Lovina’s Amish Kitchen
Lovina Eitcher,
Old Order Amish
Cook, Wife &
Mother of Eight

This is Tuesday morning just past 5:00. My husband Joe left for another day at the metal and truss shop. Son Benjamin left around 4:30. Son Kevin is still sleeping, and I need to get this column written so it’s done for another week. I’m always glad when my children volunteer to write it. Daughter Verena penned it recently and I keep telling Kevin to get his pen going again. We will see….Haha!

I packed the men’s lunches with leftovers from last night’s supper. I made mac and cheese, then grilled some ham and pork chops we still had in the freezer from last winter from the pork we butchered. I grilled it on my gas grill on our front porch and it sure didn’t take long. Joe said it was very tender and cooked just right. He loved it so I felt like I received a very nice compliment hearing that from an expert at grilling meat. He doesn’t like when the meat is not cooked enough or too dry. Joe prefers grilling on a charcoal grill and does not care to use a gas grill. He gave me this gas grill for my birthday one year. He tried it a few times and decided he didn’t like it. He almost started a fire the last time so I kind of banned him from using it. Haha! He thinks you start it like a charcoal grill where you let it get really hot before you start cooking. When I came out there he had all 5 burners on high which didn’t work too good for hamburgers. He said I can have my gas grill and he’ll keep his charcoal grill. I prefer the taste of charcoal grilled meat too, but this is so much easier for me to step outside and check the food. Well enough about that….sometimes I’m glad Joe doesn’t read my columns. He says he knows everything already that I write about. There have been a few times when someone asks him about something I wrote about him. He says, “Wait, how do you know that?” I’m thinking….Oops! That is what it’s like when you are married to a writer. Our minds wander and before you know it, stories of your family find their way into your column. 

Sunday we attended the funeral of my cousin Barbara’s husband Jonas, age 56 from Lagrange, Indiana. What a shock to hear of his sudden death from a work accident. Jonas leaves to mourn his grieving widow, twelve children (four that are married) with the youngest being nine. Also left behind are his widowed mother, seven brothers, seven sisters, sixteen grandchildren, plus a lot of extended family. The funeral was very largely attended with it being held in three different buildings to accommodate all the people that attended. Jonas and Barbara were both neighbors to me growing up and we went to the same school. Jonas has a sister Katie that was in my grade in school. We have many fun memories of those days. We would go to each other’s house overnight for birthdays, etc. I had not seen Katie in years. Her husband Randy passed away from cancer so she is also a widow. With the long line at the viewing on Saturday and the huge crowd of people at the funeral I didn’t get a chance to say more than a few words to Katie. Our sympathy to cousin Barbara and all of the family. She still has seven sons and a daughter living at home with her. Such a big responsibility to raise on her own. May God guide them through this difficult trial in life and ease their pain. 

Son-in-law Daniel Ray has a new leaf blower and is trying it out on our many leaves that are falling. He burned a huge pile already and you can hardly tell with more leaves falling every day. 

God’s blessings to all!

PUMPKIN WHOOPIE PIES

1 3/4 cups brown sugar

1 cup vegetable oil 

1 1/2 cups pumpkin

2 eggs

3 cups flour 

1 teaspoon baking powder 

1 teaspoon baking soda 

1 teaspoon vanilla 

1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 

1 teaspoon salt 

Filling 

4 ounces cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup butter, softened

1 teaspoon vanilla 

3 cups powdered sugar 

Cream sugar and oil, add pumpkin, eggs and vanilla, blend well. Add dry ingredients and mix well. Drop by teaspoons full on a greased cookie sheet and flatten slightly. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.  Mix filling ingredients together. Take two cookies and spread filling in between.   Makes 20 whoopie pies

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.

