This week on Jean: The boys all go hunting! With recipes from country music star Dolly Parton.

Jean is old order Mennonite from New York State. Jean and her husband David and family live on a dairy farm, and travel their community using horse and buggy. She tells her story exclusively on Amish Stories.

Hunting Season has begun. On Saturday, David, Michael, Edward, my Father, my Grandfather and David’s Father all went hunting. They remembered to milk and feed the cows. Also, they remembered to feed the horses, but they left the rest of the feedings and chores for us ladies to do. All us wives prepared breakfast for those at our houses and I made lunches for all of them. 

So they all left with full stomachs and lunches for later. Edward had never been hunting before so when they divided into groups-Edward went with David. Michael went with David’s Father. My Father and Grandfather went together as my Grandfather is getting up in years and my Father wanted to keep an eye on him. Not one of them brought back a deer.

They were gone about 12 hours and might have stayed longer, but I called David, on his cell phone, to tell him someone was bringing their deer in to be cut up and packaged. Also, they were hungry. Since the place in our town has closed, David has taken on cutting up and packing deer. We slaughter and cut up some of our animals for food, so deer gives us a little extra money. The fur is sold to a man that makes gloves, shoes, etc. out of it. David had two to do that evening. We do not work on Sunday so he will not do this on Sunday. Being Sunday was the next day-they did not go hunting. Also, because Michael and Edward are in school won’t go until Friday. Men kind of planned to go on Thursday, Thanksgiving Day, but we but we ladies put a stop to that. 

We will be going to meeting (church) and then David’s family and my family will be for dinner at our house. So Friday is when they are all going again.

I was sort of a tomboy when I was growing up. One of the things I learned was how to use a rifle and deer hunting. David and I decided when the children are at school, David Jr. will go to my parents, and David and I are going hunting. I haven’t been hunting for a long time so Tuesday or Wednesday, we are going hunting. Since having Susan, I think I have been once or twice and I know I haven’t been since David Jr. was born. I mentioned to David how we use to go hunting. He said we will again, like we have other years, but he wasn’t kidding. I practiced shooting the rifle to get use to it again. 

If we get a deer or not, it will be fun just being together, alone, doing something together. We do not kill deer just for the fun of it. Any deer we kill is for us to eat. We don’t go out to see who can get the biggest. We don’t go for trophies. We go to get food for our freezer. Right now, we don’t have any deer meat in our freezer. It would be nice to get some.

Hope you all had  a Happy Thanksgiving.

Be With God,

Jean

Dolly Parton's Peanut Butter Pie

1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
1 cup crunchy peanut butter
2 graham cracker crusts
1 large container Cool Whip
8 ounces cream cheese

Beat sugar, peanut butter and cream cheese in medium bowl. Stir in Cool Whip. Pour into crusts. These pies can be frozen.

Dolly Parton's Five Layer Dinner

Servings: 8

2 cups sliced potatoes
2 cups extra lean ground beef
1 cup onions, sliced
2 cups cooked tomatoes
Salt and pepper
1 green bell pepper, sliced

Layer potatoes, beef, onions and tomatoes in a 2-quart casserole. Season each layer with salt and pepper to taste. Garnish with sliced green peppers. Cover and bake for 2 hours at 350 degrees F.

Dolly Parton's Cowboy Beans

1 pound ground beef
2 medium onions, chopped fine
1 small bell pepper, chopped fine
2 (16 ounce) cans pork and beans
2 cups catsup                                                  
1 teaspoon vinegar
1/4 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
2 teaspoons prepared mustard
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper

Heat oven to 350 degrees F.

Brown ground beef, onions, and pepper in a 10-inch skillet. Add remaining ingredients. Pour into baking dish and bake for about 15 to 20 minutes or until mixture is bubbly.

Serves 8 to 10. 

Dolly Parton's Banana Pudding

1 (12 ounce) box vanilla wafer cookies
4 large firm, ripe bananas, sliced (about 1 1/2 pounds)
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
3 cups milk
1 large egg
Yolks of 3 large eggs
1/4 cup butter or margarine
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Meringue Topping:                          
Whites of 3 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Prepare pudding: Heat oven to 350 degrees F.

In deep 2-quart casserole toss cookies and bananas to mix well; set aside.

In 2-quart saucepan combine 3/4 cup of sugar, flour and salt; using wire whisk or fork, beat in milk until blended and smooth. Bring to boil over medium-low heat; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat.

In small bowl beat egg and egg yolks, adding 2 or 3 tablespoons hot milk mixture. Stir egg mixture into saucepan; set over low heat; cook 2 minutes, stirring constantly until mixture is hot but not boiling. Stir in butter until melted. Remove from heat; stir in 1 teaspoon vanilla extract. Pour mixture over cookies and bananas in casserole; set aside.

Prepare meringue topping: In large bowl with electric mixer at high speed, beat egg whites, sugar, lemon juice and vanilla extract until stiff peaks form. Spoon mixture over top of pudding, making sure meringue touches sides of casserole all around. Bake 15 minutes until top is golden.  This is delicious!  All recipes from www.recipegoldmine.com (Images of Dolly Parton from Alejo Castillo and out of focus of Flicker)