare and helps with the little children age five and younger. She loves being around them and is already very attached. Her love for children makes her job fun but demanding. Needless to say, she changes a lot of diapers in a day’s time. Also with quite a few needing to be potty-trained, there isn’t much free time for her.

We are having dandelion greens salad a lot this week. We like this with cooked or steamed potatoes. This year three more of our children started eating the dandelion salad.

I want to correct something that somehow was incorrect in a recent column. Pon hoss is sliced and fried, but flour is not added to fry it. This must have been a misprint somewhere. That is one of the things a writer must endure. We write it one way and just a few words added or reworded can make a big difference and another meaning.

We have three wedding invitations on our refrigerator at this time. Niece Emma and Johnny chose April 14 for their wedding day. Our neighbor girl Regina and Wayne have set May 12 for their special day. And on May 5, Dustin’s brother Jake and Lisa will exchange vows. I was asked to be a cook at all three of these weddings. The girls also have part in two of the weddings, so much sewing needs to be done. We went after the material and now it’s waiting to be cut out and sewn.

Due to still getting lots of letters from readers asking about details about the cookbook, The Essential Amish Cookbook: Everyday Recipes from Farm and Pantry, I’ll put in that information again. You can call 800-245-7894 to preorder from the publisher or go online and order from Amazon or other stores online. It will be released April 17. It’s exciting for all of us.

God’s blessings to all!

Garden Vegetable Spread

8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup cucumber, diced
1 carrot, shredded
1 green onion, chopped
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon dill weed
dash of salt
dash of pepper

Combine all the ingredients. Chill. Serve with crackers or cut-up vegetables. This is also very good on a bagel or a tortilla with a little meat, cheese, lettuce and tomatoes.

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, available from 800-245-7894. Readers can write to Eicher at PO Box 1689, South Holland, IL 60473 (please include a self-addressed stamped envelope for a reply) or at LovinasAmishKitchen@MennoMedia.org.

Candy, Meats, Salads, Snacks

Lovina unveils three recipes from her forthcoming cookbook

January 6, 2017 Lovinas Amish Kitchen 8 Comments

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.

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

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.

Salads

Cleaning house for Susan’s wedding, Eichers save worst bedroom for last . . .

July 8, 2016 Lovinas Amish Kitchen 1 Comment

We are wrapping up the month of June. The year 2016 is now already halfway done. Amazing how time seems to go faster and faster. The wedding for Mose and Susan is only five weeks away. It’s getting too close way too fast for me!

We still want to make noodles for the wedding, and there is still a lot of cleaning that needs to be done. Sisters Verena and Susan were helping us Saturday. The girls’ bedrooms upstairs are all cleaned. We saved the worst for last: the boys’ bedroom. I have been organizing in there. After the wedding, Benjamin will move into Susan’s bedroom. Joseph and Benjamin share a lot of the same clothes. We are separating the clothes so half of them can get moved into Benjamin’s bedroom. Susan has quite a bit of her own furniture in her bedroom, so the room will look empty.

As of now, Mose and Susan plan to make living quarters in a small part of our pole building until they find a place suitable for them to live. I am happy Susan won’t be moving off the property yet. She and Mose both will be working, and this way she won’t have to keep a house going.

After Joe and I were married, we lived with my dad and mom until Elizabeth was born. We then moved into a trailer house across the driveway until after Susan was born. We then moved to a place about two and a half miles from there. That is where we lived until our move to Michigan in 2004.

Now it is 2016, and daughter Loretta will be sixteen on July 1. We will have pizza and ice cream cake tomorrow evening in honor of her birthday. Loretta and Lovina share a bedroom. Loretta doesn’t like anything out of place, and her bed is made every day. Lovina gets annoyed at the neatness and is learning fast that her end of the room has to stay “cleaned up” as well. If I let things clutter up too much, Loretta takes over cleaning up my things. It’s good to have someone stay organized after working in the boys’ bedroom. I teased them and said we are going to put Loretta in charge of cleaning their bedroom. They said she would probably call their treasures “junk.”

Tomorrow we are invited to the wedding of one of Joe’s coworkers, Joseph and Edna. We won’t be able to attend but appreciate the invitation. Another of Joe’s coworkers, Jerry, was married to Diane on June 16. We were all invited but unable to attend. We wish God’s blessings to both young couples. May they have a long and happy married life together, letting God lead their way.

Lovina’s husband, Joe, loves salad for lunch, and right now all the vegetables for his salad come from their garden.

Today is Joe’s last day in the factory until July 11. His vacation won’t be much of a vacation, though, with the upcoming wedding to prepare for. We will take a few days off and take the whole family up north for a few days. I’ll write more about that next week.

