Gather Together
Recipes and Reflections to Inspire Faith and Friendship around the Table
by Catherine Fowler Sample
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Pub Date Nov 20 2020 | Archive Date Jan 12 2021
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Description
“For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them,” Jesus said in Matthew 18:20.
“Making food and giving someone your undivided attention as you share what you’ve prepared elevates an act of love to a spiritual practice,” says Catherine Fowler Sample, writer and producer of the popular film The Dating Project. In Gather Together, she encourages you to get together with others to explore your faith and deepen your relationship with God and each other.
Fowler Sample offers more than forty recipes along with a dozen reflections on faith, friendship, and community for Catholics who crave authentic connection, fun gatherings, and good food.
Primarily aimed at young adults but great for Catholics of any age, Gather Together supports your faith and fellowship and encourages you to connect with family, friends, or fellow parishioners. The spiritual reflections and seasonal recipes will help you build the community you need in your life.
Fowler Sample shares her experiences of learning to trust in God’s providence, getting to know herself, and discovering how to offer support and receive encouragement within your life in thoughtful, heartfelt reflections. While these reflections get real about the challenges of building community, you’ll also see the sweet and savory rewards of this holy work. Each month has a suggested theme for a gathering, along with reflections, a prayer, and conversation starters to help your gatherings get off to a perfect start. There are recipes for each month’s theme with various courses that you can create and share. The dishes come from classics with a modern twist, traditional family favorites, and originals from Fowler Sample’s kitchen. For example, in January, you can ponder the wisdom of St. Clare of Assisi over Italian soup; and June encourages peace over perfection, as you bake imperfect sweet-potato fries and toss together a steak cobb salad.
The starters, entrées, side dishes, and desserts in this collection also offer suggestions for vegetarian, gluten-free, or lactose-free eating. Fowler Sample’s recipes appeal to both the new cook and the seasoned chef and include shortcuts for dishes and suggestions for sharing meal prep with others.
A Note From the Publisher
Fowler Sample earned a bachelor’s degree in communication studies with an emphasis on film and electronic arts from California State University Long Beach.
Advance Praise
“A recipe to follow on Christ’s commandment to love one another.”
Rev. Leo E. Patalinghug
International speaker, author, and creator of the Food and Faith Movement
“Catherine Fowler Sample serves up story after story highlighting the blessed necessity of gathering around the table and removes virtually every obstacle to it by providing twelve full-blown menus with easy-to-follow recipes. Each chapter offers you bite-sized spiritual morsels that will whet your appetite for more of God and for more connection with those you love around the table.”
Jeff Young
Founder and producer of The Catholic Foodie blog and podcast
“Gather Together warmly celebrates the reality that nurturing our souls in community is as necessary as nourishing our bodies at mealtime. Catherine Fowler Sample’s recipes are written as a warm, approachable invitation to make good use of the gifts we’ve been given, and her stories draw us into a modern take on an age-old truth: to gather as a community is essential, to be together in the Lord is to thrive. The book is intentional, purposeful, and fruitful in more ways than one.”
Lindsay Schlegel
Author of Don’t Forget to Say Thank You
“I love this book because it’s filled with wonderful stories, easy and delicious recipes, and the perfect template for how to build friendships and community around a good meal.”
Katie Prejean McGrady
International Catholic speaker, author, and host of the Ave Explores podcast
Available Editions
| EDITION | Paperback |
| ISBN | 9781594719714 |
| PRICE | $17.95 (USD) |
Available on NetGalley
Featured Reviews
Librarian 710080
Love the blend of faith and food. Beautifully written with lots of recipes, hosting and entertaining ideas makes this the only book you really need to be the hostess with the mostess!
Karen M, Reviewer
“Gather Together” by Catherine Fowler Sample is the perfect mix of devotions, prayers, personal stories, and recipes revolving around the blessing of fellowship. The book of 12 chapters each have topics related to different life seasons the author experienced that we all can relate to. The stories are entertaining. The recipes are mouthwatering and easy to follow. (I cannot wait to try the Gingersnaps, I’ve never made them from scratch.) The prayers are beautifully written, and the prompts for conversation are personally eye opening.
As our world currently tries to handle not being able to gather normally, this book is bittersweet, but also gives us hope and ideas of spending time with others yet again.
#netgalley
#gathertogether
Angela W, Reviewer
This book was a wonderful blend of faith, recipes and advise. I really enjoyed it. And the recipes were delicious!
Gretchen G, Reviewer
First of all, let me be clear that "Gather Together" is a book about community and faith from a Catholic perspective. As a Protestant, I still enjoyed the book. I found the quotes to still be inspiring. But this may not be the book for you if you are not looking for religious truth.
This book is perfect if you want to have more purpose in your get togethers. There are twelve chapters in the book. Each chapter includes a themed devotional, and the words of encouragement are followed by recipes that fit a theme as well. The goal is to have company over once a month for a gathering along the theme. The menus are seasonal in nature.
I enjoyed the author's writing style. Overall I felt that her devotions were easy to read. I liked how the recipes were planned with the chapter theme in mind. Because of the monthly set-up, I do think that readers could be inspired to entertain more.
If you are wanting to try the recipes, I think the paperback might be the way to go. In my opinion. Flipping back and forth in a kindle is challenging to use recipes. Yet I am not convinced that a devotional paperback will work well in a kitchen - I do not think it will withstand wear.. The illustrations, while lovely, are not what I want in a cookbook. I want pictures of prepared food. A few of the instructions were very detailed which is helpful. But because there was not necessarily one recipe per page or even on a two page spread, trying to create the recipes is a bit more challenging. These are the factors that resulted in me giving this book a four star rating.
I have only tried one recipe so far: the flourless chocolate cake. My daughter helped me to make it. The directions were straight forward and easy to follow. I liked the fact that the dessert could be gluten free, but a new container of cocoa should probably be used if that is the case. My husband, daughter and I really liked the cake. For my three sons, it was a bit on the rich side. Because it is more decadent, the cake could be served in smaller pieces. This could definitely become a go-to cake for me.
From every chapter, this is the recipe that intrigued me the most. I may update this review later if I do try more of the recipes. Again I did like the one recipe that I tried.
Cannoli Bites
Short Ribs in Tomato Sauce with pappardelle Pasta
Spicy Shrimp Tacos with Sriracha Crema
Hot Cross Buns
Scones with Blackberry Butter
Nutella Banana Bread
Charcuterie and Cheese Board (specific instructions on how select items)
Honey-Curried Chicken
Butternut Squash Soup (and the Maple Vinaigrette)
Arugula Cranberry Orange Salad
Three Pizza Styles (for a cookie exchange)
Now I am definitely hungry - how about you?
Thanks to Ave Maria Press and NetGalley for letting me read this book. All opinions are my own.
Courtney B, Reviewer
This cookbook is amazing!
I have not had a chance to make all the recipes, but the ones I have made are yummy and amazing. I love the moments of inspiration, the moments of reflection and little tidbits of conversational material scattered throughout the book.
Definitely a cookbook I'll be gifting for homecomings and house warmings.
Michelle C, Reviewer
Gather Together by Catherine Fowler Sample is a beautiful approach to gathering meaningfully. Part devotional and part cookbook, this book is an invitation to slow down and meaningfully approach this part of life with reverence. Written from a Catholic perspective, I still enjoyed this book as a Protestant. I think people of all ages would enjoy this book. It is a delight. I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher with no obligations. These opinions are entirely my own.
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