• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Amish 365
  • About
  • Amish Recipes
  • Amish Culture
  • Amish Marketplace
  • Navigation Menu: Social Icons

    • Email
    • Facebook
    • YouTube
menu icon
go to homepage
  • Amish Recipes
  • Amish Culture
  • About
    • Email
    • Facebook
    • YouTube
  • subscribe
    search icon
    Homepage link
    • Amish Recipes
    • Amish Culture
    • About
    • Email
    • Facebook
    • YouTube
  • ×

    Home » Everything Amish » Plain Culture

    The Amish Cook: Early Morning Easter Caroling and Brunch Casserole

    Published: Mar 28, 2016 · Updated: Mar 28, 2016 by Kevin Williams | Leave a Comment

    Buggies fill a parking lot at a busy market on the edge of Berlin, Ohio. Gloria mentions this tourist town in her column this week.

    Buggies fill a parking lot at a busy market on the edge of Berlin, Ohio. Gloria mentions this tourist town in her column this week.

    THE AMISH COOK

    BY GLORIA YODER

    Is everyone as excited about springtime as we are?

    Signs of spring are all around us in Flat Rock.  The buds of the maple trees are beginning to awaken from their winter slumber, the morning quiet is now filled with the melodious sounds of songbirds, and the grass is shedding its winter brown.     A few weeks ago I was delighted to have my husband Daniel inform me that he had heard the first spring peepers. It gave me a serious urge to go camping.  I could just hear the zip of the tent zippers beside a crackling fire. Realistically, though, who’s going to go camping with two little children in March?

    Springtime is a favorite in the Yoder household.  There’s something so invigorating about watching the earth awakening after months of dormancy. Another highlight for me is going through a seed catalog with Daniel and planning what varieties of veggies we want to try. We always order from Berlin Seeds which is an Amish-owned and operated business in Berlin, Ohio.  Berlin, by the way, is a popular destination for tourists wanting to visit Amish country.

    Hopefully we’ll be able to get some early gardening done within the next week. We like to plant some veggies as soon as we can like early sweet corn, potatoes, and peas.

    While dropping seeds into the soft, fertile soil, I can just picture the long rows of vibrant plants loaded with veggies of all kinds. But then the stark reality of gardening has a way of setting in when the July and August heat waves ripple across southern Illinois as the soil tends to become dry and cracked. Needless to say my lofty goals of having a weed-free picture perfect garden start to wane.

    By September we are glad to have a break from the gardening and summer heat yet thankful for the variety of canned goods on the shelves ready for the winter months ahead.

    Our children, Julia, 4, and Austin, 17 months,  both relish the warm, sunny days when they’re permitted to go outside to play.  It takes some extra patience for all of us on days like today when it is drizzly and cold but, you know, without these days we wouldn’t appreciate the sunny ones as much.

    Austin, especially, delights in going outside and playing with sticks or trying to carry around small chunks of wood from Daniel’s pile on the deck or whatever those busy little fingers find to do.

    Yesterday Daniel and I were discussing Austin’s expressive and outgoing personality and how he’ll need lots of guidance in the months and years to come.  Yet if these traits can be channeled in the right direction God will be able to use them in a positive way.   Austin definitely has an adventuresome side. Recently he was so proud of himself when he discovered that he can climb onto the couch and if he wriggles and strains enough he can climb up on the back, then stand up, towering far above his normal height.  It did look awfully cute but common sense told his mother that this wasn’t a safe thing for him to do. At all.

    Now Austin is sitting on my lap while I am writing. Several minutes ago he ventured back into Julia’s bedroom where she was sound asleep. I went to investigate in the nick of time as he was just getting ready to wake her up.  I decided it’s time to sit quietly with him in my lap for awhile.  Every now and then  between squirms and little protests he is praising himself for sitting still.  In case you are wondering: yes he can be distracting while I am trying to write.  I’ve found it to be a challenge at times and I accept the interruptions and having everything taking longer than expectvffed.   At the same time I am so overjoyed to be able to stay home, caring for my two little ones.  And, of course ,if I do get edgy or impatient at my day not going as planned  everyone is negatively affected. God’s grace and wisdom is what I find to get me through times when the children are sick, not sleeping well at night, or simply having a rough day.

    Perhaps I can have Julia and Austin “help” me make a Gold Rush Brunch Casserole that I am needing to make for tomorrow morning.  We’re planning to take the youth caroling for the families in our church at 3:30 a.m.  We plan to have five of these brunch casseroles to serve. I’ll share the recipe in case you are inspired to give it a try.  For the hashed browns, I fry my own shredded potatoes and make my own cheese sauce, which I’ll share the recipe for. Of course, if you prefer you could use frozen hashed browns.

    GOLD RUSH BRUNCH CASSEROLE

     

    Gold Rush Brunch Casserole
     
    Print
    Prep time
    10 mins
    Cook time
    30 mins
    Total time
    40 mins
     
    Serves: 12 servings
    Ingredients
    • 1 pound sausage or ham
    • 1 /4 cup chopped onions
    • 8 eggs, scrambled or fried and seasoned
    • 1 ½ cups shredded cheese (whatever kind you prefer)
    • 4 cups hash browns
    • 2 tablespoons parsley
    • 1 quart cheese sauce
    Instructions
    1. Layer in a 9 X 13 cake pan in order given.
    2. Be free to use your imagination, adding items such as bacon, pepperoni, or peppers.
    3. Cover with cheese sauce and bake at 350 for 25 -30 mins.
    Wordpress Recipe Plugin by EasyRecipe
    3.2.2807

    CHEESE SAUCE

    1 /4 cup butter

    1 /4 cup flour

    1 3 /4 cup milk

    1 /4 teaspoon seasoning salt

    8 ounces Velveeta cheese

    1 cup sour cream

    Salt and pepper to taste

    Melt butter, add flour, whisk together  adding milk and salt. Cook until thickened. Reduce heat and add cheese and sour cream.

     

    « Amish in the News: Amish Acres Easter Bash, Mennonites in England, Amish Mafia, and Chunky Pecan Pie Bars...
    Easter Scenes »

    About Kevin Williams

    Hi, my name is Kevin Williams and I am owner of Oasis Newsfeatures and editor of The Amish Cook newspaper column.

    Reader Interactions

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    Recipe Rating




    Rate this recipe:  

    Primary Sidebar

    Kevin Williams - The Amish Editor Amish Cook Column

    Hi There, I'm Kevin!

    Welcome to Amish365, where I share my knowledge of Amish cooking and culture! I’ve spent almost three decades exploring Amish settlements and kitchens from Maine to Montana and almost everywhere in between. I’ll occasionally throw in stories of my travels, journalism adventures (I’m a Pulitzer prize-nominated journalist), fascination with grocery stores and Kmarts, and much more!

    More about me →

    Latest Amish Recipes

    • Delicious Amish Ham Meatballs
      Delicious Amish Ham Meatballs
    • Why Do The Amish Worship At Home?
    • Finished Ham Loaf
      Amish Ham Loaf
    • What is Shunning? And Do the Amish Still Shun?
    dutchcrafters

    Download The "Almost Amish" Ebook

    Footer

    Footer

    About

    • About The Amish Editor
    • Download "Almost Amish" Ebook
    • Amish Communities
    • Amish Marketplace

    Contact

    • Work With Us
    • Contact

    *As a member of various affiliate programs I earn from qualifying purchases.

    Copyright © 2000 - 2020 Amish 365 | Powered by Touch The Road