Open Door Living: Easy ways to Share the Gift of Hospitality by Jen Schmidt

I don't know about you, but having people I don't know over for supper is always a bit intimidating to me. Jen Schmidt in her new book, Open-Door Living, hopes to make entertaining less stressful and more enjoyable.

Open-Door Living is a beautiful new book with pretty color photos, recipes, and lots of tips to make entertaining easier and more enjoyable. This gorgeous book has a ribbon marker to mark a recipe or pages of tips to check again. There are chapters on The Heart of Hospitality, Food and Feasting, Cleaning and Decluttering, Atmosphere and Ambience, and Conversation and Community.

Open-Door Living has full-color pictures, gorgeous illustrations and a lot of truly helpful tips and recipes. I especially like the pages with cleaning tips and conversation starters. There is a lot of good information in this small book. However, while it isn't a deal breaker for me, I wish this book had an index so I could quickly find a recipe again or the page of conversation tips. Also, with all of the people on special diets and having food allergies these days, I wish there had been some mention of how to address those situations. Our women's ministry team sends out e-mails for ladies to provide food to those in need. They make note of people on gluten free or other special diets, which helps those of us who want to provide meals the whole family can eat. I want to do that as a hostess too. Otherwise, there are some great recipes for Easy Chicken Divan, Dump and Run Taco Soup, and Chocolate Chip Cookie Cheesecake Bars, among others. There are also some great tips for making pretty table displays on a budget and other fun tips throughout the book. It truly is a nice book and one I think would make a great wedding shower gift.

I received this book from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Loyally Luke by Pepper Basham

Image
  Loyally, Luke by Pepper Basham is the third book in the epistolary series following Authentically, Izzy and Positively, Penelope.I have been anxiously awaiting this book and pretty much squealed when it came in the mail! Luke Edgewood is a guy who works in the construction industry and has remodeling skills. He wears flannel and he likes his dogs and he likes his sisters--but he isn't romantic like they are. Or so he says.In Loyally, Luke, Luke goes to Skymar to work a construction job on a orphanage that happens to be in a castle. He also has a run-in with a Princess as he comes in to the country with a migraine in desparate need of coffee--so yeah, that didn't go so well. Later, he finds out that the Grace Kelly look-alike coffee snob is also his co-worker on the orphanage project.Thus begins his own adventure in Skymar, following Izzy and Penelope.  I really enjoyed Loyally, Luke . I enjoyed this whole series. I do think the series is best enjoyed read in order to truly a...
Read more

Love Overboard by Shannon Sue Dunlap

Image
Welcome to the Blog + Review Tour for Love Overboard by Shannon Sue Dunlap, hosted by JustRead Publicity Tours ! My Review: Four older women retire and live year-round on a cruise ship. Together, they are called The Shippers, and they are the matchmakers on the ship. Lacey Anderson is the ship's hostess and Jonathan King is the Cruise director of the ship. Lacey and Jonathan knew each other from another ship. Sparks fly but there are some complications that seem to be difficult to overcome--but The Shippers are a determined group of ladies. At the same time, there is a mystery of who is smuggling cocaine on the cruise line. Are they on this ship? Love Overboard offers a mix of romance, humor, and mystery to the reader. I enjoy older people so I especially liked The Shippers in this book. I also was rooting for Lacey and Jonathan. I enjoyed getting to know the ship crew as well as the other characters. There was a couple of twists near the end of the book that I didn't ...
Read more

Essential Speed Reading Techniques: How to become a Better, Faster Reader by Katya Seberson

Image
Essential Speed Reading Techniques by Katya Seberson is a small book that could pack a big punch in your reading life. Essential Speed Reading Techniques starts out by explaining what speed reading is and what it is not. If you thought speed reading was just skimming a book like I did, Seberson will define what it really means in this book and how to use it to your full advantage. While I read this book, I am not yet a better, faster reader. I am improving, but as the author shares, this is a process that takes time and is a skill worth learning. Seberson offers both advice and practice exercises in this book to help you learn and grow into the reader you want to be. I was impressed with Essential Speed Reading Techniques . I would recommend this book to anyone and everyone who wants to be a better reader. I think that as I use the techniques in this book that I will continue to improve in both my reading time and my comprehension. Essential Speed Reading Techniques releas...
Read more