UPDATE: This giveaway is now over. The winner was chosen using Random.org. Congratulations to Sally Roehr! Sally, please send your name and mailing address to cindy@cindywoodsmall.com to claim your magazine!
Today’s post is by a Plain Mennonite friend Sherry Gore. She’s going to share a story of some exciting recent events in her life, as well as an article and a recipe from her magazine, Cooking & Such: Adventures in Plain Living. For a chance to win a copy of Cooking & Such: Adventures in Plain Living, please leave a comment below.
~ Cindy
As editor-in-chief of Cooking & Such: Adventures in Plain Living magazine, I was delighted to introduce a new writer in the winter issue. Most of those penning articles are Old Order Amish and Beachy Amish Mennonites from various Plain communities across America. Shontele Torkelson (my daughter’s sister-in-law), a Canadian Mennonite, shares her experiences in the far northern hemisphere in her column, North of the Border. Such a different culture hers is from the life I live in Sarasota, Florida. Reading her words made me long for a visit to her home. It’s not often I get to see snow.
How incredible to find myself here in Alberta, Canada, today, after traveling here this week for the birth of my first grandchild. Shontele fetched me from the airport, where my plane landed in the middle of a Calgary blizzard. We climbed into the heated seats of her four-wheel-drive truck and headed for the hospital. We drove through two ground blizzards and passed the world’s largest teepee during our three-hour ride to meet my baby grandson, and her nephew, Gage Ryland Torkelson.
When we arrived at the hospital room, the look on my daughter’s face was one I had never seen on her before. There could not have been a more lovely sight nor more beautiful-sounding words than when she turned a bit in the bed and said, “Do you want to see him, Mom? He’s right here.” Tears of joy immediately started flowing from my eyes and didn’t stop for quite some time.
Holding my grandson in my arms for the first time left me with the assurance that I could move heaven and earth for him. The blizzards seemed a small force in comparison to the strength of my love for him.
When Shontele told me she would be bringing in supper after we returned to my daughter and son-in-law’s home, I knew I was in for a treat. The main course was a hearty chicken-and-gravy casserole heaped high with creamy mashed potatoes and thick layer of cheddar cheese oozing over the sides. There was also a basket of cheese biscuits cut in star shapes. A jar of her homemade cinnamon pickles, tied with a pretty little ribbon, topped it off.
I feel extremely blessed to experience firsthand the lifestyle here in Alberta, Canada. And even if you’re sitting thousands of miles away from where we are, you too can get a glimpse into the northern life through Shontele’s writings.
Below is the first article of hers featured in Cooking & Such: Adventures in Plain Living magazine. The photo is the view from the front of their ranch home. It truly is every bit as beautiful as it looks.
North of the Border…Beef, Biscuits, and Blessings
I stand at the kitchen window, clasping my coffee mug in both hands. Outside, the sky is leaden, and the wind moans that peculiar wail, signaling that snow is on the way from the North Country.
Sigh.
I hate winter. In the eleven years I’ve lived in Southern Alberta, I’ve never gotten used to the cold, the ice, the snow, or the 4:30 p.m. darkness. Worst of all is the howling, incessant wind. If we’re lucky, bad weather will hold off until December, but some years it has come as early as mid-October.
I glance at the thermometer. The mercury has fallen ten degrees.
Recently, while discussing the merits of following nature and migrating south, a friend mentioned that she thought there was a verse in the Bible that states, “The righteous shall dwell under a palm tree.”
As I watch the first flakes dance on the wind, I decide to check Strong’s Concordance to see if that verse really is in the Bible. Perhaps with a strong biblical backing, I could convince my rancher husband that a vacation to southern climes would have merit.
To Mr. Rancher, of course, going on “vacation from winter” is utterly impractical. In our cow-calf operation, we raise calves until they are ready to go to the feedlots to be fattened for slaughter. We sell most of them in the fall as weanlings, but we keep a package of heifers as replacements. Some years, we keep around seventy-five steers to fatten. These will be sold as yearlings the following year.
With three hundred beef cows, a pen full of steers, and a dozen or so horses, feeding takes up most of my husband’s morning. Dressed in layers, starting with long johns and ending with the universal cattleman’s uniform of brown Carhart coveralls, a coat, and a wool hat with earflaps, he forks hay into the bunks for the steers and carries in buckets of feed pellets.
