Lovina’s Amish Kitchen
Lovina Eitcher,
Old Order Amish
Cook, Wife &
Mother of Eight
Countdown! Only ten days until daughter Lovina and Daniel’s wedding day! This is shopping week—my least favorite job for a wedding. It takes lots of brain work to figure out exactly how many eggs, flour, milk, butter, sugar, and other ingredients you need for meals to feed one thousand. This isn’t for one thousand people, but I count how many will be here at the noon meal, how many in the evening, then add those numbers together.
My friend Ruth is coming to my rescue once again. She’s a great help with this job. She not only takes me to where I want to shop but also checks prices for me. If you are buying more than 40 pounds of butter, you see a big difference in the price. Or 40 loaves of bread, 500 pounds of chicken, 400 pounds of potatoes, and so on.
No, I still haven’t sewn Lovina’s wedding dress, cape and apron. My goal is to do that on Wednesday, then go shopping on Thursday. It will only take me a day once I get down to it. Today, some of Daniel’s family is coming to help, so that will take more jobs off my list.
Last week, when sister Emma and her family, sister Verena, and all my daughters came, we accomplished quite a lot, and many items were crossed off my list.
We put over twelve dozen egg yolks into noodles, canned 28 quarts of rhubarb juice, and made four batches of strawberry jam that we put in the freezer. The basement and back porch windows and doors were cleaned along with my back porch (entrance area).
They all worked a little later than usual to help get the rest of the noodles done.
Late afternoon on Wednesday, sister Verena; sister Emma and sons Jacob and Steven; Joe and I; daughter Verena and Daniel Ray; son Joseph and Grace; and sons Benjamin and Kevin headed out for Kentucky. We arrived at the motel around 11:30 p.m.
Jacob, Steven, Kevin, and Verena all use mobility scooters, so it was a little challenge how to pack everything. We have a cargo hitch that hooks to the van, which held two-and-a-half of the scooters. The scooters come apart into four pieces, so we put some parts in the van as it was a 14-passenger van, and we were only 12 passengers.
We stopped once to eat supper, so we only unloaded the scooters one time before we arrived at the motel. On the way home, we did the same thing. By the time we arrived home Friday evening, Benjamin, Joseph, and Daniel Ray were pretty fast at loading and unloading everyone. I am glad they could all go along.
We had delicious meals at the wedding and saw quite a few friends and family there.
I will see if I can remember the full menu that was served… potatoes, gravy, buttered noodles, dressing, mixed vegetables, layered lettuce salad, chicken, cheese, bread and some kind of a peanut butter spread. For dessert, we had pecan and custard pies, angel food cake with a glaze, and yogurt parfaits.
It took me a few seconds to catch on when cousin David told me they were having Kentucky fried chicken for lunch. It was fried, or rather deep fried, in Kentucky by the men in the family. In the evening, we had brats and wings.
Friday, June 14, will be our firstborn Elizabeth’s 30th birthday. Happy birthday, dear daughter. You have now entered your thirties. It is so hard to believe! May you have many more happy, healthy years ahead. You are a great wife, daughter, and mother! May God bless you in the years ahead. I will never forget the moment you made us parents for the first time. How can 30 years have passed by so quickly?
When we dropped sister Verena off at her house Friday evening, the boys were so happy to see someone had come and mowed her grass and done all the trimming. It was nephew Ben and Crystal. This sure helped us out with all the extra work going on, so thank you!
Last night, neighbors Joe and Susie sent supper over for us. This was greatly appreciated. Also a few of the neighbor ladies have done what I usually do for church the last few times to help out. May God bless them and each of you as well!
Take care!
Easy Homemade Noodles
Flour, about 4 pounds
2 cups egg yolks (from approximately 2 dozen eggs)
1 tablespoon salt
1 1/2 cups boiling water
Put enough flour in a storage container bowl (I prefer the Tupperware Fix-N-Mix) to weigh 4 pounds, including the bowl. Beat egg yolks with salt and boiling water until foamy. Make sure water is boiling hot, then beat quickly. If you want yellow noodles, don’t overbeat. Pour this mixture into flour and stir until stiff. Shape into a ball with your hands. Put the lid on and let it stand for 10 minutes. Knead a bit.
Flatten small balls of dough and feed through the pasta maker, rolling out to desired thickness. Then using the cutter attachment, cut noodles from the rolled strips of dough. Air dry. Cook the same as you would other noodles. Makes 4 1/2 to 5 pounds of noodles. Noodles can be stored in airtight containers for up to 1 month at room temperature; 3 to 6 months frozen.
(Editor’s note: The Illinois Extension recommends that noodles be dried at room temperature for no more than 2 hours to prevent possible salmonella growth. An alternative is to use a food dehydrator at 135o for 2 to 4 hours. For more information, consult your local extension office.)
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 [email protected] and your message will be passed on to her to read. She does not personally respond to emails.
