I love Gooseberry Patch! I'm a latecomer to these wonderful cookooks, which are both beautiful to look at and have failsafe, simple but tasty recipes that, like Taste of Home, are sent in by real readers. Papa Bear bought me some a few months ago as a surprise gift and since then, we've had so many delicious meals made from Gooseberry Patch recipes that he's continued to surprise me with the cookbooks so that by now, I have quite a wee library of them! Each one is full of wonderful recipes and so far I have not found a single duplication. They're lovely just to read and to inspire me - but they also really do have recipes that work! We've enjoyed eating everything I've cooked from them so far.
I was really pleased to discover that on YouTube you can view demonstrations of some of the recipes actually being created by Vickie and Jo Ann, the two friends who are behind the whole Gooseberry patch concept, so I thought I would share some of them with you today!
These are all recipes that we would certainly eat ourselves - and in fact we've already enjoyed the Chicken Casserole Supreme, that you can see below:-
It really was a delicious as it looks - and very easy to make. I used leftover chicken for the roast meal we had eaten on Sunday.
I think this corn pudding dish would be very good with baked ham or gammon, and a side dish of mushy peas.
This mac and cheese dish also looks very yummy, and so easy too. We also enjoy mac and cheese with gammon, or just as it comes, with some green vegetables.
Finally, what about this hasbrown casserole? I already make something quite similar to this, but I like the added veggies in this recipe - it's a one dish meal that wouldn't need anything else to go with it.
If you like the look of these dishes there are many more on YouTube, and the website (link given above) also has many, many more to browse. But best of all are definitely the actual cookbooks! They are so beautiful to look at, with lovely hand drawn illustrations and so attractively designed. The ones that I have are spiral bound, so the pages stay open when you are using them (though if I'm really honest, I think they are so beautiful that I won't take them into the kitchen with me, and have to write out the recipe I'm going to use by hand, so I don't have to mess up my lovely book)! They just make me feel happy and cosy to look at them, and they are full of lovely reminiscenses and inspiring tips as well that are also sent in by readers.
I'm so grateful to my wonderful husband for introducing me to these lovely books - and for spoiling me with so many to enjoy! I think we're going to be eating well for a very long time, thanks to you, Papa Bear!
