4 comments about The Best Of Amish Cooking.

1. `The Best of Amish Cooking' by Phyllis Pellman Good is one of the high points of a cottage industry devoted to writing about Pennsylvania Dutch cookery. It is so much of an industry that Good is not only the author of this book, but its publisher as well. And, `Good Books', based in darkest Lancaster County, Pennsylvania publishes several other books on `Pennsylvania Dutch' (Amish and Mennonite) subjects. For the very few of you who may not be familiar with this fact, I quote `Dutch' and the phrase `Pennsylvania Dutch' since the term is actually a corruption of the name for German natives, or `Deutch'. Of course, the `Pennsylvania Dutch' return the favor and label all non-Amish / Mennonites as `English', including French, Poles, Italians, Russians, and Spanish. So there.
   
   As someone who grew up in the bosom of the `Pennsylvania Dutch' cuisine, I have a closer connection to this cooking than to any other. That prejudice aside, I think it is safe to say that the `Pennsylvania Dutch' cuisine is much more coherent, that is, easier to understand from a few paradigms than, for example, Southern cooking, Tex-Mex, or California Cuisine, as the Amish and Mennonite traditions all came from not only from a single European country, but from a single region (North Central Germany). There is a small New World influence in the importance of corn (maize) in `Dutch' cookery. A second condition leading to continuity in this cuisine over time is that roles in the Amish household are clearly defined in that women do virtually all cooking. Men may handle butchering and preserving meats, but women handle everything else connected with food.
   
   The foods for which `American' cuisine owes most to the `Dutch' cuisine would be pretzels, sweet and savory pies (Wayne Harley Brachman calls Lancaster County the American `dessert central' in his excellent book, `American Desserts), sugar cookies, corn relishes, and potato salad. I judge this book's claim to be the `Best', by looking to see if it has recipes for the most common dishes from my past which are associated with the Pennsylvania Dutch cuisine. And, I am not disappointed.
   
   The touchstone dishes are stuffed pig stomach, corn pie, chow chow (corn relish), hot bacon dressing, and apple dumplings. I am happy to report that not only are all these recipes in place in this volume, but that they are as good or better than our `family' recipes. Yet, these are not what you would consider gourmet recipes. The recipe for pork and sauerkraut is an excellent case in point. In classic terms, this is a braise, yet Ms. Good's recipe does not do the classic braise drill of browning the pork and deglazing before simmering the meat with the kraut. Ever since I took over cooking for my household, I follow a much more French influenced recipe than a classic Pennsylvania Dutch procedure, so I add the sear, onions, wine, and Juniper Berries (a James Beard addition to braised cabbage) to my recipe. I also use a professional pastry chef's recipe for piecrusts instead of the author's crust that includes chicken fat and baking powder. Yet another departure is the recipe for chicken potpie. While I make this often, I follow James Beard's more sophisticated recipe which includes directions for creating the chicken broth and more elaborate instructions for creating the thickened sauce.
   
   Thus, like a lot of books on Southern cooking and lots of other books on Pennsylvania Dutch cooking, this volume is more of an historical document for foodies than it is a source of fine cooking. The irony is that for a select few recipes, this book in fact does have the best recipes for distinctively Dutch preparations. In neither `The Joy of Cooking, `James Beard's American Cookery', or my three books on salads is there a decent recipe for the Pennsylvania Dutch hot bacon dressing. This is a staple on the shelves of Pennsylvania supermarkets, costing close to three dollars for enough to serve two to four people. So, there is much to be gained by learning how to make it fresh. It is a bit more difficult than your typical vinaigrette (and a bit harder on the waistline as well), but for a once a month treat, it's something you really should know. And, with cheap bacon ends, you can make it for half the price of `Wos-Wit' bacon dressing that may have been sitting on the shelves for a month.
   
   This book does have a lot of contemporary value as a source of recipes for sour salads. While Italy and Province have their share of these antipasto dishes, the Dutch have their own twist on the technique, which they developed for exactly the same reason as their Latin cousins. It was the method they used to preserve a lot of produce for the winter.
   
   I have seen many Pennsylvania Dutch cookbooks and, for its size and price, this is clearly one of the best.



