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Homemade Potato Bread...
Leftover mashed potatoes can have varied uses. I'm sure many of you have fried them up into patties, which is delicious. But ever tried using mashed potatoes to make homemade bread? I've seen this done in several Amish kitchens. It's a great way to use the leftovers and makes for a thick, delicious bread. This is an easy recipe for Amish Potato Bread given to me by an Amish woman in Tennessee. I am not sure that many of us buy yeast in a "cake" form, so maybe someone has an idea of what equivalent 1 /2 "cake of yeast" would be in teaspoons or packets?
AMISH POTATO BREAD
2 eggs
1 /2 cup sugar
1 /4 teaspoon salt
1 cup unseasoned mashed potatoes
1 /2 cake of yeast
3 cups bread flour
1 /2 cup butter
1 cup warm water
Beat eggs and add 1 /4 cup sugar. Add salt and mashed potatoes which have been passed through a sieve. Add yeast which has been dissolved in a little warm water. Stir in enough flour to make a stiff dough. Place in a buttered bread pan and let rise for 2 hours. Then cream butter and remaining sugar together. Work this into the dough and let rise very slowly for 6 hours. Then work in warm water and shape into a loaf. Let rise again until very light and then bake for 15 minutes at 450. Lower heat to 350 and bake for additional 45 minutes or until golden brown.
Homemade Mushroom Sauce.....
I know some people that just can't stand mushrooms and then others - like me - really seem to like them. It's one of those foods where doesn't seem to be a ton of middle ground opinion on. Soon it will be "morel season" again. I've found that mushroom hunting really is a enjoyable hobby for a lot of Amish men. The time outdoors is enjoyable and there's the satisfaction of self-sufficiency that comes with helping to feed the family. Some of you may remember that I picked some morels from my mother-in-law's woods last year and fried them up. Good stuff, but you really have to know what you are doing. Some mushrooms can be quite deadly.
Okay, so here is a good recipe for a homemade mushroom gravy that an Amish woman in Kentucky gave me a few years ago. It really is delicious!
2 cups fresh mushrooms, sliced
3 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons flour
2 cups whole milk
salt and pepper to taste
1 teaspoon parsley, minced
Saute mushrooms in butter. When slightly browned, blend in flour and stir well. When flour is slightly browned, gradually add milk and blend until smooth. Add salt, pepper, and parsley. Serve hot.
Butchering Time Recipe
This is butchering time on many Amish homesteads. Hogs and steer are the most common animal being processed now, with meat canned and frozen for the years ahead. While scratch cooking is still the norm in most Amish kitchens, you'd be surprised how much Bisquick I see. It's sort of a step-saving guilty pleasure. Anyway, try this hearty, delicious, comforting recipe that is often served around butchering time.
HEARTY HAM-SWISS PIE
2 c. cubed ham, cooked
1½ c. grated Swiss Cheese
1/2 c. chopped onion
3/4 c. Bisquick
3 eggs
1½ c. milk
Put ham, cheese, and onion in a greased baking dish. Beat milk, eggs, and Bisquick until smooth. Pour over other ingredients. Bake at 375° F. for 30-40 minutes or until a knife inserted in center comes out clean. A delicious breakfast or brunch.
Amish Pizza?
One doesn't immediately put together the words "Amish" and "pizza", but pizza is popular among the Amish. I remember the first time I ever had a cell phone, back in the mid-90s, I was at Elizabeth Coblentz's house (Lovina's Mom) and we all had a hungering for pizza. It was a cold, windy night and I didn't feel like going out. So I suggested that I just call for delivery. I whipped the phone out of my pocket and called the pizza place and placed an order for delivery. I surprised both Elizabeth and the pizza parlor that had never made a delivery to an Amish home. What I did back then was very cutting edge but today would result in not even a second look. Heck, even some Amish order pizza from their own cell phones these days. How times have changed. One thing that hasn't, however, is the importance of a good, tasty crust when making pizza. Many Amish cooks far prefer their own homemade pizzas over a pizzeria's. Amish pizzas have veggie toppings from their garden and meat toppings that are from their own home-butchered beef and pork. And homemade pizza dough is an easy but important part. Here is Lovina's recipe. Yum! Everyone make homemade pizzas this week and report back with pictures!
PIZZA DOUGH
2 teaspoons yeast
2 tablespoons sugar
1 cup water
2 tablespoons oil (vegetable or oil)
1/ 2 teaspoon salt
2 1 /2 cups flour
Mix water, yeast, and sugar well. Then add oil, salt, and flour. Let set and then pat into pizza pan. Add your favorite toppings. Bake pizza at 425 for approximately 20 minutes.
