Homemade With Love = Most Practical Cookbook I Now Own!

Homemade with Love: Treasured Family Recipes by Marilyn Boyer is like sitting down and thumbing through Mrs. Boyer’s personal recipe box (especially when she shares a memory with a recipe)…and you know those types of boxes are filled with tried-and-true family favorites!  I was amazed at how many recipes were quick, easy and kid-friendly.  Most of the recipes called for items that we usually have on hand making this cookbook extra practical.  The pictures included with some of the recipes were helpful and showed me that my food doesn’t have to look like a fancy Food Network dish in order for it to be a big hit with my family.  And, after making homemade crescent rolls for the first time following Mrs. Boyer’s easy recipe, I doubt we will ever buy crescent rolls from a blue can again! 

Since we are family of three (compared to feeding the Boyer’s 14 children) plus deal with severe nut allergies in our home, I wasn’t sure how well this cookbook would fit our lifestyle.  But I was pleasantly surprised and excited to find that the majority of the recipes did not make super-large quantities nor included a lot of nuts.  The recipes that include nuts are ones that we can substitute and still have a great dish.  It was an extra bonus to find a cookbook that gave us a lot of new recipes that we could use as written.  Homemade with Love has quickly become my favorite “go-to” for fast, delicious recipes that I know my family will like!

For more info on the cookbook, visit Homemade with Love: Treasured Family Recipes.

Of course, in order to honestly review this book, we wanted to try out a few recipes and turned it into a life skills class!  My child had a blast learning how to follow directions, read fractions and other cooking basics!  If a 6 year old can make crescent rolls, then anyone can!  :)  Here are a few pictures from our cooking session!  Enjoy! 

Learning how to make triangles

Sampling at every stage

Painting on the butter for the One-Hour Yeast Rolls

Our first attempt at making crescent rolls (One-Hour Yeast Rolls recipe)

Little Cheddar Meat Loaves cooking in the oven ... YUM!

He Called Her Daughter

“My faith—weak, made bold
In Him—captured His power.
He calls me daughter."
~Catherine Meaney

You know how you can read something in the Bible a hundred times but on the 101st time, it's as if you've just seen that verse for the very first time?  I've grown up hearing about the woman in Mark 5:21-34 who was in a desperate place in her life.  She needed a kind of healing that man couldn't produce since all human attempts at healing left her worse off both physically and financially. She was probably worn from the stress and weariness that comes with a long-term illness.  And she probably felt quite lonely as many who called themselves "friends" deserted her a long time ago when they ran out of things to say or saw all the unanswered prayers or got busy with their own lives and forgot about her. 

Desperate for hope and healing, this bleeding woman did what she could to literally reach out to Jesus because He was all she had left.  She did what she could believing it was enough.  And instantly, it was enough and she was healed!  She didn't walk away but rather expressed her faith as she admitted that she was the one who touched Jesus.  That expression of faith opened up the door to grace and blessing as Jesus said, "Daughter, your faith has made you well.  Go in peace, and be healed of your affliction." Mark 5:34.

Did you catch that Jesus called her daughter?! When I saw that the other day, I was floored.  How many times have I glossed over that word and totally missed the implication of that all-important word??  Daughter!  She did nothing at all to deserve the title "daughter" except live out her faith.  "The faith that is demanded is a confident trust which derives value not from the one who expresses it, but from the object (Jesus) in which that faith rests." (The Bible Knowledge Commentary)

The Message version of Mark 5:34 says, "Jesus said to her, "Daughter, you took a risk of faith, and now you're healed and whole.  Live well, live blessed!  Be healed of your plague." 

This woman wasn't just healed, she was made whole in every way--physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually.  Sometimes, we claim God's healing and forget the wholeness aspect of it.  We either hang on to the memories or the feelings of our brokenness and fail to fully move forward.  We inwardly harbor things said or done to us as friends left our side when we needed hope and encouragement the most.  We let fears and "what if's" paralyze the healing that is taking place.  And we give into that weariness of always fighting for faith that we forget to rest in our faith and continue on trying to manufacture our faith.

God doesn't desire us just to be healed but He desires us to be whole.  And that wholeness comes when we hear Jesus calling out, "Daughter..." and we realize that He is talking directly to us!  The love and acceptance that is conveyed in that one word has the power to destroy anything that hinders us from wholeness and it allows us to "Go in peace, and be healed of [our] affliction."

Amazing!!

Need a Family Gift Idea??

As a child, I remember my parents reading me the Christmas story from a special book every year!  While this Christmas book simply quoted the Scripture, there was just something extra special about my mom pulling out that book and reading it to us.  I had been looking for a book like that for years so I could carry on that tradition with my family.  However, I've turned up empty-handed until I ran across "Uncle Rick's Holiday Book"!

Uncle Rick's Holiday Book by Rick & Marilyn Boyer (Character Concepts) is a "coffee-table"-worthy book!  It lays out the history and significance of ten different holidays as well as includes a section sharing holiday-themed ideas, recipes and additional resources.  The pages are colorful and captivating especially for younger children.  I'm sure my child will remember the photographs on these pages when he is an adult as much as I remember the pages from that special book that my mom read to me!

Uncle Rick removes all the holiday consumerism and shares the facts and intent surrounding each holiday while giving great honor to God and the Christian principles that our Nation was founded on. 

We have this book on display in our home and I've enjoyed watching guests of all ages nonchalantly pick up this book and end up engrossed in one of the holiday stories!  They usually light up with excitement because they learned something new or close the book with appreciation for the author as he preserves the truth of these holidays. 

We can't wait to purchase more of these books to give away as gifts!

Holidays Included:

February 22 -- George Washington's Birthday
Spring -- Resurrection of Jesus
May 30 -- Memorial Day
June 14 -- Flag Day
July 4 -- Independence Day
September 14 -- The Star-Spangled Banner
October 12 -- Columbus Day
November 11 -- Veteran's Day
November -- Thanksgiving
December 25 -- Christmas