Mennonite girls serve up more recipes
ABBOTSFORD, BC—Lovella Schellenberg credits God with channeling her desire to pass on a family heritage of traditional Mennonite recipes into two Canadian bestsellers.
"We didn't have a business plan. Whatever God brought our way, we looked at and said, 'Sure, why don't we do that?'" she says.
The second of the two books, Mennonite Girls Can Cook: Celebrations, was released in May by Herald Press. "It's doing better than the first book," Schellenberg says.
In 2008, Schellenberg, who lives in Abbotsford, had the idea to start a blog where she could post her mother's recipes. Nine Mennonite women from British Columbia, Manitoba, and Washington State soon joined her in posting their recipes as well. To date, it has logged more than seven million visitors.
That response led to their first book, Mennonite Girls Can Cook, coming out in 2011, which was also well received. This second volume, with 118 recipes tied to celebrating special events such as family occasions and holidays, builds on that success.
"It's not just a cookbook," Schellenberg says. "We've woven our lives into each page, explaining where we got the recipes from and what they've meant to us. It's a coffee-table book, really."
And despite also containing pages of Christian inspiration, even non-Christians seem to be buying it. "We're thrilled with that," she says, "because God is certainly using it in ways that we couldn't imagine."
Royalties from Celebrations will be given to the Mennonite Central Committee to help provide clean drinking water for communities in Africa.
Schellenberg hopes their story inspires other Christians to step out in faith.
"If you feel like there's something God is nudging you to do, go for it," she says, "because it might be part of a plan far greater than you could ever expect. And you don't want to miss out on some amazing journey that could be waiting for you."
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