Thy Hand Hath ProvidedBook Give-Away

Dateline: 22 July 2013

In all the years I've blogged here I don't remember ever having a book give-away.

I did, however, have a House Give-Away Contest back in July of 2008 (And The Winner Was...).

So I reckon I'm long overdue for something like this, and I've got a great book to give away to one fortunate reader. The "contest" I have in mind should be a lot of fun, but let me tell you about the book first....

This give-away has come about after Jane Bryan, over at Thy Hand Hath Provided blog, asked me to consider reviewing her Thy Hand Hath Provided cook book (pictured above), after I asked her to consider reviewing my Planet Whizbang Idea Book For Gardeners.

One good turn deserves another, and reviewing Jane's book is something I have no problem at all doing because it so happens that she has self-published a remarkably nice book.

Now, mind you, I am not much of a cook myself, but I have spent some time with Thy Hand Hath Provided, Recipes & Preserving, and I'm impressed with how well it is organized, presented, indexed, and cross referenced. As a self-publisher myself, I know something about how much work goes into producing a book, and I can tell you that Jane has done an excellent job with the overall composition and presentation. Fact is, her book is better "crafted" than most of my books.

As for the recipes, well, they are, of course, the best part. This excerpt from the book's Preface, gives you a general idea of what to expect...

"This collection of recipes is the result of seeking out meals that allow our family to eat from our garden, pantry and freezer without getting bored. In this cookbook, I will show you how to preserve many basic fruits and vegetables as well as provide suggestions as to what you can make with them, once they're chilling in your freezer or looking lovely on your pantry shelves. My hope is that this book will prove to be very useful as you harvest, preserve, plan and make delicious homemade and homegrown meals for your family."

Words like that appeal to the deliberate agrarian in me!

Thus far, Marlene (my wife) has made the Hummus and Tabouli recipes (we happen to love hummus and tabouli). Both were delicious, and I'm sure Marlene will make both recipes again. 

The hummus recipe required tahini, which is made from sesame seeds, and the recipe for that is also in the book. We have never made tahini but followed the recipe ( I helped) and it came out perfectly. You can see and read Jane's blog post about making Tabouli and Hummus here: Tabouli and Hummus

By the way, Jane's book also has a recipe for Beet Hummus. Wow. That's something I'm looking forward to trying!

Being the pie-lover that I am (I'll take pie over cake any day) I was attracted to the "Pies" chapter. Jane gives her pie crust recipe and tells how she makes several crusts at a time and stores them in the freezer until needed. Strawberry pie. Red Raspberry pie. Ground Cherry Pie ("recipe from my Grandma"), Sweet Potato Pie, Grape Pie (!), and others all sound good to me. But over in the "Vegetarian Main Dishes" chapter there is a recipe for Tomato Pie. That's a powerfully appealing, mouth-watering food to consider as I am waiting for the still-green tomatoes in my garden to ripen.

If you are a pie-lover too, you'll want to read Jane's blog post titled, The Pie Party. I've never been to a pie party. I hope that, someday, before I depart this earthly realm, I can go to a pie party.

I could go on, but I'm sure you get the idea. This book presents a broad range of tried-and-true, down-home-cookin' recipes. It is the kind of cookbook that you'll have fun using, will use to for years, and will want to give as a gift to any friends who love to cook, and/or are learning to cook.

Only one person reading this is going to "win" a copy in this give-away. The rest of you will have to buy yourself a copy, but the book is reasonably priced (and worth every penny). You can learn a lot more about Thy Hand Hath Provided cookbook, and purchase a copy, at this link: The Cookbook

The Give-Away Contest

To be entered in this contest you need only to post a comment below. In the comment you need to tell about your most memorable food experience. It can be a good experience, or a bad experience. It can be about something you ate that was especially good, or bad. It could be about a cooking success, or failure. It could be about something unusual that you ate, or an unusual place where you ate something. The common denominator is food, and a memorable experience.

You can provide details, or not, but please try to keep it somewhat brief. One entry per person, please. Make sure you close your comment with a name. It doesn't have to be your actual name, but you need to identify yourself. That way, if you win, I can identify you. 

On July 26 (this Friday) I will print out all the comments, cut them up, put them in a hat, and one will be chosen at random. I will announce the winner in a blog post here Friday evening (or Saturday morning). If you see that you are the winner, you will need to contact me by e-mail with your mailing address by Monday morning. If I don't hear from the winner by Monday morning, another winner will be chosen.

And them's the rules.


.

UPDATE: 27 July 2013
This contest has ended. Thanks, everyone, for your comments. Click Here to see who won the cookbook.