Saturday, July 2, Joe’s sister Christine and Jake have Joe’s family gathering at their house. They live around three hours from here in Hersey, Michigan.

Last Sunday, Jacob and sister Emma and family, my sisters Verena and Susan, and Timothy and Elizabeth were all here for a fish fry, with Joe cooking. He also made French fries. Verena and Susan each brought a salad, and Emma and Elizabeth brought desserts, so it was an easy lunch for me. We set up tables on the porch to eat. The men and boys enjoyed playing croquet in the afternoon while the rest of us just visited and relaxed.

Cucumbers are the crop of choice in Lovina’s garden right now, and this week she shares a favorite recipe for cucumber salad.

Our cucumbers are really getting ready fast. We are enjoying cucumber salad a lot. I’ll share this recipe with you. May God bless each of you always!

Cucumber and Onion Salad

1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup vinegar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon celery seed
1–2 cucumbers, thinly sliced
1/2 cup onions, sliced

Mix first four ingredients well to make the dressing. Add cucumbers and onion. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours. Serve cold.

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.

Desserts, Salads

On Lovina’s birthday, another summer wedding gets “published”!

June 3, 2016 Lovinas Amish Kitchen 7 Comments

It is 6:42 a.m. and our three youngest just left with the bus for another day at school. They are counting the days left of this term. Eight and one-half days left! I still have a hard time getting used to the bus coming this early. All the years our children went to school the bus was never here until 7:00 a.m. or a little after. Changes are hard to get used to in our lives!

Talking about changes in life. Our family will have another change and I’ll probably have the hardest time with it. On the other hand, I’m excited and happy for daughter Susan, 20, and her special friend, Mose. They were published in church this past Sunday to announce their wedding date. They picked Friday, August 5, for their special day. Mose and Susan have been dating for four years and we have no doubt in our minds that he will be a good husband to our daughter. He seems like my own son and I hope that never changes. It is so much easier on a couple if both families accept the life partner of their family member. May God bless their marriage and grant them many happy, healthy years together!

With the wedding coming up I see busy months ahead! We will be more organized than with Elizabeth and Timothy’s wedding. We were in the process of putting up a pole barn last year which delayed all the other work.

Susan’s dress for the wedding is mostly finished. The rest of ours are cut out but still waiting to be sewn. That is what I plan to do the next few days.

I feel better to sew now since our whole garden was planted Saturday. We are enjoying radishes and green onions from the early things we planted. Mose and his brother Freeman assisted us with our work on Saturday. The pole barn was organized and cleaned up. When it gets closer to the wedding we want to wash down the walls and ceilings on both sides of the pole barn. We will set tables in both sides and open the garage door that’s in the middle. Mose and daughters Susan and Verena planted flowers in my flower beds. We put out 68 tomato plants. With everyone’s help the garden was quickly filled. Now it’s up to our good Lord to provide sunshine and rain to make things grow. Some years we have a bountiful crop and others not much but we want to take what “He” sends.

On Sunday, May 22, I also turned another year older. We had communion services at sister Emma and Jacob’s house. After the services were over everyone sang “Happy Birthday” to me and sister Emma brought out a cake with candles. Luckily she only had a four and five for candles. I don’t know if I could have handled blowing out 45 candles. Emma sent the cake home with me. We had it for supper with our children. The children went after pizza in town and they grilled hot wings so I wouldn’t have to cook on my birthday. We had a nice evening together!

On Thursday we traveled to Berne, Ind., to brother Amos and Nancy’s house for the wedding of their daughter Lovina and Benjamin. They had a very nice day! On the menu were fried chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy, noodles, dressing, mixed vegetables, lettuce salad, sliced cheese, homemade bread, butter and rhubarb jam. Also pies (rhubarb, blueberry, cherry, and pecan), tapioca pudding, angel food cake, fruit cocktail dessert, and of course “nothings” were on all the tables. Sausage was added in the evening. It was nice to see a lot of family again.

On a sadder note; Friday, May 20, brought memories of the passing of my dear father, Ben Coblentz, 16 years ago. How nice it would be to have my parents at all their grandchildren’s weddings. God’s ways are not our ways so we need to accept what He sends to us.

I must get busy. I love sewing but it’s different if you have a deadline to get things done. It kind of takes away the enjoyment, but we will take one day at a time. God’s blessings!

Fruit Cocktail Dessert

1 15-ounce can fruit cocktail
1 3-ounce package apricot Jell-O
1 3-ounce package vanilla pudding (not instant)

Drain juice from fruit cocktail; add water to the juice to make 3 cups of liquid. Put in a saucepan. Add pudding and bring to a boil. Add Jell-O and cool; add fruit cocktail.