He uses a tractor and a bale buster to grind round bales of alfalfa hay for the mother cows and chops water holes in the ice of the stock pond. Meanwhile, he watches the cattle to ensure that they are healthy. Sickness shows up in subtle signs, such as droopy ears and watery eyes, which his practiced eye can detect in a milling herd of identical black cows. I would not detect such things before rigor mortis set in.
Work aside, my husband doesn’t only tolerate winter, he actually likes it. And he has our children firmly on his side. In a conversation with my son in which we were discussing heaven, I mentioned that it will always be warm there. He was appalled. “No winter? How will we play hockey?”
I looked at him, dumbfounded. Hockey indeed. I don’t like winter sports, and while I can skate (sort of), I can’t stop. And I have managed to injure either my body or my pride every time I’ve gotten brave enough to join the children for sledding. The one time I tried to ski, it was such a disaster that I could hardly walk for days. My husband is still laughing at me. So while I hope heaven doesn’t involve winter, I trust that whatever temperature it is, it will be perfect for Northerners and Southerners alike.
To my dismay, I find no verse in the Bible that states that the righteous should dwell beneath a palm tree. However, Psalm 92:12 says, “The righteous shall flourish as the palm tree.”
Since this is the perfect, inspired Word of God, I begin to meditate on that verse. What if I could flourish as a palm tree, even in the midst of an Alberta winter? What if I could not just survive, but thrive here?
As usually happens when I open my heart to the still, small voice of God, I begin to see the beauty of winter. In the way the hoarfrost sparkles like silver diamonds on the trees. In the scent of a birch fire as it crackles in the stove. In lingering over a second cup of coffee with Mr. Rancher. In long winter evenings spent reading Laura Ingalls Wilder books to the children.
I hear the sound of the tractor. Mr. Rancher is back, and it’s time to get lunch ready. There’s a beef roast in the crock-pot, tucked in last night. Served on warm, crusty buns with flavorful broth for dipping, it is enough to chase away the deepest chill. My husband, who is a meat-and-potatoes guy, will enjoy the oven fries I’ve made to complement the beef.
After the headlong rush of summer and hectic pace of harvest, winter lunchtimes are leisurely affairs, with pots of steaming coffee to warm cold hands while hot, hearty meals to nourish body and soul.
A neighbor drops in. More coffee is brewed to go with the coffee cake left over from Sunday. Conversation flows from weather to politics to the price of beef. The fire is stoked. The snow is falling in earnest now, but the weatherman says it will blow over by morning.
This is the North. This is home.
Shontele is a rancher’s wife, a mother of four, and a child of God. She enjoys the challenge of blending her down-home, Southern-style recipes with the flavors of the West.
Beef Dip Sandwiches
1 three-pound beef roast (I like to use an inside round roast.)
1½ cups water
½ cup brewed coffee
½ cup soy sauce
1 teaspoon dried rosemary
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 bay leaf
whole-wheat crusty buns
Place roast in a slow cooker. Mix seasonings and water and pour over roast. Cook on low overnight or on high for 5–6 hours. Remove roast.
Carve into one-inch slices and shred with a fork. Strain broth. Pour over shredded beef and simmer on low until ready to serve.
To serve, remove beef with a slotted spoon. Put a generous amount onto a whole-wheat crusty bun. Divide broth into six small bowls for individual dipping. Serve immediately. Makes six cowboy-sized servings.
Sherry Gore is the author of Simply Delicious Amish Cooking and the editor-in-chief of Cooking & Such: Adventures in Plain Living magazine, which has been called “completely heartwarming and visually stunning” by Amish novelist Cindy Woodsmall. Sherry is also a weekly scribe for the national edition of the 120-year-old Amish newspaper, The Budget. The National Geographic Channel featured Sherry prominently in a 2012 documentary of the Amish. Sherry is a year-round resident of beautiful, sun-kissed Sarasota, Florida, the vacation paradise of the Plain People. She has three children and is a member of a Beachy Amish Mennonite church. She’s a caregiver to her twenty-two-year-old daughter, a Sunday school teacher, a cooking-show host, and an official pie-contest judge. As an author and longtime resident of Pinecraft, Sherry has worked with local Sarasota County government and various travel groups to generate interest for this unique and beautiful village.
Giveaway
Last week’s winner of the embroidered wall hanging and a book of her choice is Jackie W. Congratulations, Jackie!
