When you open this cookbook up you are going to find much more than recipes. You will find the heart of a woman. The photographs within this cookbook tell a story all their own. They are warm and inviting. Just as I imagine Lovina would be to one entering her kitchen.
You too will find stories that go along with each recipe. Lovina shares with the reader how she used the recipe and what it means to her. These little notes make you feel as if she wrote the recipe down for you with her own pen.
The chapter I enjoyed reading the most would be the chapter devoted to Amish Wedding Meals. Okay, these recipes are created for HUGE crowds of people. You can look at the photos, read her notes, and just imagine yourself nestled in a church service or around a table.
This is one of those cookbooks that you can actually see yourself using. From breakfast, lunch, to dinner. Spring, summer, fall, or winter. There are recipes that cover every setting and season. Throughout my own life I have had many of these dishes. Lovina has a way of simplifying each of them to make them approachable.
There are many recipes for rhubarb that I am excited to give a try. Quite a few recipes call for lard. Some use Velveeta or your favorite cheese. There are recipes for canning, delicious beverages, desserts, breads, and main dishes. There's something in here for everyone, but most of all these are recipes to bring people to the table.
This cookbook was a gift from Herald Press for sharing my review with you.
Lovina Eicher is the author of the syndicated column Lovina's Amish Kitchen, which appears in forty newspapers around the United States and on a weekly blog. She is the author of several cookbooks. Lovina and her husband have eight children and live in rural Michigan.
