Give the Gift of Homestead Recipes

Last Updated on April 25, 2024 by Michelle

Need a great gift idea? Give a gift of homestead recipes.

Birthday gift, hostess gift, wedding gift, or even an NDIP gift (No Day In Particular gifts let someone special know you care about them in a really memorable way)… All are great times to give a gift of homestead recipes. Real food recipes. The good stuff.

I’ll break it down by my current favorite books on this topic, along with great ideas of items to make the pefect gift. Just follow along and make a gift that will be treasured:

• Choose a book–you really can’t go wrong with any one of these.
• Match the book with one of the kitchen necessities I suggest under each book, that pair perfectly with some delicious recipes in the book.
• Add in one of the ingredients that I list near the end of this article, ingredients that the gift recipients will need and love, no matter which of the books you gift them.
• Wrap the items and the book and you’ve just cinched Christmas, or a special birthday, or a hostess gift that will never be forgotten, for any recipient who treasures real food and homestead kind of recipes.

So let’s dive in…

Give a Gift of Homestead Recipes

Whether you’re looking for a gift for someone who is a pro in the kitchen and would always love a fantastic new cookbook or someone who would love the inspiration because she’s intimidated by cooking and baking from scratch, today’s inspiration is for YOU.

These four cookbooks are unique, loaded with amazing tips and tricks for even the seasoned cooking experts, yet practical, using real ingredients that real people have in their kitchens.

Love Language of the South

I just published such an encouraging podcast episode talking with Stacy Lyn Harris about her new cookbook. We had such a great conversation, talking about the Family Table and why it’s so very important today. And I’m in love with this book, y’all.

Pair this gorgeous cookbook–Love Language of the South–with a few utensils and a kitchen towel and the recipient will pretty much think you’re better than sliced bread.

Listen into our fun chat on my podcast here: Simple Doesn’t Mean Easy, episode 101

Or join us via youtube:

A Homestead Recipe Cookbook #1: Sweet Maple

I was elated when I got the news that Sweet Maple is one of only 9 treasured cookbooks that made it into this year’s holiday gift giving catalog of books published by the New England Independent Booksellers Association (NEIBA)… A little catalog of the best books for holiday gifts and winter reading…

Seriously, pinch me… I’m showcased right below the Joy of Cooking! To see the full catalog go right here.

What would be a great gift to pair up with Sweet Maple?

• Give this 14″ cast iron pizza pan with Sweet Maple, or this one,(aff link) and the recipient may make delicious giant candy cookies, as seen on page 76, all the time (not to mention the amazing pizzas they’ll make as well).
• Go all out with a gift that will make every single thing they bake more nutritious and all-natural–a grain mill that they quite possibly will use (and love) every single day. I love my Harvest Grain Mill from Nutrimill. (In fact, it’s pictured on p. 34 of Sweet Maple.)
• Wrap a potential pie gift, including a jar of syrup and this amazing pie plate (aff link) or any of these with a copy of Sweet Maple. Then point the recipient to my favorite pie recipe of all time, the Maple Blueberry Pie on page 122 of the book.
• Include a gift certificate to my favorite nursery–Nature Hills–for a lilac tree. I planted three Bloomerang Lilacs in the fall last year. They shipped right to my front porch, and I had blooms next spring for making lilac syrup. (Find my recipe on page 154.)
• Or, if you’re getting this book as a gift for a backyard sugarmaker, add any sugarmaking equipment I recommend here as a perfect accompaniment to the book. They will LOVE you.

A Homestead Recipe Cookbook #2: The Prairie Homestead Cookbook

Okay, it’s no secret that Jill is a friend of mine, and I love working with her as a member of The Prairie Homestead team. (Here’s the latest article I’ve written over there about how to flavor DIY kombucha.) But I’d be recommending her cookbook in this post even if I’d never met her. Because this cookbook is the best I’ve ever read. Seriously.

What would be a great gift to pair up with The Prairie Homestead Cookbook?