If you would like to enter for a chance to win one issue of Cooking & Such magazine, simply leave a comment at the bottom of this post on my website.
If you are reading this anywhere other than my website, such as on Facebook, in an email, or on Goodreads, please hop on over to my website by going to www.cindywoodsmall.com and leaving a comment at the bottom of my post to enter the giveaway.
Only comments left on my website will be entered into the giveaway. (It’s just too hard to track down all the comments left in various places, and that means it’s too easy to miss some of the comments.)
The deadline for this contest is Monday, January 21, 2013, at noon. The winner will be chosen using Random.org and will be contacted privately, as well as announced on next week’s post.
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I would love to win a copy – That would be so nice – monicaward@shaw,ca
Cindy, i would love to have the 9 Ways to Fight and also i would love to have one of the fifteen books i don’t care if there is something wrong with them they will still have the same wonderful reading. I enjoy your reading so much. Thank you and God bless you. Norma Stanforth
Love ,love ,love your books and recipes.
Thanks for a chance to win, again… I just ordered a couple of your books.. I love winter time to catch up and read.
Have a Blessed Week..
It really sounds like a great magazine, thank you for giving me a chance to win it. I love reading you books . God bless you and i pray that you are able to keep up your writing.
Norma Stanforth n38stanforth(at) yahoo(dot)com
I would love to have the magazine the cookbook also. I love to read the Amish books all of them
Ouida
This sounds like a great magazine. Would love to win a copy. I am planning on a trip to Missouri in the Spring to visit my Amish Friends that moved there from MN.
What a great article. A blessing to see the tenderness of her heart!
I loved to read this article. It was very descriptive and invited me right in to her life & home. Please enter me into the drawing. Thanks very much.
Pam Gentry
Would love to win thanks for the chance. Blessings
Thank you for giving me a chance to win a copy. God bless you. n38stanforth(at)yahoo(dot)com,
I would love to win a copy, thank you for the chance.
would love to win a copy…thought about ordering a subscription but wanted to see a copy first …this would be great!! thanks
tried this recipe and it was absolutely great. even hubby enjoyed
Would love to win a copy of Cooking and Such. Wonderful.
My grandfather was born in northern Alberta, and I know he felt the same about no winter and hockey! I, however, moved from Ohio 35 years ago in part to escape “real” winters–and now I miss them.
I moved from Ohio to North Carolina & I do NOT miss Ohio winters at all!!! Snow is beautiful to look at, but I’d rather watch it on the TV!!! LOL!! Thanks for sharing all the things that you do with us Cindy!
RW620 AT aol DOT com
I enjoyed the article and picture.
I would love to win this! My mother-in-law and I share all the books that we read, and yours are among the many, many books we have shared over the years! We especially enjoy the recipes!
I would love to win this contest and the recipe for the beef sounds awesome I am definitely going to make it. Thank you for the contest
I would love to win this magazine.Thanks for the chance.jackie_tessnair@yahoo.com
I am going to try Shontele’s Beef Dip for the next time it’s my turn to feed our Christian School’s staff- on Wednesday! Ena
I will be visiting my 92-year-old father in Venice,FL in mar. I will be just down the road from Sarasota!
What a beautiful description of meeting a first grand-child. I look forward to that privilege! Also, the beef sandwich recipe sounds delicious – I wonder how strong the coffee flavor is though. (We’re not coffee lovers here.)
I enjoyed reading this very much! I’d love to win a copy of the magazine.
enjoyed the story….would love to win a copy of the “Cooking & Such” magazine .
This looks like such a great book!
Love to read and love to cook and try new recipes Would like to win this
Love reading the posts here. I would love to win the contest this week.
Fun reading. The recipe sounds wonderful!
I hate winter too. So much ice and snow. And I fall often. Ouch! Your dish sounds perfect for a bitter cold day. Yummy! kristiedonelson(at)gmail(dot)com Thank you.
The picture is so beautiful! Enjoyed the article and will be trying out the recipe!
I love beef, biscuits, blessings, and babies! And thanks for the recipe! Yum!!!
Wonderful article! Really enjoyed reading it. Would love to win so I can read more.
I would love to win something by Sherry. Thank you.
Sharon
What an interesting interview! Would love to read more. Thank you for this chance,
Connie
Hope to win, I love Sherry!
