The Essential Amish Cookbook

I have always told my family one of my bucket lists was to stay at an Amish farm just to taste the mouth-watering foods that they make and often grow themselves. No artificial anything in them. I've certainly read about most of them but wondered how hard it would be to try and master them in my own kitchen since flights to anywhere the Amish live right now isn't on my budget. Then I was invited to review The Essential Amish Cookbook by Lovina Eicher and I feel as if I had hit the jackpot.

Not only do you get some mouth-watering recipes, but beautifully illustrated photos to definitely bring out the cook and baker in all of us. They are divided first of all by types, of course the first being my first weakness, freshly baked breads and muffins, then you'll find breakfast foods, soups and salads, vegetables and sides, meats and main dishes, cakes and frostings, pies, cookies and bars, dessert and candies, snacks and beverages, relishes, pickles, jams and jellies along with some bigger meals like Amish Church meals and Amish Wedding meals.

The author opens the cookbook with a little about her family and what their individual interests are and what they do each day on their farms. What started out as a simple column under the name The Amish Cook, suddenly expanded into Lovina's Amish Kitchen as it remains in newspapers today. She had co-authors cookbooks before like the Amish Cook at Home, The Amish Cook's Baking Book and the Amish Cook's Anniversary Book and Amish Cooks across America. There is a wholesomeness that comes across not only through Lovina's recipes but in her tips and ideas she posts along with them. Just some of the dishes I have tried and are now our own family favorites are, Refrigerator Rolls, think of those ones in the can that I hate trying to open. You can keep these in the refrigerator for 5-6 days and make only what you need. I love the French Toast (Overnight) Casserole and this will be a must have on Christmas Eve and Christmas Morning, just to make things delicious and so much easier to enjoy during the Christmas festivities.

One of my favorites and so simple I hadn't considered it before is the BLT salad. I mean for those of you skipping your bread, why not simply incorporate a few of the ingredients and have it as a salad with a few extra surprises to make it so tasty. This has been perfect for us during our California heatwave since it is cold, crisp and delicious, plus there is bacon. Hello? Bacon!!! No further explanation is required. There are so many I can't wait to try out but let me say this if you LOVE to cook, this is a must have. What a great Mother's Day gift as well!

I received The Essential Amish Cookbook by Lovina Eicher compliments of the Herald Press. In accordance with the new FTC Guidelines for blogging and endorsements, you should assume that every book reviewed here at Reviews From The Heart was provided to the reviewer by the publisher, media group or the author for free and were received, unless specified otherwise. If you think those recipes sounded delicious wait til you try their desserts like Pumpkin Cookies with icing, Banana Whoopie Pies, Apple Pie and even some great canning recipes that I have always wanted to try to keep those seasonal favorites going all year long like cucumber salad, pickles, jams and jellies! Just think of the great gifts these would make to a family member or friend who is need of comfort food when they're not feeling well. I easily give this cook book a 5 out of 5 stars.

For more information about The Essential Amish Cookbook, Lovina Eicher or where you can pick up a copy of this cookbook today, please click on the links below:

The Essential Amish Cookbook by Lovina Eicher

You can find Lovina's Amish Kitchen on Facebook and learn more about Amish cooking and living.

To read more review on The Essential Amish Cookbook, please visit Herald Press' website. 

Family Tree

I don't think there hasn't been a time or two in anyone's life where they didn't second guess the "What if's in their life." What if I had taken a different job, dated a different person, had kids, not had kids, moved away, followed a dream to the end. Life can sometimes be that paradox for some, as it is in the case of Family Tree by Susan Wiggs.

Annie Rush had a life some would envy but deep down inside, I believe she wishes it was different on many levels. Sure she had her dream of taking a cooking show centered around one "key ingredient" and making it a hit of the same name. Married to an incredibly handsome man, Martin who is also the star of the show, and you'd think you have the definition of success. Just when she thinks she has achieved the proverbial "cherry on top" when she discovers she is pregnant, she rushes off to tell her husband the great news only to discover he has been sleeping with his co-host.

