The Amish Cook from Oasis Newsfeatures

This quaint sign directs the way to homemade honey.  Several Amish men among the nine families around Beeville raise bees for making and selling homemade honey.  South Texas honey is known for being very flavorful and dark.

This happened a couple of days ago but I just didn't want to post it because it was  such a downer to ponder over the Thanksgiving holiday.Some Amish on their way to a funeral were killed when their non-Amish driver swerved left-of-center and plowed into an oncoming pick-up truck.  Just an all round tragedy.  I am sure the Amish in Central Pennsylvania will handle it stoically, but events like these just serve to illustrate the fragility and fleeting nature of our existence.  Click here to read more.  

On a more upbeat note, a barn was built in a single day in Michigan when hundreds of Amish men arrived in Clare County, Michigan.  The barn they were building/replacing was destroyed in a massive fire in October.  This story illustrates the heart-warming sense of community and workmanship that is so prevelant in Amish culture.

I couldn't resist posting this photo.  No, this isn't the from-scratch simplicity you'll find in Amish kitchens like the pumpkin roll in the post below....but an old friend of mine is always exercising her culinary creativity.  I think she got this confection concoction from a cookbook (but what recipes don't come from one, and just because it's in a book doesn't mean its do-able, It'd take me years to perfect this).  So, these are turkey-shaped cupcakes.  The turkey legs are made from Pringle wheatsticks and caramel.  I think I need to be paying this old friend a visit soon.  Yum!!

I've been traveling so much and seeing so much Amish food, I was delighted to be able to procure this photo of an actual homemade pumpkin roll in an Amish kitchen.  This recipe is just like the one Lovina included in her column recently, except this one had pecans added to it.  This recipe is a seasonal favorite of Lovina's and of many Amish.   So if you want something delicious and different for your Thanksgiving table, try this.  Meanwhile - SIGH - one more month left in this year.  Use tomorrow to reflect, give thanks..the way I look at it is that if you're able to breath and you're able to view this screen (or any screen) then you have reason to be thankful.  Good health is so taken for granted sometimes.  Everyone have a blessed Thanksgiving Day! If  you are traveling, buckle up, be alert, and be safe, I want all of you back here in one piece on Friday!

HOMEMADE PUMPKIN ROLL

This recipe was a hit in the original Amish Christmas booklet. A pumpkin roll takes a bit of work to make, but the work is worth the sweet reward!

3 eggs

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon lemon juice

2/3 cup pumpkin

3?4 cup flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1?2 teaspoon salt

1?2 teaspoon ginger

1?2 teaspoon nutmeg

1 cup pecans (optional)

Confectioners sugar

Whip eggs for 5 minutes. Add sugar, lemon juice and pumpkin. Mix well. Add remaining ingredients except pecans. Grease jelly roll pan. Place waxed paper in jelly roll pan, making sure waxed paper is extended beyond both ends of pan. Pour batter into waxed paper lined jelly roll pan. Cover batter with pecans. Bake at 375 for 15 minutes. When baked, remove from waxed paper immediately and roll in a towel which has been sprinkled with confectioners sugar. Be sure to roll towel and cake together. When cool, unroll and spread with filling.

Filling:

8 ounces of softened cream cheese

1?2 teaspoon of vanilla

1 cup of confectioners sugar

4 tablespoons margarine

Combine cream cheese, vanilla, confectioners sugar and margarine. Beat until smooth and creamy.

One of the neat things about visiting Amish settlements is discovering the various variations of foods and culinary creativity in Amish kitchens.  This is what our cookbook will showcase when it is released in 2012.  To watch a short video about some of the different foods I've found the past few weeks and to see a copy of "An Amish Christmas", click here.

After watching the video, if you decide you'd like a copy of "An Amish Christmas", click here to order.   And if you want to sign up for the Editor's Adventures video series, click here.