Mennonite Girls Can Cook [Englisch] [Gebundene Ausgabe]

If you like Pennsylvania Dutch cooking... this is a good cookbook to start with. In the forward, I discovered that all author royalties from the cookbook will be donated to charity to feed hungry children. The cookbook was compiled by a group of mennonite women who came together with their favorite family recipes. These are everyday type of cooking recipes. The table of contents shows that it will tackle breakfast, soups and salads, suppers, breads, and desserts. This is a very "homestyle" type of cookbook. The recipes are filled with comfort foods that you'll recognize. From the breakfast section, I made the Blueberry Crumb Muffins. My girls do not like nor eat blueberries. But, eat these muffins they did! In fact, my middle daughter requested them the next day again when we had run out. She was so disappointed that I set about making another batch. They tasted like bakery or restaurant blueberry muffins made at home. Next, I made the broccoli salad recipe. I have to admit that I altered this recipe a lot. I found the recipe far too sweet for my tastes so I cut the sugar in half and added some small cubes of cheese (1/3 cup). It wasn't specified whether the onion should be red or white so I stuck with white, but decreased the amount called for by about half just to be safe. The salad was very good and a friend and my mom both gave it high praise when they were called upon to taste test it. The rest of the cookbook contains a lot of recipes that you'd find in restaurants in Pennsylvania Dutch country. There's a mixture of older comfort foods and new ones.

I was impressed that there were so many gluten free recipes included. I appreciated the one page discussion of celiacs and gluten free foods at the back of the book. I hadn't understood why some oats are gluten free and why others are not. The explanation here is that some oats are grown in fields where wheat has recently been grown, hence a chance of contamination. Hmm... interesting.

If you like Amish or Pennsylvania Dutch cooking, you'll really like this cookbook. There are great pictures and a good variety of recipes. I know the blueberry muffin recipe will be a permanent part of my repertoire from now on. Scattered throughout the cookbook are also short devotionals. I read a few and enjoyed the thoughts these women had to share. The thoughts in Simply in Season are shorter and quicker to read, but I still enjoyed the thoughts of these women--which are essentially part of their testimonies of what God is or has taught them.

Please note that I received a complimentary copy of this cookbook for review from Herald Press.

Blown away by this book! The ladies are so down to earth and share so many good ideas and conversations. This is definitely a keeper. Profits go towards feeding the hungry!

This book is just a pleasure in every way. The front cover is beautiful and glossy and makes you want to open it. The recipes are excellent, practical, filled with detail, and usually accompanied by little comments from one of the authors with some extra background, a hint, or other useful information. Each cook has a page dedicated to her, spaced throughout the book, so we know a little about each person who contributed, and every so often there's a 'Bread For the Journey' page, inviting a pause for some reflection. Reading through this book is such a charming, pleasant experience!

The recipes themselves range all over - sections include 'Breakfast and Coffee Break', 'Soups, Salads and Sides', 'Suppers', 'Breads', and 'Desserts and Sweets'. So while it's not a baking book per se, there's a definite slant in that direction. Which suits me just fine! Each recipe has clear ingredient lists and very clear step-by-step instructions; many also have a series of photos showing the steps outlined (which is always a bonus for me; even when I think I know what's being described it's SO good to be able to see what I'm aiming for). Another reviewer complained about the measurements given two ways - yes, each ingredient list shows the amounts in both cups/spoons and grams/millilitres, but I fail to see how this is a drawback in any way! After all, there are only three countries left on the non-metric system; that leaves a lot of others, who might also want access to this lovely book. This feature doesn't detract from the book in the slightest, and in fact makes it easier to give as a gift to someone who might not live in the United States.

As someone else mentioned, this book also has a fabulous index, and things are very easy to find given the clarity of the listings and the cross-referencing.

Finally, I love the fact that there are so many gluten-free inclusions! Some are stand-alone recipes and some are included as variations. I'm not celiac myself, but it's always good to have this option should that be necessary - if I need to cook for someone who can't eat gluten, there are MANY options included here, as well as some general tips and tricks on how to make sure a recipe still comes out as it should, even when the gluten has to be omitted.

I highly recommend this book for anyone who likes great recipes that have a history behind them, and a truly pleasurable reading and cooking experience! Thanks to the Mennonite Girls for sharing their family heritage in this lovely way.