One of my favorite Mennonite recipes.
I have an addiction to cookbooks and have my favorites, but when I was given a copy of the 65th Anniversary Edition Mennonite Community Cookbook it soon became my all-time favorite!
I rely on my pantry when it comes to trying a new recipe and I look for recipes that only take ingredients I would normally stock in my pantry. This Mennonite Community Cookbook by Dr. Mary Emma Showalter has just that. She highlights a simple cooking style with this collection of old-fashion Mennonite recipes while mixing in some traditional values and food history.
All the recipes in this cookbook come from over 125 women located in Mennonite communities throughout the United States and Canada. All the recipes remind me of how my mother and grandmother taught me how to cook. Not with fancy pre-packaged food, but with ingredients that were always stocked in their pantry. Using produce and meat that was raised right on the farm to make good old-fashion hearty meals. My kind of cooking!
This past weekend I tried one of the baked beans recipes and am excited to share this simple hearty recipe with you. If you love to cook with common ingredients, and want to provide healthy hearty meals for your family, I would highly recommend this Mennonite Community Cookbook by Dr. Mary Emma Showalter.
- 4 cups navy beans
- 3 teaspoons salt
- 1 onion, minced
- 1/2 cup molasses
- 2 teaspoons mustard
- 1/4 teaspoon ginger
- 1/2 cup catsup
- 1/2 pound salt pork
- Soak beans overnight in cold water and salt.
- Drain and add 2 1/2 quarts fresh water and minced onion.
- Cook slowly until skins burst.
- Drain and save liquid.
- Mix molasses, seasoning and catsup.
- Add 2 cups of liquid from beans.
- Place a piece of pork in the bottom of the bean jar or baking dish.
- Add the beans and place the remaining pork on top.
- Pour molasses mixture over beans.
- Add enough water to cover.
- Bake with cover on for 5 hours at 300 degrees.
- Remove cover last 30 minutes.
- Add water as necessary during cooking process.
- When I made this recipe it did not take the full five hours to cook the beans until tender. Start checking for tenderness at the three hour mark.
Thanks for stopping by!
Tracy Lynn
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We also have a Mennonite Collection Cookbook that we love. Lots of recipes with eggs and potatoes, things we have like you said. Thank you for sharing this week on the Art of Home-Making Mondays 🙂
The baked beans sound great… we really enjoy them…. and amish recipes. It sounds like a wonderful cookbook. 🙂
Yum, hope to see more! Thanks for sharing!!
I love my Mennonite Cookbook. My Mother-in-law gave it to me 25 years ago and it’s still my go to cookbook! Living in Lancaster Co. PA all my life and growing up with an ex Mennonite Grandma, I’ve enjoyed great Mennonite cooking! Thanks for sharing. Be Blessed
I’m addicted to old fashioned cook books too, Tracy. And I especially lean towards anything Amish or Mennonite and I’ll buy them for sure if they’ve tucked in a little old fashioned advice or some home remedies … lol
My daddy was a baptist preacher for 66 years until he passed 2 years ago. When I was a little girl growing up and my sisters would talk about what they wanted to be when they grew up … I’d always say I wanted to be AMISH … lol NOW I’m thinking I’m going to have to have that cook book … 🙂
I have the 1985 edition of this cookbook and bought it in Lancaster, County not long after that. this is one of my favorite go to cookbooks.
Be sure to try the “Potatoes with Onions and Sour Dressing”. Really good with ham. Also “Grandmother’s Potato Pie”. A very simple recipe but so good. I only use a top crust and also add in some onions. I bake it on the bottom rack so that the bottom gets nice and browned.
My favorite cake recipe is “Butter Cup Cake”. Turns out right every time.Do try the version that uses a half teaspoon each of lemon, orange, and almond extract. And “Funny Cake Pie”.
Obviously I like a lot of the recipes. Hope you enjoy it as much as I have all these years.
Tricia,
I have a church supper coming up and think those potatoes sound perfect!
sounds like my kind of cookbook, but would not use this bean recipe as I HATE catsup!! LOL