Simply Delicious Amish Cooking by Sherry Gore ~ review

• Spiral-bound: 256 pages
• Publisher: Zondervan; Spi edition (May 7, 2013)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 031033554X
• ISBN-13: 978-0310335542

Release date: May 7, 2013 | Series: Pinecraft Collection, The

Unbeknownst to many folks outside the Amish Mennonite population in America, Pinecraft, Florida---a village tucked away in the heart of Sarasota---is the vacation paradise of the Plain People. Unlike any other Plain community in the world, this village is a virtual melting pot of Amish and Mennonites from around the world, intermingled with people, like author Sherry Gore's family, who live there year-round. Gore has put together a cookbook that represents the people who make Pinecraft unique. With hundreds of easy-to-prepare recipes, 16 full-color photographs and black-and-white photographs throughout, this cookbook includes traditional favorites such as Sweet Potato Sweet Mash and Mrs. Byler's Glazed Donuts, as well as Florida favorites including Fried Alligator Nuggets, Grilled Lime Fish Fillets, and Strawberry Mango Smoothies. Interspersed with the recipes are true-life stories about births, engagements, weddings, deaths, funerals, celebrations, wildlife encounters, and accidents told through years of Sherry's Letters from Home column published in The Budget, the Amish newspaper. This delightful cookbook offers readers a faith-based, family-focused perspective of the simple way of life of the Plain People. It is truly a breath of fresh air from Sarasota, Florida!

My take on this book:

"Simply Delicious Amish Cooking" is really different than I expected. First I expected the recipes to be from "scratch" instead several use ready made products, and most of the recipes are very simple to make which is great in my book. For me if a recipe is to complicated or needs ingredients that I don't use regularly then I tend to shy away from them. Another thing that stood out with me about this book is the clippings from the Budget, the Amish newspaper that is scattered throughout the pages. I found myself going thru the book and reading all of the clippings, which gave me glimpses of Amish life.  Another neat thing was in the introduction the author provides a glimpse of who the Amish and Mennonite are, even sharing some of their Bible principles. She also gives an overview of the Pinecraft community and explains a bit about The Budget, a weekly newspaper that the Amish and Mennonite use to keep informed about their various communities.

I have always been fascinated by the Amish lifestyle and took up reading The Budget several years ago, so I was excited to see snippets peppered thru the pages of this book. Along with mouth watering recipes the author provides interesting and useful cooking tips. Overall, if you are looking for a beautiful cookbook filled with great recipes, wonderful photos, along with snippets of Amish life then this delightful cookbook is for you! It really reminded me of the local church cookbooks that I collect and love.

A complimentary copy of this book was provided in exchange for an honest review.