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Y! MyWebAmish cook
The Amish Cook: It's time to do our house cleaning
Thursday, June 26, 2008
We are busy, busy these days, working on the garden outside, but also trying to get the inside of the house taken care of. So we divide up the duties. Elizabeth,14, and Loretta,7, are my two that really enjoy being in the garden helping to weed and harvest, so that is where they are now. The rest of us are cleaning the house.
These warm weather days definitely have us in a cleaning mood. We usually take one of the sunshiny weekends in May or June to give our house a thorough cleaning after a winter spent mainly indoors.
One of the first things we do is take down all the curtains and give them a good washing. Our laundry lines will be full of fresh, clean curtains flapping in the breeze on an early weekend in May. While the curtains are down, we also wash all the windows and screens before putting them back on. Screens are kept in storage during the winter. So the screens are taken outside and hosed off.
Before we put the curtains back up, we wash all the walls and ceilings in the house with mops. The furniture is thoroughly cleaned, including taking the hickory rockers outside and spraying them down. We also take the mattresses and shake them out, dust them, and flip them over.
Once all the curtains are back on and the furniture washed down, I take everything out of my cabinets and wash them. This includes all the dishes, including the good ones that I hardly ever use.
Most of this cleaning is done when the children are home on "spring break" if it is warm or during the first days of summer vacation from school. My sisters also come over to help. If I am scheduled to have church services, say, in June or July, I might push back the cleaning schedule.
It always feels so good to have everything clean again. With eight children's dirty little hands around the house, things can get smudged up really quickly, but at least after spring cleaning, everything shines again for a while. The children all seem to enjoy pitching in so it really is good family time together.
This recipe is one of the first cool, delicious desserts of the summer to make. My sister, Susan, is especially fond of making this, and it doesn't last very long when she brings it over.
Strawberry Pie
Makes 6-8 servings
Crust:
11/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup Crisco oil
2 tablespoons milk
2 tablespoons sugar
Filling:
1/2 cup sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1 cup water
3 tablespoons strawberry gelatin
Few drops of red food coloring
11/2 quarts of cut up strawberries
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
To make the crust: Stir together the flour, salt, oil, milk, and sugar until you have a smooth dough. Press the dough into 9-inch pie pan. Bake until golden, about 12 minutes.
To make the filling: Combine the sugar, cornstarch, corn syrup, and water in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Boil till thick, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in the gelatin and food coloring. Cool until lukewarm. Add the strawberries and pour into the cooled crust. Refrigerate for two hours before serving.
Lovina Eicher lives in rural Michigan with her husband and eight children. Readers with questions for Lovina can send them to: Oasis Newsfeatures, Box 2144, Middletown, OH 45042.
