Simply Delicious Amish Cooking by Sherry Gore

The Amish are known for living a simple life that honors God. Their life revolves primarily around family, church, and the community.  Many of these events often include food!  This cookbook, Simply Delicious Amish Cooking, by Sherry Gore, is a collection of recipes gathered primarily from ladies from the little Amish community of Pinecraft, Florida, as well as from other Amish communities across the country.  This book contains more than three hundred recipes, and true to the Amish tradition, are made up of "simple" ingredients which most people will have in their pantry or can easily find in their local grocery store.
 

 

This cookbook reminds me of some of my own favorite cookbooks -- copulations of tried and true recipes from "real people". In fact, I found recipes in Simply Delicious Amish Cooking that I have made before and have loved, along with many new recipes that I plan to try.

The cookbook is divided into the traditional categories, such as Breads and Rolls, Appetizers, Beverages, Soups & Salads, Vegetables & Side Dishes, Meats & Main Dishes, Cookies, Cakes, Desserts, etc.  A very helpful index, organized by category, is also included in the back of the book for easy access to a specific recipe. Each section of this cookbook is introduced with a black and white photo of Amish life. There are also two sections of color photographs of some of the prepared recipes.  Interspersed throughout the cookbook are some cooking tips and excerpts from The Budget newspaper, which author Sherry Gore explains is a newspaper that provides "its Amish and Mennonite readers with a place where the good news reported in its pages routinely outweighs the bad." These little snippets show us a glimpse into the everyday lives of the people in this community. Some of these stories made me long for that "simpler small-town life."

The only slightly negative thing I found was the cover. It is a spiral-bound book and yet the front of the cover is not included in the binding. This makes it look like a regularly bound book if you put it on your shelf (which is nice), but it makes handling it a little ackward. You are still able to fold it completely back, which is convenient.

 

When I first saw the title I guess I anticipated finding "stranger" recipes, (although I did find one for Alligator Stew) but what I discovered was, Amish Cooking is simply down-home cooking -- comfort food. Food cooked with basic ingredients and a lot of love.  It will definitely be a cookbook that I will use. In fact, maybe I'll whip up a batch of Whoppie Pies this week! And if I'm ever in Florida, I just might swing by Sarasota, and visit the little Amish community of Pinecraft.

 

 

I received a complementary copy of this book from the BookSneeze Blogger program in exchange for my honest review.  I was in no way obligated to write a positive review.