Lovina Eicher is an Amish mother of eight and author of the Lovina’s Amish Kitchen column (and formerly the Amish Cook column).

I’m working on a Q-and-A for Lovina about her latest cookbook, The Essential Amish Cookbook, to publish here on the site.

Do you have anything that I should ask Lovina? If so, share those questions in the comments below.

I’ll choose some of the best ones to add to the list/letter that gets sent to her.

Tasty Recipes (And Fun Names)

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

I think it’s time for me to go grab a bite.

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