Now that her dreams are coming undone, she also finds herself the victim of an industrial accident only to wake up after being in a coma for a year to have everything over in a nutshell. Her husband has divorced her and moved on taking the cooking show with him, and she has landed up back with her family in Vermont with a fresh start ahead of her. Perhaps this is where she will get to take the road less traveled and get an opportunity at a second chance for happiness in life when she runs into her high-school sweetheart Fletcher. Now it is time to see what the road ahead looks like as she has to begin all over again, despite all the short-comings of her past life.

I received Family Tree by Susan Wiggs compliments of William Morrow, a division of Harper Collins Publishers for my honest review. I did not receive any monetary compensation aside from a free copy of the novel in exchange for my honest review. While this will appeal to some contemporary romance fans, most of my reader base will not like the moral dilemmas facing Annie with her lifestyle choices between Martin and Fletcher's romantic interludes. For this reason, I have given this one a 3 out of 5 stars. Not that situations like this don't happen every day, but for a majority of my readers will not like the sexual content that is covered between the pages of this novel. When reading the premise for this novel I had expected something quite different than what this one delivered for me. This novel does spend quite a bit of time toggling between past and present day for those who might not enjoy that in a novel.

For more information about Family Tree, Susan Wiggs or where you can pick up a copy of this novel due out in August 2016, please click on the links below:

Family Tree by Susan Wiggs

You can find Susan Wiggs on Facebook to stay up to date on all her latest novels.

To read more reviews on Family Tree, please visit William Morrow's website.

Unprocessed

I don't think I have ever read a memoir quite like Megan Kimble's. In fact the only time I will really read a memoir is if the author is someone I really want to know more about. However, her year long challenge to see if she could go without eating anything that is processed, was something I was truly interested in, especially after watching, Super Size Me, and watching how processed fast food impacts the body. I was more than pleasantly surprised after sitting down and reading this from cover to cover in one sitting and asking myself if I could do the same thing Megan did. My outcome, probably not, but I loved living vicariously through her while she did so on a very meager budget I might add.

When you think about it, most of the food we eat outside of fruits and vegetables are mostly processed in order to preserve shelf life and to last longer than it would without all those additives we seriously never considered what they do and if they are good for our bodies. I mean, they wouldn't be able to sell the stuff on the supermarket shelves if they did right? You might be just as surprised as I was after reading this. As Megan experiences things such as learning how to make bread, the old fashioned way, and what is the right grains to use, yes, she becomes a younger version of Martha Stewart and buys a grinder. She learns what it means by "rule of thumb" and how through trial and error manages to pull of home made bread that calls to her after she finishes baking it in the over. She shares with us all that even those tried and true places we believe may in fact be healthy like Trader Joe's and Whole Foods, might in fact not be as innocent and healthy as we thought.

She takes you on a journey not only how things are made, but at the conclusion of each chapter, she shares her secrets on how to make things like sea salt, bread, chocolate, how to can tomatoes, how to make your own almond milk, and so much more. For someone like me, this book is chalk full of great facts like knowing for example that 90% of our sodium intake is from processed food and only 10% is added by us in our daily diet. What the difference is between all those brands of sugars, raw and natural as well as artificial sweeteners, along with the differences between all those milk products we find, which is truly the best for our body and why we are often lactose intolerant. You might be more than surprised. I applaud her efforts to pulling this off and I learned quite a bit about reading my labels more accurately and supporting local farmer's markets to sell strictly organic, pesticide and antibiotic free produce and meat. We may not be able to change how supermarkets sell produce but we can decide how to spend the money we earn in a better way to support small co-ops and organic farmers and dairies.

I received Unprocessed: My City-Dwelling Year of Reclaiming Real Food by Megan Kimble compliments of William Morrow, a division of Harper Collins Publishers for my honest review. I did not receive any monetary compensation for a favorable review aside from a free copy of the book, and the opinions expressed are strictly my own personal. For this reader, I may decide to take up canning if done properly to ensure I have some great produce available when it is out of season, and now found some new uses for my food processor. Overall, well written, informative, and engaging to keep me interested in finishing this in one sitting, thus a 5 out of 5 star rating in this reader's opinion.

For more information about Unprocessed, Megan Kimble or where you can pick up a copy of this book today, please click on the links below:

Unprocessed by Megan Kimble

You can find Megan Kimble on Facebook to stay up to date on all her latest books.

To read more reviews on Unprocessed, please visit William Morrow's Website. 

