Lucy Leid's Gather Around the Amish Table

A complimentary review copy was provided to me.

It's no secret, I love to spend time in the kitchen. Whether baking or cooking, it is a time that I really enjoy. Spending the time in the kitchen with my kids makes it even better. When I was given the opportunity to check out and do a review of Gather Around the Amish Table, I was happy to try out some new recipes. Especially because I have dined at local restaurants that feature Amish food and I know that I enjoy the home-style goodness of the dishes I have tried, from main courses to sides to desserts. The cookbook was authored by Lucy Leid, who is Amish.

When we received the cookbook, my son started perusing it right away and marked several recipes for us to try. I love the little stories that were shared with several of the recipes - some talked about specific memories around the recipe or a story around the source of the recipe. Stories and anecdotes about the food help create a connection and pique interest in trying the recipe.

One recipe that we tried was the Onion Rings. I have made a lot of breaded sides, but I'm not sure that I have ever made a battered side. I was surprised at how easy it was and how delicious it turned out. They were great fresh from the frying pan and the leftovers were equally tasty warmed in the oven the next night for dinner. This recipe is definitely a keeper and one that makes us want to fry other veggies.

Another recipe that we tried was the Chewy Molasses Cookies. Warning - the recipe says it makes 6 dozen cookies, which didn't sound that big to me, but they must be huge cookies! I cut the recipe in half and it barely fit in the bowl of my stand mixer.

I don't do raisins, so I left those out. I quickly learned that because of the directions to plump them in water that they were more than just a mix in. I wound up adding some oatmeal to give the cookies more body. Next time, I will still use oatmeal as my alternate to raisins, but will 'plump' it versus just mixing in. The cookies weren't pretty because of my modifications, but they were very delicious and were soft as promised. Can't wait to try them again.

We have not been disappointed in any of the recipes that we have made. Based on our experience, we will definitely be spending the next few months working our way through a number of the other recipes that we have marked in the cook book. There are several recipes that based on our flavor preferences we aren't likely to try, but I've never found a single cook book where every recipe appealed.

If you are a fan of homemade style food, I recommend that you check out Gather Around the Amish Table.

About the book:
Gather Around the Amish Table (MennoMedia, September 2015)

Straight from Amish kitchens to yours, this cookbook offers favorite family recipes and charming stories from Amish and Mennonite cooks.

Bake the pecan rolls that taste best after an ice-skating party, or try the hoagies that a community sold to help an Amish family with hospital bills. Discover the cocoa cupcakes with instructions to "stir by hand" that one young cook took literally, or whip up the whoopie pies that one Amish woman took to market in her horse and buggy.

These cherished recipes speak of comforting traditions, lively communities, and strong Christian faith. Gather your family around the table to sample the nourishing fare and trademark charm of the plain people. In the words of one cookbook contributor: "Bake someone happy!"

Purchase a copy here.

About the author:

Lucy Leid is an Old Order Mennonite wife, mother, and cook in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.

Learn more about the book and read other reviews on the Blog Tour Landing Page.


No compensation was received for this review. All opinions expressed are my own or that of my family. A complimentary review copy was provided to me.

Cook'n Recipe Organizer - review and giveaway

I received a complimentary copy as a participant in the Tryazon Cook'n Recipe Exchange Party back in October. I had previously had an older version. All opinions expressed are my own or that of my family.

I love to cook and to bake. I love to find and try new recipes. One of my biggest challenges was always organization. I have a recipe box that is partially populated with cards. I have a recipe accordion file that is full of some recipes that I got from my family at one of my wedding showers, plus some others that I have added. I have two write your own cookbooks - one that maxed out on space (you could add refills and I did until the rings could hold no more) and a second one that is not quite full but is set up to hold a combination of papers you write directly on and some pockets to hold recipe cards. I also have a folder that contains hundreds of recipes that I have clipped from newspapers, magazines and even printed from the internet over the years that I had wanted to try. Once I tried them, I would either transfer them to a recipe card or a cookbook or throw them out if we didn't like them. (This was all before Pinterest of course, now I just Pin them and try them later. My organization there is a whole other issue.)

Having my recipes was great, but with so many places, it could be hard to locate the recipe that I was looking for, although I became an expert on location of some of the most used recipes. In addition, sharing with friends and family required either typing it up to share or writing it out on a note card. Then, a few years ago, I discovered the wonder that is Cook'n Recipe Organizer.

