Book Review: Plain Wisdom

I received the book Plain Wisdom by Cindy Woodsmall and Miriam Flaud. I LOVED THIS BOOK!!! Cindy is the author of the Amish themed novels such as the Sisters of the Quilt series and the Ada's House series. Miriam is an Old Order Amish woman. This book is the story of how these two women met and shared their lives. It is an insight to the Amish world. Cindy goes and spends time with Miriam and through those visits, she experiences of the culture first hand. Miriam also shares her culture and her perspective on many topics.

The book is broken down into chapters, but each chapter is very short. It includes scripture, and a section by Cindy and a section by Miriam. This can be used as a daily reading for encouragement, or just read it straight through. I found the book insightful, moving, and funny. The book even includes some Amish recipes!

Moms will definitely be able to relate to the two authors! A great mother's day gift idea!

This book makes me want to be Amish!!! :o)

Book Review: Beyond Talent

I received the book Beyond Talent by John Maxwell from Thomas Nelson Publishing. I absolutely loved the book! Maxwell is a very to the point writer and has great stories as examples! The book is focuses on what is need to succeed beyond just having talent. He discusses the importance of faith, passion, initiative, focus, preparation, practice and many more! Each chapter covers one of the topics. It discusses what these things can do to improve your talent and the chapters also cover how to use those topics to improve your talent.

My favorite aspect of the book is the application questions at the end of each chapter. It really helps you understand yourself better, focus you to determine what needs to be done to proceed, and how to apply what you just read into your own life to become the successful person you can become!

This is a very encouraging book for anyone who has thought about career changes, life changes, and more. I recommend this book for all students. Whether they are looking for a job, or deciding on a major, making this tough decisions early on can really influence their success in a future career.

Maxwell is a great writer and keep your interested throughout the book. This would be a great gift for high school and college graduates.

Book Review: The Canary List

I received The Canary List by  Sigmund Brouwer for review from Water Book Multnomah Publishing. A warning to the reader, this book is very dark. Characters are involved in devil worshiping and sacrificing. Accusations of inappropriate behavior between teacher/student are made, and the plot also involves conspiracies involving the Vatican.

Jaimie is a 12 year old girl who goes to her teacher’s house seeking a “safe” place for the night. This starts the whirlwind of events that causes her teacher, Crockett, to be accused of inappropriate relations with the student. Having spent some time in jail, being beat up, and then finding out his lawyer to get him out on bail was completely paid for, he seeks to figure out why someone is trying so hard to stop him from protecting her.

This is definitely a very good book, but as warned previously, it is very dark. This book is definitely for an adult audience. Even though the book is dark, Brouwer is a great writer and will keep you on the edge of your seat. 

Book Review: The Part-Time Vegan

I received the Part-Time Vegan by Cherise Grifoni from booksneeze.com, first of many I hope!!

I love the layout of this book. Cherise does a great job introducing the benefits of being vegan without trying to convert anyone. I was shocked in the first chapter in her use of the word "hell". The recipes are split into different categories of dips and appetizers, breakfasts, salad dressings, salads, soups, rice, pasta, and more. Each recipe is broken into 4 different categories: protein, fiber, quick and flex. It includes the number of servings, the recipe, a description of the dish. Recipes include tips for making the dish and the most helpful part as a non-vegan was "the skinny on" various foods!!! This section describes the ingredient, what it tastes like and what it can be used for.

There are 11 dinner meal plans, including appetizer and dessert! These recipes are easy and delicious!! Even the desserts are very easy to make!

I was a little disappointed though by 2 factors, there are no pictures and there are no nutritional facts for the recipes!!! All in all though, this is a great little cookbook for anyone who is interested in trying to eat healthier and cut out some meat in your diet. :o)

Recipe: Amish Friendship Sourdough Bread

I had an extra cup of Amish Friendship batter frozen that I needed to use up. I wasn't sure exactly what to do with it, so I did some research to see if I could find a recipe that didn't require too many ingredients... and I ran across this recipe:

Amish Sourdough Bread

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup oil
1 tsp salt
1 - 1/2 cups warm water
1 cup Amish batter
6 cups bread flour

Mix all ingredients thoroughly. Oil bottom & sides of large bowl & put bread dough in. Let stand overnight at room temperature. In morning, punch dough down 4-5 times and divide into 3 equal balls. Kneed each ball 8-10 times and put into 3 greased and floured loaf pans. Brush tops with oil and cover with oiled foil. Let stand 4-5 hours or all day. (If dough has not risen well, put small pan of water on bottom rack in oven, heat to 200 degrees, turn off oven. Put dough on top rack for 1-2 hours.) Bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes. (Cover with foil after lightly browned.)


I didn't have bread flour, so I used regular flour. I found the dough super sticky so I added an extra cup of flour... which helped it from sticking so much, but I wonder if that was the reason why it didn't rise as much as I thought it would... Like the instructions suggested, my dough didn't rise overnight, so I put it in the warmed oven for a couple hours and then baked it at 350 degrees for 35 minutes. The bread turned out absolutely delicious! It is on the sweeter side. I think it would be a great dough for cinnamon raisin bread.

I also wonder if it didn't rise as much because I had frozen the dough... but I want to say it wouldn't have mattered because it had some bubbles once it had thawed out. I will just have to experiment with it more later. More to come!

Either way, the bread still turned out very yummy!!!

Book Review: No He Can't

I received No He Can't by Kevin McCullough from booksneeze.com for review. Kevin McCullough expresses his concerns for the decisions that Obama has made during his presidency and the various affects they have on our society, from the spending of $1.3 TRILLION on "stimulus" to the "Cash for clunkers" program that ran out of money within 6 days!!

I really enjoyed reading this book. Kevin McCullough is very passionate and captivating. This book was enlightening and honest. I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in current events and politics but, as you can imagine from just the title alone, this book focuses on the bad decisions Obama has made during his presidency and how it has really hurt our economy. The book is very one-sided, but even still, this is still a great read.

Book Review: Max on Life

Max On Life by Max Lucado is a collections of 172 questions various people have asked Max in his years of ministry. The questions are broken into 7 different themed chapters (Hope, Hurt, Help, Him/Her, Home, Haves/Have-nots, and Hereafter). The book also includes a topical index reference for the questions in the back as well as a Biblical reference. The Biblical references are broken down by Bible Book, the chapter and verse, and then shows which questions address those verses.

The answers to these deep questions range anywhere from one a half a page to a page and a half. This would be a great book for daily readings. Max, as always, does a great job using scripture to answer questions with a touch of his humor! Even while answering serious questions, I love the way he adds some humor.

I would recommend this book to any new Christian. It is a solid book of questions both new and old Christians could benefit from. Anyhow who enjoy's Max's writing will enjoy his book!

I received this book for review from booksneeze.com!