Reading, Writing & Pondering

  Are you a Jane Austen fan? If so, then you are probably aware of Jane Austen's 250th birthday celebration a couple of weeks ago. I won this copy of Jane Austen's Table by Robert Tuesley Anderson from Instagram in June and have enjoyed having it. As you would expect from the title, this cookbook is full of recipes inspired by the works of Jane Austen.  This beautiful recipe book includes chapters on breakfast, picnics and light bites, dinner, sweet things and puddings and entertaining. There are quite a few color photos in it but also some line drawings. It is a beautiful book for any Jane Austen fan who likes to cook. It could be fun to make some of these dishes with a Jane Austen book club read too.       I received a copy of this book as a gift. All opinions are my own. 

  Are you looking for a cookbook to use with the whole family of all ages? The Best Kids Cookbook by Danielle Kartes has over 60 recipes that are fun and appealing to various ages. The Best Kids Cookbook starts off with cooking hints and helps for those new to cooking. Then there are recipe chapters: Breakfast for Champions Lunch Box Dreams and Snick-ity Snack Time Dip, Drizzle, and Dunk Dear Dinnertime, We Love You Not-So-Boring Side Dishes Sweet Treats There is an index at the back of the book so you can easily find recipes you want to get back to. Some recipes that appeal to my family: Blueberry Overnight Oats, Cheese and Olive Pizza Pockets, Zippy French Dressing (homemade is best!), In A Flash Chicken Pot Pie, Big Time Berry Fruit Salad, and Pumpkin Muffins. The recipes are easy to read and to follow, especially if one person leading the children is an experienced cook. Even if they aren't, everything is well explained. There are also a lot of pictures, which I think always ad...

  Joann by Donna Jo Stone is part of the Apron Strings book series that each feature a special cookbook. However, they don't have to be read in order and I enjoyed this book as a stand-alone. Joann Kinkaid grew up with her sister, Barb, in the grocery business that her dad owned. Joann enjoys the grocery business and has had plans to run the store someday with Barb. This is the 1960s and women aren't taken as seriously as business owners at that time so she faces some challenges of that era. She also struggles when Barb decides to get married and start a family. How will she run the grocery store now? And why won't her dad realize how hard she tries at the job and how capable she is?  Joann also likes Nathan. Nathan runs a produce farm so he supplies some food for the store. He also helps out at the store when Barb gets married. Can Nathan and Joann form a relationship and she still continue her family's legacy store? Joann is set during the Vietnam era and there is som...

There is a little circle in the upper left corner of the cover of Bible and Breakfast by Asheritah Ciuciu that says, "Feeding our bodies and souls together." I love that idea--of starting my days with Jesus and a healthy breakfast. Some days may not go as planned but this could be the goal for 31 mornings anyway. Bible and Breakfast is a beautiful book all the way around. The colorful pictures of healthy food dishes on the cover and throughout the book inspire me to eat healthfully and to spend time with both my family and our Bibles as we do so. This book starts out with an introduction to both the Bible reading plan and the recipes. There is also a section with frequently asked questions/answers in the beginning. Ciuciu addresses people of all ages that may be using this book and offers ideas on how to get the most out of it. She also offers ideas on how to get the most nourishment for your body from the recipes. Each devotional includes a "snack on the go"...

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...

So Much to Celebrate:Entertaining the Ones You Love the Whole Year Through by Katie Jacobs is a beautiful coffee-table-worthy cookbook full of gorgeous full-color photographs. It is lovely eye candy even if you never make a recipe or host a party with this book. However, I think it does indeed inspire one to be a hostess of a nice family gathering. So Much to Celebrate is divided into seasons, starting with Spring. Lovely party and recipes are included starting with Easter celebrations and ending with the winter holidays. Jacobs has secrets for throwing fantastic parties for all ages, from more elegant gatherings to casual feasts. My favorite in the book is for the Mother's Day Tea Party. The recipes look delicious. These are just a few I would love to try: Strawberry Scones, Cherry Hand Pies, Chicken Pot Pie, Roasted Butternut Squash Quinoa Salad, and Skillet Roasted Chicken Ratatouille.  So Much to Celebrate is truly gorgeous. I love how it is arranged by...

Like many other people, one of my goals for the new year is to eat healthier. Power Plates by Gena Hamshaw looked like a book that could help me with that goal. Power Plates is divided into these sections: Breakfast, Salads, Soups, Bowls, Skillets and Stovetop, and Bakes. Hamshaw also starts out the book with a great introduction to just what she has included in the book for recipes and what you can expect from the book.  She says that she has tried to create recipes that offer "sustained energy and balanced nourishment." Power Plates offers 100 recipes all total. Some of the featured recipes include: Every Day Breakfast Tostadas, Spelt Biscuits with White Bean Gravy, Guacamole Quinoa Salad, Protein Packed Ceasar Salad, Mulligatawny soup, Smoky Red Lentil stew with Chard, Sushi Bowls, Deli Bowls with Smashed Chickpea Salad, Barley Risotto with Butternut Squash and Sage, Creamy Curried Lentils and Quinoa, Black Bean Enchiladas with Roasted Butternut Squash, and Sweet ...

