Category Archives: Mennonite Girls Can Cook

Oh Happy Day!

My Case of Mennonite Girls Can Cook books arrived on Monday!!

 

 

 

 

 

Stay tuned because soon you’ll have a chance to win a free copy of the book here on my blog!

You can order a copy at Amazon here.

If you are wondering what to do with all those hard boiled eggs you made for Easter head over to the MGCC Blog for a recipe for Eggs a la Goldenrod on Tuesday!

Photobucket replaced all my photos with these blurred out versions and they are holding my photos hostage until I pay them lots of money. I’m slowly going through all my posts and trying to clean them up and replacing some photos. Such a bother.

Cooking Class at Lepp Farm Market

Last Thursday evening 5 of us from Mennonite Girls Can Cook participated in a cooking class at Lepp Farm Market in Abbotsford, B.C. Unfortunately my camera was on a wrong setting and my photos are dark.

 

Judy, Lovella and Marg checked over the lists and then we headed out into the store to shop for our ingredients.

 

 

Bev and Lovella got ingredients ready for Lovella’s Paska.

 

Guests who had paid for the class started arriving. Some came an hour before the class was to begin. Bev was at the stove preparing her Green Bean Soup. This was something I was going to enjoy for the first time.

 

Judy and Marg started preparing their Zwieback. A traditional Mennonite bun.

 

At the end of the evening it was my turn to present my Paska spread, Seerney Paska. Although I am not a natural at being in front of a crowd everyone was very gracious. This was the first time many of the gals had ever tasted this sweet cheese spread.

 

Lovella kept us organized and on task and we all worked well together. I think I enjoy being a Sous Chef, behind the scenes, instead of front and center.

 

At the end of the evening we sat down and enjoyed the fruits of our labor and if I have to say so myself, it was all very good.

Here’s a link for Lovella’s Paska.  Here’s a link to Ellen’s Sweet Cheese Spread for Paska, Seerney Paska.

I’ll be linking up with Mary at Little Red House for Mosaic Monday.

Photobucket replaced all my photos with these blurred out versions and they are holding my photos hostage until I pay them lots of money. I’m slowly going through all my posts and trying to clean them up and replacing some photos. Such a bother.

Tuckered Out…

I’ll share all about our time at Lepp Farms next week. Right now after my 290 mile roundtrip to Canada and back I’m too tuckered to think straight. Had a wonderful time. Stayed up way past my usual bedtime. Made good memories. On the way to Canada I stopped in Lynden, Washington for lunch before I crossed the line. I’m really glad Debora from Whatsoever Things Are Lovely gave me the heads up on places to eat and to make sure if I ate here…

 

…to only order a half sandwich. Good thing I got that tip because this my friends is a half sandwich! Now tell me the truth does that look like half a sandwich to you? And yes Lynden is heavy with Dutch influence and population.

Hope you are doing well and the start of your weekend is good. I’m hoping to spend all day Saturday just vegging about with my feet up…

Photobucket replaced all my photos with these blurred out versions and they are holding my photos hostage until I pay them lots of money. I’m slowly going through all my posts and trying to clean them up and replacing some photos. Such a bother.

Heading North Across the Line…

 

I’m taking my sweet cheese spread in it’s mold wrapped in cheesecloth to Lepp Farm Market for a cooking demonstration tonight. I will take it out and present it ready to serve with Lovella’s Paska. I have my cross, X & B to press onto the cheese. This is a traditional Russian Easter Treat so it has the Cross to symbolize Christ’s crucifixion on Good Friday and the X and B are the first letters in Christ Arose or Christ is Risen in Russian, Христос Воскрес! We love to celebrate the Resurrection! The Mennonite Girls Can Cook are putting on the cooking demo tonight. It will be my first experience doing this. I hope I don’t drop anything…

I’ll be gone all day Thursday and into Friday. See you on the weekend!

Photobucket replaced all my photos with these blurred out versions and they are holding my photos hostage until I pay them lots of money. I’m slowly going through all my posts and trying to clean them up and replacing some photos. Such a bother.

FFF ~ Fun in the Midst of Slumps…

Time to get your favorites together to share. Susanne at Living to Tell the Story is our hostess for this event. Click on over and see what events, products, people, books, made the list!