There are a number of features that I love about Cook'n. The first is that I can easily enter my own recipes. Not only can I type them up, if I am able to find a recipe online, I can use the features in Cook'n to capture recipes from the internet. In my experience, most of them over clean but sometimes you have to do a little bit of cleanup to align the ingredient name. One of the improvements that was made in the most recent version is that you can capture from almost any site now...it used to be limited to a handful of sites. I often will do a quick search to see if I can find a similar recipe, as a means of expediting the load of the recipe. There is also functionality that let's you scan or capture a photo of a recipe and import it to your cookbook. You can customize your chapters, to organize in a way that makes sense to you and change them as you go. I started with just a dessert category, but have since split it out to put cookies into their own chapter. I love the flexibility.

The program is able to calculate the nutrition per serving and uses values from the preferred or designated brand for the ingredients. Can't find your favorite? You can add you own ingredients and brands, allowing you to base your calculations on the ingredients and brands that you use. This is a nice feature in my opinion. For my favorites, I have entered the details from the nutrition label on the package and made that brand my preferred brand for the ingredient.

Once you have a recipe saved, it is also easy to scale your recipe. There is functionality to help you with menu planning and will even generate a grocery list. Plan your menu by dragging and dropping the recipes onto the weekly plan. Then, click on the grocery list and it will generate based on the recipes. Clean up the list to remove on hand ingredients and you are ready to go.

With the newest version, you can now Sync your recipes to your mobile devices. I really like this functionality, because now, I can take the iPad to the kitchen and easily access my recipes where I am, without having to print or walk back and forth to my computer while I am baking and cooking. It is also nice because with it on my phone, I can quickly reference a recipe...whether I am at the store and found a great deal and want to update my meal plan or I am talking to a friend and want to share it with them. Speaking of sharing, quick share buttons that allow you to e-mail, post to Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter and Google+ are available on your recipes. You can also use the embed in website button to get an HTML version complete with formatting for the theme. You can share links to your recipe as well.

There are several available cookbooks that you can buy and download into the software. This is a great way to find new recipes and increase your database. Just the other week, there was an offer from Rhodes bread in the Sunday coupon flyer to download their cookbook to Cook'n. Most of the other cookbooks are available for a nominal cost.

The newest version also features a Live Recipe feed, that provides a picture and link to several recently used recipes. It includes the most captured recipe from the last 24 hours and last 7 days, giving you the perfect opportunity to find some popular recipes. You can even customize the feed to easily follow your favorite sites and see the recently added recipes.

The search functionality in the software allows you to search a particular cookbook or chapter, all of Cook'n or even the internet. Search by key words to find ingredients you have on hand, focus on recipe names only and even search based on ratings. It really has worked well for me when looking for recipes.

I really can't say enough good things about the software. I simply love it.

I think it makes a great gift for family or friends that love to cook. This weekend, Cook'n is offering a great special on the software. You can get it for only $20, the regular retail price is $80...that is 75% off! Here is the link to this amazing offer. After this weekend, you can still save on your purchase, go to http://www.dvo.com/ to place your order and simply use the following code at checkout to save 50%: mb-busymom.

You can learn more about Tryazon by visiting them on Facebook or following them on Twitter or Pinterest.

Giveaway!

In addition, I have the opportunity through my participation the Tryazon party to giveaway one complimentary copy to one A Busy Mom of Two reader.

a Rafflecopter giveaway


Giveaway will remain open through December 10th. Winners will be selected through Rafflecopter. The winner will have 24 hours to respond or a new winner will be selected.

I received a complimentary copy as a participant in the Tryazon Cook'n Recipe Exchange Party back in October. I had previously had an older version. All opinions expressed are my own or that of my family. The discount code and the giveaway copy are compliments of Cook'n.

Parmesan-Crusted Tilapia, Roasted Asparagus with Parmesan and Twice-Baked Potatoes - Cooking Planit review

Tonight for dinner, we tried out some new recipes. Not only did we try new recipes, I tried this really cool website/app called Cooking Planit. You may recall that a few months ago that I shared about Cooking Planit and you may recall that soon I will be hosting a T-Fal Cookware giveaway courtesy of Cooking Planit (the full list of participating blogs is located below, so you can check it out and enter to win on several blogs). Tonight though, I want to share with you about my experience with Cooking Planit.

What is Cooking Planit?

Cooking Planit has a website featuring many recipes and meals (the photography is great and makes me want to try a lot of the recipes). Cooking Planit is also available as a free app for your iPad or iPhone, so you can plan on the run - who hasn't been at the store trying to make an adjustment to the meal plan because there is a great deal on something. Think of Cooking Planit as your very own Personal Kitchen Assistant! Cooking Planit is an app perfect for a home cook at any skill level. Cooking Planit walks you through the whole cooking process and keeps you on track so dinner get’s on the table on time!

