recipes - Forever Beloved

September 10, 2015

Gather Around the Amish Table {Book Review + Giveaway}

Gather Around the Amish Table

Treasured Recipes and Stories from Plain Communities

By Lucy Leid

Incorporate Amish cooking traditions this fall in your kitchen with Lucy Leid’s Gather Around the Amish Table. Straight from Amish kitchens to yours, this cookbook offers favorite family recipes and charming stories from Amish and Mennonite cooks. 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!”

This cookbook combines two of my favorite things…food and the Amish. In the past few years, we’ve had quite a few Amish families move in around our area. Actually, I can sit on my porch on any given day and watch buggies drive past. One of our favorite summer activities is visiting the Amish bake sales. Their baked goods are like no other! You just can’t beat pies, cookies and fry pies baked from scratch. So when I saw this book, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it!

I had an evening alone, so I snuggled on the couch with a blanket and a cup of coffee. I pulled this book off the coffee table and began leafing through it. What I found inside the cover was amazing..not only recipes but pictures and stories to go along with each one! Oh my, if it wasn’t so late I would have been running straight to my kitchen.

This cookbook came at the perfect time, my bread machine quit last week. I know, I’m still ridiculously sad about that. So if I make bread, it has to be hand kneaded and let to rise. There was a cheesy bread stick recipe in this cookbook that I was dying to try. The recipe was so descriptive, even I could do it myself! I made them to go alongside baked ziti and they completed our meal perfectly.

Gather Around the Amish Table is absolutely a keeper and will be going straight on my cookbook shelf. I highly recommend it!

Special THANK YOU to LitFuse for providing me with a complimentary copy in exchange for my honest review. My review is my own personal opinion.

Get your fall baking underway with an Amish baking basket giveaway from Lucy and MennoMedia!

One grand prize winner will receive:

A copy of Gather Around the Amish Table
An Amish baking basket full of goodies

Enter today by clicking the icon below. But hurry, the giveaway ends on September 29th. The winner will be announced September 30th on the Litfuse blog.

You can purchase your own copy HERE.

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

February 20, 2015

Chili Cheese Dog Bake

Um, so what is the sorcery?! Say hello to dinner.

This Chili Cheese Dog Bake is nothing short of amazing. And when you make homemade chili for in it…WOW – it’s so delicious.

It’s everything you love about a classic chili cheese dogs, made into a comforting dinner that your whole family will love. Trust me, my whole family L.O.V.E.D this.

Chili Sauce

1 lb. ground beef
1/2 finely chopped onion
1/2 clove garlic
1 6 oz. can tomato paste
1 cup ketchup
1 cup water
3 tbs. brown sugar
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp cumin

Sauté meat, garlic and onions till browned. Add all the spices and stir well. Then add in the tomato paste, ketchup and water. I added a little more water, until it was the consistency I liked. Cook over super low heat for 3-4 hours. Make sure to watch it so it doesn’t dry out and stick. Once it was finished cooking, I put it in a blender to make it a finer consistency.

Chili Cheese Dog Bake

Chili sauce from above recipe {or 1 can of chili sauce…but seriously, the homemade sauce makes the difference!}
1 can Pillsbury refrigerated classic pizza crust
1 8 oz. block cheddar cheese {cut into sticks}
1 pack all-beef hot dogs
1 tablespoon butter
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

Heat oven to 375°F. Spray 9-inch square or 11×7-inch (2-quart) glass baking dish with cooking spray. Pour hot chili into dish; spread evenly. Unroll dough; cut into equal strips so there is one for each hot dog. Cut the block of cheese into sticks. Place 1 cheese stick on each side of 1 hot dog. Wrap pizza dough strip around cheese and hot dog, overlapping slightly in center. Repeat with remaining dough strips, cheese sticks and hot dogs. Place wrapped hot dogs on top of hot chili. The chili must be hot y’all. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until dough is light golden brown. Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, melt butter and then stir in the garlic powder. Remove the baking dish from the oven. Brush on top of each cheese dog with butter mixture. Serve immediately and enjoy the amazingness!

February 4, 2014

Homemade Pore Strips

So, I’m a Pinterest lover. It’s true. And one thing I love is browsing Pinterest early in the morning with my cup of coffee.

While doing my morning creep today, I came across a pin that super caught my interest. I have a little girl that is in love with pore strips. Seriously. An entire box in a month. Anyways, when I saw homemade pore strips I was all whaaaaaaat?!?! I read the ingredients, YES, have them both. So I was off to my kitchen to try it on myself first.

Ingredients:

1 Tablespoon Unflavored Gelatin
1 1/2- 2 Tablespoons Milk (any kind)

I measured 1 Tablespoon of unflavored gelatin into a bowl then added 2 tablespoons of milk. I mixed the ingredients together until it had a chunky consistency and then heated the gelatin mixture in the microwave for 10 seconds. DO NOT go beyond 10 seconds.

I slathered it all over my face while it was still runny and set back for 15 minutes to let it do it’s thing. You’ll feel it getting tight on your face. When it starts to crack when you move your face, then it’s time to take it off.

Later in the day I convinced Miss Thing to let me try it on her.

As you can see in the picture below, it also becomes super shiny when it’s ready to be taken off. Pic on the left is as soon as I put it all over her. The right is when it was ready to be peeled off.

And that’s where this post will come in handy. What not to do with homemade pore strips.

Don’t think “Hey, I have gelatin from 15 years ago, I bet it will work just fine”. While indeed it will work fine, it won’t smell fine. It’s kinda hard to get away from a yucky smell when it’s smeared all around your nose.

Do not put it on the little hairs by your hair line. When I say this stuff sticks, I mean it. And it will rip your hairs out. Repeat, it WILL rip your hairs out. Which also means do not put it on your eyebrows. And if you do by accident, wash it off later.

Don’t get the fab idea to put it around your lips, thinking it will make them look soft. What you will find out is you actually have little baby hairs around there that will rip out. The pain will make you temporarily blind. And your eyes will water. Lots.

The thicker you put it on, the easier it is to grab a hold of and take off. Also, if you take it off too soon (while it still feels kinda goopy) it’s harder to take off. So make sure you let it dry completely.

Exciting, right? Jade said she felt just like Goldmember when he was peeling his skin off.