Love Welcome Serve: Recipes that Gather and Give by Amy Nelson Hannon has the recipes you need to cook comfort foods for your family but browsing through this beautiful cookbook is comfort for your soul before you even lift the spatula. "I feed people. . .Why do I feed people? Because I believe with my whole heart that people who are cooked for feel cared for. " says Hannon in the introduction. Hannon shares that her grandmother, Euna Mae Nelson modeled that way of life for her as she was growing up. If you aren't familiar with Hannon, she runs a kitchen boutique and social media platform sharing her love of cooking for others. Love Welcome Serve is a compilation of family friendly recipes that Hannon hopes readers will fix for their loved ones. Hannon's cookbook is as friendly as her kitchen hospitality. After her warm introduction in Love Welcome Serve , she starts out sharing cooking tips on ingredients and stocking your kitchen with essential cooking tool...

 I am a huge fan of publication design both for books and magazines. My journalism degree included an emphasis in magazine design. Along with a love of publication art, I also relish good cookbooks. I have a fairly extensive collection that I read just like novels. With my interests, I found great pleasure in Leave Me Alone With the Recipes . Cipe (Pronounced C. P.)  Pineles was one of the most influential graphic designers of the 20th century. This  spent many years working for Conde Nast publications as their first female art director and even taught design classes, as well as other notable work. I found her story to be fascinating. The first part of the book tells her complete story, as much as the authors have known. The four women who collaborated on this project all have an interesting connection to Pineles and publishing themselves. The main part of Leave Me Alone with the Recipes features Cipe Pineles beautifully painted food pictures and hand-written fa...

The Cottage Kitchen by Marte Marie Forsberg is part autobiographical story book and part cookbook.  Forsberg was born and raised off of the coast of Norway. She grew up learning gardening, foraging and cooking delectible meals from her mum. Then she ended up living in England after going to a university and traveling for a time. She has a popular blog also entitled, The Cottage Kitchen. This book is divided by seasons: Winter, Spring, Summer and Autumn and then concludes with an extra section on Afternoon Tea. Each section contains a mix of stories and seasonal recipes. I enjoyed reading this thick lovely book. Some of the recipes look a bit challenging for finding ingredients locally for me. Otherwise, I think many of the recipes look like fun. Many are different than the recipes in my area. Clearly the culture is different, but that is what I like about this book. I can try something new and fun. Even recipes like waffles and pancakes don't look like what I am used to in...

How to Set a Table is a little helpful book to pack away with the linens and keep on hand to set tables and trays up with nearly any kind of entertaining. How to Set a Table is divided into 9 chapters. This little book offers guidance on how to select dishes for entertaining, how to set the table, and how to set up specific kinds of table tops for events like potlucks, a breakfast bar, a picnic, and breakfast in bed. Each section has all sorts of little tips to add some warm touches to the full color pictures too. I particularly wanted How to Set a Table to use to teach my 15-year-old son as we homeschool through a foods class. I think it is especially helpful for teaching the younger generation about types of dishes and the proper way to set the table. While I knew most of that information, I did find the information on linens and ideas for table settings that I hadn't thought of before. I think this could be a handy little book to keep around for most people who only entertain...

Martha Stewart's Slow Cooker is full of beautiful, colorful photos to accompany the 110 recipes in this book. Interestingly enough, Martha Stewart said she only recently started using a slow cooker and her mother didn't use one growing up. However, she said she has been impressed with the slow cookers she has tried out in recent years and now thinks of it as a "smart cooker." In the beginning of this book, she offers basic advice for using a slow cooker including the "Slow Cooker Commandments" and "How to Use a Slow Cooker" basics which include a few tips that I didn't know before. There are chapters on meat, poultry, seafood, meatless, side dishes, breakfast, sweets, and stocks and sauces. My family eats more chicken and meatless dishes than other meats Martha includes. As a result, recipes for Pho, Chicken Chili Tacos, Chicken with 20 cloves of garlic, Coq au Vin, Barley Risotto with Fresh Mushrooms, Ribollita (Italian vegetarian soup...

The past couple of years I have had a little acid reflux in times of stress and my husband has had a problem with acid reflux. When I saw The Acid Watcher Diet , my husband and I both agreed it was time to look at making some dietary and lifestyle changes to help our bodies so we needed to read the book and give it a try. The Acid Watcher Diet by Dr. Jonathan Aviv is divided into 3 parts: Part 1 discusses what causes acid damage in our bodies and what to know as you seek treatment. It was big news to me that esophageal cancer is on the rise as a result of this problem and will soon overtake colon cancer in numbers. The second part of this book details the how and why we need to change our diet and what changes need to be made for lasting health improvements. The third section of this book contains the actual diet with recipes. The recipes are easy to follow. It also includes menus for special occasions.  The Acid Watcher Diet is written by a doctor with many years of exper...

