Cookbok Review: More-With-Less

I was generously sent copies of More-with-Less by Doris Janzen Longacre and Saving the Seasons by Mary Clemens Meyer and Susanna Meyer. Both books are published by Herald Press which is part of the Mennonite Publishing Network. If you are not familiar (as I was not) the Mennonites have a long standing tradition of trying to use food to its fullest potential while maintaining its natural and wholesomeness. In my efforts to feed my family foods that are whole, natural and budget friendly these two books were at the top of my list of books to read!

More-With-Less Cookbook (World Community Cookbook) is a fascinating book because it is really so much more than a cookbook. It takes a very spiritual approach to food. Asking the the reader to consider the ramifications of wastefulness worldwide and suggesting that we can eat a more healthful diet while consuming less of the worlds resources at the same time. I think the most fascinating thing to me about the book is that this seems like such a modern "green" concept, but the first edition of this book was written in 1976! The cookbook portion of the book is a collection of traditional Mennonite recipes that are based on using whole foods. I found the recipes to be interesting, budget friendly, and tasty!


This may sound silly but when I read through it the first time I came to the section with breads and there was a recipe for English muffins and I said out loud "You can make those!" My husband who was sitting at the table laughed and said of course where do you think they come from the English muffin tree? Well the truth is I have been doing the whole foods things for a few months now but I had never really thought about where English muffins come from. Of course I knew they didn't come from English muffin trees, but I had no idea how to make them either, and I never really thought about it. The book is filed with recipes for things that may be lost art forms in modern culture, like English muffins.


There are also a multitude of yummy variations on classic recipes. On night for dinner we had coconut pancakes (I had never heard of those before) and they were delicious!


Overall I found the book to be a treasure trove of recipes for changing the way to feed your family in a budget conscious way. Many of the recipes use whole grains, rices, lentils, beans oats and other inexpensive whole food products which make feeding your family well affordable (especially if you don't want to use coupons.)


Saving the Seasons: How to Can, Freeze, or Dry Almost Anything is such an exciting book to read for someone who is in love with her freezer! The book claims to tell you how to can, freeze, or dry almost anything and it does just that! I have become pretty comfortable with freezing my meals, but one thing I could get better about it freezing veggies when they go on sale. This book covers how to do it!


For me the thing I was most interesting in was the canning. I am AFRAID of canning! I have only made freezer jam, and freezer sauces because I am AFRAID of canning. But the step by step pictures in this book make me believe I can do it! If I can find a good price on jars I may give it a try this year!

But even if I chicken out, or don't find any jars the book is filled with great freezer jam recipes too! So there is no excuse for not preserving fruits at their peak this summer!