Try Bob Andy Pie....
Silly name, good pie. This is one of the first Amish recipes I was ever introduced to. It's a very light, fluffy, custardy pie with a whiff of cloves to the flavor. This pie seems to be most popular among the Amish in Indiana and Illinois. There are all sorts of stories as to how the pie got its name. Anyone want to guess why it is called Bob Andy? So if you're stuck inside in a snowstorm over the days ahead and want a different dessert to make with the ingredients you have on hand, this is a good pie to try:
BOB ANDY PIE
2 cups white sugar
2 cups milk
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3 heaping tablespoons flour
1 tablespoon butter
3 eggs (beat yolks and whites separately)
Mix together sugar, flour, cloves and cinnamon. Add butter, beaten egg yolks and milk. Also, whites of eggs. Pour into two unbaked pie crusts and bake at 350.
Homemade Vanilla Pie....
This is one of these easy pie recipes that is a testament to how creative cooks can be among the Amish. The ingredients are all simple in-your-pantry type, but the combination makes for a really rich, full flavor. I've tried this pie recipe of Lovina's and love it, hopefully you will too!
Homemade vanilla pie
1/2 c. firmly packed brown sugar
1 tbsp. flour
1/4 c. dark corn syrup
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 egg, beaten
1 c. water
1 c. flour
1/2 c. firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 tsp. cream of tartar
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/8 tsp. salt
1/4 c. butter
1 unbaked 9-inch pie shell
Combine first five ingredients in two-quart saucepan. Slowly stir in water. Cook over medium heat until mixture comes to a boil, stirring constantly. Let cool. Combine rest of ingredients (except pie shell) and mix until crumbly. Pour cooled mixture into pie shell and top with crumbs. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes or until golden brown.
Make Your Own Pon Hoss - Recipe
Lovina - and her mother - have written throughout the years about pork delicacy they call "pon hoss." A more common name for this outside the Amish is "scrapple." Like that name implies, it is made out of "pork scraps." Here is Lovina's recipe for making homemade pon hoss.
PON HOSS
3-4 lbs. Pork shanks or hocks
cornmeal or flour
salt
pepper
Over a medium heat in a large pot, cook pork until tender. Remove bones and skim fat from broth. Return meat to broth and add corn meal or flour, just enough to thicken (editor's note: amount of flour to be added with vary widely depending on the meat used, add flour one cup at a time until broth is a thick paste) Season with salt and pepper. Pour into loaf pans. Chill overnight in a cellar or refrigerator. The next day, slice and fry over medium-high heat until golden brown on each side. Serve
Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup
A snow day here in Cincinnati, so I thought I'd share Lovina's recipe for homemade chicken noodle soup!
CHICKEN NOODLE SOUP
3 lb. chicken
2 qts. water
2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 c. chicken stock
2 c. celery, chopped
2 c. carrots, chopped
1 tart apple, chopped
1 c. onions, chopped
Dash pepper
4 c. egg noodles
Place chicken in kettle with 2 quarts water. Cover and cook over medium heat until tender (about 2 1/2 hours). Remove chicken from kettle and strain broth. Debone chicken and
return to kettle with strained broth. Add chicken stock, celery, carrots, apple, onions, and pepper and cook until vegetables are tender. Add noodles and cook 8-10 minutes.
Another Holiday Favorite Recipe Among the Amish: Homemade Butterscotch Pudding
Pennsylvania Dutch Butterscotch Pudding
1 c. brown sugar
2 tbsp. butter
1 tbsp. flour
1 egg yolk
1 c. milk
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp. salt
(Best done in a cast iron skillet.) Boil sugar and butter together until soft. Beat the egg yolk well and add it to the flour, milk, vanilla, and salt. Carefully stir a little at a time into the sugar mixture. Cook, stirring constantly, until thick and bubbly
Pumpkin Ginger Pie
This recipe sort of combines two tastes from two different times of year....many Amish homes right now are using up the last of their fresh pumpkin in holiday goodies like pumpkin pie and pumpkin rolls, or just storing it away in canning jars. Meanwhile, other Amish cookies are breaking out the ginger for cookies and breads. This recipe melds pumpkin and ginger into a pie. I've enjoyed this in a couple of Amish settlements around this time of year. Give it a try!
Preheat oven to 325. Combine all the ingredients for the filling and beat well. Pour into the partly baked pie shell. Bake for about 50 minutes or until the center of the pie is set. Garnish with a little crystalized ginger.
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