THE AMISH COOK
By old order Amish: LOVINA EICHER
Easter Sunday turned out to be nice and sunny here, which made for a more enjoyable day. We attended church services at our neighbors, which we were able to just walk to. Now this morning we are having rain again. It sure will give my garden a boost. The peas, radishes, and lettuce are growing very nicely. They survived the late-season cold spell and the snow we had. A week ago it was snowing and the ground was covered with a layer of white stuff but it did not stay long. It was chilly enough in the house last week that we started our coal stove again.
Our children colored 10 dozen eggs on Thursday evening, it is just something fun for them to do, but we never let them lose sight of the real meaning behind Easter.
My husband Joe and I made some horseradish from our own plants this past week. We used Joe’s Uncle Solomon’s recipe and it turned out really good. Uncle Solomon lives in Ohio but we wish we could have him try our homemade horseradish. He brought us the roots to start our own plant several years ago.
Joe’s grandmother passed away on April 13th after a lot of pain. She was 97 years old and a widow for almost 23 years. She had eight children but two have passed away including Joe’s mother who died at age 54. She had 70 grandchildren, 387 great-grandchildren, and 95 great -great grandchildren. Everyone remembers her as a friendly sweet person who will be missed by many. May she rest in peace. We were thankful that our daughter Verena was OK to attend the funeral. Verena had written back and forth with her for quite a few years. We left for the two-hour drive to Berne, Indiana at 5 a.m. on Saturday, April 16 to attend the funeral.
We took all eight children along to the funeral and also Elizabeth’s friend Timothy. The funeral was held in a shed and also in a basement. It was a cold day for the funeral. We saw sister Liz and Levi and family at the funeral. And, of course, sister Emma and Jacob and family were there as this would also be Jacob’s grandmother. In the afternoon we stopped in at sister Leah and Paul’s house. I wanted to wish them a happy 30th anniversary which was on the 16th also. Leah popped popcorn for us and Jacob’s, who had also stopped in. We saw where Paul and Leah’s daughter Elizabeth lives in a shed on her parents farm. The shed had fixed up into nice living quarters. Elizabeth and her husband Levi have a 1 1 /2 year old son, Amos. From there Jacob’s and us headed to brother Amos and Nancy’s house to visit with them before starting for home. When we arrived there Nancy and her daughters were already preparing supper for us. They were looking for us to stop by and wanted us to stay for a meal. So we had delicious supper of barbecued chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy, corn, lettuce, salad, cake, pudding and fruit.
We arrived home at 9:45 p.m. and everyone was ready to call it day. We were home all day on Good Friday. Jacob and Emma didn’t have any plans for that day so we told them to come for dinner. For our lunch we had a brunch. I made a casserole with scrambled eggs, shredded potatoes, biscuits, and gravy. I pull apart the biscuits and layer everything and then bake everything until the potatoes are tender. The gravy moistens everything up and this is a really good breakfast casserole.
Uncle Elmer and Aunt Emma and cousin Sovilla, Leroy and family and cousin Martha and husband Merlin stopped in from Berne for a visit on Friday afternoon to see where we live. Aunt Emma is my Mother’s sister. They all had had dinner at my sister’s Susan and Verena. Joe was starting the grill to make hot-wings and fresh ham when they drove in. We made them sample the wings before they left for home. It was nice to get to visit with them again. We always enjoy home-grilled chicken wings. Do any of our readers have good homemade marinade recipes they’d like to share?
EDITOR'S NOTE: We are seeking 100 new readers to join The Amish Cook Friend Club at any level between now and May 6. As of April 25, we have 10 new members. To move the Amish Cook forward, we need to strengthen our connection with loyal friends and followers and make new friends along the way. Our first step is to re-open the AMISH COOK FRIEND CLUB to new members. Membership includes:
SUPPORTER: A personalized snail-mail thank you note and a discount code for future soft cover cookbook purchases. $25.00
FRIEND: A personalized thank you note, discount code, and a photo of Lovina's kitchen at mealtime. $50.00
AMBASSADOR: All of the above plus the Limited Edition cookbook, "AMISH COOKBOOK USA" (a collection recipes from Amish settlements across the United States). $100.00
OTHER: Create your own level.
To join The Amish Cook Friend Club, send to: Oasis Newsfeatures, PO BOX 157, Middletown, Ohio 45042 or to join online visit www.oasisnewsfeatures.com/special A video message is also available for viewing at www.oasisnewsfeatures.com/special The Friend Club drive goes through May 6, with percentage of goal reached to appear after Lovina's column until then. Of course the main benefit of joining the Friend Club is knowing that you're helping to keep The Amish Cook column on sound ground for a long time to come. Percentage of goal reached: 10 percent. Try this recipe:
My rhubarb is ready to use so that will be another spring goodie I can start using. This is a really neat recipe to use up your rhubarb.
RHUBARB PINWHEELS
Dough:
2 cups flour,
1 tablespoon sugar,
4 teaspoons baking powder,
1 /3 cup shortening,
1 egg, beaten
1 /2 cup milk,
1 /2 teaspoon salt
Filling: 3 /4 cup sugar
3 - 4 cups diced rhubarb
Syrup: 1 1 /2 cups water
3 /4 cup sugar
few drops of red food coloring (optional)
Mix dough and roll into a 12 X 10 inch rectangle. Sprinkle with sugar and top with rhubarb. Carefully rioll up dough jelly roll style starting with shorter end. Cut into 1 inch slices and put onto a 9 X 13 inch pan. For syrup bring all ingredients to a boil, cook and stir until sugar dissolves. Pour hot syrup over pinwheels. Bake at 400 for 30 minutes or until done. Richard from Amish Stories.
