Hi! First off my wife Sarah and I wish to thank everyone that has purchased our stories thus far. We are both humbled, happy and amazed at the response. We fully intend to deliver the best stories we possibly can and also have some great recipes for you. To date there are two stories, “Volume 1-TheEpiphany” and “Volume 2- Forgiveness”, in the series we have started called “Amish Paradise”.

The name comes from where I lived, a bit of a play on words let us say. I grew up on a farm on Paradise Lane right off of Route 741 in what most people would call Lancaster, Pa. but really for those of us that got mail delivered there it is Ronks. The Strasburg Railroad is right down the street from us and the trains would go by our farm all day filled with kids of all ages wanting to experience the great steam engines and get a glimpse of the Amish life. People that enjoy railroads and train modeling are like that, kids no matter what age.

I often wondered while I was doing my chores what it would be like on the other side, what my life would and could be like as an outsider, not in Plain clothes. When I got my chance, I chose to stay out but have held onto many of the ideals and core beliefs my family instilled in me. It is part of who I am and what I choose to do. My wife Sarah is not from an Amish Family but once she met everybody she finally got to understand “me” and really got to see what helped make me tick. Where my thought process came from and where I got my work ethic.

The stories in our series are steeped in reality. I got permission from my little but bigger brother to fictionalize his life so he could be an example to others. Hoping that they will not make the mistakes he made, instead hoping they see that living with open eyes, mind and heart they will live a much fuller life and gain the grace and peace they seek with their Maker.  

There will be a total of 12 installments in our series. The next one we hope to have out before month’s end or the first week in April is called: “Volume 3-Atonement”. We feel this is going to be a fantastic bridge to “Volume 4-Giving”.

Please join us on the journey. Feel free to find us on our Goodreads Page:

  http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5774829.Isaac_Martin

You can also find us on Facebook and Twitter, we are just getting started there and hopefully this weekend we will have our own blog up.

Here is a recipe for you, we were going to put it in “Volume 3- Atonement” but we have a ton of recipes, so enjoy:

Breaded Baked Beautiful Ravioli   

    Water and a bowl

    2 cup bread crumbs

    2 teaspoon dried oregano

    2 teaspoon dried basil

    1/2 garlic powder

    Pinch of salt

   Pinch of Pepper

    6 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese

    1 (64 ounce) package cheese ravioli, frozen

    cooking spray

Directions

  - Preheat an oven to 325 degrees.  Wait did I just write 325 degrees? Yes- I do not like my ravioli to explode or pop open, I want all the cheese I paid for to stay in there. Keep it low and slow, no need to nuke them and have a mess. 

- Mix bread crumbs, oregano, basil, salt, pepper and Parmesan cheese in a large bowl. Whisk the ingredients together,  mix them all up. The whisking is key, gets everything married together. . Then fill a bowl with cold water to dip the frozen little wonders in.

    Dip each ravioli in the water, and then toss it into the breading mixture, and roll it in the bread crumb mixture. I cheat here: I use a big spoon to move the ravioli’s around and get as much breading on them as possible keeping my hand clean. One hand in the water, one hand in the breading: One hand knows what the other is doing, hahaha. I do this in batches of ten, there are generally 50 or so ravioli’s in a bag this size. I have already sprayed cookie sheets with the non-stick cooking spray, so I put them right on there.

Bake breaded ravioli in preheated oven until golden brown and crispy, 15 to 25 minutes.

My wife usually makes her spaghetti sauce so that it can be used for dipping. We usually have a nice salad with this and some great bread; it makes for a nice leisurely dinner without much effort. Start to finish prep time is maybe 30 minutes tops.