I think most women want to have beautiful skin. We just don't know how to always get it. Many times, we change our soap or our external care, when we really need dietary changes to make a difference. Eat Beautiful by Wendy Rowe was written to help you nourish your skin both inside and out. To start with,  Eat Beautiful is divided by the seasons. When Rowe lived in Paris for 4 years, she said she learned to eat with the seasons which made a big difference in how she looked at and felt. With in each seasonal chapter, there is information on ingredients representing each season, such as asparagus, leafy greens, radishes and spinach for spring. Each ingredient is described with nutritional information and how the ingredient could be beneficial to your skin and other aspects of your health. Following the ingredient descriptions within each seasonal chapter are various recipes that could be used for that season. All of the recipes have beautiful color photographs accompanying the...

 I want to be a healthy eater and I want to fix healthy, nourishing meals for my family. Two out of the three of us have gluten and dairy allergies and intolerances. Nourishing Meals is a beautiful book full of information to help someone like me who wants to make changes to benefit the whole family, one meal at a time. I do have some background in eating healthy for myself but have felt challenged trying to get the rest of my family to eat healthfully. The front part of the book is full of a lot of good information on laying the foundations for good health through good nutrition. This book is written by popular food bloggers and leaders in the functional medicine movement, Ali Segersten and Tom Malterre. Together they offer solid information and tips to change your diet and eat more wholesome foods at every stage of your family's life. They are both work together as graduates of Bastyr University and raise 5 children. They understand on many levels what it takes to feed a fam...

Danielle Walker's Celebrations is one of the most beautiful cookbooks that I have ever seen. Page after page is full of beautiful photos of recipes--recipes that my family can all eat.With food allergies in my family, that can be a challenge, but Danielle Walker makes it look so easy. Celebrations contains "a year of gluten-free, dairy-free, and Paleo recipes for every occasion."The cookbook starts out with a chapter of practical substitutions ad  information on the basic ingredients and equipment you will need to make the recipes in the book. Once the basics are done, Walker has chapters on most of the occasions family's celebrate through the year, including, New Year's Eve, Game Day, Valentine's Day, Easter Brunch, Mother's Day and Father's Day, and through the year. She also includes special recipes and ideas for birthday parties and showers. The recipes nearly all look delicious to me. A few of the recipes include: Strawberry Salmon salad w...

My husband's family gets together a few times a year for special occasions with a potluck meal together. Occasionally we go to a church or neighborhood potluck or the yearly potluck family reunion with my family. While I usually bring an old favorite, I thought Modern Potluck by Kristin Donnelly might offer some new ideas for a traveling dish. I especially enjoyed reading the introduction and cook's notes in Modern Potluck as I wasn't familiar with this author's background. She also offers some great advice and ideas here and throughout the book. She shares her tips on making perfect hard-boiled eggs, on choosing the right salt, cooking beans, tips on making a great fruit salad, and various other helpful hints. Recipe chapters in Modern Potluck include: Snacks, Dips and Drinks; Main Course Salads & Other Room Temperature Main Dishes; Slow-Cooked and Served Hot; The 9 X 13 inch Pan: Casserole and the Like; Supporting-Role salads & Sides; Baked and Savo...

Do your family meals feel rushed and stale? Do you have a fear of cooking for guests at your house? Come to the Family Table by Ted and Amy Cunningham, inspired by the slow food movement, offers ideas for providing your family with mealtimes that they will long remember for creating special memories. It also offers encouragement and advice to offer guests friendly hospitality that doesn't have to be perfect to be fun for all. Come to the Family Table is divided into two sections: The Family Table Is For Us and The Family Table is For Others. Each of the five chapters within these two sections offers advice on how to enhance your mealtimes with the people you are with, a Cunningham family recipe, an idea for a relational game you can play, and a Christian devotional/prayer to go with the meal. I enjoyed Come to the Family Table so much that I could have read it in one sitting if my schedule had allowed for the luxury. I found the writing to be easy to read and relate to. R...

My son and I both have food allergies/intolerances. I have learned to make quite a few different dishes that we all like that accommodate our allergies but I know we can always use more recipes. Pure Delicious by Heather Christo offers more than 150 allergen-free recipes without gluten, dairy, eggs, soy, peanuts, tree nuts, shellfish, or cane sugar. The first five chapters of Pure Delicious shares Christo's family's story of testing, discovering and working with their food allergies/intolerances. She shares their process and how much better they all felt after they made dietary changes. My son and I went through a similar process with testing and elimination diets. I especially like that she shares how to build a community of support here and how to support the kids in eating for their best health. Christo also offers tips for eating out and ordering in various kinds of restaurants. The recipe section of Pure Delicious is divided into categories: soups and chilis. sal...

I make a lot of homemade soups during the winter months. I also have been interested in making more healthy broths for drinking. Broth and Stock by Jennifer McGruther of the Nourished Kitchen website sounded like the best of both of those interests. Broth and Stock starts out with some interesting history on the making of broth in the introduction and first chapter, "the broth maker's kitchen." Both sections were worth taking the time to read before jumping in to make the recipes. I learned several new historical tidbits and helpful tips.  McGruther explains the difference between broth, stock and bone broth in case you weren't sure what the difference was. McGruther furthers offers advice on selecting the type of bones and other ingredients you want for your stocks/broths and where to purchase them. The first chapter also offer good advice on the type of equipment needed to cook with and how to best store your homemade broth. I found a lot of good informatio...