2. The stories behind the development of these recipes is very interesting. So if you are looking for the stories behind the way the Amish cook, this book is worth the price. However if you intend to actually USE the book to cook then don't waste your money. The recipies set you up for failure from the beginning. The pie crust on page 117 is dry and does not roll out well. The ratio of flour to wet ingredients is wrong. The chicken pie recipe on page 15 is exceptionally bland and the crust is too wet for rolling. The addition of extra flour helps but it's still a hard dough to work with. I would not recommend this book for people who cook unless you are an experienced cook who can recognize and correct what's wrong by sight and feel before you are finished with the recipe.



3. The Best of Amish Cooking is a collection of dishes that go back as far as 80 year-old-members of the Amish church can remember or find in old hand scripted cookbooks belonging to their mothers. Some recipes are prepared in old fashioned method, while others are adapted to modern days and products available from the grocery store. The old handwritten recipes were often only a listing of ingredients with no reference to measurement or procedure. Writer Good offers measurements and procedures for the recipes found in this work. Historical notes and asides are included along with recipes for specific dishes.



4. The recipes in this book are very easy to make and they use ingredients that you would normally have on hand. The meals remind me of the "old fashioned" kind of dinners that grandma would make. Definitely comfort food, nothing fancy or fussy about this book.

5 comments about Quilters Christmas Cookbook.

1. My favorite holiday cookbook, but also fabulous for good company recipes, potluck dinners or when you just want something a little special for those you love at home. Recipes from appetizers to desserts. Comfort food and ethnic specialities! A to Z!!

   I also love reading the notes in the corners with memories of Christmas' past and enjoy seeing the regional specialties from different parts of the country. It is also interesting to see what kind of quilts patterns are being made throughout the states and that this wonderful artform is being kept alive.

   A must have for anyone who loves Louise Stoltzfus' compilation cookbooks! Or anyone who loves good old fashioned good food!




2. Whether you are a quilter or not, you will love this cookbook.
   The variety and quality of recipes is amazing...I probably have 70 cookbooks, but this is one that I can rely on regularly for having good recipes that are straight-forward, easy to follow, and (best of all!) delicious to eat. So many friends have asked for recipes that originated from this cookbook that, when they see the great collection, they ended up buying this cookbook, too!



3. `A Quilter's Christmas Cookbook' by `Good Books' (in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania) editors Louise Stoltzfus and Dawn J. Ranck is a genuine bargain for traditional recipe collectors who keep their magazine cutouts in little `tin' filing cans designed for holding 3" by 5" index cards. I know this because this is exactly how my mother keeps her recipes, and so many of the recipes in this book are the very same she has in her little gray can.
   
   For a list price of a mere $13.95, we get 330 pages of recipes, stuffed to almost always three to a page, giving us close to 900 very traditional holiday recipes. A quick look at the title, publisher, and the names of the editors may lead one to think that this book is all about Pennsylvania Dutch recipes, but it is not. The book is a collection of recipes from quilting hobbyists from all over the country. And, the traditional Amish and Mennonite centers in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and New York State are in the distinct minority, While there are a fairly large number of contributions from small towns in southeastern Pennsylvania (Punxsutawney, PA seems to have an inordinately large number of contributors), my hunch is that there is at least one recipe here from every state in the Union, and some from Canada.
   
   In spite of the geographical diversity, there is a great commonality in the style of recipes. Not only do most of them hint of hundreds of little gray boxes from around the country, there is also a strong spirit of pre-Julia Child 1950s style of cooking epitomized by Poppy Cannon, of `Can Opener Gourmet' and other books in that spirit. Two of the symptoms of this style are the use of margarine in place of butter and the heavy use of packaged gelatins (`Jell-O'). The fact that these recipes come from all over the country makes this uniformity even more dramatic. The third symptom is a heavy use of canned goods, especially canned soups, vegetables, and fruits.
   
   As simple as almost all these recipes appear to the casual browser, many are simply too simple. For example, there is virtually never any statement of what size of egg to use in the recipe (The editors could not make such a statement, as there was no way they could know if our 900 contributors all used the same size egg.) Similarly, few recipes specify salted or unsalted butter, in the few cases where butter is used. There are also very few baking recipes that give instructions on how to determine that the baked goods are `done'. I see one recipe with such an instruction, but most recipes on either side of this example have none. So, these are distinctly NOT the kind of recipes you will find in `Gourmet', `Bon Appetit', or even `Martha Stewart Living'. I suspect that you will also not find recipes of this type in `Good Housekeeping', as all our major culinary media have been thoroughly steeped in the `fresh, fresh, fresh' and `local ingredients' mantras of Alice Waters and Deborah Madison.
   
