Lovina’s Amish Kitchen
Lovina Eitcher,
Old Order Amish
Cook, Wife &
Mother of Eight
I want to write this column before I leave this morning. Daughter Loretta and I are attending the coffee break our church ladies are having for neighbor Susan. She had hip replacement surgery so this should cheer her up. Everyone always brings a lot of good food and it’s nice to visit before we all go home and start our day’s work. Dustin isn’t working today due to the rainy weather so he will keep a few of their children home with him.
I need to wash laundry when I get back home. I have lots of clothes to wash plus lots of dish towels from Sunday. I went with my husband Joe to his appointment yesterday so I didn’t get to the laundry. I also have extra blankets to wash that we had in the nursery area for small children that take naps during the service.
Sunday we hosted church services and two young souls were baptized. We had over double the amount of people we usually have at a regular service. Both sides of the pole barn had benches set up and they were filled. My guess is we had well over three hundred people here. Not all of the youth stayed to eat but we still served over thirteen tables with some of us eating before so we could serve.
Our menu was homemade wheat and white bread (almost 60 loaves), ham (45-50 pounds), cheese spread (3 batches of the recipe I’ll share. The recipe is also in “The Essential Amish Cookbook”), peanut butter spread (it took all but a gallon of the recipe I shared last week), pickles (22 quarts), pickled red beets (8 quarts), hot peppers (8 pints), strawberry and grape jam, butter, coffee (ten gallons), spearmint/peppermint tea (5 gallons), and a variety of cookies. I had bought all disposable dishes so the women didn’t have to wash as many dishes.
I am so glad this church is over now but I was glad to host it for such an important reason. In two weeks, church services will be here again, Lord willing. It should be quite smaller. Daughter Elizabeth and Tim couldn’t be here for church services on Sunday. They attended the funeral of his Aunt Mattie and Uncle Lavern ages fifty-seven and fifty-eight. Such a sad tragedy. They were biking home from their church ice cream supper and were almost to their driveway when they were struck by a vehicle that didn’t see them. They leave to mourn seven children, eleven grandchildren, a father, brothers, and sisters. Our sympathy goes out to them. May God help them through this difficult trial in life. Elizabeth and Tim left Abigail, 8, and Timothy (TJ), 6, here for church as they didn’t have enough room to take them along. The funeral was in a nearby community.
After church services Daughter Susan and Ervin and several of their children left to go to Fort Wayne, IN to visit with Ervin’s Dad who is admitted to the hospital. We pray he will be better soon. Tim and Elizabeth came here after the funeral and took four of Ervin and Susan’s children home after supper. Son Joseph and Grace also joined us for supper. They attended church in another district. Joseph’s friend and coworker Thomas was baptized that day.
I made spaghetti and meatballs for our family that stayed or came for supper. Also on the menu was ham sandwiches, chips, and ice cream. It was a simple but easy meal to make after a long day. Needless to say, we were all glad to see bedtime come. This next weekend plans are to butcher pigs here. One for Ervin and Susan, One for Dustin and Loretta and one for us. Another job we will be glad is done. More on that next week.
God’s blessings!
HOMEMADE CHURCH CHEESE SPREAD
6 pounds process cheese spread (Velveeta or other brands of your choice)
1 ½ cup butter
8 cups cream
Put all three ingredients in a big roasting pan and bake at 150° to 200°, stirring every 15 minutes until all is melted.
Cover with plastic wrap to prevent it from getting a crusty top while cooling. The spread is served on a sandwich with or without meat. It is good just spread on bread with some pickles.
Lovina’s Amish Kitchen is written by Lovina Eicher, Old Order Amish writer, cook, wife, and mother of eight. Her three cookbooks, The Cherished Table, The Essential Amish Cookbook, and Amish Family Recipes, are available wherever books are sold. Readers can write to Eicher at Lovina’s Amish Kitchen, PO Box 234, Sturgis, MI 49091 (please include a self-addressed stamped envelope for a reply); or email Questionsforlovina@gmail.com and your message will be passed on to her to read. She does not personally respond to emails.