Salads

After Mother’s Day, Lovina’s all set for fishing: license, rod, and life jacket!

May 20, 2016 Lovinas Amish Kitchen 3 Comments

Hi. This is Lovina’s 18-year-old daughter, Verena.

I hope all you readers are doing great! Part of my Mother’s Day gift to my dear mother is writing the column for her this week. I also gave her a lighted crystal cube that says “I Love You Mom.” Dad and all of us children gave her two potted rose bushes, and a life jacket. Dad got her fishing licenses so she can go out fishing with us. Also a new fishing rod, so she is set to go.

It has been a rainy day! Mom took me to the eye doctor today as I have been having problems with my right eye since Sunday morning. I have an infection in my eye lid and I think the doctor called it blepharitis. My eye lid dried up which caused it to stick to my cornea which was why my vision is blurred. The doctor gave me antibiotic eye drops to put in my eyes for a week. He wants me to put it in both eyes to keep the infection from spreading into the other eye.

Around May 24, my friend Lori’s Yorkie dog will give birth to her puppies. I get first choice out of the puppies. I am hoping one will be a female. I just love little Yorkies. Sister Liz has two and I am so attached to them! They are so sweet and can be a lot of fun!

I want to thank Pamela for the money she sent to help me purchase the Yorkie. That was so kind and thoughtful of you! I will send you a personal thank you yet. May God bless you!

Dad is outside grilling tonight. I love when he grills because he will often yodel while grilling. It just always lifts my mood! If it wasn’t raining, we children would be out there with him.

Last week we went fishing three different days. We caught a total of 182 Bluegill. I enjoy fishing. The first day I went fishing was with sister Susan and her boyfriend Mose. Susan and I were catching so many fish that Mose hardly had time to fish since he had to put the worms on our hooks. If I really had to put those slimy worms on the hook, I could have but I wasn’t going to tell Mose that.

The next night I went fishing with sister Liz and her husband Tim. Susan and Mose went along too. It was enjoyable. Dad and my brothers and Mose’s brother Freeman took another boat out as well.

One afternoon and evening we had both our boats and Tim’s boat out on the lake. Uncle Jacob, cousins Emma and Elizabeth, and their friends Menno and Manuel went along that time. Joseph, Lovina, and Cousin Benjamin fished from our friend’s dock since we had enough on the boats.

Saturday was a nice sunny day to weed the flower beds for Mom. One thing Mom does not like doing is weeding her flower beds. I still have more weeding to do around the house. It makes it look so much better.

Reading is one of my most favorite things to do. I just love to read every free moment I have. I like Karen Kingsbury’s books. I am reading the Baxter Family series now. I borrow sister Susan’s books. Karen makes her books so realistic that I have a hard time putting them down.

Our new horse Rex is doing great for us. Brother Benjamin and I use our horse Mighty on weekends to go to the Community Youth Center or to Sunday evening singings. He is such a calm, safe horse. Mom likes taking Mighty to town because he is calm around all the traffic. Uncle Amos trained Mighty and sold him to us.

I like this verse: “Stress makes you believe that everything has to happen right now! Faith reassures you that everything will happen in God’s timing.”

I will share the recipe for my favorite salad with you readers. I love salads.

Love and best wishes to all! God bless!

Taco Salad

1 pound hamburger
1 package taco seasoning
1 medium head lettuce, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
4 medium tomatoes, chopped
8 ounces cheddar cheese, shredded
1 package taco chips

Dressing:

8 ounces Thousand Island dressing
1/3 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon taco seasoning
1 tablespoon taco sauce

Brown hamburger. Add taco seasoning, reserving one tablespoon of seasoning for dressing.

In separate large bowl, place chopped lettuce, and add all ingredients except chips, ending with cheese.

Combine ingredients for dressing. Toss salad with chips and dressing.

Salads

Time Enough: Signs of spring and a new baby “Lovina”!

March 25, 2016 Lovinas Amish Kitchen 1 Comment

Our time changed to what we call “fast time” on Sunday. I do not like the changing of clocks back and forth. I wish it would stay one way or the other.

My husband Joe tilled one of our gardens on Saturday. He is getting spring fever and is eager to get some potatoes planted. I on the other hand think we have enough time yet. Joe and sons Benjamin, 16, Joseph, 13, and Kevin, 10, have the yard raked and it’s ready to be rolled. We had a big truck get stuck in our yard. He thought he could drive through it and it was already too soft so it needs some straightening out.

I noticed the dandelion greens are peeping through enough where I think I can get enough for a dandelion salad. We like to put this salad on top of steamed potatoes with bacon or fresh ham. Not all of our children will eat dandelion greens. Rhubarbs are peeping through—all signs of spring around us.

