THE AMISH COOK
BY GLORIA YODER
We have some delightful news that we’ve just been waiting to share with you!
Things have been shifting a bit around here. I don’t have all the energy I used to have. The food doesn’t always strike my fancy like it used to and I tend to take more moments to just sit and catch my breath. All of this is for good reason: we have a little one on the way!
Gloria holds her daughter Julia. Another Yoder will be joining the family in February!
Even though the wait seems long the journey has just begun. Lord willing, baby dear will arrive in February. One of the highlights so far is when my husband Daniel and I shared the good news with Julia. At five years old she almost can’t wait to help “mother” a baby brother or sister. She has all kinds of big plans on how she will be my maid once the baby arrives. She is already a big help to me in many ways and is rapidly learning many new things around the house. Of course Daddy will also take off work to help the first week and my three sisters will also want to do their share also. I shouldn’t have a lack of helpers in any way and for that I am very thankful.
In the meanwhile we’ll try to wait patiently and grin and bear the discomforts that tend to be a part of this stage. Who would ever think of eating cold leftover green beans at 10 o’clock before retiring for the night and getting up at 2 in the morning to eat saltine crackers with pepper mustard? (or we could use bananas instead of crackers with mustard).
You probably remember our interest in doing foster care? Piece by piece that has also been falling into place over the past six months. Last night we had the first of 13 foster classes. We are grateful for all the paperwork that has been completed and look forward to tackling what is ahead the next couple of months in the process. Hopefully by fall we will have our license to proceed with foster care. As of right now we plan to do babies and little children. I know you are probably wondering if we will proceed right away with foster care with our own little one on the way? If you know my optimistic husband you can just imagine that he is what I need right now in confidently expecting everything to work out just fine, a step at a time. Only God knows when we will have our first foster placements and what will be perfect for our family. In the meanwhile we will keep taking a step at a time as the future unfolds.
This summer I am doing extra canning and freezing in hopes of simplifying next summer in case I do have my hands full with little ones. Today I’m doing peach pie filling. Thanks to Daniel who helped me peel peaches before leaving for work this morning! I have another bushel that needs to be cut up and canned or frozen this week. We’ve been richly blessed with a variety of peaches from the family’s orchard in our community.
If you’re interested in making any type of pie filling you are welcome to try our recipe . My mother and I have made countless batches of this over the years and use it with all types of fruits.
This can be used in pies, delights, mixed with plain yogurt or enjoyed by itself. (Editor's Note: This recipe does call for clear-gel which is a thickener commonly sold in Amish bulk food stores, you can buy it online from Amazon from several sources, I think the best is this one....this is an Amazon affiliate link)
We make big batches of this to can, I cut the recipe to simplify it for you. Enjoy!
- GLORIA’S PIE FILLING
- 2 cups water
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 /2 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons lemon juice
- 1 cup cold water
- 1 /2 cup clear-gel
- ¼ cup jello
- Dump the first four ingredients into a 2 quart kettle and bring to a boil.
- Add the other ingredients and then cool.
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