The Amish Cook

By LOVINA EICHER

Last night Benjamin and Joseph picked over a 5 gallon bucket of tomatoes. I now have enough to make a batch of homemade pizza sauce today. The tomato plants are still loaded with green tomatoes. Hot and green peppers are still doing great. I am surprised we didn’t get a killing frost yet but imagine it is not too far off. I can’t believe how many leaves have fallen from the trees this past week. Such beautiful colors of leaves. Autumn is a pretty season when the leaves start changing to yellow, red, and orange. These are scenes only our Master Artist could create. The sunsets are also a beauty to see in the evening.

The cold air makes us think of winter. The boys went out one chilly morning and said “Mom, we smell snow.” Then the talk turned to sledding, homemade ice cream, snowmen, and all the excitement during the winter months. I remember when the children were younger winter seemed to go on forever. Now that they are older they seem to fly by too fast. Nice to have the winter months to get caught up with sewing. It also seems things seem to move at a slower pace than the summer months. I have a new pants cut out for Kevin and hope to get it sewed before Saturday. Our plans are, Lord Willing, to attend the wedding of Menno and Maggie in Columbia City, Indiana. Kevin si getting tall so fast that he is in need of new pants. It will be a full weekend with going to the wedding on Saturday and then church services on Sunday. Last Sunday we spent the day at Emma and Jacob’s. Jacob’s parents spent Saturday evening and overnight at Jacob’s house.

The rest of Jacob’s family came from Berne, Indiana on Sunday morning. Jacob’s parents are an uncle and aunt to my husband Joe so we joined them for the noon meal. They had a delicious a meal consisting of barbecued chicken, hot wings, mashed potatoes and gravy, dressing, mixed vegetables and corn, overnight salad, sliced tomatoes, green and hot peppers, carrots and celery sticks and ranch dip, cheese, bread,butter and jam. Dessert was pecan and pumpkin pie, muskmelon, watermelon and grapes,fingner jello,a nd punch and coffee. Jacob and Emma presented Jacob’s Dad with a Dairy Queen ice cream cake for his 60th birthdaySunday.

The afternoon was spent playing games.

Benjamin, Joseph, Lovina,and Kevin biked the four miles to Jacob’s. The boys biked back in the evening. Lovina couldn’t as the pedal on her bike broke off. I was surprised that Lovina and Kevin did that well to go that far. This was the first time that they biked to Jacob’s and they were so glad to be able to go. Verena and Loretta took the single buggy and our horse Diamond. We strapped Loretta wheelchair to the back of the buggy. Joe and I took our double-buggy and Ginger. It was good to have the big buggy because we had to bring Lovina’s bike home. Our buggy used to be packed with all 8 children and a lot of times we picked up my sisters Verena and Susan. Now as they all get older some can drive in the other buggy, bike, or take the pony and wagon. Our buggy is hardly ever full anymore. And of course daughters Elizabeth and Susan prefer to drive with their special friends than with their parents.

We waited to do laundry until Tuesday as we had my friend Amy’s two little ones on Monday. Matthew wanted to go see the pony again so Susan took him to the barn to see the animals. Emily stands by the screen door and watches the horses in the field. Our border collie dog, Buddy, seems to have bonded with her as well . He comes up to the door and stares at her through the glass. He gets all excited when he does that. Matthew soon learned to hold his cookie high above his head when Buddy is around. Buddy loves to snatch cookies out of son Kevin’s hand when he plays outside. I think he must like homemade cookies.

This is a delicious, easy casserole that we enjoyed this week!

Tater Tot Casserole

2 pounds tater tots
1 pint sour cream
2 cans cream of chicken
1-1/2 soup cans of milk
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 pounds of hamburger fried with the onion
1 pound Velveeta cheese
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
2 cups of corn flakes
1/2 of melted margarine

Put tater tots in the bottom of a casserole dish. Mix together sour cream, soup, pepper, and salt. Pour over tater tots. Top with cheese and fried hamburger with onion. Sprinkle with corn flakes mixed with melted margarine. Bake at 350 for 45 to 50 minutes.