Category Archives: Amish Dish

March 9, 2012 · 5:00 am

Comfort Food at Its Finest: Chicken and Noodles Recipe

Okay, so I normally share recipes here that taste good and also promote health. But I have to admit today’s recipe won’t win any awards for trimming the waistline. (Although it’s not the worst thing you could eat either. :) )

This is a favorite recipe straight from Amish country and one that gets my mouth watering just thinking about it…

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Homemade Chicken and Noodles Recipe

2 lbs split chicken breasts
10 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth
2 bay leaves
Basil, to taste
Parsley, to taste
Sage, to taste (I tend to go a little lighter on the sage and thyme since they have stronger flavor.)
Thyme, to taste
8 oz egg or kluski noodles (I like to get the real things from an Amish bakery, but any variety will do.)
3 potatoes, peeled and chopped

Bring broth to boiling in a large stock pot. Add bay leaves, basil, parsley, sage, thyme, and chicken. Cook chicken in broth over medium heat until the meat falls off the bone – approximately 40 minutes. Cut chicken into pieces and discard bones. Return broth and chicken pieces to boiling. Add noodles and potatoes. Reduce heat and simmer about 20 minutes more, or until noodles and potatoes are tender. Remove bay leaves before serving.

*If you’re like me, you may find you like the leftovers of this even better than the original. Something about all those juices soaking together makes it extra good!

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Even though this recipe takes a little planning ahead timewise, it’s always worth it, especially when served over a bed of mashed potatoes. Yum!

Do you have a favorite comfort food? When are you most likely to eat it? Or what makes it comforting to you?

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September 19, 2011 · 5:00 am

Amish Dish: What Really Propels Their Faith?

Last month, I had the opportunity to visit an Amish family in their home. Talk about fascinating! I was filled with some major inspiration, and I’ve got a lot of posts planned to share what I learned and saw.

But today, I want to get to the foundation of how my time with them changed me. You see, I had a lot of opinions about the Amish that came from lots of different sources–family members, media, books, and word-of-mouth. (I grew up in an Amish-centric town, so word of mouth was always plentiful.)

The couple I visited was around 70 years old, I’d guess. Their 16-year-old granddaughter was there that day to help her grandmother with canning. The couple’s youngest son also lived on the property in a separate house with his wife and children, but they weren’t able to join us for the conversation. For purposes of this post and future posts, I’m going to refer to the older couple as Eli and Esther (Names are changed to protect their wish for privacy).

One of the questions on my list was fairly personal. But I knew I’d regret it if I didn’t ask. “What drives you or propels you to live the way you do?” They both thought for a moment. Then they mentioned the following things.

- The community spirit and love gives them the security that they will always be cared for.
- By separating themselves from the world, their faith is clearer to others. They used the example of going to the store. When someone sees them, they know immediately what they believe…or at least a basic understanding.
- Avoiding modern technology keeps them further from temptation. I think anyone who has a TV in their home can appreciate this. The traps are everywhere, aren’t they?

Then after they’d said all these things, Eli said in his soft-spoken voice, “But it all stems back to salvation in Jesus Christ.”

Now to the average listener, this may not be all that shocking. But for me, it turned my thinking on its axis. For some reason, I’d thought that the Amish faith was driven by works alone…I can’t tell you where I picked up that thought…It was just there. So to see this couple express their faith and the reasons for it built in me a whole new respect.

I understand that there are many, many different groups of Amish who live out their faith in different ways and for different reasons. (And isn’t this true in the modern Christian church as well?) But in this particular family, I saw a genuine desire to please Christ and living the Amish faith was the best way they knew to do it.

So what about you? What have been your initial perceptions of the Amish faith? What sources have fed those perceptions? Does this post change your view of them at all? (And if you have any specific questions about my visit with this family, leave them in a comment and I’ll try to address what I can in future posts.)

On a completely unrelated note, have you visited Krista Phillips’s blog today?! She’s sharing some super exciting news!!! Be sure to hop on over there!

*photo by watcharakun / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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August 15, 2011 · 4:00 am

Amish Dish: Do the Amish Get Their Groove On?

As you can tell, I’m pondering deep spiritual truths today. :)

I recently saw something that got me thinking about the Amish and dancing. Now I’m not an official expert, but I’ve always believed the Amish don’t dance. At all. Until last month…

Last month, we embarked on an outing to the zoo with my nieces and nephews. I don’t know why I’m always surprised to see lots of Amish there, but I am. And they were out in droves. In the midst of the heat and humidity, I was impressed with the Old Order Amish who wore their black and dark blue polyester clothing. Maybe they tucked battery-powered fans under all those dress layers?

Anyway, back to the point. So the time came for us to go to the dolphin show, and I gladly sat down in the air conditioning. Right next to us was a huge group of either New Order Amish or conservative Mennonites (I say this because the women wore pastel-colored dresses.)

The sound system was pumping out some super-fun music (Zoo Radio, they called it), and since I was holding my daughter, I started grooving to the beat with her. Then I looked to my left and caught sight of one of the Amish/Mennonite men doing the same thing with a tot on his lap. I mean, he was actually bouncing the kid and moving to the beat! Something that looked pretty close to dancing.

Now I could get into how there are all different groups of Amish, and they all practice different beliefs…just like Baptists versus Pentecostals versus Catholics…and that might explain why that man felt free to do what he did. But regardless of the conclusion, I do know this: No matter what style of clothes we wear, it’s hard to resist a good tune. :)

How about you? When you hear a good tune, do you move to the beat? Or do you hum quietly and pretend to blend into the wall?

*photo by Salvatore Vuono / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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