I'm tremendously enjoying myself through Beverly Lewis's series "Abram's Daughters" right now, and I can't put them down. She sets her novels among the Amish in Lancaster County, where she grew up. With these books, you not only get quality hard-to-put-down literature, but you get a peek at life among the Amish. It's fascinating.

I'm also working my way through the traditional Amish recipes in the Beverly Lewis Amish Heritage Cookbook. My family just LOVES these recipes--they want me to cook Amish all the time now. All of my kids love the food, and they're not always easy to please. I even found a recipe for a wonderful treat I once bought at an Amish-run store in Missouri. Now I can make it myself--a delicious combination of Rice Krispies, peanut butter, sugar, peanuts, chocolate chips and butterscotch chips. The original recipe for an Amish Friendship Bread starter is also included. Other favorites we've tried so far are Chicken Mushroom Bake, Cabbage Patch Stew, Chicken and Waffles, Ginger Ale Fruit Salad, Grandma Buchwalter's Tuna Salad, and Perfect Pumpkin Bread.

I highly recommend Lewis's several Amish series as well as this awesome cookbook.