Weekly Blogroll: Chili Skillet, Home Joys, Katie Troyer, Broccoli Bake, and More!

By Kevin Williams

CHILI SKILLET:  Patricia's Patchwork post an amazing looking recipe for "chili skillet."  Makes me think of the small community called "Chili" in Holmes County, Ohio.  Wonder if the Amish there eat "Chili Skillet."  Oh well. Anyway, doesn't this look amazing?  Click here for the recipe.  The recipe comes from the Heritage Country Harvest Cookbook which features Amish recipes from northern Indiana.

HOME JOYS:  Talented Mennonite writer, Gina, updates us on how things are in their household. We've been following her husband's courageous battle with brain cancer.  Click here for the latest and, if you are in good health, savor it and appreciate it.

KATIE TROYER:  Check her post entitled "Going Home."  The Florida Amish enclave of Pinecraft is emptying out for another season, another week or two it'll be a veritable ghost town.  Final goodbyes are being said, bags packed, winter homes locked up, and the parks cleaned up. Click here to see "Going Home."

CREAMY BROCCOLI BAKE:  Check out this delicious-sounding concoction from Charm City Ramblings. Click here for the recipe.

MY AMISH INDIANA -   Amish Indiana visits an Amish estate sale in this post.  She describes it accurately.  The process of parceling out a deceased parents estate is very straightforward among the Amish.  Most often the items are auctioned off and if someone wants something they can bid on it.  It removes the sometimes unseemingly squabbling over estates and belongings that plague post-mortems among the non-Amish.  Click here to read more.

BLOG SPIN - AMISH DINNER BOWLS -  You know, I was glad to see this post.  I've spent almost a quarter century writing about how Amish settlements are different from community to community.  Of course, there are some commonalities like the buggies or the lack of electricity (in most places), but here's another commonality I haven't talked much about: supper plates.  From the most conservative Amish settlements to the most progressive, these supper plates are everywhere.  I can best describe them as a bowl-plate hybrid.  All the food just sort of gets schlepped into it and if the juice from your corn runs into your mashed potatoes, so be it.  Most of the supper plates I've seen are just plain blue bowls, but I have seen these funkier patterned ones before also....Click here to read about Amish supper plates and see photos of them!