Mennonite Country-Style Recipes and Kitchen Secrets Book

• Tips on canning, freezing, preserving, baking, meat preparation, entertaining
• Comprehensive index
• Shank
• 6" x 9"
• 680 pp

Introduction
Recipe Abbreviations and Ingredients
Definitions of Food and Cooking Terms
Daily Nutrition Guide

1. BEVERAGES
   Tips for Beverages
   Recipes
2. BREADS COFFEE CAKES, AND CEREALS
   Procedure for Making Bread
   Quick Breads
   Rolls and Sweet Breads
   Cereals
   Tips for Breads, Sweet Breads, and Cereals
   Recipes
3. CAKES, FROSTINGS, AND COOKIES
   Cakes
   
   • How to Make Angel Food Cake
   Cookies
   Quick Checklist for Failures with Cakes and Cookies
   Tips for Cakes, Frostings, and Cookies
   Recipes
4. DESSERTS, FRUITS, SNACKS, AND CANDY
   Homemade Ice Cream
   Melting Chocolate
   Popcorn
   Testing Candy and Icing for Doneness
   Tips for Desserts, Fruits, Snacks, and Candy
   Recipe
5. EGGS, MILK, AND CHEESE
   Tips for Eggs, Milk, and Cheese
   Recipes
6. MAIN DISHES AND VEGETABLES
   Vegetables
   • Chart for Cooking Vegetables
   Potatoes
   Cooking Dry Beans
   Cooking Pasta (Macaroni, Noodles, and Spaghetti)
   
   • Create Your Own Casserole Chart
   Tips for Main Dishes and Vegetables
   Recipes
7. MEATS, POULTRY, AND SEAFOOD
   Meat
   • Charts on Common Cuts of Beef, Pork, Veal, and Lamb
   Wild Meats
   Poultry
   Fish
   Stock for Soup
   Gravy
   • Approximate Timetable for Roasting Meats
   Tips for Meats, Poultry, and Seafood
   Recipes
8. MICROWAVE COOKING
   Tips for Heating Leftovers
   Do's and Don'ts
   Uses for Your Microwave Oven
   • Flower Drying Chart
   • Microwave Heating Chart
   Recipes
9. PASTRY AND PIES
   Procedure for Making Pastry
   How to Make Meringue
   Cream Pies
   Tips for Pastry and Pies
   Recipes
10. SALADS, SANDWICHES, AND SOUPS
    About Gelatin
    Ideas for Sandwiches
    Tips for Salads and Soups
    Recipes
11. ENTERTAINING, QUANTITY COOKING, AND PARTY FOODS
    • Approximate Amounts for 100 people
    Party Ideas
    Recipes
12. QUICK-FIX SECTION
    Tips for Quick-Fixes
    Recipes
13. CANNING, FREEZING, AND PRESERVING
    Canning
    Freezing
    Processing Fruits
    Processing Vegetables
    • Approximate Yield per Bushel of Fruits and Vegetables
    Processing Meats
    • Timetables for Processing Fruits, Vegetables, and Meats
    • Timetables of Approximate Blanching Time for Freezing Vegetables
    Storing Vegetables
    Tips for Canning, Freezing, and Preserving
    Recipes
14. NON-FOOD RECIPES AND MISCELLANEOUS TIPS
    Ideas for Leftovers
    Soap Making
    Ways to Save
    Gardening Tips
    Miscellaneous Tips
    Non-Food Recipes
    Removing Stains from Fabrics
    • Equivalent Measures
    • Substitutes for Ingredients
    • Weights and Measures
    • Commercial Container Sizes
    General Index
    Canning, Freezing, and Preserving Index
    The Author

Excerpt from Introduction, pages 13-15

When I suddenly found my own daughters starting to venture out on their own, I began to wonder if I had really taught them the things I wanted them to know before they left. The whole experience, however, set me to thinking of how helpful it might be to them to have a book with all the tips and helpful hints included that I have learned through many years of experience. My own collections of favorite recipes that I had been adding to for 25 years was badly in need of updating and organizing, so I decided to type them into a notebook. Many of the directions for recipes were incomplete, and some called for a 6 oz bag of this or a 12 oz bag of that. With the coming of bulk food stores, this wasn't very helpful for a young inexperienced cook.

In the meantime, several people strongly encouraged me to consider having a book published. They felt there was a real need for this type thing. If we Mennonites intended to hand on to the next generations our tradition of "good country-style cooking," we needed to give them more help than is usually found in a recipe collection. I was also personally receiving an increasing number of calls from young persons and others about how to prepare certain foods, and especially how to can and freeze various foods. It seemed there was definitely a lack of easy access to this type of information.

Even though there are many excellent cookbooks on the market, the intent of this book is not to compete, but to supply useful tips that are not found in many other books. I have tried to include the kinds of practical information that would have been helpful to me when I began cooking many years ago. My prayer is that you will find it helpful also!