The Seekers

One of the things that have always impressed me about the Amish is that they keep basic home-making skills alive. Things like sewing, gardening, and cooking is such a vital part of their lives, it would be odd if it were missing in lieu of things like eating out instead of taking your food from garden to table and often wonder how amazing that food tastes when no preservatives are added. If you have ever wanted to cook like the Amish, you can find plenty of Amish cookbooks out there, but what if you could read a great novel about the friendships that form among various people who come together drawn initially by their love of wanting to know how to cook?

In The Seekers by Wanda E. Brunstetter, that is just what happens when Heidi Troyer realizes that she has quite a bit of time on her hands and learning from her friends that they have benefited from creating classes to teach others what they excel at, and for Heidi that is cooking! She has always dreamed of starting a family of her own, but at this time, it seems that will never happen. So now she imagines a small group coming together where she can teach them how to prepare some of the Amish beloved dishes.

She managed to incorporate her friends who burn more than they can successfully cook like Loretta Donnelly, who is a recent widow and mother of two very busy young children, who would love to utilize this class to help her prepare better meals for her family but also give her a much needed break from being a mom. Charlene Higgins is the most desperate of the group as it seems she can't do anything right. She needs to be able to at least cook seeing as a wedding to her Amish boyfriend Len is in her future and her future in-laws aren't the slightest bit impressed with anything she does, finding fault in everything. Eli Miller is tired of cold cereal and hard boiled eggs, now that his wife has died in an accident, a cooking class might be what he needs to get out of his slump and at least put a decent meal on the table for himself. Kendra Perkins needs this class since being tossed out of her Amish house when she became pregnant unexpectedly. This might help her find a true purpose in her life for now.

Ron Hensley needed to find a place to fit in and the Troyers seems just the place. Since they are a small family with no children and plenty of space on their farm, he anticipates they are just the right people to garner sympathy for a man living out of his RV that needs a place to park it while he tries to fix it. Only it is all a ploy so he can find the time to scope out their home and find just the right things they won't miss to sell at the local auction. Joining a cooking class might just be the edge he needs to get that kind of invitation. But will they be cooking up something else that he didn't expect?

I received The Seekers by Wanda E. Brunstetter compliments of Barbour Publishing and Net Galley. For me, the best part of this novel is the mouth-watering recipes that Heidi provides for each of her classes and ones you will find at the conclusion of this book as well as some great discussion questions perfect for book clubs. I love how this group of people come together to learn to cook and come away with so much more. For some, they will find the perfect friends, others will see that their perceptions of others aren't quite what they imagined and for others a dream come true. I give this one a 5 out of 5 stars in my opinion and this is the first novel in the Amish Cooking Class series.

For more information about The Seekers, Wanda E. Brustetter or where you can preorder a copy of this novel today, please click on the links below:

The Seekers by Wanda E. Brunstetter

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To read more reviews on The Seekers, please visit Barbour Publishing's website. 

Gather Around The Amish Table

One of the things I most admire about the Amish and Mennonite communities besides their amazing sense of community and faith, but their love of cooking. I would love to sample some of their down home, all natural meals one day but for now, like most of us, I will take to trying my own hand based on recipes handed down from generation to generation from the Plain communities.

In Gather Around The Amish Table by Lucy Leid, she has compiled a host of recipes ranging from breakfast food to main dishes, appetizers, home made bread, to desserts and those famous Amish whoopie and shoefly pies! Using information she has gleaned through reading Die Botschaft for the last thirty years which is a plain newspaper that is sent out weekly that contains everything you wanted to know about what goes on in a plain community as well as those time honored recipes we've come to love but which we could make ourselves. These recipes are wonderfully collected and displayed in various chapters including some whimsical stories that often accompanied those recipes and how they came to be in the newspaper. There is even some household tips, and great ideas such a making your own baby wipes, bird treats and all purpose cleaner in addition to those wonderful recipes I have begun to make for my family.

Some of my favorites are Four Hour Root Beer, that's right you can make your own gallon of rootbeer from this wonderful recipe, Peanut Butter Fudge, Southern Buckeyes, Peppermint Twirl Ice Cream, Lillian's Lemon Bars, Pumpkin Cookies, Blueberry Pie, Hawaiian Cake, Creamy Chicken and Rice, and all kinds of breakfast treats and casseroles. A word to the wise here however, before you attempt to make any of these, note the serving size. They range from a small family of 4 to groups of 20 or more, so be wary. There is even a recipe for Apple Butter that yields 24 pints. This is just what you would expect to see in an Amish Cookbook and I can't wait to try most of them.

I received Gather Around the Amish Table by Lucy Leid compliments of Herald Press and Litfuse Publicity for my honest review. I did not receive any monetary compensation for a favorable review outside of a free copy of this book to read, and the opinions expressed here are my own honest ones. My only complaint would be that this isn't much bigger but I may have to find a way to subscribe to Die Botschaft myself and try and capture and sample all the wonderful goodness you would come to expect from an Amish or Mennonite home. For that reason I would rate this one a 5 out of 5 stars in this reader's opinion as I am off to make another delicious treat for my family.

For more information about Gather Around The Amish Table, Lucy Leid or where you can pick up a copy of this book today, please click on the links below:

Gather Around The Amish Table by Lucy Leid

You can find Lucy Leid on Facebook at MennoMedia for more delicious ideas, tips and recipes. 

For more reviews on Gather Around The Amish Table, please visit Litfuse Publicity's Book Tour Page.