• Simplified Meal Planning - choose 'pre-set' meals or choose a few recipes that you want to try.
• Build your menu and it will put together your shopping list.
• Guided Cooking Steps, it even helps align all of your dishes so that they finish at the same time (I know I could use that when I host a Thanksgiving or other group meal)
• Cloud Sync – Sync your account across the web, your iPhone and iPad

I started by setting up an account on Cooking Planit's website and then downloaded the app for the iPhone and the iPad.

As I sat on my sofa watching TV one evening, I was browsing through the pre-set meals on the iPad. I bookmarked a couple of the meals as I scanned and then switched over to scanning and marking some of the recipes. I decided that to really check it out Cooking Planit and all it has to offer, I wanted to go with my own custom meal.

So, yesterday, as I was planning my menu for the week, I sat down at my computer and did some additional searches, bookmarking more recipes. Then, I looked over the recipes that I had bookmarked to decide what would go best together and what was different than what we normally ate. I decided on Parmesan-Crusted Tilapia, Roasted Asparagus with Parmesan and Twice-Baked Potatoes.

After building the meal and saving it, I decided to check out one of the features of Cooking Planit - I created my shopping list for my meal.

I love that I was able to create and save my meal on my computer and then access my account from my phone to create a portable shopping list. After the grocery list is generated, you can add additional items to your list, indicating section of the store and get a complete grocery list. In addition, you can mark off the items that you have and update the list to only show those that you don't have. I did that and then also used the check boxes to mark the groceries as I moved through the store.

Fast forward to tonight, it was time to prepare my dinner. I pulled the app up on my iPad and set it upon the easel in the kitchen. I then selected my meal on the app and it pulled up on the screen, ready to go.

Once on my screen, it gave me a list of ingredients and tools that were needed, some information about prepping and cook time (mine was actually shorter...I cheated and microwaved the potatoes to prep them and used ready bacon!). I really like how it lists out the ingredient and tools. The ingredients are the total amount needed for all of the recipes and the tools let you know what type of equipment (measuring spoons, slotted spoon, baking sheet), appliances (oven and stove top), and supplies will be used (paper towels). When you select start, the app asks how many servings you would like to prepare - 2, 4 or 6. Of course, if you choose an alternate number of servings the ingredients you had seen on the first page are no longer what you need. Never fear though, because the next page will tell you the ingredients you need to gather for prepping and the quantities for each recipe. Then, it steps you through the preparation of your recipes, so that they all finish at the same time.

On each step, it lets you know what ingredients you will need and what to do. You can either swipe you finger to advance pages or put it on audio controls, allowing you to use your voice to flip the pages. As you step through, you have the option to see the next few steps - I found that looking ahead gave me perspective of what was coming and allowed me to adjust where I needed (you know for the microwave or the ready bacon). When you get to a step where there is time until you start the next step, it suggests things such as clean up a little or (my favorite) enjoy a glass of wine or your favorite beverage. When there are cooking or sauteing steps, when you advance the page, it automatically starts a little timer that will pop up on the screen when it is complete and have you check that the item is done - if it is, you dismiss the timer, if not, you can select adjust and it will run a timer for a few additional minutes.

Everything made its way into the oven and soon it was dinner time:

My family very much so enjoyed the meal that I had prepared. It was full of flavor and yet, part of the beauty, to me, was the simplicity of the meal. There were few ingredients, but they paired well.

I'm ready to build another meal and try out even more of the recipes that Cooking Planit has to offer.

You can sign up for Cooking Planit on their website or you can down load their app at iTunes. There are both free and paid versions of the app, so you can try it risk free and then upgrade for even more features.

Don't forget to check out the matrix of bloggers participating in the giveaway and be sure to come back tomorrow, when my giveaway goes live!

Here is the matrix of participating blogs and information on when they go live:

THE COOKING PLANIT AND T-FAL 2013 GIVEAWAY
Start	End	Flight 1	Flight 2
8/19/13	8/25/13	Baby Boomster	Mrs. Schwartz’s Kitchen
8/20/13	8/26/13	CopyKat Recipes	Daily Dish Recipes
8/21/13	8/27/13	Lisa Cooking	Lark’s Country Heart
8/22/13	8/28/13	ME Redone	Hot Eats and Cool Reads
8/23/13	8/29/13	Mother Would Know	The Two Bite Club
8/24/13	8/30/13	Sophistishe	Citron Limette
8/25/13	8/31/13	Kitchen Concoctions	Cupcakes and Kale Chips
8/26/13	9/1/13	I Can Cook That	Leave a Happy Plate
8/27/13	9/2/13	Peaches & Cake	i love my disorganized life
8/28/13	9/3/13	Diddles & Dumplings	Yates Yummies
8/29/13	9/4/13	basilmomma	Cooking With Libby
8/30/13	9/5/13	Persnickety Plates	Creole Contessa
8/31/13	9/6/13	Ancestral Chef	Bite Sized Blog
9/1/13	9/7/13	The Staten Island Family	Mamal Diane
9/2/13	9/8/13	Food Fash	Recipes For My Boys
9/3/13	9/9/13	The Wicked Noodle	Hungry Little Girl
9/4/13	9/10/13	Unorganized Mommy of 3	The Tasty Fork
9/5/13	9/11/13	Yi Reservation	Dixie Chik Cooks
9/6/13	9/12/13	Chicago Foodie Sisters	The Fountain Avenue Kitchen
9/7/13	9/13/13	Cooking from a SAHM	FoodThoughtsOfaChefWannabe
9/8/13	9/14/13	Bobbi’s Kozy Kitchen	Rants from My Crazy Kitchen
9/9/13	9/15/13	What Jew Wanna Eat	Sumptuous Spoonfuls
9/10/13	9/16/13	The Mama Report	A Busy Mom of Two
9/11/13	9/17/13	Culicurious	Huppie Mama
9/12/13	9/18/13	Three Diets. One Dinner.	Spice’s Bites

