07/02/2007

The Amish Cook

June's been a busy month

By Lovina Eicher
The Amish Cook
Read past Amish Cook columns here

It is hard to believe that we are over halfway through June as I write this.

On June 14, our oldest daughter, Elizabeth, entered her teenage years. Daughter Susan baked a cake for her and we put 13 candles on it.

We gave Elizabeth a baseball glove and a softball, which she was glad for, since she enjoys that game so much. The younger children have had fun practicing how to hit the ball with a bat.

We have laundry on the line and it's another very hot day with temperatures in the upper 90s. We are very much in need of rain. Despite the dry weather, we are now enjoying hot peppers and other goodies from our garden. Sisters Verena and Susan brought us a zucchini from theirs. I have little tomatoes hanging on my plants that will soon be ready for harvest.

We had a busy weekend. On Friday night, Jacob, Emma and their four children, along with my sisters Verena and Susan, stayed for the night. Then early Saturday morning we started butchering our 40 broiler chicks that were 6&1/2 weeks old. We borrowed a "plucker” from a friend, which was the first time we used one. It worked really good for us and saved time to not pull all those feathers by hand.

By 2 p.m., we had eaten lunch and our chickens were in bags ready for the freezer. We then all headed over to Jacob's to start on their 25 chickens.

I packed our clothes along as I figured it might be later until we were done. We were all done, though, by 7:30 p.m., in time for a relaxing evening. All the chicken was cut up and bagged much more quickly than we thought it would be. What a relief to have that big job done, although I'm glad for the meat.

After butchering, we all cleaned up and we were a tired bunch. After a good night's sleep, the next morning we had a brunch of fried eggs, potatoes, bacon, homemade biscuits, sausage gravy, cheese, hot peppers, fresh strawberry jam, cookies, halfway bars and fresh tea from Emma's peppermint and spearmint plants.

After dishes were washed, we relaxed and rested for the rest of the day. Joe and Jacob took all the children except little Kevin to go play in the nearby swimming hole. That helped cool them off on the hot day.

By the way, the five finch eggs in my hanging flower pot finally hatched and the children are enjoying seeing them from day to day.

Meanwhile, try this recipe that a friend gave me. It is a good way to use up those strawberries this time of year.

Strawberry Freezer Jam

• 4 c. strawberries
• 1&1/2 c. sugar
• 1 envelope "no cook” freezer pectin

Remove the stems from your strawberries and wash them. Chop them up and add the envelope of no-cook pectin, stirring a minute. Then add the sugar. Mix well and pour into sealable containers (Tupperware works well). Let sit for half an hour to set and then place in refrigerator. Use in three weeks.

Editor's note: This recipe for Halfway Bars comes from cooks.com

Halfway Bars

• 1 c. shortening
• 1/2 c. brown sugar
• 1/2 c. white sugar
• 2 egg yolks (reserve whites)
• 1 T. cold water
• 1/2 t. soda
• 2 c. flour
• 1 (6-oz.) package chocolate bits
• 2 egg whites
• 1 c. brown sugar
• Chopped walnuts

Mix first seven ingredients and pat in 13-by-8-inch pan. Sprinkle with chocolate bits and push into mixture. Beat egg whites until stiff and add 1 c. brown sugar. Spread over top of mixture. Do not touch sides of pan. Sprinkle with chopped walnuts. Bake at 325° until golden brown, about 35 minutes.

Lovina Eicher is Old Order Amish. She hand-writes this column from her home in southern Michigan. Anyone with cultural or cooking questions can send them to: Lovina Eicher, The Amish Cook, P.O. Box 2144, Middletown, OH 45042. Read all of her columns online at www.record-eagle.com/columns/amish.