Cookbook

Beautifully illustrated with gorgeous color nature photography of Snug Hollow’s flora and fauna, as well as Barbara’s bounteous kitchen, Hot Food & Warm Memories is a 123-page treasure that includes the author’s inspiring insights along with her best-loved recipes.

View Four pages from Hot Food & Warm Memories cookbook

Book Review by: Johanna Riddle

Truly nourishing food—the kind that feeds the body, the eye, and the spirit, is a seamless mix of artistry and passion, history and home. No one exemplifies this more clearly than does Barbara Napier, author of Hot Food & Warm Memories. Barbara’s life and work as the owner and Innkeeper of Snug Hollow Farm Bed and Breakfast, located near Berea, Kentucky, is inspiration for this beautiful volume.

She welcomes you into her world through her kitchen door, where she is as likely to share her thoughts on gardening and family as she is to reveal her intuitive measuring techniques or to philosophize about canning. At the heart and soul of her book is a repertoire of organically grown, vegetarian recipes that manifest her culinary credo: “Cooking is not a chore, but a daily meditation. It is a joy for me, and a gift to my guests.”

The pages of her cookbook roll out a delectable selection, pulled from family archives (Dad’s Old Fashioned Apple Stack Cake), and guest favorites like Eggplant Parmesan (“I can’t remember anyone leaving a bite on the plate.”) Many recipes‐‐Scalloped Potatoes, Stuffed Bell Peppers, and Summer Melon Soup—are based on what happens to be ready for harvesting in the garden. Others—Kentuskan Bean Soup, Apple Dumplings, and Brenda’s Egg Custard—reflect Eastern Kentucky’s deep and bountiful heritage.

Hot Food & Warm Memories…

is as much about the place as it is the food. Breathtaking photographs, practical tidbits, and thoughtful design are inherent. Enthusiastic comments from guests of Snug Hollow Farm are interspersed throughout the pages. The language is warm and informal, the content fresh and inviting, the spin on vegetarian cuisine down home, healthy, and attainable.

It is clear that the author intends for the book and the recipes to be savored. She invites you to take a trip to Snug Hollow Farm through the pages of this delightful cookbook. Set aside a little time to peruse this book. Mull over the recipes. Take in the scenery. You may be inspired to tie on an apron and get out your mixing bowls. You may decide to try out Barbara’s advice on the best type of shovel for turning soil in the garden. Or you may simply enjoy sitting back and soaking in the stories and imagery. Either way, Hot Food & Warm Memories may just leave you with the feeling that you have, at long last, come home. — Linda Romine