Reservations for Two

I've always had a dream of one day having my own restaurant, but one would have to love cooking, and be really good at it, I would imagine. Unfortunately I love to cook, but not so much that I could hope to base a restaurant on that idea. More of a cook when I need to be.

In Reservations for Two from author Hillary Manton Lodge, we get to experience that fun and not so fun side of life, while Juliette D'Alisa is attempting to open her own restaurant in Portland, Oregon. All this way trying to juggle a long distance relationship with Neil McLaren, who lives in Tennessee. After a trip to Italy for her grandfather's birthday, she and Neil are willing to do whatever it takes to try and make it work, and for now neither of them are willing to make the concession to move so for now, they will attempt to fly out whenever they can, and call and text as often as they are able.

While trying to balance her restaurant and her love life, her mother is dealing with cancer as well as a packet of letters from her grandmother she has brought home that were hidden in a window seat in Italy that might unlock some of the family's long hidden secrets. She hopes something in those letters written during WWII might shed some light on some of the questions she has not only about her family but provides some much needed advice she can apply to virtually every situation she finds herself in.

I received Reservations for Two by Hillary Manton Lodge compliments of WaterBrook Multnomah Publishers for my honest review and did not receive any monetary compensation outside a free copy of this book for a favorable review. The opinions contained here are strictly my own. This is the second novel in the Two Blue Doors series, and having not read the first novel, I found myself at a bit of a disadvantage trying to begin this one. It was hard to understand the relationship that Neil and Juliette had prior to this novel and it opens with them apparently trying to give it a go after breaking up online. What I loved were the recipes that are sprinkled throughout the book that I can't wait to try, and hope I can find some of the ingredients that are listed in my neck of the wood. Overall, I would rate this one a 4 out of 5 stars and might have rated it a bit higher if I had read the previous one before this one. Discussion guide questions are included which would make for a great book club selection topped off with some of the recipes in this one.

For more information about Reservations for Two, Hillary Manton Lodge, or where you can pick up a copy of this novel today, please click on the links below:

Reservations for Two by Hillary Manton Lodge

You can find Hillary Manton Lodge on Facebook to stay up to date on all her latest books.

To read more reviews on Reservations for Two, please visit WaterBrook Multnomah Publishers website. 

The Pioneer Woman: Black Heels to Tractor Wheels A Love Story

When Ree Drummond thought of her perfect life, she never imagined it would be the complete opposite of everything she would do and be. Living the life of a city girl in a home that bordered the golf course, her days consisted of country clubs, dancing, and socializing with her girls friends over shopping trips until the day she looked across the bar and saw the cowboy.

The complete opposite of all the previous men she had dated in the past and just at the time she was considering a move to Chicago and terminating a long standing relationship, she met Marlboro Man. He was a handsome cowboy wearing cowboy boots, Wranglers and salt and peppered hair. She found herself captivated in so many ways and when she walked over to talk to him, her life would change forever.

The Pioneer Woman: Black Heels to Tractor Wheels by Ree Drummond is her personal story of the love story between her and her husband that she affectionately calls Marlboro Man. For those of you who have never heard of The Pioneer Woman, then you need to read this heart warming love story of life on a cattle ranch and all the horror stories that went hand in hand with winning over her heart.

Before I read this book, I knew Ree Drummond from her successful blog, The Pioneer Woman wear one will find anything from home schooling tips, to photographs of her life on the ranch, to the most mouth watering recipes anywhere in the world. But a world of caution, once you begin your journey, Ree will become your new best friend. She is a mix between Ethel Merman, Lucille Ball and a little spice from the South all mixed together for a perfect blend of fun loving lady underneath it all. As you read through her latest novel, you feel like your sitting with your friend over cinnamon rolls and coffee on her porch overlooking her cattle ranch as she tells it like it is, no holds barred, and that's what you will love. The same as her readers and fans from all over. She's a real down to earth lady with a heart of gold.

I received The Pioneer Woman: Black Heels to Tractor Wheels compliments of William Morrow, a division of Harper Collins Publishers for my honest review and just know that every woman that reads this will find a connection with Ree. The best part is that the book contains some of her infamous recipes that you can enjoy and fall in love with. This one rates 5 out of 5 stars in my opinion and for those of you that love a good romance with a whole lot of laughs along the way, then this is perfect for you.

