new blogging fun…dutchy style

I’m not all that PA Dutchy.  Not at all, really.  Scrapple was around in my youth. Chipped beef was a breakfast treat but that’s about the extent of it.  I always thought chicken pot pie was a flavorful, creamy chicken stew with potatoes, carrots, peas, onion and celery baked in a flakey crust.   Turns out that is not a chicken pot pie, by the Dutchy definition.   Local pot pie, AKA slippery pot pie, is a simple mix of handmade fat noodles with boiled chicken that gets all thick and saucy.

Dan, my husband, is Lancaster County born and raised.   When we first met, I thought his tall, dark and handsome self was more of a Mediterranean decent.  Turns out I was a better judge of his character.  The past few years have been rather interesting and oodles of fun.   I’ve also learned locals love their boiled eggs.  They are in everything from chilled salads to soup.  Yes, soup.   I’m talking potato soup for starters and you can’t forget corn pie or pickled eggs.  These local food tradiotions are something to celebrate lest they become forgotten.

So, I’ve been blogging for Fig Lancaster, about the Lancaster Central Market, and decided to work through the Lancaster Central Market cookbook.   I have 2 printings of the cookbook.   The first is the 1989 edition, “The Central Market Cookbook: Favorite Recipes from the Standholders of the Nation’s Oldest Farmer’s Market, Central Market in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.”  It is chock full of 300 dishes.   The one I’ll be working through is the 2009 edition, “Fresh From Central Market Cookbook.”   Both cookbooks were compiled by Phyllis Pellman Good, the author of the wildly popular “Fix it and Forget it” slow cooker cookbooks.  Pick up your market cookbook at PA Dutch Gifts in the Lancaster Central Market.

Here’s to hoping I can pull it off.  I plan on offering food anywhere we go and I’ll be throwing a few Lancaster Central Market Cookbook dinners.  There are many recipes, adaptable to a variety of occasions.

As the good PA Dutch folk say, eat your plate all! (that means eat everything on your plate…or so I’m told)

My plan is simple

1) Get through the book in a calendar year while doing my best to cook in-season.

2) Try to stick to the recipes but substitute where I can for less processed ingredients or to adapt to vegetarian, gluten free diets when possible.

3) Try a taste of everything… this will be the hardest for me.   I hate eggs, dislike pork and don’t like mystery meat.  So if a finicky eater can savor the recipes then you can too!