I have enjoyed reading all about the Amish cooking. I have tried some of the recipes that have been in the books I have read of yours. I really enjoyed all the books.
Laawanda
Please enter me in ther drawing. I just love Amish books, sometimes I feel like part of the family.
Food sound delicious. Would really like to win something someday.
I want to win this so bad. Would love to have it
Please enter me in the drawing. Thanks
I collect cookbooks, so I would love to win this one. Good luck to everyone
Please enter me!!!
Please enter me in the contest. Thank you for sharing your God given talent with all of us.
Enjoyed Sherry Gores story and would like to be entered in the giveaway of Cooking and Such.
would love to win
I very much enjoyed reading this story. I would like to be a winner. I’m also going to check to see if I can order a book. They are perfect reading material. I only prefer Christian fiction. No smutt for this lady! *smile*.
Loved her writing! Im looking forward to reading more…and Sherry, congrats again on your grandson!! Would love to win a copy…..
Lynn B
I would so love to win.
I would love to win
What an enjoyable story. I would love to win a copy of the Cooking & Such magazine.
i would very much love to win the subscription to,Cooking & Such: Adventures in Plain Living thank you for the chance
What a wonderful story of the north and a great recipe too. Thanks Cindy, Sherry, and Shontele. Would love to win. Thanks for the opportunity <3
another wonderful new blog to follow, almost (not quite) made winter sound not so bad. I would love to be a winner this month
Would love to win a copy!
Yumm! love the photi
I love to read but anything I read must touch my heart in some way and touching my heart is exactly what would happen if I won this.
enter me please
thank you
I would love to win Cooking & Such. Thank you for the give away.
Sounds like some good comfort foods Ü
Would love a chance at winning Sherry’s Cooking & Such. The recipe sounds yummy and will have to try it.
Would love to win a copy of Cooking & Such! Definately going to have to try the beef dip sandwiches!!
Love the description of Canada. Would love to visit there one day!
CherylB1987@hotmail.com
what a wonderful milestone in her life….a grandson!
I would love to win!!!
Love this
I would love to win a copy of Cooking & Such.
for those of us who live and breathe Mennonite and Amish cooking, I have to say I “looooove” the title of the magazine!
I have never been a fan of winter either!
This is one of my first times visiting your website and I think that it is very inviting! Thanks! I will be back!!
Would love to explore this new magazine : )
Sounds like a magazine id like! Pick me!
Beef Dip Sandwiches…sounds yummy; must try. Love to read your postings.
Just started reading your blog but have read several of your books. I enjoyed all that I have read so far. Hope to find more of them in my local library! Maybe I will win this contest for the magazine.Thanks for the opportunity.
Suzanne, I bought one of Sherry Gore’s cookbooks and love the recipes. She had the best “No Bake” cookies I’ve ever tasted. Usually the chocolate, peanut butter & oatmeal have tasted on the dry side. Hers was the most moist I’ve ever tasted. Tried some other recipes and they have all been great. My grandmother immigrated from England in 1898 and some of her recipes and Sherry’s are so much alike. Would love to win a copy of the magazine. Have a wonderful & blessed day
Beef Dip Sandwiches sound delicious. Thank you.
Enjoyed the article — have to try the beef sandwich — sounds yummy !! Would be thrilled to win an issue of the magazine. Thank you.
The recipe sounds great. Would love to win the magazine
Would love to win…..
Lovely, just what I needed to read today. It’s really cold here, but we are in the leaden sky, too. No sunshine to make us feel joyful. Thanks for this opportunity! God bless you.
I really enjoyed reading the article. Thanks for the giveaway.
I would love to win an issue of Cooking & Such magazine
Congratultions, Sherry on your Grandson!! Nothing like grandbabies!!!
Thanks for the chance to win!
I would love to win.
I love this magazine ! Would love to win a copy
plhouston(at)bellsouth(dot)net
What an enjoyable, well-written article. I almost felt as if I was standing by her side, drinking coffee and looking out the window at the snow. And, those beef sandwiches are making my mouth water…yum! can’t wait to go food shopping to get what I need to re-create that recipe. Thanks for sharing this with us.
The recipe for Beef Dip sandwiches is something I am definitely going to have to try out in my home! I loved Shontele’s article and would love to read more from her. sherry Gores cooking magazine sounds like something I would love!
Winters can be harsh, and yet so beautiful. Such a wonderful, descriptive story, and I can’t wait to try the Beef Dip Sandwiches!
