Hope Helmuth

I love to eat food and I love to create food. I love how food brings folks together around a table. I love how food can hold memories and tell a story. My love for cooking began as a teenager and grew even more after I married my handsome husband, Joshua, who happens to love to eat too. Like my Dad said at our wedding, "we have the potential for a growing relationship." My childhood years were surrounded by good food. We used milk and beef from our farm, eggs from my Uncle's farm, and vegetables from our garden. I never once questioned where food came from because I lived surrounded by it growing and changing right in front of my eyes. Not until I moved away to start my own home and family did I realize how lucky I was to grow up being surrounded by homegrown food. ​As my mom says, “Half the taste of food is the presentation.” I believe God gave us all the colorful fruits and vegetables for us to enjoy and to create beautiful things with. My mom taught me how to create meals with color and that a little sprig of parsley added as a garnish can brighten up anything. These recipes are a collection of what I grew up eating and new recipes I have created. These recipes are from scratch and can be made mostly with what you have in your pantry or refrigerator. I’m a last-minute, practical cook, but I also like things to taste good and look appetizing. I don’t claim to be a cooking expert, but I want to share the recipes with you that my family enjoys. I have a passion for my Mennonite heritage and want to help preserve it. I do think that my heritage of cooking is slowly being lost. The busyness that this era brings makes it hard to keep some traditions—like eating meals together as a family—alive. I encourage you to gather your family and friends around your table. Community is so important for the health of your family. This era brings so much pressure to be doing all the things everyone else is doing. But a community environment is much more important than all the scheduled activities children do nowadays. We need to teach our children how to rest and enjoy the small but important things in life—like gathering around a table and sharing a home-cooked meal with family and friends. Last but not least, I am a follower of Christ. Without Jesus, I am nothing. May all the glory be given to God. More than anything, I desire to do God’s will while I am on this earth. “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created” (Revelation 4:11 KJV).