Chicken and Rice Casserole
This chicken and rice casserole reminds me of Mabel Steinman, the cook at House of Friendship during my years there in the 1970s. You can read more about Mabel Steinman here. ½ cup diced onion ½ cup diced celery 2 Tablespoons butter 2 cups cooked chicken cut in bite-sized pieces 3 cups cooked rice 1…
Sharing food with hungry guests
Between the years 1969 and 1984, my husband Hardy Schroeder and I lived in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where Hardy was working on translating the Bible into Kikongo ya Leta (a trade language). One day we invited a number of men, who were working for our church garage, for lunch. Simon, my house…
Chicken with Peanut Sauce
Elfrieda Schroeder says that meat stew can be stretched to feed more people by adding hot peppers and vegetables. Read her story here. This recipe is from Extending the Table, ©2014 Herald Press. Reprinted with permission. Heat in large saucepan: 2 tablespoons / 30 ml oil Fry until cooked through: 1 (3-pound /…
Grandma’s soup expressed love and care
My grandmother’s chicken noodle soup was the stuff of legends. My father has told me that when he was a young boy, his mother would make chicken noodle soup for people in their village in Manitoba who were sick or had experienced some family tragedy. If it was winter, my father would deliver his mother’s…
Grandma’s chicken noodle soup
My grandmother didn’t write down her recipe, but my aunts put their heads together to recall how Grandma made her chicken noodle soup. I received lots of help from my aunties Mary Fransen, Nettie Peters, Louise Friesen and Helen Loeppky. The photo is by Lynette Froese, who is the daughter of another aunt, Margaret Froese.…
Communicating at the table
A formative experience for me was a youth work camp I participated in during my teenage years. The event was organized in connection with the ninth assembly of Mennonite World Conference, held in Curitiba, Brazil, in July 1972. The week before the large multinational assembly, Mennonite youth from different parts of the world gathered in three…
Brazilian beans
I grew up in Brazil, a child of missionary parents. One regular item on our family menu was the traditional Brazilian rice and beans meal. These are the daily staples of cuisine throughout Brazil, a wholesome and inexpensive combination eaten by people of all economic classes. To read a story about eating rice and beans,…
Christmas pudding a long-time tradition
For many of us, sitting around the table with extended family is a very important part of our Christmas celebration. In my family of origin, the traditional menu included turkey and dressing, while dessert was always iced sugar cookies and fruit salad with cubes of red and green Jell-O. I’m sure each family has its…
Drapers’ Christmas Pudding
This recipe comes from my husband’s “Aunt” Nancy who was an English war bride. I cut the recipe in half and made a few adjustments to suit my preferences. To see the story that goes with this recipe go to “Christmas pudding a long time tradition.” ½ cup flour ½ tsp. cinnamon ¼ tsp.…
Zwiebach from Saint Johanna
My earliest memories of food go back to my childhood in the Chaco, Paraguay, where my family lived from 1947 to 1952. Our family, like the others in our village, were refugees from Ukraine. We had arrived from Germany on the the S.S. Volendam, a Dutch freighter, with nothing but the clothes on our backs.…