Mose (daughter Susan’s friend) has pulled the taps from the maple trees. Maple syrup cooking is now over with for another year. The maple syrup has a really good flavor this year. I tried eating it on ice cream for the first time. They were telling me how good it is and I just didn’t think it would be that good. I really did like it.

Saturday morning I had a voicemail from nephew Joe Coblentz. This is brother Albert’s son. He wanted to let me know that he and Amanda had their third child Friday evening, a little girl they named Lovina! So now their daughter has the same name as I did until I married Joe: Lovina Coblentz. Nephew Joe laughed and said, “Now it’s going to cost you.” It looks like I better get sewing and make something special for this sweet little baby that shares my name. Joe and Amanda have three children now: Susannah, Harley, and baby Lovina.

Tuesday the women from several church districts gathered at an Amish family’s home to quilt on two quilts that will be donated to the Community Health Center benefit auction. Everyone packed their lunch. I love quilting so it’s always enjoyable to me. We all stopped to eat our lunch together, and then continued quilting.

There are ten church districts in our community so every district is scheduled to quilt a certain day. When we got there the quilts weren’t started yet. Both quilts had a very nice pattern but I’m not sure what the one was called. One of them was a diamond pattern. The one I quilted had feathers around the edge. We were all glad to get the feathers quilted and move on to some faster stitching further in on the quilt.

Yesterday I spent part of the day in a town about one-half hour from here by car. A friend took Kevin and I. Kevin’s leg braces had to be adjusted and he hadn’t been able to wear them. He wore them to school today and hopefully they won’t bother him. I told him if they bother him to take them off. It’s always hard to get a new pair worn in. He doesn’t like wearing them at all but the doctors really think we might be able to prevent surgery. They were really happy at the results at his last doctor visit. Kevin is not so happy about it. He did not have a good morning. The braces slow him down and he just gets all frustrated about it.

I’ll share my recipe for dandelion sour cream salad this week.

God’s blessings!

Dandelion Sour Cream Salad

1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 cup apple cider vinegar
2 1/2 cups whole milk
salt
4 hard-boiled eggs, diced
4 cups packed young dandelion greens

Combine the mayonnaise, vinegar, milk, and salt to taste in a quart jar. Shake until smooth. Put the eggs, and dandelion greens in a large bowl and pour the sour cream mixture over them.

Salads

Mild, dreary holiday weather has Eichers hoping for colder, sunnier days

December 25, 2015 Lovinas Amish Kitchen

Monday evening: supper is over, and everyone is relaxing for the evening. It is Christmas week already. Only a few days of 2015 left!

Daughter Susan is on a two-week break from the RV factory. The school has also closed its doors for two weeks. My husband, Joe, worked today but is now off work until January 4 as well. These two weeks will fly by so fast. Along with the holidays, we are also cleaning for church services, which will be held here in four weeks.

On Sunday our church district had our annual Christmas potluck dinner after church services. As usual, there was more than enough food. There were five different casseroles, all kinds of salads and desserts.

Tomorrow is my husband Joe’s forty-seventh birthday. His birthday always comes so close to the holidays. We want to have our family all together in honor of his birthday, but it doesn’t look like it will work for everyone until this coming weekend.

The last few weeks we have had rainy and dreary weather. This is making it hard for our solar panels to keep our battery pack charged. We have been using a generator to help charge the batteries. It is surprising how just one day of sunlight helps with the solar panels! We are always especially thankful for a sunshiny day since our water, freezer, and other items depend on the sun. Usually, we would have snowy weather in December, which makes the whole world seem brighter. The local newspaper said this December is making a record of being the warmest in December in years.

On Saturday morning the roads were covered in ice until the temperature rose and melted most of it. A lot of vehicles went off the road due to the slippery conditions. We had a friend take us to do some Christmas shopping around noon, and it was still really slippery. Now today it rained most of the day, with the temperature reaching 50 degrees. Joe turned our coal stove down as far as he can without it going out, and we still have to open a few windows. We are really saving on coal so far. I wonder if our whole winter will be this mild. I really am hoping we will get some colder weather, as it makes it nicer to butcher beef and pork. We will take whatever God sends for us and be thankful.

I wish all of you readers a merry Christmas. May God be with all of you this holiday season. I wish good health and safe travels to everyone. God bless all of you!

Delicious Fall Salad

6-8 slices bacon
3 cups sweet potatoes, thinly sliced
8 cups Chinese cabbage, chopped
Italian dressing

Fry and crumble bacon. Fry sweet potatoes in bacon grease, stirring several times until soft with crispy edges. Add crumbled bacon and fry several more minutes. Layer Chinese cabbage in a wide, shallow serving bowl. Top with hot bacon mixture. Do not stir. Serve immediately with Italian dressing.