Church services were held here yesterday, which is always an event that requires a lot of preparation work.
We set up the church benches in our basement for the services. The benches, dishes for meals and other supplies needed to hold a service are stored in a wagon that goes from place to place -- wherever the services are going to be held. Services are usually around three hours long. Afterward, the menfolk set up four tables with every table seating 16 people.
Then the women all pitch in and help get the tables set. It is nice to have most of those dishes we need for lunch stored in containers in the bench wagon. Our menu was coffee, tea, homemade wheat and white bread, bologna, cheese spread, peanut butter spread, dill and sweet pickles, red beets, sweet and hot peppers, butter, homemade jam and sugar, pumpkin and butterscotch chip cookies.
I also fixed a pot of chicken noodle soup for the younger ones who can't eat sandwiches yet. All in all we had about 150 -- 175 people show up for services, which is a little lower than usual because some people were gone because of sickness.
After the meal, the men visited with one another while the women helped wash the dishes. Then we served popcorn for a snack. Mid-afternoon everyone went home for a while, but I invited everyone back for supper at 6 p.m. We had pizza casserole, tossed salad, homemade bread, pickles and dressing. For dessert, chocolate pudding, white and chocolate cake and ice cream were on the menu. We had plenty of food left.
Quite a few of the families accepted the invitation to come back for supper. We also had the supper in the basement. It sure helps keep the living quarters cleaner when all the church functions can be held in the basement. After supper, the men played games while us women washed dishes. The children played simple games like hide and seek.
We were glad for the cold 30-degree weather even though Joe had to shovel snow. The freezing weather kept the muddiness in the yard down. Our neighbor came and cleaned our drive of snow the day before. He also made a path to the basement door where everyone came in to put their coats and boots and attend services. Now today we want to mop the floors and do the laundry and get back to normal around here.
After Joe gets home from work, he'll stack all the benches back in the bench wagon. I need to clean tablecloths and roll them up so they will be ready to use in two weeks at the next place. Dishes also all have to be packed back in the wagon. Always a relief once everything is back in place, but I enjoy taking our turn to hold church. I appreciate the bread, cookies and cakes from the church ladies and my sisters. It takes a lot of the load off me.
My neighbor lady offered to make the cheese spread for me, which took another job off my list. And my family here in Michigan helped with the cleaning before church. With everyone pitching in and helping, it made it a lot easier. Now we want to try to return the favor to others in our church when they need us.
Daughter Verena is still on crutches from her fall. The good news is that the bone specialist said there was no break, only a sprain. The ER doctor had thought he had seen a break, but there wasn't one. She is having quite a bit of pain since she has fallen on it again. Tomorrow I will take her in for a checkup. Hopefully she has not hurt it worse.
Here is the recipe for the pizza casserole we served for Sunday evening supper. This is great for a lot of company coming over!
Pizza Casserole
1 lb. hamburger
1/3 c. chopped onion
1/2 c. diced green peppers
1 (4-oz.) can sliced mushrooms
1/2 t. salt
2 (10-oz.) cans pizza sauce or equivalent homemade
8 oz. cooked spaghetti
2 c. shredded mozzarella cheese
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9-by-13-inch baking dish.
Brown the ground beef, onion, and green peppers in a skillet for seven to 10 minutes. Drain the grease. Add the mushrooms and salt and spoon into the baking dish. Cover with cooked spaghetti. Pour the sauce over the top and sprinkle with the cheese. Bake for 30 minutes, or until the cheese has melted and the casserole is bubbling.
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.
Special Note: Reader interest in the three-minute online track of the Eicher family yodeling has been so much fun that the idea has been taken a step further for the next few weeks. Lovina, Joe, her children and editor will visit the city of whichever newspaper audience listens to the yodel the most times. The visit will occur this fall to commemorate the release of Lovina's first cookbook, "The Amish Cook at Home." The event will be held at a bookstore or library and include a book-signing and, yes, some yodeling. The votes will be calculated by percentage of a newspaper's reported circulation figures, that way a smaller newspaper that carries The Amish Cook can compete with a larger one. So the newspaper market that grabs the highest percentage will get a visit from the Eicher family this fall. For more information and to hear the yodel, visit amishcookonline.com. The yodeling costs $1.49 for a two-week "pass" to listen an unlimited number of times. The fee helps support the column and production costs of the yodeling track. Results on which city is in the lead will also be posted and updated at the site. The yodeling will be kept on the site until March 7. People who have already listened to the yodel will be factored into the votes using the Zip code entered when signing up.
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