   All this suggests that the editors, like the editors of church and social group cookbooks all tend to assume that their readers already know how to cook well, and are much more interested in the variety in dish than they are about honing their already quite satisfactory cooking skills.
   
   In a brief lapse of focus, I noticed that there seemed to be a rather large number of recipes using cranberries. When I came to my senses, I realized that this is, after all, a book of Christmas recipes, and the cranberry comes into season late in the year, just in time for Thanksgiving and Christmas. But this doesn't explain the four-(4) rhubarb recipes, when rhubarb is a traditional spring and early summer speciality.
   
   I don't want to leave this book without stating that for a very large cookbook audience, this book is exactly what they are looking for. An enormous collection of relatively easy recipes providing excellent ideas for what to make in the weeks surrounding Christmas. So what if there is no `bouche de Noel' recipe which requires a day to make and the patience of a saint, not to mention the skills of a journeyman pastry chef. And, this book is inexpensive enough and small enough so that it will sit alongside the household's copy of `The Joy of Cooking' without taking too many family resources.
   
   I confess there is just a bit of the insider's interest in the book, as each recipe's headnote includes the name of the quilting pattern the contributor is making when they submitted their recipe. I look at these names and draw a complete blank, although I suspect that among the quilting community, they are as well known as `Extra Virgin', `Colcannon', and `Ratatouille' are to us foodies. If I were to offer any suggestion to the editors, it would be to include a picture of each quilt, or at least some distinctive part of each quilt in the headnote, but then, this would probably double the price of the book.
   
   Neither `Gourmet' nor `Pennsylvania Dutch', but an immense collection for Christmas cooking.The huge chapter on Christmas cookies and the Christmas breakfast dishes alone make this book worth getting.



4. This cookbook is hands down my favorite cookbook of all time, it is jammed
   with recipes, little stories and great variety, it isn't your everyday
   cookbook. I have given this cookbook as a gift many times. Try it you
   WILL like it.



5. This book has excellent recipes; not just for the holidays but all year round. Love it!! I even ordered some more of Louise Stolzfus' cookbooks

2 comments about Cookbook From Amish Kitchens: Casseroles (Cookbooks from Amish Kitchens).

1. This little paperback book has a good selection of casseroles. They are fabulous for those of you who like homemade food with simple on-hand ingredients and not overblown with spices and seasonings. These recipes are for good home-cooked comfort food at it's best, least expensive,and easiest.



2. I have all of these adorable little 'Cook Books from Amish Kitchens', and have really enjoyed them. The are very small and simple... the complete opposite of a coffee-table/display-style cookbooks we see most often today. This is a thin pamphlet with matte paper and does not include interior photos of any recipes (excluding the cover). The text is in a handwritten-style font and clearly explained. The recipes are very homey with basic ingredients and techniques; nothing fancy. Simple, delicious recipes in a simple, small booklet. RECOMMENDED.

5 comments about New Recipes from Quilt Country: More Food & Folkways from the Amish & Mennonites.

1. Originally from the heartland of Amish Country in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, I found this cookbook outstanding. It bring's back many memories as a kid with it's recipes. I live in the sunshine state now and sometime's miss the great food I was raised with. To have found this book and have been able to make the recipes for my family has been great! I hope Marcia Adam's plan's on writing more like this one.



2. I discovered this book over a year ago, at the public library. I read through it, and after I returned it I would find myself thinking: "I wonder about ", and either my wife or I would have to go back to the library to check the book back out!
   When I realized I was getting the book almost monthly, AND it stayed at the local branch because that's where I last returned it, I realized it was time to buy it!

   With that little story, the rest of this review is simple: This is an excellent cook book. This is not a 'healthy' cookbook. There's no focus on lean, loosing weight, or heart-happy cooking here! This is good, rich, smother-it-in-gravy country cooking.

   If you know the Amish, and you have visions of the men coming in at dusk from working the fields all day to a kitchen table stacked with fresh, home-cooked *American* food, this is your cookbook. It simply doesn't get better than this.




3. This book is awesome. Not only does it have wonderful recipes, especially desserts, which the Amish are famous for, but also has so much wonderful info. on the Amish people and their culture. I own several books about the Amish, and this is better than those other books even though this is a "cookbook." And the pictures are marvelous. Other than general info. on the Amish, my favorite part of this book is the fact that she divides the food into many different chapters and has a little story about each. An example is Baking Day, Lady Food, and the lunch bucket, as well as many other. This has info scattered throughout it about gardening by the signs of the moon, how to bake perfect cookies, and how to bake an angel food cake. I would highly recommend it.



