The Essential Amish Cookbook: Lovina Eicher Answers Your Questions (& Shares 3 Recipes)

Lovina Eicher is an Amish mother of eight and author of the Lovina’s Amish Kitchen column (and formerly the Amish Cook column). She answers your questions in today’s post. Lovina is the author of The Essential Amish Cookbook and the Lovina’s Amish Kitchen column.

To enter to win a copy of The Essential Amish Cookbook, just leave a comment on this post. I’ll draw a random winner and post it next week.

Lovina apologizes for not being able to get to all the questions (life as an Amish mom is busy!) but thanks to everyone who submitted one. I added some of my own questions at the end. I hope you enjoy.

A note on The Essential Amish Cookbook

Just a quick note before we get to your questions. I have been reading through the cookbook the past several days. It has beautiful photos and a lot of recipes that look delicious.

Lovina typically adds a comment at the end of each recipe, either a helpful hint – for instance, what you can substitute if you’re missing an ingredient, general tips and suggestions, or something personal, e.g., like about how her family likes the dish.

Here are a few examples:

The first year I had a garden, I planted twelve zucchini plants. I had more zucchini than I knew what to do with! The next year I planted two plants and they both died, so I didn’t have any zucchini that year. So goes life with zucchini.

This is our favorite cheese ball. We always made it when I was growing up. We like it with a variety of crackers. 

Potato salad is popular in the Amish community. It can be served at weddings, funerals, reunions, and picnics. At home we would eat potato salad on bread for sandwiches.

Some of the recipe names are plain and descriptive.

You’ll find a lot of classics, like Meat Loaf, Bread and Butter Pickles, Church Peanut Butter Spread, Plain Apple Pie, and Breakfast Casserole.

Others are quite creatively named, suggesting surprising ingredients or other innovations.

Here are some of my favorites (meaning names, not going by taste, as I haven’t tried these – yet):

Lazy Day Lasagna

Hobo Suppers

Outrageous Chocolate Chip Cookies

Stay-Crisp Coleslaw

Refrigerator Rolls

Poor Man’s Steak

Amish Wedding Nothings (aka Knee Patches)

And some of the recipes are simply surprising in their combination of ingredients. For example:

Buttermilk Cookies with Glazed Maple Nut Frosting (And Bacon Bits)

Zucchini Chocolate Chip Bread

Banana Whoopie Pies

Peanut Butter Cracker Fudge

On to your questions now. And I think it’s time for me to go grab a bite.

Lovina Eicher Answers Your Questions

Michael Sparks: When it comes to cooking, what season do you enjoy cooking the most and why?

Lovina Eicher: I like summertime cooking best. It’s easier and cheaper, because there’s the garden to go to for a lot of ingredients.

Erin: Maybe Lovina has already answered this, but I’d like to hear more about cooking for a big group.

Lovina: The ladies in our church help each other with baking when we host church services. For weddings, we have recipes that we share with each other. Working together makes things much easier.

AJ: I wonder if calf liver with onions in gravy is a traditional Amish food? What about stuffed pig belly? What about goose or duck?

Lovina: Beef liver and onions are eaten by a lot of Amish families, but I am not sure whether that dish would be called “traditional.” Personally, I don’t care for liver and onions at all, so my family doesn’t get them too often! My children agree with me, but my husband does like it.

Pat M: We live around the Arthur/Arcola Illinois area. We’ve purchased numerous baked goods over the years from Amish bakers and have noticed they all seem to be stingy with spices. For example cinnamon anything; i.e. rolls… hardly ever have much cinnamon in them; especially compared to how most of we English prepare them. Do the foods Amish make for sale to the public often differ from what they make for themselves at home?

Lovina: Not in our area. We cook and bake just the same at home as we do for things we sell. Some cooks are just better at it than others. I love cinnamon and vanilla, and I will put extra in my foods sometimes. Maybe it’s just that community.

Carol J: I have always wondered HOW the Amish gals and children can get their feet clean, after going barefoot, most of the time?

Lovina: I grew up being barefooted most of the summer when a young girl at home. Now I’m sold on Crocs, and due to fallen arches, I can’t go barefooted for long anymore. As far as cleaning feet—hot water and soap go a long way!

TiaB: I’d be interested in knowing what an average two week meal “diary” looks like at Lovina’s house.

Lovina: Never the same and too much time to write out—sorry! Check out my cookbook.

Mary Turner: I have noticed that the Amish recipes use lots of onions, I can’t eat onions, will the recipes be ok without them?

Lovina: You could use onion salt or some other similar seasoning. Another idea would be to leave an onion whole in soups and take it out before serving.

Additional Questions

Which dish(es) are your family’s favorites?

Lovina: Hard question—we have lots of favorites. Favorite breakfast: eggs, fried potatoes, bacon and toast. Other meals: meat—beef, pork, chicken, fish—we love it all. Fresh veggies out of the garden, various soups and casseroles. We like a variety, so it’s hard to choose a favorite. And each family member has a different favorite!

What was the hardest part about doing this book?

Lovina: 1) Time—there is just so much extra time with raising a family. 2) Meeting deadlines.

What was the best part about doing this book?

Lovina: When it finally went to press.

Which is your favorite dish to make? Least favorite?

Lovina: My favorite thing to make is bread or rolls. My least favorite would be something I don’t like to eat, such as sweet potato casserole.

How do you write your column?