If you want to give The Prairie Homestead Cookbook (aff link) as part of a show-stopping gift that will be treasured, pair it up with one of these great items that are inspired by the book:

• This awesome pasta maker from Lehmans is perfect for making Jill’s fresh pasta with pesto cream sauce (on page 81).
• This gorgeous dutch oven (aff link) is perfect for making Jill’s farmhouse beef stew (see page 108 of Jill’s cookbook for that deliciousness), nourishing homemade stock (page 236), and her simple roast chicken (page 54).
• Or wrap Jill’s book–which includes detailed instructions for making DIY vanilla extract on page 261–with these vanilla beans and these bottles, (aff links) and the recipient will have all they need to make homemade vanilla extract to use in all the new cooking they’ll be diving into thanks to this gorgeous, inspiring cookbook. (aff link)

A Homestead Recipe Cookbook #3: Stacy Lyn’s Harvest Cookbook

Stacy Lyn Harris, TV personality and best-selling author, is another inspiring friend of mine who can cook rings around anyone I know in the kitchen. In fact, I shared Stacy’s herb balsamic vinaigrette right here.

What would be a great gift to pair up with Stacy Lyn’s Harvest Cookbook?

If you’d like to make a gift-to-remember, I’d combine Stacy Lyn’s Harvest Cookbook (aff link) with one of these great items:

• So the gift recipient can make perfect Sage buttermilk waffles (page 267 in Stacy’s cookbook), wrap the cookbook with this awesome cast iron waffle maker (seriously, Lehmans has the biggest selection of cast iron I’ve ever seen) or this more traditional waffle maker, (aff link) if that’s more their style.
• Pair up Stacy’s cookbook with this awesome meat grinder (aff link) and the recipient will be making delicious sausage–from pork (p. 194) to Italian venison (p. 233) to wonderful breakfast sausage (p. 235). Or, if the recipient would rather have a meat grinder more like grandma’s, Lehman’s sells many options, like this hand-powered meat grinder.)
• Give this innovative sauce pan (aff link)–with a lid that doubles as a skillet!–along with Stacy’s book. By the way, I talked with Stacy to find out exactly what pan this was that I fell in love with on the pages of her cookbook. I found out it happens to be one of Stacy’s favorites in her kitchen (and that’s saying a lot. This lady knows her cook ware and has enough for an army!) In her book, you’ll find the innovative pan/skillet combo on page 85, with her creamy sweet potato soup, and page 101, serving up her heirloom black-eyed peas.
• Include a stoneware cookie sheet (aff link) with Stacy’s cookbook, and folks will have the perfect pan to cook the bacon needed for the eggs benedict on page 180 and Stacy’s loaded baked fries on page 90. My stoneware cookie sheet is my go-to tray for cooking my bacon in the oven. Set it to 350 and it’s done in about 20 minutes. No flipping. No turning. No attention required whatsoever. But I also love my pan for baked french fries, cookies, and pizza.

Ingredients you could include in your gift of homestead recipes

While one of these maple-inspired shirts or sweatshirts would be an awesome addition to your gift of homestead recipes, so would these ingredients…

It probably won’t come as a surprise to you when I suggest you include some wonderful all-natural sugars with your gift of homestead recipes, now would it? Add some of these wonderful sweeteners and, well, your gift of homestead recipes will be very sweet indeed.

• Include a jar of all-natural maple syrup, because the recipient can experiment with substituting all-natural maple syrup in any and every recipe in place of refined.
• Print off the conversion chart right here, so they have everything they need to cook their recipes successfully. Without refined sugar.
• I always recommend buying your honey locally, if possible, but this amazing Tupelo honey can only be harvested in this little southern corner of the U.S. And these folks right here make the most gorgeous Tupelo honey you will ever taste. It’s perfect to slather over a piece of my Maple Sandwich Bread (p. 28 in Sweet Maple) or to serve with my Maple Biscuits (p. 31 in Sweet Maple).
• If you’re giving the honey as an ingredient for the recipes, wildflower honey like this is perfect–whether it’s for my Maple Bread, or Jill’s baked peaches with honey & almonds (p.152, The Prairie Homestead Cookbook), or Stacy’s Honey Butter Sauce to use over waffles, pound cakes, or ice cream (p. 151, Stacy Lyn’s Harvest Cookbook).
• Add in a bag of one of my favorite sugars to bake with. It is so deliciously, all-naturally sweet but doesn’t raise your glucose level when you enjoy it… amazing, right? (See my Complete Guide to Sugars here for more info.)

 

More articles you’ll enjoy

Why you should grind your own flour

How to bake with lard (& why you should)

Everything you need to know about duck eggs

How to make maple cream

 

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And have you tried my a-MAAHZ-ing Maple Sugar Cookie recipe that’s in my Resource Library?