4. I cannot remember the last time I went through a cookbook and listed dozens of recipes I want to try. This kind of homey cooking is so appealing. The photos are superlative. We are planning a trip to northern Indiana as a result of reading this book. The resources in the back of the book for places to eat, stay, and see will be most helpful.



5. Delightful photography. Recipes all are crowd-pleasers. Thanks to M. Adams for a 'walk through a slice of America'.

2 comments about Cookbook From Amish Kitchens: Candies (Cookbooks from Amish Kitchens).

1. Yum,Yum,Yum. A fantastic book filled with great Amish treats



2. I have all of these adorable little 'Cook Books from Amish Kitchens', and have really enjoyed them. The are very small and simple... the complete opposite of a coffee-table/display-style cookbooks we see most often today. This is a thin pamphlet with matte paper and does not include interior photos of any recipes (excluding the cover). The text is in a handwritten-style font and clearly explained. The recipes are very homey with basic ingredients and techniques; nothing fancy. Simple, delicious recipes in a simple, small booklet. RECOMMENDED.

No comments about Best Of Favorite Recipes From Quilters (The Best of Favorite Recipes from Quilters).

5 comments about Mennonite Country-Style Recipes & Kitchen Secrets.

1. This is a very helpful and resourceful book, that must be in every kictchen. I received this book as a gift from my mother-in-law, and have used it constantly over the years.
   There are excellent recipes, hints and tips. I would highly recommend this book to all those who are in the kitchen. Everyone can learn something from this book, young or old, new cook or experienced. You will not be sorry you've purchased it. I would not be without mine.



2. I made a casserole that looked pretty tasty before it went in the oven. When it came out, it didn't turn out so well. It was also very high in calories.

   I thought all the recipes in this book were going to be from scratch. Dutch country cooking is like that. This books uses cans of soup and other means to complete the recipes. Also, you can't eat this food every night. It will give you a heart attack.

   I'm willing to give this book another try, but I think I'll stick to some of my other books. Don't buy this book if you are expecting traditional Mennonite cooking, that's not what this book is!!




3. For the beginner to the expert, this book is full of tips and aids to make anyone a "down home country cook."



4. This book was given to me before marriage and I have worn out one hardback and am now using a spiral. I did not know much about baking or cooking and so each section has helps and teaches the difference in using pans(for example - glass vs. aluminum pans). We lived in foreign countries for the first 8 years of our married life and it was so helpful when I couldn't find an ingredient or couldn't find a product(for example - Maple syrup). This book is the number 1 book that I refer to before planning meals or getting ideas. Since then, I have purchased several for family and friends and they love it too.



5. This is my all time favorite cookbook. I bake a lot and this has awesome pie, cake and cookie recipes. Also has great tips, I read the book cover to cover. A must for any Virginian or anyone who loves the Shenandoah Valley!

5 comments about Recipes From The Old Mill.

1. If you are looking for a truly old fashioned cookbook that would predate the use of sugar I do not recommend this book.



2. `Recipes from the Old Mill' by sisters, Sarah E. Myers and Mary Beth Lind sits on the boundary between a document of ethnic recipes and manual of baking with whole-wheat flour and allied grain flours.
   
   The first clue to the volume's inclination is the fact that it is published by Good Books, a publisher of a wide variety of Pennsylvania German (Dutch) cookbooks. The dissonance arises when we discover that the sisters grew up on the site of an old water powered flourmill in the mountains of West Virginia. The authors themselves say they feel a bit split between the `Dutch' and Appalachian Mountain influences. A look at the recipes reinforces this dual heritage, as there are many traditional Pennsylvania German recipes such as apple dumplings, molasses cake, scrapple (corn meal is a major scrapple ingredient) and chicken pot pie along with many more Southern dishes such as hush puppies, (unsweetened) corn bread (many varieties), and buttermilk biscuits. The ties to being a manual of whole wheat baking is found in the fact that there are so many recipes from many different parts of the world using whole wheat flour which are not commonly made with this ingredient. Some obvious examples are scones, hot cross buns, and brioche. One is tempted to include Irish soda bread, but as I recently discovered, the most traditional Irish soda bread is in fact made with whole-wheat flour.
   
