Sarasota...Beautiful Beaches, Fabulous Food!

We finally left Tampa and moved a little further on to Sarasota. I love the west coast of Florida and I love Sarasota. My husband is an east coast of Florida boy, and therein lies the rub.

He wants to buy something in Florida and we can never agree where to do it. My Aunt Edith and Uncle Frank used to live in Sarasota and I love the beaches there;

Siesta Key, Longboat Key...

the color of the sand, the warmth between your toes, the beautiful birds along the shoreline,

what could be bad????

As we drove around to check out the area we came across this beautiful statue called "Unconditional Surrender - The Kiss" commemorating the
famous World War II picture of a soldier returning home taken in New York's Times Square


This is my version featuring Rae and Steve :)

When my cousin Frank heard we were heading back to Sarasota he reminded me that we had to eat at Yoder's, a local Amish restaurant. He used to stop there all the time when my Aunt and Uncle were alive and always brought pies back to Fort Lauderdale on his trips. He said they make the best pies in the world, and he's right. We decided that we would have dinner at Yoder's our first night in town.

Yoder's has been in Sarasota for over 30 years, beginning as a small 10 table and 8 counter eatery in downtown Sarasota, and run by Amanda and Levi Yoder. They had come to Sarasota from Nappanee, Indiana, where Amanda baked on their farm from the time she was nine years old.

The eatery was so succcessful that they opened a second location Yoder's Too in 1892. They sold the smaller eatery to concentrate on the new location. Amanda retired, but her daughter-in-law Mary learned all the secrets, and learned them well. Yoder's is still family run, and grandson Brian runs the day to day operation. At the end of the post, Brian provided two recipes from Yoder's for your enjoyment.

If you are in Sarasota, don't miss the opportunity to eat at Yoder's, you won't be disappointed. You may want to starve yourself however, so you have room for dessert!

As you enter Yoder's you won't be in awe of the decor as with many high end restaurants (you know the kind I mean, great decor, lousy food), you will be met with down home simplicity, and fabulous home cooking and the most reasonable prices. The average entree is $10.95 - $13.95 range.

You can buy their products in the restaurant as well

We met this wonderful couple Mik and Diana Merritt

from Battlecreek, Michigan
who have been coming to Sarasota and Yoder's for years
and told us exactly what to order


It's amazing what this kitchen can put out!

Here are some fun statistics before we get to the food...
Yoder's once served 1500 in one day
They bake an average of 100 pies a day
They have served over 850,000 pies since 1975
They sell well over 3000 the day before Thanksgiving
The customers most favorite pies are
Chocolate Peanut Butter, Peanut Butter, Coconut Cream and Strawberry...

Sitting down and enjoying the feast


Rae got the hot turkey dinner

Steve the pot roast

Marc also enjoyed the hot turkey

one of the sides was a delicious cucumber salad

and I got the Fried Chicken (mind you this was the small portion)


The breast was bigger than Dolly Parton's, and then there was an
enormous wing next to it. It was served with two
delicious potato pancakes and in the upper left you see a side
of hot apples, that were wonderful! I only ate the wing and
one pancake and I was done (took the rest to the hotel for a midnight snack)

and then it was the moment of truth and time for the pies...

Steve chose the Apple Crumb


The Banana Cream - so delicious, the flaky crust was amazing

The Carrot Cake

and our neighbors from Michigan took
a chocolate peanut butter to go


They weren't kidding, those were the most delicious pies I have ever tasted,
whatever you do, leave room for dessert or take it home with you...don't miss the pies!

The waitresses were wonderful, warm, and kind

Kathy and

Carol, who was our waitress

Make this a stop on your next visit to Sarasota, you won't be disappointed.
In fact, I'm hoping that Yoder's will swing the scales on Marc's
decision of West Coast vs. East Coast...

It's been weeks and I am still tasting and craving pies....Yummmmm

With sincere thanks to Brian for allowing me to reprint these recipes :)

Yoder's Peanut Butter Pie

Pudding Mixture:

1-cup cold milk
½ cup cornstarch
1-teaspoon salt
1-teaspoon vanilla
3 egg yolks
3 cups milk
3 tablespoons butter
2/3-cup sugar
Mix cornstarch, salt, 1 cup milk, eggs yolks and vanilla with a wire whisk until smooth. Set mixture aside.
Heat 3 cups milk, butter and sugar till scalding, stirring constantly. Add cornstarch mixture to hot milk while stirring with a whisk. Cook till thickened. Remove from heat before boiling. CHILL.

Crumb Mixture:

1 cup powdered sugar
½ cup crunchy peanut butter
Baked 9-10-inch deep pie shell
2 cups whipped topping (sweetened)

Mix powdered sugar and peanut butter till small crumbs form (with mixer).
Place ½ crumbs into pie shell. Spoon chilled pudding on top of crumbs. Place remaining crumbs on top of pudding, reserving a little to sprinkle on top. Top with whipped topping.
Enjoy! Serves 6 at Yoder’s (or 12 small pieces)



Yoder’s Chocolate Cake

(Originally named Wacky Cake. They double the cocoa and mix theirs in a mixer because they make a larger batch)

Wacky Cake Original Recipe

3 cups flour
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1/8-cup cocoa (unsweetened)
1 Tablespoon vanilla
2 Tablespoons vinegar
¼ cup vegetable oil
2 cups cold water

Preheat oven to 350º F.
Place the sugar in the bottom of a 9 x 13-inch baking pan. Mix together flour, soda, salt and cocoa and sift over the top of the sugar. Make three wells in the mixture. Put vanilla in the first well, vinegar in the second and oil in the third well. Stir with a fork only, just until large lumps are gone. Bake at 350ºF. for approximately 25-30 minutes.

