THE AMISH COOK: Sugar-cured bacon brings back memories

The sun is shining and it almost seems like spring.

We were glad for the warmer weather last week. Our house didn't have heat from Wednesday until Saturday morning because the glass on our Hitzer coal stove broke. So we decided to trade ours in for a new one.

Our good friends Dan and Irene took us to Berne, Ind., to exchange the stove on Friday evening. Berne is a couple of hours each way so it was midnight before we were home and had the stove unloaded. We appreciated Dan and Irene's willingness to take us to Berne on such short notice.

After we exchanged the stove we stopped for a short visit with brother Amos, Nancy, and family. They live only a few miles away from where we picked up the new stove. Marlene, 18, one of Amos' twin daughters, gave us a taste of the mozzarella cheese she makes. I was surprised by the good flavor. I asked for the recipe and would like to share it with readers sometime. I want to try it myself first to see if it turns out for me.

Amos also gave us a taste of the sugar-cured bacon from the hogs they had butchered earlier this winter. Dad and Mom would always sugar cure the hams and bacon since we didn't have a freezer at home. Even though the sugar cure would be washed off, the meat always tasted extra salty. We would love to eat sugar-cured ham with dandelion greens with sour cream and cooked potatoes in the spring time. Everyone might not care for the taste of sugar-cured meat. I was raised with it and was glad for a taste of it again. (Editor's note: Sugar-curing involves a salt-sugar mixture which gives the meat the salty flavor. Watch some Eicher family videos of hog butchering day at www.amishcookonline.com/butchering)

I'm glad to have option of using a gas freezer to store meat since that is a lot easier than sugar-curing. Amos sent some sugar-cured bacon and mozzarella cheese home with us. I think I might freeze the bacon until we have some dandelion greens. I will be surprised if our children like it.

Daughter Susan, 16, has finally attempted sewing. Daughter Elizabeth, 17, deserves the credit as she helped her cut out a new dress and taught her the basics of running a new treadle sewing machine. I put the finishing touches on the new mint green dress for Susan. She was able to wear it Saturday night. She went with Elizabeth and Timothy to the community building where the Amish youth gather on Saturday evening. It seems so different to have two daughters old enough to go. It seems even emptier around here on Saturday evenings with only the six youngest at home. Time does not stand still.

Our Sunday afternoon visitors were Joe's brother Junior, sister Carol, husband Pete and family. Daughter Verena took the younger children on a pony ride with Stormy pulling the wagon. Pete and Carol's children also played capture the flag outside with ours. It was a nice, sunny day to be outdoors.

I am going to share a favorite recipe around here. Makes a quick, filling supper.

Spaghetti Pie

8 ounces of spaghetti cooked and drained

1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

1 egg, beaten

2 pounds of hamburger or sausage, browned and drained

26 ounces of spaghetti sauce

2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

DIRECTIONS: Toss cooked spaghetti, Parmesan cheese, and egg together. Place in a greased 8-by-12-inch baking dish. Mix meat and spaghetti sauce and spread over spaghetti. Sprinkle shredded cheese on top. Bake for 30 minutes at 350 or until thoroughly heated.

The opinions expressed are solely the writer's. Reach Lovina at The Amish Cook, P.O. Box 157, Middletown, Ohio 45042 or visit www.amishcookonline.com for more recipes and videos.

CORRECTION TO LAST WEEK'S RECIPE: I want to apologize for a mistake in the apple dump cake that I made in the recipe daughter Verena made. The recipe was in the column last week. She had on her recipe "1/4 butter" and I assumed it was "1/4 cup butter", but it was 1/4 pound, or half cup. Also it looks better if the brown sugar is mixed with the apple and cinnamon for better flavor. I am sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused any readers. Sometimes we don't even add the whole cake mix. We did try a chocolate cake mix but we prefer the white.