   The authors are true to their word in one very important respect. Virtually every recipe which includes flour also includes whole wheat flour as an ingredient. And, the authors open with a brief discussion of flour types with a bit of a sneer at `All Purpose Flour', and a total absence from specifying `all purpose flour' in any of their recipes, although it is clear that this product will work in virtually every recipe which calls for `flour'. This is one symptom that the authors, who are `food professionals', but unlike our best baking specialists such as Peter Reinhart, Rose Levy Beranbaum, and Nancy Silverton, they are not professional bakers (Sarah is an occupational therapist and Mary Beth is a consulting dietitian). This does not mean their recipes are poor, it just means that there is enough vagueness here and there that an experienced baker will do better with many of these recipes than will a total amateur.
   
   One symptom of the authors' vagueness is the fact that they specify `dry yeast' in all their yeast recipes. I'm certain they mean `Active Dry' yeast (Fleishman's brand name), but there are at least three different types of readily available yeast in the local supermarket, it is easy for a newbie to pick cake yeast which is sort of dry or `Rapid Rise' yeast which behaves a bit differently from `Active Dry'. Other vague references are to ingredients such as `1 egg' (what size?) and `oil' (what kind, or what kind should we avoid?) Oddly, sometimes the egg size is specified and sometimes it is not. Another little vagueness is in the apple dumpling recipe where the procedure writeup seems to specify folding a single square of dough around the apple, while the diagram makes it look like the dumpling is formed by sandwiching the apple between tow squares of dough. Having done a fair bit of apple dumpling folding in my time, I thought the diagrammed approach was very good, but the text simply didn't follow through. I also sort of miss the glaze or butter sauce typically used to top the baked goodies, but the authors are trying to be just a bit healthy here.
   
   There are two standard ingredients in a large number of these recipes that really date the recipes. Even though the book was first published in 1995, the heavy use of margarine and instant non-fat fry milk makes so many of the recipes read and feel like they come from the 1950's. Another ingredient that tends to date the recipes is carob, a chocolate substitute. Once upon a time, I know carob was considered a healthy, low fat alternative to chocolate, but all that changed when chocolate got a good health makeover, revealing that it is on the healthy eating hit parade.
   
   While these observations make the book just a bit challenging for the baking newbie, the book remains a major source and find for lots of important recipes, especially if you don't have an extensive library on baking and do not live near a well-stocked Public Library. I was most impressed by the fact that there were recipes for brioche, hot cross buns, English muffins, yeast pancakes, chapatis (East Indian flatbread) and `Native American Fry Bread'. This last item made a major guest appearance on Alton Brown's recent `Feasting on Asphalt' special where AB made one, making it look very much like the technique for making pizza dough, even though it is really a lot simpler. We even have recipes for pizza, tortillas, and bagels. A bread for every ethnicity! I was just a bit disappointed with the doughnut recipes, as some of what the authors called doughnuts may have been better labeled as Beignets. On the other hand, I was especially happy to see cardamon among the ingredients for the hot cross buns, plus the warning that hot cross buns have a tendency to be very heavy.
   
   The recipe chapters are:
   
   Corn
   Wheat
   Rye
   Buckwheat
   Multigrain
   Spreads (what, no recipe for marmelade!)
   Breakfast and Holiday Breads (especially good chapter)
   Cultural Foods
   Main Dishes (including homemade noodles)
   Desserts (mostly cookies, crumbles, and crisps)
   
   If you are fond of country style cooking and baking (and have some experience with baking), this book is a real find. And, please recognize that virtually every whole wheat recipe in almost every book will include all purpose flour to add required gluten.



3. I've owned this book for many years. I have had wonderful reviews from my family on almost every item I've baked from it. I've tried several of the bread/roll recipes and they are well done. Our family's current favorite is the recipe for butterhorns - I made a batch of 24 yesterday and all but 2 are gone now! My only complaint is that a couple of the recipes I've tried have been a little on the dry side when finished. Other than that everything has been excellent that we have tested. My copy of the book is also nicely laid out - easy to read, and plenty of room to make my personal notes.



4. Before I had this cookbook, I tried to add whole grain to my recipes and often ended up with very dense foods. With this cookbook, my pancakes and muffin are fluffy and delicious, but much healthier than regular recipes.



5. I make a lot of bread and I have recently decided to concentrate on whole grain artisan loaves. I found this title on a shelf and decided to give it a chance.
   
