It’s the final day of our Fall Slow Cooker Recipe Potluck! We’ve enjoyed following along with all of these great authors, their new books, and delicious slow cooker recipes. Comment below for a chance to win yet another book! And be sure to take a look back at all of the fun we’ve had all week:
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Autumn: Time for Comfort Food
The mornings are crisp now in central Pennsylvania, and the mist hangs in the valleys for an hour or so after the sun makes its way over the mountain ridges. Leaves have begun to turn, orange pumpkins fill the roadside stands, and we bring in the last few tomatoes and winter squash from the garden. At a time like this, with winter not far off, my thoughts turn to comfort food. And for comfort food, what could be better than a slow cooker?
Comfort food forms a large part of any collection of Pennsylvania Dutch recipes. The farmers, both Amish and English, who settled in these fertile valleys felt the need for plenty of carbohydrates to keep going in vigorous outdoor work. And like it or not, those of us who are their descendants still have that taste for anything that involves potatoes, noodles, dried beans, dried corn, and calories!
The women in my new book, A CHRISTMAS HOME, all know the importance of food in creating a home, and although Sarah and her grandmother don’t actually make my favorite recipe for Butterscotch Beans, they might well have. Lonely widower Noah, trying to make a home for his motherless twin boys, relies on friends and family to provide the tastes and aromas that make the farmhouse kitchen such a welcoming place and the kitchen table the gathering spot where everyone is loved, accepted, and fed.
So, in the spirit of my Pennsylvania Dutch grandmothers who were only happy when they were feeding someone, here’s one of my favorites for potlucks, picnics, and sharing.
BUTTERSCOTCH BEANS
1 lb. dry baby lima beans
1 ½ sticks of butter or margarine
1 Tbsp. molasses
¾ cup brown sugar
½ tsp. salt
1 cup sour cream
Directions:
Soak lima beans as directed on the package, usually overnight.
Drain, then simmer in salted water until tender.
Drain and place in slow cooker. Stir in other ingredients.
Cook on low for about five hours; then enjoy.
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For a chance to win a copy of A CHRISTMAS HAVEN by Marta Perry, tell us in the comments which of the slow cooker recipes shared this week you plan on making! Thanks for having fun with us this week!!
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A CHRISTMAS HOME by Marta Perry
Promise Glen
National bestselling author Marta Perry captures the spirit of Christmas in this first novel of her all new series set in the quaint Amish community of Promise Glen.
After ten years spent keeping house and raising her younger siblings, Sarah Yoder returns home to Promise Glen determined to make a fresh start. Her new job with neighbor Noah Raber’s furniture business seems promising–until she and the woodworker clash over everything from the best way to reach new costumers to how to raise his mischievous six-year-old twin boys. Though Sarah longs for a home of her own, she fights the appeal of this ready-made family, resolved to maintain a professional distance.
But when she and Noah both agree to help with the school’s annual Christmas program, Sarah finds her heart touched by the motherless boys and Noah’s quiet strength. Thrown together at work and at the school, their feelings continue to grow, and Sarah struggles to keep Noah at arms’ length. Loving Noah may seem impossible, but with faith, love, and a little help from their close-knit community, there may yet be a Christmas home for them both.
Holiday | Inspirational Amish | Romance Holiday [Berkley, On Sale: October 8, 2019, Mass Market Paperback / e-Book, ISBN: 9781984803191 / eISBN: 9781984803207]
Buy A CHRISTMAS HOME: Amazon.com | Kindle
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About Marta Perry
Marta Perry realized she wanted to be a writer at age eight, when she read her first Nancy Drew novel. Most girls reached the end of that book wanting to be Nancy. Marta wanted to be the person who created the story. The dream lay hidden for years while she pursued other career goals, but eventually it re-surfaced, and she began to write, beginning with short children’s stories for Sunday school take-home papers. After seeing hundreds of her short stories published in a variety of magazines, Marta finally started work on the novel she’d always wanted to write. Thirty-some published novels later, she still feels the same excitement when she begins a new book. A lifetime spent in rural Pennsylvania and her own Pennsylvania Dutch roots led Marta to the books she writes now about the Amish. The Pleasant Valley Amish series from Berkley Books are longer, more complex emotional stories with Amish main characters, while her Love Inspired suspense stories are shorter, more adventure-filled books set in Pennsylvania Dutch country. She also writes a Love Inspired series, The Bodine Family, set on the South Carolina coast where she and her husband have a second home. Marta lives with her husband in a century-old farmhouse in the Pennsylvania countryside, but spends winters at their vacation home in South Carolina. When she’s not writing, she’s active in the life of her church and enjoys traveling and spending time with her three children and six beautiful grandchildren.
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