Simple and easy to make. This delicious recipe from an Amish kitchen only uses five ingredients. I have enjoyed this in Amish-Mennonite homes as well as at fellowship dinners. It is a favorite of all ages.
This recipe uses fusilli, although any pasta can be used. Fusilli is a curly pasta macaroni-type noodle. It is commonly called rotini in the United States.
This delicious dish can be made with ground beef, but the Italian sausage really gives it a rich flavor. You could even use ground turkey or ground chicken.
Ingredients
Amish Spaghetti Casserole
1 pound fusilli, cooked according to package directions
1 pound Italian sausage
2 cups shredded mozzarella (divided)
1 cup grated Parmesan (divided)
16 ounces spaghetti sauce. More or less sauce can be used according to your preferences.
Directions
Chop the sausage up into small pieces, about the size of a marble.
Cook the sausage until cooked through.
Combine the sausage, cooked pasta, half the mozzarella, half the Parmesan, and the spaghetti sauce in a 13×9-inch baking pan.
Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top.
Bake in a preheated 350-degree F oven for 30 minutes.
Serve with garlic toast, a fresh garden salad, and some mint tea for a filling and delicious meal.
This recipe calls for a 4-1 ration of rhubarb to strawberries. You may change that to fit your taste preferences.
But no matter how you make it, the sweetness of the strawberries mixed with the tartness of the rhubarb makes for a unique taste that only garden-fresh ingredients can give.
My mother used to make rhubarb pie every year. She had friends who looked forward to her pie, too. Some neighbors would come to pick some fresh rhubarb from my Mom’s patch. She was always so proud of her rhubarb and her rhubarb pie.
Personally -I hated her rhubarb pie. Her crusts were the best anyone ever made, but the rhubarb was too sour for me, although I did occasionally eat a stalk fresh from the garden.
When I discovered strawberry-rhubarb pie – I loved it. Still do. The sweetness of the berries really balances out some of the tartness of the rhubarb. I am sure you will love this recipe.
Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie
Ingredients
1 beaten egg
1 cup of sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups rhubarb
2 tablespoons of flour
dash salt
½ cup fresh strawberries
Instructions
Mix all of the above ingredients and pour into an unbaked pie shell.
Put on a top crust and flute and crimp the edges and make some slits in the crust so that heat can escape.
Sprinkle a tablespoon of sugar over the crust
Bake pie for 10 minutes at 400, then at 350 for 30 minutes.
I want to share just three of the things I have learned from the Amish.
I worked for a year framing houses with a Beachy Amish Crew, and I also worked a year in a barn-building shop with Schwartzentruber Amish. Additionally, I have Amish neighbors and friends, I have performed magic at an Amish Christmas party and I attend church with Amish-Mennonites.
Over the last 25 years, I have learned a lot more than three things. I’ve learned humility, I’ve learned how to be more generous, I’ve learned how to live what the Bible teaches and so much more.
How did the Amish religion start?
Amish and the Mennonites both stem from the Anabaptist movement which was part of the radical Reformation from the Roman Catholic Church in the mid-1500’s. They we’re part of the Catholic Church, then they broke off from the Catholic Church
In the late 1600’s, a group of believers in Alsace, led by Jacob Ammon, split from the mainstream of Mennonites. The doctrine of both groups is the same as far as salvation, but how they practice their faith has some differences. Jacob Ammon and his followers felt that the Mennonites were going too soft on church discipline and that is what left to the split.
The Amish love their animals
What have I learned?
The first thing I learned is that they like to talk and laugh. There is a common misconception that they’re all super quiet.
Some are, but most are great conversationalists. They talk politely and tend to speak softly. They’re regular folk. They laugh and talk and have great senses of humor
They wear bonnets; the black ones usually for church on Sunday. Everybody wears them to church, but then their school kids have to wear them to go to school.
The white ones, they are supposed to wear all the time when they go away.
The Amish do not like to be gawked at but do not mind sharing information about their life culture or religion, when coming from a genuine place of interest. They also will not pose for photos because they consider posing for photos to be vain.
The adults that have been baptized and have joined the church, do not wish to be photographed although if you ask the parents first, they’ll often allow you to photograph their children who have not been baptized.
More and more Amish have cellphones and are taking pictures and video. Some groups do allow posed pictures now.
The second thing I learned is there is a major misconception about Amish and technology.
Amish man using the community phone booth
Some people think that they can’t use any technology. Now they are actually very thoughtful about the types of technology that they do use. For example, some of them have phones that the community shares. It’s usually a little booth and that’s the telephone that they use for their business and that the neighbors all use if they need to make a phone call or if they need if there’s an emergency.
Usually they don’t have a phone in their pocket or next to them all the time or a phone in their house because they want to be strategic about the times that they’re using that technology.
it has become fairly common for all but the strictest communities to have electricity, phones, and internet in their businesses. many of my Old Order Amish friends have Facebook pages for their businesses and websites.
The Amish speak Pennsylvania Dutch. It’s not a written language You’ll hear this as you were out and about it’s comprised mostly of a low german mixed with some English.
Misconception number three. Are they happy living the way they do?
After spending some time with them, it just becomes very apparent that they want to live as they do. No one’s forcing them to. They enjoy being Amish. They enjoy being different from the English. They enjoy choosing that as their way to focus their lives on things that they think are really important.
There’s a lot of love in their community. They are very supportive of one another. They support each other as family members and as a community. They are all just friendly and kind and generally very accepting.
All-in-all, the Amish aren’t much different than their English neighbors.
In the wintertime, there’s just a tremendous amount of activity in Pinecraft, Florida. This is the time of year when Pinecraft comes to life.
Buses come from the north with Amish couples. The town comes alive as old friends meet and new friendships are made.
I generally describe Pinecraft as an Amish and, and conservative Mennonite enclave within Sarasota county. Most visitors come for the food, especially those Whoopie Pies, but hang out for the people watching.
Pinecraft Amish Community
Most people that you will see people with distinctive garb are old order Amish or very conservative Mennonites. Most Mennonites can’t be distinguished and live in Pinecraft year round.
People don’t come to see the Mennonites. They come to see the Amish and to eat at an Amish Restaurant.
The Amish population swells in the winter from those traveling down from Northern communities and their history in this area can be traced back to 1931.
There were farmers from the north who wanted to do something in the wintertime. They came to Venice and planted, watermelon and a few other crops like that. The Land wasn’t suitable there. So they moved farther north to Sarasota.
It was very inexpensive land. They could build small houses. Some of the early people that came to the area actually lived in tents until, until they had little cottages built.
Now nearly a hundred years later, they come for a different reason. Sunshine, definitely sunshine. It’s good for the soul.
The homes in Pinecraft have electricity and many of the residents have cellphones and electric appliances.
Some people would say, no Amish should have cell phones. Well, some Amish do they, they will use electricity. They’ll go back north. And most of the old order Amish would not use electricity when they go back north. So there are some things that are different here. That’s just been accepted over time.
You won’t see horse and buggy travel here. Folks walk throughout the small community or ride bicycles.
Visiting in Pinecraft
In the evening, the community comes alive with folks walking and biking through the streets. As they go, they stop at various homes and speak with their neighbors sitting on the porch.
The shuffleboard court is always crowded and is alive with friendly competition and conversation.
Shuffleboard at Pinecraft
Next time you are near Sarasota, take time to visit Pinecraft.