Chocolate Icing:

3 cups powdered sugar
1 stick (1/4 pound) butter, softened
¾ cup cocoa (unsweetened)
1/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla

Mix together in or with a mixer until the desired consistency. Add a little milk to make it thinner.



Please let me know if you try either of these recipes and mail me a picture and I'll post them on the site.

It's a Bunnndt Cake!!!!!

Yesterday, it snowed here to beat the band. It was beautiful to look at, but not to head outside in. I was looking out the window and for some reason thought about my mother. When I was a child, she was a stay-at-home mother, not going back to work until I was in Junior High School.

She was a great cook, and we rarely went out to eat because why bother, the food was always better at home. My father was a barber and she was always on a tight budget...in those days a haircut was $1.25. My mother could make a meal that would feed 10 people out of nothing, and always did. Our house was known as "Mission House" because she never turned anyone away, and there wasn't a weekend that there weren't 25 people at the dinner table.

When I would arrive home from school, the house ALWAYS smelled good. There was always the aroma of meatballs frying, gravy simmering, cookies baking, something that made you feel warm and cozy, and very much loved. I tried to carry that on with my children too, and in fact, when they are about to come home, the orders start pouring in. Can you make cookies? Are we going to have meatballs? The list is endless...

Now that it's just the two of us, it's harder to make things as, I don't want to eat them forever. Luckily, my new housekeeper has two growing boys, who love the "care" packages I send her home with.

So, to get back to the point, I was thinking that there was no aroma in the house yesterday. I wanted Marc to smell something when he walked in the door, (mostly, because I think he thinks I sit at the computer all day!!! Okay so maybe he's right) I decided to bake something that would be ready pretty quickly, and actually cook a nice dinner.

I was thumbing through some recipes and came across one for a Bundt Cake...

Italians don't make Bundt cakes, we make cassata cakes, cannoli filling cakes, cheesecakes, but not Bundt cakes. I started to laugh to myself thinking about the line from My Big Fat Greek Wedding, when Toula's fiance Ian Miller's parents come to visit and Harriet Miller brings a Bundt Cake.

Toula's mother Maria says, "What is it?"

Harriet replies, "It's a Bundt."

Maria says, "A bun?"

Harriet Answers, "A bundT "

Maria says, "A BondT?

Harriet says"BUNDT BUUNDT!!

Maria says" I know, it's a cake-y! and looks at her friend and says "there's a hole in this cake."

Later, Maria serves the cake with a plant in the middle!

Here is a fun link to show where the movie was filmed in Toronto - if you are ever in Toronto you can go visit the sites!

There is actually a store what sells only bundt cakes called Nothing Bundt Cakes

Interesting fact; according to Wikipedia, the Bundt Pan was developed for a group of Hadassah women from Minneapolis, Minnesota, who approached H. David Dalquist, the owner of Nordic Ware. The women wanted to replicate the cakes (Bundkuchen) of Germany and Austria that they had grown up on. He created the mold, but the cakes did not become popular until a Bundt Cake won second place in a Pillsbury Bake-Off in 1966. The rest is history as they say.

Today, Pillsbury, has a line of cakes designed just for the Bundt pan, there are numerous cookbooks dedicated just to Bundt cakes, and Williams-Sonoma carries several Bundt type pans of different designs. The Bundt Pan is a registerd trade mark.

National Bundt Day is November 15th - enough with the trivia, let get to the cake!

I, every now and then, actually enjoy a Bundt cake and this recipe looked quick and easy, and it was. So if you are bored one day, looking out the window and needing something to do, try it...you'll like it.

The recipe was given to me by my dear friend Barbara Schwartz. It was her mother-in-law
Ruth's recipe. I am giving you the recipe as it was given to me, but I used a yellow cake mix with vanilla pudding because that was what I had in the house, and didn't feel like harnessing up the deer to my sled to go to the store! The cake was delicious, so you could try it both ways.

CHOCOLATE COFFEE CAKE
Ruth Schwartz

1 package yellow cake mix
1 (4 serving size) package Jell-O ® Brand Chocolate Instant Pudding and Pie Filling
4 eggs
½ cup oil
½ pint sour cream
1 (6 ounce) bag chocolate chips
¼ cup sugar plus 1 teaspoon cinnamon, combined

Preheat the oven to 350°. Grease and flour and Angel food cake pan. Blend cake mix, pudding mix, eggs, oil and sour cream in a large mixing bowl. Beat at medium speed of electric mixer for 10 minutes. Pour two thirds of the batter into the pan. Sprinkle half of the cinnamon sugar mix and half of the chocolate chips over the batter. Put the rest of the batter in the pan and top with remaining cinnamon sugar and chocolate chips. Bake 350° for about 1 hour.

Here is what you will need for the recipe:

This is so easy...

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.


Mix the sugar


together with the cinnamon

Blend well


and set aside



Put the mix into a bowl (I used my Kitchen Aide)

Add the pudding mix


the eggs


the oil


and the sour cream


Beat on medium speed
for 10 minutes
(I only did 7 as I think the mixers
today are much more powerful)


The mixture will become think, creamy and fluffy!


Spray a Bundt Pan or Angel Food Pan
with Baker's Joy or Crisco Baking Spray
or butter and flour it if that's what you have



Pour 2/3's of the batter into the pan


Sprinkle with 1/2 the cinnamon sugar


Sprinkle with half the chocolate chips


Spoon on the remainer of the batter


Sprinkle with the remainder of the cinnamon sugar


and the rest of the chocolate chips


Bake for 45 minutes -1 hour


Test with a cake tester (I use a bamboo skewer)
to see if it is dry and done

Let it cool in the pan for a few minutes

Place on a rack to cool, when cool
invert it on to a cake plate


Sprinkle with powdered sugar if desired



Eat and enjoy!