   The subtitle of this book is "Baking with Whole Grains". Based on this, one would be led to believe that a typical recipe from this book would be very much based on whole grains, be it wheat flour, rye, or cornmeal. Unfortunately, a good percentage of the recipes in the book come off as normal recipes based on highly refined flours, with a little whole grain goodness added in just to meet the criteria of the subtitle. Perhaps this meets the requirements to the letter, but it seems that it violates the spirit of the idea of whole-grain baking.
   
   For "real" whole-grain baked goods, there are better choices in cookbooks.
   
   So, in spite of this issue, the recipes within are actually quite good! I have made several of these and my family has been very pleased. Perhaps the most interesting surprise from this book has been "Skillet Custard Cornbread", a cornbread with a soft custard layer on top, baked in a cast-iron skillet. The breakfast breads (pancakes, waffles, etc) are also exceptional and are among the more requested things I make for my family now.
   
   While this book is not the whole-grain baking book I had hoped for, it is still full of good recipes and I will use it regularly. I cannot give it 5 stars because of the deceptive title; if you can find a copy on a shelf somewhere, take a look at it before you decide to buy. If its shortcoming is something you can overlook, it is still a very good bread/baking book in its own right.

5 comments about Best Of Mennonite Fellowship Meals.

1. I have a fairly large collection of cookbooks and this is the one that has the pages falling out and corners all bent over. I've used it until it has started to fall apart. Its not poor quality. Its well used. This cookbook is lent out more than its in my cabinet. These are down home recipes that make use of commom ingredients. There are even recipes for large gatherings and I also like the helpful tips that are included through out. I was on line today looking to purchase a copy of this book for a friend who is a frequent borrower. I'm gonna buy a new copy for myself very soon. Highly recommended.



2. One of my favorite traditions is the church fellowship meal - where each family brings a dish to pass, and the whole congregation gathers together to eat in Christian fellowship. This wonderful book is a collection of over 900 recipes (I took the author's word for it, I am NOT going to try to count them!) that were collected from Mennonite churches across the United States.
   
   The main part of the book is divided into seven sections: 1) breads, rolls and muffins, 2) soups, 3) salads (vegetable, meat & fruit), 4) main dishes (vegetable, chicken, ground beef, turkey, ham, sausage, seafood, other meats, bean & pasta), 5) breakfast foods, 6) pies and tarts, 7) cakes, 8) bars and cookies, 9) desserts and candies, 10) appetizers and snacks, 11) cheeses and dips, and 12) beverages. But, that's not all; there are also three fascinating chapters on one-pot meals, "if you do not cook," and "time savers, space savers and other hints."
   
   This is a great book, with lots of wonderful, easy to read and follow recipes. So far, my wife and I have made the Mexican Salad (p.65), the Almond Chicken (p.113), and the Double Chocolate Crumble Bars (p.215) - all of which were great. We love this book, and highly recommend it to you!



3. This cookbook is the best one I have in my collection. I use it almost weekly. Espically when I have to prepare a dish for a crowd. It has over 900 recipies from the wonderful Amish people. Not only does it have unbelievable recipies but it has cooking tips and ideas for meals. The recipies are simple and very easy to understand. I would recommend this cookbook to anyone.



4. I use this book all of the time. Most of the recipes are items most people who like to cook will have on their shelves or in their refrigerators. Have given this book as a gift three times because I love the recipes!
   
   Carolyn S. Cecil
   Lincoln, IL



5. A great book for cooking ahead. I find I use it a lot in planning meals that I need to take somewhere or planning meals I need to have cooked well before dinner time. The only nit-pick I'd have is that there are a lot of "variations on a theme" recipes, but this could also be seen as a positive

2 comments about Cookbook From Amish Kitchens: Breads (Cookbooks from Amish Kitchens).

1. No need for a bread machine with these recipes! Simple, down to earth, and best of all....Delicious! There is no substitute for the home made taste of fresh baked bread and muffins. These recipes are simple to follow, and easy to make. The Potato Bread recipe is my personal favorite, but then again, mmm love those bran muffins also!



2. I have all of these adorable little 'Cook Books from Amish Kitchens', and have really enjoyed them. The are very small and simple... the complete opposite of a coffee-table/display-style cookbooks we see most often today. This is a thin pamphlet with matte paper and does not include interior photos of any recipes (excluding the cover). The text is in a handwritten-style font and clearly explained. The recipes are very homey with basic ingredients and techniques; nothing fancy. Simple, delicious recipes in a simple, small booklet. RECOMMENDED.