Diary of March 1, 2017

3:10 a.m.   The alarm rings—time to get up and prepare Joe’s lunch. I make a pot of coffee. Joe always likes a mug of coffee to drink on his way to work.

3:55 a.m.   Joe leaves for work. He is leaving later since one of our neighbor boys started working at the same RV factory he does. He picks Joe up on his way. After Joe leaves, I usually go back to bed until 6:00 a.m.

6:00 a.m.   I wake the children up to get ready for school. Mose and Susan came over last night to sleep. We had a lot of bad storms during the night so we told Mose and Susan they could come sleep in the house. With the metal roof on their living quarters it makes some pretty loud noise when it is windy and rainy. Everyone was extra tired this morning. Around 2:00 a.m. we had been awakened by a bad thunderstorm which produced some hail.

6:30 a.m.   Mose leaves for work.

7:00 a.m.   Joseph, 14, Lovina, 12, and Kevin, 11, leave for school on the bus.

7:15 a.m.   Verena leaves to go help out at the daycare. Benjamin is doing morning chores.

8:30 a.m.   Benjamin drives Susan to work with the buggy and our horse Rex. Loretta is washing dishes and I am doing some book work. Income tax time is here so I need to get that ready to take to our tax preparer in town. It is always time consuming, but has to be done.

9:25 a.m.   Benjamin is back and is hauling manure out of the barn. With all the rain the ground is too soft to drive through the barnyard to spread the manure in the fields.

1:30 p.m.   Benjamin leaves to go pick up Susan. She works until 2:00 p.m. today.

2:30 p.m.   Joe comes home from the factory. We are having snow flurries and the temperature is getting colder again. Benjamin and Susan are back. Benjamin went to town to get me some groceries that I needed.

3:30 p.m.   The children are home from school. Brother-in-law Jacob, son Benjamin, and Menno (his daughter Emma’s friend) come to get our two big butchering kettles. They will butcher hogs on Saturday so they need the kettles.

6:30 p.m.   Chores are done and supper is ready. Our menu consists of spaghetti and meatballs, cooked potatoes, lettuce salad, cheese, canned peaches, and white cake. Loretta’s friend Dustin joined us for supper.

7:30 p.m.   Mose and Susan came over for awhile. Susan and some of the children always like to read the Bible together every day. They did this before Susan was married and she tries to keep it up since she still lives on the home place.

9:00 p.m.   Mose and Susan leave the house to call it a day.

9:30 p.m.   Dustin leaves for home.

10:00 p.m.  Everyone is settled down for the night so I will get some rest too.

Our sympathy and prayers go out to our friend Kristine. Her husband John lost his battle with cancer. May God guide her through this difficult trial in life.

I’ll share a recipe for sunrise burritos that daughter Susan tried last night for their supper. We plan to try it tonight for our supper. She didn’t have green chilies so she substituted green peppers (diced) and it worked fine like that.

God bless!

Sunrise Burritos

1 pound bulk sausage
1 small onion, chopped
16 eggs
1/2 cup water
1 cup canned green chilies, chopped
8 flour tortillas
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
1/2 cup salsa
1/2 cup sour cream

Brown sausage with chopped onion. Drain grease from meat. Beat eggs and water. Stir in chilies. Combine egg mixture with sausage and onion. Cook until set (eggs should be soft with no liquid remaining.) Microwave or bake tortilla for about 30 seconds. Fill with scrambled egg mixture. Top with cheese, sour cream and salsa. Makes 8 burritos.

Lovina Eicher is an Old Order Amish writer, cook, wife and mother of eight. She is the co-author of three cookbooks; her new cookbook, The Essential Amish Kitchen, will be published in 2017. Readers can contact Eicher at PO Box 1689, South Holland, IL 60473 (please include a self-addressed stamped envelope for a reply) or at LovinasAmishKitchen@MennoMedia.org.