Guest Author Kitty Morse and her book "A Biblical Feast"

Please join me in welcoming author Kitty Morse for a mouth-watering peek at her new cookbook A Biblical Feast.

My review:

A Biblical Feast: Ancient Mediterranean Flavors for Today’s Table, by Kitty Morse, is a delightful and mouth-watering experience for the soul; a banquet for the follower of Jesus Christ.  Kitty’s unique experiences and family history bring a new twist to ancient culinary delights.  Her book is full of breathtaking photos and taste tantalizing recipes for today’s kitchens.  She fascinates her readers with Biblical history and Scriptures applicable to each food group and dish, as she presents the “how to” for the preparer. This is a cookbook that I will delight in using often and referring to others.  I highly recommend A Biblical Feast as a cooking companion you’ll utilize over and over again.

Here is Kitty's Bio ~

Kitty Morse was born in Casablanca of a French mother and British father, and emigrated to the United States in 1964.  She is the author of nine cookbooks, five of them on the cuisine of Morocco and North Africa, including Cooking at the Kasbah: Recipes from my Moroccan Kitchen (Chronicle Books), and The Scent of Orange Blossoms. She is the author/publisher of the second edition of A Biblical Feast: Ancient Mediterranean Flavors for Today’s Table. Her forthcoming book is titled Mint Tea and Minarets: Chronicles from the Kasbah. 

Kitty’s career as a food writer, cooking teacher, and lecturer, spans more than twenty-five years. Her articles have appeared in a number of national publications. She has lectured on North African cuisine and culture at The Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C., the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs, and for The Culinary Historians of Southern California. One of the highlights of her career was cooking alongside Julia Child to benefit the International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP). She has appeared on the Food TV Network, CNN, the Discovery Channel, as well as on British, Mexican, and Moroccan television. From 1983 to 2007, she organized and led an annual culinary tour to Morocco that included cooking demonstrations in her family home south of Casablanca.  

What inspired you to write your book?

Listening to an Easter sermon during a church service held at the Anglican church in Casablanca, and realizing that the manner in which Jesus and His disciples ate resembled the dining style of the peoples of the Middle East and North Africa. Later, while perusing cookbooks in a second hand store, I came across one purporting to give recipes from biblical times. Many recipes included ingredients early Christians had no access to, such as tomatoes, potatoes, citrus, or peppers, all New World ingredients. That’s when the inspiration hit me: why not write recipes based SOLELY on the 84 foodstuffs mentioned in the Old and New Testaments.

In researching the book, I consulted with experts in biblical foods in the US and abroad. I was able to reproduce Ezekiel’s Bread, strictly from the ingredients mentioned in Ezekiel 4:9. 

What kinds of reactions has the book generated thus far?

Very positive. Indeed, this is a second edition. The first, published by Ten Speed Press, sold 15,000 copies. Book clubs and Bible study groups often use it to prepare a biblical meal. 

What's the main message that you'd like readers to take away from it?

Returning to a simpler lifestyle, and to a diet based upon seasonal ingredients available locally, is the most spiritually satisfying.

  

What’s next for you?

I am at present putting the finishing touches on my 10^tth book, Mint Tea and Minarets, a memoir of Morocco with recipes

  

Any final thoughts you'd like to share?

This lovely verse:

Be not forgetful to entertain strangers for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.

Hebrews 13:2

How can our readers learn more about you and contact you directly?

Please post a message on my website, http://www.Kittymorse.com .  I answer my messages and I love to get feedback. 

You can also visit   A Biblical Feast   or purchase here on   Amazon

** This is a wonderful book for a gift or for your own kitchen's cookbook collection!  I bought two copies for Christmas gifts and I have my copy displayed prominently on my kitchen counter!

Deborah is the author of a Christian non-fiction book titled “Mission Possible”.  It is written for women who love the Lord Jesus, but their spouse doesn’t share their passion.  It will encourage and challenge the reader to embrace God’s promises for their spouse and future together.  Visit

http://www.spirituallyunevenmarriage.com

Guest Author Kitty Morse and her book "A Biblical Feast"

Book Showcase - Christmas Belles of Georgia by Rose McCauley

Rose’s Thanksgiving Week Giveaway!

