Cookbook Giveaway!

Food has long been much more than simply a means to nourish our bodies. It nourishes our souls as well. Memories of times with family and friends often center around a meal shared, be it a holiday, reunion, wedding, funeral, or other formal or informal occasion. Churches have long been known for their fellowship dinners and covered-dish meals. And when someone has a baby, an illness, a hospitalization, or a heartache, the first thing we often think to do is to take a meal. Whether for comfort or celebration, food often speaks of love.

As our culture has become increasingly modernized with drive-thrus and microwaves and prepackaged food, the individual and handmade touch on our meals is quickly fading for many of us. Even the family dinner, once a bedrock of daily life, has (for many) morphed into a grab-and-go on the way to the next activity. I don't think it's coincidental that the general fracturing of the family parallels this trend.

Yet one segment of society continues to hold fast to the old-fashioned values of home and hearth, so to speak. Because they eschew most modern conveniences, the Amish & Mennonite communities continue to place a high priority on home-cooked meals and gathering around the table together.

Wanda Brunstetter, known for her many Amish novels, has collected two hundred favorite recipes from the simple life and compiled them into the Amish Friends Cookbook. From beverages, salads, and sides to main dishes, desserts, and snacks, these are recipes Wanda collected directly from her friends within these communities. She tested and adapted each one to our modern kitchens.

You may have had the experience of trying to write down a mother's or grandmother's recipe that only exists in the cook's head and attempting to nail down exact quantities or what it means by "cook until it jiggles." When I spoke with Wanda at the Christian Book Expo, she mentioned the many conversations she had with her friends trying to specify these types of details with cooks who can practically fix these dishes with their eyes closed! The result is a wonderful cookbook with such mouthwatering and unusual recipes as

• Mocha Truffles (you knew that would catch my eye!)
  
• Funeral Pie
  
• Lazy Wife's Dinner
  
• Good Ham Soup
  
• Sweet Potato Salad
  
• Baked Sweet Corn
  
• Green Pepper and Cheddar Corn Bread, and
  
• Zucchini Carrot Cake

Sprinkled throughout the book are colored photos and tidbits on Amish life along with sayings such as "Mom's shoofly pie is wonderful good!" and "The best place to find a helping hand is at the end of your arm."

FROM THE BACK COVER:
Dear "Seeking a Simpler Life,"
Are you learning for a taste of the simple life? Do you relish the feeling of family, home, and warmth found in the kitchen? My Amish Friends Cookbook features two hundred favorite recipes--from Amish and Mennonite kitchens across America--that will transport you to the simple life through mouth-watering main dishes, soups, snacks, sides, and tasty desserts. Full-color pictures, an inside look at the Amish and Mennonite ways of life, and inspirational sayings are sure to make you feel as if you've taken a trip down the peaceful roads of Amish Country.

So head for the kitchen, slip on your apron, and get ready for some wunderbaar meals straight from life in the slow lane, where the Plain People live!

Mitt Lieb (with love),
Wande E. Brunstetter

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Award-winning, bestselling author Wanda E. Brunstetter and her husband live in Washington State but take every opportunity to visit friends in Amish settlements throughout the States. The Amish Friends Cookbook Volume 2 will be released July 1.



GIVEAWAY!
I have an autographed copy of this cookbook to give to one of you! Simply leave a comment on this post by 12:00 Noon (CDT) tomorrow (Thursday, 4/16) and I will choose a winner. Continental US residents only, please.

Happy Reading and Cooking!