Category Archives: In my kitchen

recipes, tips,and knowledge gleaned over years of preparing thousands of meals

Manna bread…….sent from heaven

Posted on 06/26/2013 | 3 comments

While reading through my Bible, I came across the instance in Exodus where it talked about Manna. i had to wonder “What is manna?” A google search quickly informed me that manna is about the most perfect bread on the planet. It is simple, nutritious, and delicious and has been the original form of bread for many people for thousands of years.

Traditionally this sprouted bread was made by grinding berry roots between two rocks and laid to bake in the sun. Todays bread is produced with the same two simple ingredients – whole sprouted grain berries and water. The grinding and baking are done in a slightly more modernized way but the concept is the same.

Instructions for making manna bread

Purchase some organic whole grain wheat berries. You will need 2 cups unsprouted for one loaf of bread.

Rinse the beans and place in a mason jar. Attach a panty hose over the top with a rubber band so that you can easily drain the berries over the next few days. Fill the jar with water and let soak overnight.

Drain in the morning and rinse the berries twice a day for the next 3-4 days.

Be sure to rinse them thoroughly to prevent any spoilage from the berries being matted and not rinsed properly.

I set mine upside down in a bread pan lined with a towel, to make sure all the liquid empties out.

After 3-4 days you will notice the berries have sprouted. You want them to sprout about the length of the berry and be sweet to the taste before grinding.

Place them in your food processor and grind them into a paste. Add a tad bit of water as needed.

You will have a thick paste when you are finished.

Mold the mixture into flat loaves and place in a greased pan.

You will be baking it for about 3-4 hours at a low temperature 160-250 degrees depending upon how low your oven goes.

We are still cooking in the roaster oven and have been successful at making this bread in it. It will start to brown when finished.

Let cool and place in sealed plastic bags. Refrigerate or freeze if intending to keep for more than 3-4 days. The texture is like that of a muffin. You can top it with honey, fruit, or seeds. A delicious, very basic bread.

3 Comments

Posted in breads, In my kitchen

Tagged breads, kitchen

Mexican grill cheese

Posted on 06/26/2013 | 5 comments

This is a super fast, healthy lunch that we make quite frequently around here. You can add a variety of different fillings like chicken, leftover roast, beef, anything you may have on hand. We make it plain and simple.

You will need the following:

refried beans
cheese
whole wheat tortillas

Spread refried beans onto a tortilla and top with cheese. Place another tortilla to make a sandwich.

Place on griddle and fry till crispy Yummy, easy, quick, delicious lunch

5 Comments

Posted in In my kitchen, sandwiches

Tagged kitchen, sandwiches

Pistachio cake in roaster oven

Posted on 06/25/2013 | 8 comments

Have you ever needed to bake something and you went and turned on your oven only to find that it would not work? Not a good thing, this happened to me recently and I didn’t want to waste the cake mix I had mixed up. I knew I had a roaster oven but had never baked in it before, so I thought I would give it a try. Do you know it worked exactly like an oven would?

After looking up the manual online, I realized that they even recommend baking baked goods inside of it. What a great thing to know especially with the summer being so hot and not wanting to heat up the house. Give it a try sometime. Or remember that you can use it, if your oven ever fails.

This is a great tasting cake that we love to make up. Keep it stored in the refrigerator and it will stay moist for a long time.

Place the following in your mixer bowl

1 pkg white cake mix
3 eggs
1 pkg instant pistachio pudding
1 c oil
1 c ginger ale

Mix on low 1 min. Then beat med- high for 2 min.

Pour into a greased 9×13 pan.

If you have a “regular oven” you can bake it at 350 for 30 minutes. But we are going to use the roaster oven.

I would keep the rack inside of it, so that your pan isn’t sitting directly on the roaster oven. Let the heat circulate a little.

Place the cake pan inside the roaster and place the lid on it. Be careful not to lift the lid except when near the time it should be done, otherwise all your heat is lost quickly and it will affect your baking items.

After the 30 minutes it looks like this.

After it has cooled completely mix up the following:

2 pkg instant pistachio pudding mix
2 c milk
1- 8 oz cool whip

Beat on medium until well mixed. Spread on cake. Refrigerate until set.

8 Comments

Posted in desserts, In my kitchen

Tagged cake, desserts, kitchen, roaster oven

Iced coffee drink similar to Starbucks frappuccinos

Posted on 06/24/2013 | 5 comments

I love coffee. I love buying the Starbucks coffee drinks in the stores, but they get costly. My husband is so wonderful to bless me with a “real” Starbucks Frappuccino almost every weekend. But being a frugal girl who likes to make her own things, I figured there had to be a way to make this coffee drink. There is.

After many recipes, tried and true, nothing comes close to the taste that this makes. I love it and will choose this homemade drink over a real Starbucks store Frappuccino anyday.

Try it, definitely worth your time to make it, I promise tastes just like the jar Frapps.

First choose your choice of coffee. Since I wanted mine to taste like Starbucks that is the coffee brand I chose. You choose your favorite. I like the Espresso roast, as I drink these for an extra kick of energy half way through my day.

Pour the coffee grounds into a large plastic container. My container size is 6 quarts.

Then fill your container with about 1 1/2 gallons of water.

Carefully stir the mixture so that your coffee grounds get covered. Nice and muddy looking Cover your container and let it sit for about 10 hours or overnight This is what you will have after that time…..the same muddy looking messNow we need to strain out the coffee grounds from the liquid. Line a smalll mesh sieve with paper towels. Pour the liquid through the sieve straining out the grounds.
After you are all done straining out the grounds, you are left with your coffee base. I keep this in my refrigerator and it lasts me about a month until I need to make some more. Time to make a nice size glass for me and hubby. Fill your jars or cups with about this much coffee base. Then you add sugar. Yes I know it is bad for you. We use the raw sugar for everything else in our home, but it does not dissolve in cold coffee, thus the need for granulated sugar For the size jar I make I add at least 6-8 Tablespoons of sugar, sounds like a lot, go check how much sugar is in a jar of this stuff. If you do not add enough sugar, the taste is ruined, don’t jip yourself go for it and then scale back later on. Add some milk, I use the fat free version, you can use whatever you have. You need to add about 3 times the amount of milk as coffee base. Add some ice cubes and give it a good stir.