What's another week without reviewing an Amish cookbook? If you've been a reader of this blog for long, you know I am fascinated by the Amish and really enjoy their recipes, so I am always on the lookout for new Amish cookbooks. The Best of Amish Friends Cookbook Collection is great because it is full of wonderful homemade recipes in all of the usual categories plus a few fun extras: Breakfast Foods, Snacks, Breads & Rolls, Jams & Jellies, Pickles & Relish, Side Dishes, Main Dishes, Desserts, Beverages and Miscellaneous. As you can tell, there is plenty to keep a home cook occupied. I love that throughout the book interwoven with the recipes are little facts about Amish life. Something that I really love about Amish recipes is that for the most part, they use ingredients that make homemade foods, I think that is really important in this time when there is so much processed food and so many people that are sick or have food allergies, I believe from the over-processing of food. With that said, every now and then there are a few convenience foods used, but I don't see a problem with using them minimally. Everyone has days when they don't want to put a huge effort into cooking because they just don't have the energy! Some of the more intriguing recipes include: Honey French Toast, Apple Pancakes, Overnight Breakfast Casserole, Granola Bars, Easy Dinner Rolls, Chocolate Chunk Banana Bread, German Style Green Beans, BBQ Sauce, Potato Soup, Chicken Dumplings, Lazy Wife's Dinner, Lemon Pudding Cake, Funny Cake and Easy Strawberry Shortcake.I can not stress how many fantastic recipes there are in this book. There are some that might take longer than others, but there are plenty of simple recipes for an inexperienced cook.
Throughout the book, you will learn little tidbits about Amish life ranging from Florida to Pennsylvania and many places in between. There are facts about Amish weddings, the hobby of quilting and how the Amish attend church. For someone who already is pretty immersed into learning about the Amish culture, these things won't come as a surprise, but for a newbie just learning about this culture, these are interesting facts about interesting people. I would still encourage people that already know a great deal about Amish culture to pick up this book for the fabulous recipes. Not only are there great food recipes, there are even some recipes in the miscellaneous section for homemade cleaners: laundry detergent, homemade air freshener and even fly spray! I think anybody who loves to cook or loves Amish culture (or both!) will be a fan of this book. I certainly am!
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The Best of Amish Friends Cookbook Collection will be available on July 1, 2013.
You can pre-order the book on Amazon.com
Apple pancakes sound amazing! So does that chocolate chunk banana bread!
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