No compensation was received for this post. As a participant in the Cooking Planit T-fal Giveaway, I was provided with a set of pans to use and share my experience with my readers. All opinions expressed are my own or that of my family.

Cooking Planit T-fal Giveaway #CookingPlanit

50 BLOGGERS ARE GIVING AWAY 50 SETS OF T-FAL COOKWARE OVER THE NEXT 30 DAYS!

I am excited to share this giveaway with all of my readers. I am partnering with Cooking Planit and joining 49 other bloggers in giving away a 12-piece set of T-fal Cookware. You can watch for my giveaway to go live on September 10th, but in the meantime, you really should check out all of the participating blogs and enter for a chance to win. You can only win once, but your odds will certainly be better the more that you enter. That's 50 chances to win.

Here is the matrix of participating blogs and information on when they go live:

THE COOKING PLANIT AND T-FAL 2013 GIVEAWAY
Start	End	Flight 1	Flight 2
8/19/13	8/25/13	Baby Boomster	Mrs. Schwartz’s Kitchen
8/20/13	8/26/13	CopyKat Recipes	Daily Dish Recipes
8/21/13	8/27/13	Lisa Cooking	Lark’s Country Heart
8/22/13	8/28/13	ME Redone	Hot Eats and Cool Reads
8/23/13	8/29/13	Mother Would Know	The Two Bite Club
8/24/13	8/30/13	Sophistishe	Citron Limette
8/25/13	8/31/13	Kitchen Concoctions	Cupcakes and Kale Chips
8/26/13	9/1/13	I Can Cook That	Leave a Happy Plate
8/27/13	9/2/13	Peaches & Cake	i love my disorganized life
8/28/13	9/3/13	Diddles & Dumplings	Yates Yummies
8/29/13	9/4/13	basilmomma	Cooking With Libby
8/30/13	9/5/13	Persnickety Plates	Creole Contessa
8/31/13	9/6/13	Ancestral Chef	Bite Sized Blog
9/1/13	9/7/13	The Staten Island Family	Mamal Diane
9/2/13	9/8/13	Food Fash	Recipes For My Boys
9/3/13	9/9/13	The Wicked Noodle	Hungry Little Girl
9/4/13	9/10/13	Unorganized Mommy of 3	The Tasty Fork
9/5/13	9/11/13	Yi Reservation	Dixie Chik Cooks
9/6/13	9/12/13	Chicago Foodie Sisters	The Fountain Avenue Kitchen
9/7/13	9/13/13	Cooking from a SAHM	FoodThoughtsOfaChefWannabe
9/8/13	9/14/13	Bobbi’s Kozy Kitchen	Rants from My Crazy Kitchen
9/9/13	9/15/13	What Jew Wanna Eat	Sumptuous Spoonfuls
9/10/13	9/16/13	The Mama Report	A Busy Mom of Two
9/11/13	9/17/13	Culicurious	Huppie Mama
9/12/13	9/18/13	Three Diets. One Dinner.	Spice’s Bites

Stay tuned for further details on how to enter and to learn more about my experience using the T-fal cookware set and the CookingPlanit app. The app is a really neat recipe and meal planning tool that you can test online and/or download the free version HERE. Or you may go to the Apple store and simply search “Cooking Planit.”

DETAILS: Contests open to US only. Limit one-winner per household/per family from the 50 blogs participating in the promotion. If an individual is the winner of more than one giveaway, they will receive only one set of cookware and an alternate winner will be chosen for the other set(s).

No compensation was received for this post. As a participant in the Cooking Planit T-fal Giveaway, I was provided with a set of pans to use and share my experience with my readers. All opinions expressed are my own or that of my family.