Lovina’s Amish Kitchen
Lovina Eitcher,
Old Order Amish
Cook, Wife &
Mother of Eight

We are having lovely fall weather! The trees are getting prettier each day and are in their autumn splendor. Only our Master Artist could paint such a lovely scene. Before we know it, our yard will be flooded with leaves of every color. We have over a dozen trees in our yard, so we get to rake lots of leaves each fall. I love having trees though and they provide lots of shade on hot humid summer days. 

One of our trees we named “The Marilyn Tree”. It was given to us by my great friend Ruth after my sister Emma and Jacob lost their 8 ½ month old daughter Marilyn in 2010. It has grown quite huge by now. Beside it we planted a “Mose” tree in honor of our son-in-law Mose who died from an automobile accident on his way to work in December 2020. This tree was also a gift from Ruth. I love having a memory like this and have often told my husband Joe it would be nice to plant some more trees in honor of my three siblings, brother-in-law Jacob, and my parents. Maybe we will get it done sometime. Some of our trees are old and storms have damaged them so it would be good to have more started anyways. 

Sunday was the first time Joe and I took our 2-year-old horse Jett to church. We had to travel the highway for only a half a mile. This was the first time I drove with Jett. He does very well but is a little skittish on unfamiliar roads. The highway has enough of a lane so we could drive on the shoulder so we don’t hold up traffic. Jett stayed calm when the big semis flew past us. I felt extra nervous as we passed the scene of Moses’ accident. Dan’s (Moses driver in the accident) wife Jodi and family put two crosses there and have made a nice memorial for Dan and Mose at the scene of the accident. There is a sharp curve on the highway. I was glad once we were off the highway. It was really foggy and the sun was shining through the fog. Thank God we had safe travels there and back. I think I will be more confident on my next ride with Jett. It’s almost as if you need to gain trust in a horse to start being more comfortable. Except for Joe… he loves the challenge of driving a feisty horse. This is the first horse that he has raised that he did not train. He had a young man from our church work with him for almost three weeks but then he drove him since then. 

Daughter Loretta and Dustin and family are still in Alabama. We sure do miss them. I called Loretta one day and plans are for them to head home this weekend. They are thinking of spending a day out at Smoky Mountains before heading for home. Dustin had a birthday on October 8th so he spent it in Alabama. They also were able to visit with Joe’s sister Carol, Pete, and family in Tennessee. Pete would be Dustin’s Dad’s brother. He is an uncle to Dustin and Carol is an aunt to Loretta. Three of Joe’s sisters married three of Dustin’s (and Daniel and Grace) uncles, so they share a lot of the same cousins. 

October 18th will be son-in-law Tim’s birthday. His boss at the sawmill is taking his employees out to eat and to the Cabela’s store. Tim will take Timothy (TJ), age 6, along. He will love that. 

Son Benjamin’s special friend Joanna is here today helping me. She helped wash laundry, washed dishes, and is now baking Monster cookies. She is a good worker and I really appreciate her help.

I will share this recipe for Monster cookies this week. It is also in my cookbook “The Cherished Table.” This recipe does not have any flour in it, so it has not been omitted. 

Wishing everyone a Happy Fall! God bless! 

MONSTER COOKIES

Makes 3 dozen cookies

3 eggs

1 ¼ cups firmly packed light brown sugar 

1 cup granulated sugar

1 (12-ounce) jar creamy peanut butter 

½ cup (1 stick) butter, softened 

½ teaspoon vanilla extract 

½ teaspoon salt 

½ cup mini candy-coated chocolate pieces 

½ cup chocolate chips 

2 teaspoons baking soda 

3 ½ to 4 cups quick-cooking oats (not instant)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or non-stick baking mats. In a very large bowl, combine the eggs and both sugars. Mix well. Add peanut butter, butter, vanilla, and salt; mix well. Stir in the candy-coated chocolate pieces, chocolate chips, baking soda, and oats. Drop the batter by tablespoons 2 inches apart onto the prepared baking sheet. 

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes. Do not overbake. Let cookies stand on the baking tray for about 3 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool. 

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.