I shared earlier this week that I’m in a bloggy slump of sorts but even in the midst of slumpiness there are lots of good things around me. The Light always shines I just need to see it. So here are my favorites from this past week.
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1. Soccer is my favorite sport in general but I have to say that the Seahawk football game against the Saints makes it on my favorites this week. Mostly because of this unbelievable run that you all probably have heard about already. The Seattle fans even made the Seismic charts.
Seattle is all a-buzz and on Sunday they’ll play the Chicago Bulls Bears to see if they keep their amazing run alive.
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2. I’m happy to report that my big toe was not broken last week but just bruised badly so I was able to go to Zumba on Monday morning. I’m really enjoying this form of exercise and have met some fun ladies my age and younger who keep me going. Here’s how Zumba is described: “Zumba Fitness® is the only Latin-inspired dance-fitness program that blends red-hot international music, created by Grammy Award-winning producers, and contagious steps to form a “fitness-party” that is downright addictive”. At first I felt like I had 2 left feet but the routines are the same every time you go and before long you can do the steps automatically.
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3. The blower/fan in our fireplace insert died. Dear had to take the whole thing apart to figure out what part we needed. We ordered it online because it wasn’t available locally. It finally arrived on Wednesday and Dear put it all back together and we now have heat in our living room area again. This is our 2nd major heat source so we were pretty chilly for a few days and cuddled up in the family room where our little cast iron stove kept us warm. I’m happy Dear could fix it for a fraction of the cost to replace it.  $150 instead of $1500. Now Dear thinks he should be able to buy himself something for $1350. There is something suspect in that reasoning…
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4. Dear and I went to our local Mexican Restaurant this week and it was a great relaxing time with good conversation and debriefing on things that were on our minds this week. Sometimes it is just good to get out of the house so you aren’t a slave to your normal routines. We know the waitstaff by name here and they always make us feel welcomed. That’s Carne Asada and I’ll share the recipe closer to summer time on the Mennonite Girls Can Cook Blog.

 

5. Speaking of the Mennonite Girls, we’ve had fun news about our upcoming cookbook this week. A few weeks ago the cover was released. This is what the cover will look like. Some of the gals have been interviewed by their local papers and this week one of the T.V. stations in Canada is interviewing a couple of the gals on their Sunday show. We keep pinching ourselves. Our Royalties from the sale of the book will be going to an organization in the Ukraine that feeds children. You can click on the cover to see more information on the book.

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Hope you are doing well. I’ll be coming around today or tomorrow to see your Faves…
Photobucket replaced all my photos with ugly black and grey boxes and they are holding my photos hostage until I pay them lots of money. I’m slowly going through all my posts and trying to clean them up and replacing some photos. Such a bother.

My Reuben we’re calling Rebekah…

The traditional Reuben Sandwich is made with Corned Beef, sauerkraut, Swiss Cheese, Thousand Island dressing or Russian Dressing. This past weekend Dear wanted a Reuben sandwich. We had pastrami on hand so we decided to make our Reuben a Rebekah Sandwich. We hear a Rachel Sandwich substitutes Pastrami for Corned Beef and coleslaw for the sauerkraut. Here’s our tasty yummy good to the last bite Rebekah with Pastrami, Sauerkraut, Swiss Cheese, mustard, and Thousand Island Dressing. Another thing we decided to try was to heat the pastrami in the skillet with the Swiss on top and the sauerkraut on the side. When they heated through we loaded the bread and grilled it.

To see a different version of the Reuben Sandwich click over to Kathy’s on the Mennonite Girls Can Cook Blog.

 

Minter Gardens ~

…my finale post from the beautiful Fraser Valley and Mennonite Girls Can Cook Summit!

 

Bev and I arrived to Minter Gardens in style in her cute little Bug!

 

We started with brunch at the Trillium Restaurant.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So what makes it easy for 10 women all together for the first time ever to be relaxed and enjoy each other? I think it begins with our  faith in God, our savior Jesus Christ, our common comfort food experience, our heritage, and our openness to new adventures. I am aware of what a gift it is to have made this wonderful connection with these beautiful girls.

So this post wraps up my posts of my Mennonite Girls Summit. Till the next time…

Photobucket replaced all my photos with ugly black and grey boxes and they are holding my photos hostage until I pay them lots of money. I’m slowly going through all my posts and trying to clean them up and replacing some photos. Such a bother.

Comfort & Comfort Food

After our Harrison Lake Cruise and BBQ at Bev’s we headed to Marg’s for dessert and the comfort of a massage. Yet again we had 3 desserts which were each delicious.

 

Marg really knows how to make someone relax and have fun. The sign at her home is appropriate…

The following morning we all met at Minter Gardens for brunch and a stroll. I’ll show those photos on another day.

Our last evening together we had dinner at Julie’s clubhouse. She served us one of my all-time favorite comfort foods borsch. She even made it like my mom makes it with just a few subtle differences.

 

 

You can find my mom’s recipe for borsch here.

 

Julie set a beautiful table for us and before the evening was over she left us with a beautiful devotion to remember. I want to add to the  thoughts Julie spoke and share these verses.

James 1:16-18 (New Living Translation)

16 So don’t be misled, my dear brothers and sisters. 17 Whatever is good and perfect comes down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens. He never changes or casts a shifting shadow. 18 He chose to give birth to us by giving us his true word. And we, out of all creation, became his prized possession

 

I drove off into this sunset headed back to the U.S.A. My welcome home at the border crossing was a random computer generated search of my car!

Photobucket replaced all my photos with ugly black and grey boxes and they are holding my photos hostage until I pay them lots of money. I’m slowly going through all my posts and trying to clean them up and replacing some photos. Such a bother.