The Amish Cook: New Year?s Sauerkraut and Sausage from the Yoders

(Editor?s note: Gloria Yoder will return next week with The Amish Cook. This week, Yoder?s editor Kevin Williams steps in to talk about how far The Amish Cook has come since it?s conception.)

I want to thank all of our readers along the line for reading The Amish Cook. This year, 2018, will mark the column?s 27th year, and I?ve been at the helm the whole time. It seems insane to do anything that long, but loyal readers and wonderful newspapers have stuck with it, and I am grateful.

The newspaper industry has changed incredibly since 1991, and I?m not sure anyone knows where it will go from here. Newspapers have shrunk in size and more and more circulation is not measured by print copies but by digital page-views. The Amish Cook racks up more views each week online now than in print. Who would have thought?

But the one constant: you. And I am grateful.

The Amish have also changed a lot in 27 years. The first sizable group of Amish arrived in the U.S. in 1720. So the column ? I?m rounding ? has been published for approximately 10 percent of the entire Amish history in America. That?s not insignificant.

More and more Amish are accepting of photography (a story ? I never could confirm it ? about an Amish man who would grab the cameras of tourists and run over the cameras with his buggy was popular when I started this in 1991). More and more Amish use photos, indoor plumbing, some even drive cars, and the digital world is catching up to us. But even with all of these changes, the Amish remain a bastion and beacon of simplicity and humility, which I think we can all emulate a bit.

I would like to do a better job of occasionally, through this column, reaching out to readers, and I?ll start by wishing you all a blessed and happy 2018. Look for Gloria Yoder to return with her column next week. In the meantime, enjoy this New Year?s favorite from the Yoders!

Saukerkraut with Sausage

Ingredients:

1 pound bulk sausage (browned)

1 large can or bag sauerkraut

3 tablespoons brown sugar

1 diced onion

1 cup ketchup

Directions:

Mix all ingredients. Bake at 275 for 4 to 5 hours. Stir occasionally. You may want to add a little water to desired consistency.