For more information on this book, the author and where you can purchase this book today, please click on the links below:

The Pioneer Woman: Black Heels to Tractor Wheels: A Love Story by Ree Drummond

You can also find her on her Facebook Page by clicking here.

Check out her website and blog by clicking here

Holy Guacamole

"If you are what you eat, make it hot, spicy, and irresistible!" ~ Chef Bonnie Miller

In light of all the cooking shows on the Food Network channels these days, we all have our personal favorites. Some are funny, others serious, but what they all have in common is the ability to create masterpieces using ingredients that will tempt our palates and make our mouths water.

Chef Bonnie Miller is just one of those amazing cooks. She currently is the host of Cowgirl Cuisine, a southwestern cooking show in which she is the star. Behind the scenes she is difficult to deal with, a prima donna of sorts, who believes that she alone holds the secrets to cooking anything great. In between shooting her show, she hosts a culinary boot camp in which people are selected and trained to work as an apprentice at her restaurant, the Blue Coyote, doing a wide variety of tasks.

Trace Domingo finds himself the newest foodie, in Bonnie's boot camp. Working at a variety of restaurants himself along the California and Mexico coastlines, he wants to work with Bonnie to enhance his culinary skills. What he doesn't plan on, is an adventure of a lifetime as he learns more than just culinary skills from Bonnie.

In the newest novel by Dan & Denise Harmer, Holy Guacamole, is part culinary cooking show humor combined with a bit of spiciness blended in between Bonnie and Trace and their unusual chemistry that develops along the way. Throw in a great cast of characters from Kelp, their Jamaican gardener, Tornado, the world's first surfing goat and Marley and Jimmy the Knife, his other two room mates at culinary school, and you have the recipe for a great book.

I received Holy Guacamole compliments of Glass Roads Public Relations for my honest review and LOVED it all. I have to say my favorite characters where Kelp and Tornado, that add just the perfect blend to keep you on your toes and moving the story forward! Part of the proceeds from the sale of each book is donated to Outside the Bowl ministry that provides food for orphans around the world. This one cooks up a 5 out of 5 stars and makes for a delicious summer read.

For more information about this book, the authors, and where to purchase a copy of this, click on the links below:

Holy Guacamole by Dan and Denise Harmer

Outside the Bowl Ministries

Scars of a Chef

People always ask about the tattoos.

I don't blame them for being curious. I've got twenty-four different tattoos now, running up and down both sides of my body, on my arms, my legs, my chest, my back; they're pretty hard to miss.

Not that I haven't already been marked by the profession. Take a look at my hands and arms and you'll see the cuts, calluses, burn marks - the scars - all symbols of a life that includes working with razor-sharp knives, red-hot cookware, and vats of boiling oil.

But my tattoos are more than just battle scars. Each one is an intentional representation of my commitment and devotion, both to my Creator and my career. They reflect a thirty-year life journey, a great picture of where I've been and what God has taught me along the way.

Much like my physical scars, each one of my tattoos tells a story. This book is my attempt to flesh out those stories a bit more. Though my stories - like my scars and tattoos - are unique to me, you just might recognize something from your own life here. And I hope you'll come away with the conviction that the same loving God who has filled my life with peace, promise, and purpose can do the same for you. (pg 15)

I received the book Scars of A Chef by Rick Tramonto and Lisa Jackson, compliments of Tyndale House Publishers for my honest review. I loved this book considering all the cooking shows you see on TV, and they all make it look so easy. This biography shows just how hard Rick Tramonto's life was from childhood to where he worked as an apprentice at various restaurants. Being born into an Italian family with food always a part of your life, you would have thought he was naturally drawn into it but only when he failed at school did he sense a growing desire to do something he had always been exposed to and make a living at it.

The best part of the book was showing the reader that the journey to greatness was long and not always an easy one. He had problems being exposed to the criminal element and introduced to drugs and alcohol which made moving ahead more difficult. Yet with faith in God, he overcame those challenges and became the chef, he is today. This book easily rates a 5 out of 5 stars and a great gift for anyone looking to move into the culinary world.

This book is available in hardcover and eBook formats. For more information about this book, the author and even where to purchase a copy of this book, click on the link below:

Scars Of A Chef by Rick Tramonto