Thursday, September 2, 2010

I recommend.....


Many of you have asked for cookbooks and other resources that we find helpful in our off-grid/prepared lifestyle.  I thought it would be easier to start a page of recommendations and links than to try to remember to whom I've told what.  On the left-hand side of my blog is a link that says "Paratus Familia Resources".  All of the cookbooks that I will recommend will be linked on that page (don't think that didn't take me forever to figure out!).

After seeing my lovely friend Patrice's practice of book recommendations, I thought I would follow her lead and recommend some myself, starting with the most beloved of my kitchen tools - the More with Less cookbook.

My Titus 2 mentor, "Lady Pauline" introduced me to the More with Less cookbook about 15 years ago.  I had just started ordering bulk foods and grinding my own grains, and this book walked me step by step through making just about everything from scratch.  The author is Mennonite, so the book is full of recipes from church members from the States, but also from missionaries all over the world.  There are tons of ideas for using leftovers to create whole new meals and also certain recipes they tag as "time savers" because they are so quick to prepare.

The yogurt recipe that I first tried is in this book, along with various methods of incubating it - depending on what you have available.  I still use this tried and true recipe, and I still use the method of incubating that I found in this book.  I make one of the granola recipes regularly along with potato rolls, white sauce, skillet beef and lentils and so many other things that I couldn't possibly list them all here.

If you are looking for a basic, down to earth approach to cooking from scratch, this is the book for you.  I have purchased a copy of each of my daughters to put in their hope chests so they will never be without so many of the recipes they have grown up with.

I will be recommending more books in the days to come.  Who knows, you might find your favorite on the list!

7 comments:

  1. This is my favorite cookbook too. I am glad you are recommending books. Do you have a favorite for herbal remedies? As for the yogurt I like the method in the Tightwad Gazette I have made it alot of times and never had a failure.

    Jeri in Montana

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  2. Thank you for creating a section for recommendations. I have been printing
    out your recipes, but if some of them
    are in a book then so much the better.

    You rock, Enola!!

    NoCal Gal

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  3. I have been using this book for years. Actually most of the recipes I used from it I have memorized, so I rarely dig it out anymore. My original copy came from a bookstore in Colorado in the late '70s and I notice that now there is a newer edition. Do you know if it has anything new in it, or it is the same great book. My cover has been missing for a long time now but I think it was the same as yours.

    Great book for learning to live with less. We have been striving to that end for a long time now. It seems a stuggle anyhow since I put lots of hours in at "my day job". My children are grown and husband disabled so this is what needs to be done at this point, but we have a 2.2 acre farm and raise chickens for meat and eggs. We get milk from a local farmer and grow many of our own vegetables. We're not off the grid, but that could happen since the wind blows here much of the time.

    Living on less processed foods and meats are what we try for. We do eat meat, though usually eat 2 or 3 meatless meals/week. My only grief with this book is the use of sweeteners... honey, sugar. My husband cannot eat these, so I have modified many of the recipes to use apple juice, or no sweetener at all. We also do not use white flour in anything.

    I'm glad there are others who enjoy this book.

    Thanks for sharing.

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  4. I love this one too! I go in and out of using it (my fault, not theirs). My mother in law found it at the Mennonite quilt show and brought it home for me. I think I finally have the white sauce recipe memorized. Good recommendation, keep 'em coming!

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  5. I was showing my husband this blog and he said, "Yeah, we have the cookbook.) I was so excited. However, that explains who likes to cook in my household. Anyway, he got it out and it looks like my kind of cooking. I'm so excited!

    Margaret
    California

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  6. What a wonderful website. Thanks so much for all your articles. I too have this cookbook and
    use it alot.
    Would it be possible to get your address (maybe thru e-mail) in order to send you a cookbook to review? Please let me know. Didn't know how else to contact you.
    Jeanne
    Wisconsin

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  7. I just went to Amazon and bought this book. I recently found your blog and I've been "stalking" you for a few months so I know if you say it's a good one, then I should get it! Ha ha.

    Have a good day and bless you.
    :-)

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