Shontelle is a gifted writer. I enjoyed so much the above article!
I am now going to check out Sherry Gore’s website. By the way – Cindy Woodsmall is my favorite author of all times.
I love this magazine! Would love to win a copy.
plhouston(at)bellsouth(dot)net
I love both stories. They were so very descriptive. Thank you for sharing this post.
I love Sherry Gore and have visited her website often. Thank you for such a great post.
Cindy, I truly enjoy your posts. I have enjoyed each of your books and anxiously await the next release. Congratulations to Sherry! I would love to win a copy of “Cooking & Such”
Debbie
First of all, Congratulations Sherry!!!! I am so happy for you, your daughter and her husband. It sounds like you have been having quite the adventure in Alberta!!!! I enjoyed reading your new friends article. It sounds like she is having her own adventures . I look foward to reading more of her articles!!!
Blessings, Kristin
I try to read as many Amish books as I can. I just love them. I would like to thank you for the opportunity to win Cooking & Such. Thanks again.
I would absolutely love to be the winner of your book. I enjoy reading your books very much, please keep up the great work.
I would love to win a copy and I so enjoy your books.
Blessings
Linda
I loved the story and I know I would love the magazines . I love reading the Amish and Mennonite stories . We have Mennonites and Amish both at Seymour . I am acquainted with some of both and they are super nice people. We have Amish friends around us. I am going to try te recipe and I love your books. Thanks for letting me join in the contest.
I enjoy reading cookbooks and cooking magazines, so this would b a nice magazine to read.
I have to copy that recipe down sounds good. I love your books Cindy. Thanks for the chance to win!
joeym11@frontier.com
Hi there Cindy. I would love a copy of the magazine “Cooking and Such”.
Thanks for sharing the heartwarming story and the recipe. I live reading anything to do with scripture.
Please enter me in your contest to win a copy of “Cooking and Such” magazine. I enjoyed reading the story written by the woman who lives in Alberta. We have traveled through Alberta on our way to visit our daughter in Alaska. What beautiful country it is. Barbara Hunsberger
Loved reading this post. Congrats Sherry on your new grandchild. Loved Shontele’s story & recipe…it sounds delicious. It is hard to adjust to winter. I’m not sure I ever will. Sure wish there was a verse that says the righteous should dwell under a palm tree but for now I will be content in whatever ‘state’ I’ve been planted in. Thanks for the contest…would love to win!
Reading this post warmed my soul on such a cold day!
I loved reading the post by Shonele and her recipe looks scrumptious! I am an Albertan by birth and, even though we have live in British Columbia for close to 44 years, my roots there go deep.
Congratulations, Sherry and all the family, on the safe arrival of a precious new life. I remember well the overflowing love when our first grandchild was born and, of course, the second as well. Within a month, we should be blessed with our first great-grandchild.As I did not find a location restriction on this contest I am hoping for a close-up, in-hand look at Cooking and Such
What a wonderful reading today! Count me in
I enjoy your blog very much and would love to receive an issue of Cooking & Such magazine.
Thanks,
Kay
john2266 (at) bellsouth(dot)net
Great post! Congrats on becoming a Grandmother. You are in for the ride of your life! It is wonderful! I would love to win a copy of Cooking and Such magazine!
Blessings!
Judy
sweetpea.judy(at)yahoo(dot)com
Would like very much to win this cook book. I like trying new recipes.
Carolyn Jefferson
carolynj63@att.net
I love reading all of the articles you post here.
I would love to win this. Congratulations on the new grandbaby!!
I would love to get one of the magazines, I truly enjoyed reading her article !
The story was indeed enjoyable. The writer had a way of making me feel as though I was right there enjoying her delicious recipe for beef roast. Would love to win an issue of Cooking & Such magazine!
I would love to win this cook book, I just know that they are some recipes I have never heard of and would like to try.
I am so happy for you and the birth of your new grandson.
Enjoyed the story, would love to see a copy of the magazine.
It would be wonderful to win an issue of the magazine.
Thanks,
Deb
drharb@iowatelecom.net
Would really enjoy seeing the magazine! Most probably would lure me into getting a subscription.
I would LOVE to win an issue of Sherry’s magazine. I picked one up when I was in Pinecraft about a month ago and really enjoyed it.
wfnren(at)aol(dot)com