Mennonite Girls Can Cook Celebrations
If this cookbook is any indication, Mennonite girls can indeed cook!'Mennonite girls' Anneliese Friesen, Betty Reimer, Bev Klassen, Charlotte Penner, Ellen Bayles, Judy Wiebe, Julie Klassen, Kathy McLellan, Marg Bartel, and Lovella Schellenberg share delicious recipes that have graced their family tables over the years.While most recipes come from the Dutch-German-Russian tradition, such as kielke (noodles) and wareneki (cottage cheese pockets), the book also contains some non-traditional recipes such as barbecued salmon with sun-dried tomatoes.The addition of mouth-watering photos for each recipe makes browsing this cookbook a culinary experience in itself. Detailed instructions and helpful tips guide the cook through each recipe. The contributor often shares a tidbit of information about the recipe or tells the reader how the recipe became a part of their family tradition.Devotional segments, Bread for the Journey, add opportunities for theological reflection throughout the book.This book would make a splendid addition to any cook's library.--Rebecca Roman,The MessengerA cookbook published earlier this year could assist with holiday menus. Along the way, the book might also help you keep the holiday frenzy at bay and, instead, reflect on the holiday's spiritual side.Ten womenmetthrough a cooking blog that eventually becameMennonite Girls Can Cook,a full-color book of recipes, stories and devotional essays.Nine of thegirls,as they began calling themselves when someone offhandedly commented,You Mennonite girls sure can cook,are Mennonites living in Western Canada. The 10th lives in the Seattle area, and although not Mennonite, she shares the group's Russian Mennonite ancestry.The book captures the family traditions, family closeness and religious faith that united the women's ancestors during times of persecution.While the book does include recipes that could appear in any American cookbook -- enchiladas, pizza, stir-fry -- most are ancestral fare:kartoffelpuffer(potato pancakes),obst moos(cold fruit soup) and cabbage borscht (Russian soup),holubschi(cabbage rolls),spaetzle(German dumplings). There's a special emphasis on breads, cookies, coffee cakes and other baked goods that play a prominent role in traditional Mennonite cuisine.And many of those baked goods -- such as traditional Christmas cookies, likepfeffernuesse(peppernuts,see recipe below) andtee gebaeck(Linzer cookies) -- would add nicely to a holiday table.There is, too, a turkey-and-stuffing tutorial recipe, although Ms. Schellenberg notes that Thanksgiving is uniquely a U.S. and Canadian holiday and thus not part of Russian Mennonite heritage.Sprinkled among the recipes are pages devoted to the life story of each author, plus other pages titledBread for the Journey-- devotional essays the women wrote to expound Bible verses and reflect on the Christian faith journey. Some of the essays promote hospitality, sharing of bounty and regarding the Word of God as spiritualbread; others express thanks for blessings even in hardship.So Thanksgiving the holiday might not figure in Mennonite tradition, but thanksgiving as a way of life, it would appear, does.--Rebecca Sodergren,Pittsburgh Post-Gazette