Amish Teenage Summer Fun
Amish youth, like most of the “English” youth, will soon be getting out of school. For the non-Amish children summertime may mean getting a part-time job at the local fast food joint or at a grocery store. Some kids are heavily involved in sports while others spend a lot of time hanging around or sleeping in until the afternoon. The Amish, however, view the idle portions of summer time as not a good fit with their beliefs and their children are kept busy.
It is out of love that Amish parents keep their children busy with productive work. Idleness many times leads to mischief. By demonstrating how to work the Amish parent is teaching their children how to gainfully occupy their time while gaining useful life skills. They are also teaching them to be responsible members of their communities.
The Amish have always combined socialization with work. Quilting bees, barn raisings, corn husking, cutting firewood and chores are times to talk about life, religion and to pass on knowledge to the younger generation. Stories are told and retold and many songs are sung to make the work a little less dreary and a lot more fun.
Some teenagers will take the initiative during the spring and summer to plant a large market garden with the proceeds going to local charities. They’ll meet once a week to tend to the garden and to socialize. In many orders, the young people will also meet once a week to do yard chores, painting or repairs for the elderly, the shut-in, or for widows. Once the main work is done, the youngsters are free to play games such as volleyball or softball and may even dance -depending on the community.
Singing is always a favorite past time and, of course, there will be a need to feed the crowd of hungry teenagers. A favorite recipe to serve to a large crowd is chili. The following recipe will feed 12.
Amish Chili
2 pounds hamburger
1 large onion
1 tbsp. butter
1 ½ c. diced celery
1 c. diced carrots
2 cans pork and beans
2 cans kidney beans
2 cans lima beans
2 cans tomato soup
1 c. ketchup
½ small box spaghetti
Dice the onion. Melt butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and sauté until clear. Add hamburger and fry until browned. Fill a medium sized saucepan ¾ full with water, bring to a boil. Add boil the carrots, celery and spaghetti until the vegetables are soft. Drain water from vegetables. Add the pork and beans, kidney beans, lima beans, tomato soup and ketchup to the vegetables and combine. Add this to the meat mixture. Heat thoroughly. Season with salt and pepper to taste. If it is too thick, dilute to desired consistency with water or tomato juice.
A great accompaniment to chili is corn bread.
Amish Corn Bread
1 c. all-purpose flour
1 c. yellow cornmeal
¼ c. sugar
1 tbsp. baking powder
¾ tsp. salt
1 egg
1 c. milk
5 tbsp. butter
Preheat oven to 400 ° F. Grease the bottom of a 9 x 9 pan. Sift the flour into a bowl. Add the cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Combine the dry ingredients. Melt butter and allow to cool before blending with the egg and milk. Add the liquid ingredients to the dry and beat until smooth. Pour batter into pan and bake for 20 minutes.
For dessert try the Amish Sawdust Pie. Don’t let the name fool you, it is delicious!
1 ¼ c. brown sugar
1 ½ c. chopped pecans
1 ½ c. graham cracker crumbs
1 ½ c. flaked coconut
1 tsp. cinnamon
½ tsp. nutmeg
7 egg whites
1 nine inch unbaked pie shell
Bananas
Whipped topping
Preheat oven to 375 ° F. Combine the sugar, pecans, graham cracker crumbs, coconut, cinnamon, nutmeg and egg whites into a large bowl. Stir until well blended. Pour into the pie shell and bake for 30 minutes or until set.
Allow pie to slightly cool, slice and top with whipped topping and banana slices. Best if served warm.
