If you liked Rae's earlier book, A Prairie Kitchen, you'll find another equally delightful slice of history in Hearts and Homes. Her research into the foods, families and lifestyles of the people who farmed the Heartland from 1895-1939 makes for a fascinating mixture. You'll find delicious recipes (just like Grandma used to make!) plus gain new inspiration from the challenges these dedicated cooks faced in feeding their families during the scarcity of the war years and the Great Depression.

Developing recipes and sharing the results has been a lifelong vocation for Rae Katherine Eighmey. Today her kitchen library has thousands of recipes from 19th and 20th century cookbooks and pioneers' journals and magazines. It is her goal to make them easy for today's cooks to make in their own kitchens, and she has adapted hundreds of them for modern cooking methods. She says translating these recipes is part detective story, part chemistry and part old-fashioned cooking skill.