Lovina: I write my column with pen and paper. Some columns I can write in 15 minutes while others I need to just get away from everything so that I can think. I write every Wednesday or Thursday.

What are some interesting things you have heard from readers of your column over the years?

Lovina: A lot tell me they consider us like friends or family due to “hearing” from us every week. Reader mail has held lots of encouragement for me!

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Here’s more on The Essential Amish Cookbook. You can find the book via several retailers at this link.

Update: Lovina Eicher’s Essential Amish Cookbook Winner (Plus 3 Recipes)

We’ve got a winner of The Essential Amish Cookbook following the Q-and-A giveaway with author Lovina Eicher.

But first, here are 3 of Lovina’s recipes for you – a main dish, a salad, and something sweet. Thanks to Herald Press for letting us reprint them here.

3 Recipes from The Essential Amish Cookbook

Want to test-drive a few of Lovina’s dishes?

Here are three recipes you can try, along with the additional notes from Lovina that she adds to each recipe in the book.

Hobo Suppers

• 10 red potatoes, unpeeled and cut into chunks
• 1/2 cup onion, diced
• 1/2 cup green bell pepper, diced
• 2 cups carrots, sliced
• 1 cup celery, chopped
• 1 (16-ounce) package smoky links, cut into pieces; or 1 pound smoked sausage, cut into pieces
• Salt and pepper, as desired
• Cheese, sliced

Preheat grill to medium-high heat.

In a bowl, mix all the ingredients together except the cheese. Divide the mixture into the amount you want for each serving, placing individual servings on sheets of aluminum foil. Fold foil over, wrapping tight, and set on grill for 10 minutes on each side.

Open up foil; if potatoes are soft, add a slice of cheese. (If potatoes need more time to cook, close pouches and return to grill before adding cheese.) Re-wrap and grill a few more minutes until cheese is melted.

Alternatively, can be cooked in oven at 400°F for 10 minutes, then turned over and cooked for 10 additional minutes. Check doneness of potatoes before adding cheese.

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Hobo Suppers make a great dinner when it’s hot outside and I don’t want to heat up the kitchen. I gather the onions and green bell peppers right out of my garden and we head to the grill. The children help assemble these suppers wrapped in foil. 

From The Essential Amish Cookbook by Lovina Eicher. ©2017 Herald Press. All rights reserved. Used with permission.

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Amish Macaroni Salad

• 3 cup cooked macaroni
• 1/2 cup carrots, chopped
• 1/2 cup celery, chopped
• 1/2 cup onion, chopped
• 2 tablespoons prepared mustard
• 1 cup whipped salad dressing
• 2 tablespoons cider vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons milk
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Mix macaroni, carrots, celery, and onion in a big bowl until evenly combined. In a separate bowl, mix mustard, whipped salad dressing, vinegar, salt, sugar, milk, and salt and pepper. Combine with macaroni mixture and toss until thoroughly mixed. Refrigerate and serve.

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This is one of my husband, Joe’s, favorite salads. I like to add chopped hard-cooked eggs sometimes. We usually have plenty of eggs, as we have our own laying hens. 

From The Essential Amish Cookbook by Lovina Eicher. ©2017 Herald Press. All rights reserved. Used with permission.

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Caramel Pecan Rolls

• 2 1/4 teaspoons (1 package) active dry yeast
• 1/4 cup warm water (110°F-115°F)
• 1 1/4 cup milk
• 1/3 cup butter, melted
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 5 cups bread flour, divided

Filling

• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Topping

• 3/4 cup pecans, chopped
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup butter, melted

Caramel sauce

• 2/3 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/4 cup heavy cream or evaporated milk

In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes. Heat milk to lukewarm; pour into a mixing bowl, along with the yeast liquid. Add melted butter, granulated sugar, and salt. Add beaten eggs. Add 3 cups flour and beat on medium speed for 3 minutes. Add remaining 2 cups flour and stir to combine. Remove from mixing bowl and knead until soft and smooth, about 8 minutes. Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough in the bowl, and turn to coat with oil. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size (about 45 minutes).

Prepare filling ingredients: Set out 1/4 cup butter to soften. Combine granulated sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl; reserve. Separately, prepare topping: Stir all the topping ingredients together; reserve.

Make caramel sauce: In a small saucepan, bring the brown sugar, butter, and cream to a boil. Cook, stirring, for 3 minutes. Pour into a 9 x 13-inch baking pan. Sprinkle reserved topping on top.

Once dough has doubled in size, cut in half and roll each half into a 12 x 15-inch rectangle. Spread with softened 1/4 cup butter. Sprinkle reserved cinnamon sugar over butter. Roll up dough from one long side; pinch seams and turn ends under. Cut each roll into six slices. Place slices in pan, cut side down. Cover and let rise in a warm place until nearly doubled, about 30 minutes. Bake at 350°F for 30-35 minutes, or until golden brown. Let cool 1 minutes; invert onto a serving platter.

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If you like pecans, you will like these rolls. Some of our children like nuts, and some don’t care for them at all. 

From The Essential Amish Cookbook by Lovina Eicher. ©2017 Herald Press. All rights reserved. Used with permission.

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Essential Amish Cookbook Winner

I used random.org to draw a winner from your entries. The lucky winner is:

Comment #92, Susan Campbell

Congrats Susan. Email me your shipping address (ewesner(at)gmail(dot)com) and I’ll pass that to Herald Press so they can send you your cookbook.

If you didn’t win, you can find links to get the cookbook here.