Rose McCauley is so thankful to have her first fiction book pubbed—Christmas Belles of Georgia—that she is doing a giveaway of the e-cookbook Novel Morsels to anyone who orders Christmas Belles of Georgia from Amazon November 23-27th.

Novel Morsels is a cookbook compiled by Nicole O’Dell with over 100 recipes from books written by 65 authors. This book will soon be listed on Amazon at $2.99 a copy. But this week you can receive it free by ordering a copy of Christmas Belles of Georgia on Amazon, then going to Rose’s Blog at http://www.Rosemccauley.blogspot.com  where you will find out how to contact her by email to give her your Amazon order code and receive the code for the free copy of Novel Morsels.

So hurry on over to Amazon.com  and order a copy or two or three of Christmas Belles of Georgia (they make lovely Christmas gifts!) and then get a free gift for yourself. You will have lots of recipes to try out in the coming months and can read about some more great books! And right now Amazon is having a special deal if you buy 3 books under $10 you get one free!

It’s a win/win deal! You can do your shopping with a couple clicks and not have to battle all the crowds!

To whet your appetite I am including my version of my Southern-style dressing copied from the book.

Recipe Title: Best Dressing Recipe Ever! 

Book info: Christmas Belles of Georgia, Barbour Publishing, 2011. My novella is entitled Nick’s Christmas Carol.

Recipe: Start early in the morning (or can do the night before): cook 2 Jiffy cornbread mixes per package instructions in a 13x9 pan at 400 degrees until done. (15-20 min.) Let cool then crumble into bite-sized pieces. (I cut into 1 in. squares in pan and then crumble it up.) Toast 12 slices bread (I like whole wheat but have used white) cool, then pulse in the food processor until tiny crumbs. Pour breadcrumb mixture on top of crumbled corn bread.

Next (or next day after you get the turkey in the oven) prepare turkey broth by cooking the giblets in 4-6 cups of water or use 4 chicken bouillon cubes in water or prepared chicken stock. Use food processor to chop one medium onion, then 3 or 4 stalks of celery. Place skillet on top of stove on medium and melt one stick of margarine, then add 1 pound pork sausage and cook, chopping it into small pieces with spatula. To this mixture add the celery and onion and cook together.

To the 13x9 pan with cornbread and bread mixture add 1 t. pepper, 1 t. sage, 1 t. poultry seasoning and mix throughout. Then pour everything in the skillet on top and blend together in pan. Then pour 2 cups of the broth over this, adding more broth ½ cup at a time until it forms a stiff dough. It can now be cooked in a couple buttered baking dishes for 20-25  min. at 350 degrees if you prefer your dressing soft. My husband’s mother always made dressing balls, so if you wish to do that you can roll the mixture into balls or I scoop it with a buttered ¼ cup measuring cup and place the humps into a buttered dish and cook at 350 for 25 minutes. This recipe will make 28- ¼ cup balls which should serve around 14 guests.

Blurb: The hero’s aunt who raised him makes this recipe for Thanksgiving dinner each year. She lives in Atlanta, Georgia, so is a great southern cook. This is also the recipe I make for my Thanksgiving dinner each year. It is a several-steps process, but well-worth the effort—just ask my kids who don’t like anyone else's dressing as much as mine! I got the basic recipe from the cooks at the school where I taught for two years in South Carolina and have gradually tweaked it to make it my own.

Rose McCauley is a Christian author and speaker. Her experiences as a public school teacher, Sunday school teacher, Girl Scout leader, MOPS mentor and Moppet worker, scrapbooker, wife, Mom and Grandmother give Rose a wide field of ministry to women.

Rose has been happily married for almost 43 years to her college sweetheart. They have lived and raised their family of two daughters and a son on a farm of rolling hills in the Bluegrass region of Kentucky where their neighbors tease them that their cows must have legs shorter on one side from walking around the hills. Their family is growing with the addition of a two sons-in-law, a daughter-in-law, and three grandchildren who are definitely GRAND!

Deborah is the author of a Christian non-fiction book titled “Mission Possible”.  It is written for women who love the Lord Jesus, but their spouse doesn’t share their passion.  It will encourage and challenge the reader to embrace God’s promises for their spouse and future together. 

http://www.Godmissionpossible.com

Book Showcase - Christmas Belles of Georgia by Rose McCauley