MY MONKEY BREAD!

My cousin posted on Face Book a recipe she found for Monkey Bread, after reading it I decided to re-blog my recipe. I state re-blog because I posted this once before on an old blog I use to have. The great thing about Monkey Bread is you can tweak this recipe so many different ways and each will taste great. So if you have never tried making Monkey Bread before or never tried it my way go for it. It's fast, it taste great, it's fun to make and no matter how you do it, you'll never do it wrong.  

MONKEY BREAD

Ingredients:

4 cans refrigerated biscuits
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 1/2 sticks butter (3/4 cup)
1/2 cup white sugar
2 Tablespoons cinnamon
1/2 cup raisins (these are optional, it's great with or without them)

If I use raisins I like to re-hydrate them first by placing them in a pan of boiling water till they plump. Drain from fluid let cool for just a few minutes.

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and grease a 9-10 inch tube pan.

2. Mix white sugar and cinnamon in a medium sized plastic bag. Cut the biscuits into quarters and place six to eight biscuit pieces in the sugar cinnamon mix. Shake well.

3. Arrange pieces in the bottom of the greased pan. Continue layering until all the biscuit pieces are coated and in the pan. If you are using raisins, place them among the biscuit pieces as you are layering.

4. In a small saucepan, melt the butter with the brown sugar over medium heat. Boil for 1 minute. Pour over the layered biscuits.

5. Bake for 35 minutes. Let bread cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a plate.

Black Bread... Staple living Shepherd Style!

... continuous from "Staple Living the Way of the Shepherd" . I love looking at who is reading my Blog. I  can't really see who is reading it, unless you post a comment (I so encourage you to do so).

But, I can see what country the people who have been reading my post are from. The USA, Germany, Canada, France, Ireland, the UK, Scotland, Russia, and some countries I have never even heard of.
IT IS SO COOL! 

I can also see how many times a certain post has been read, letting me know what interest you. Well the post mention above Staple Living the Way of the Shepherd was read the most this last month. Telling me like myself, many of you are trying to find ways to cut your food budget and/or live on what you have in the cupboard. As promised in that post here is my recipe for Black Bread. 

Like most of my recipes  they start out from someone else then because I just can not help myself and because I have to use what is on hand (staples). I change them to make them my own. This recipe started out to be a recipe for Russian Black Bread. I love Russian Black Bread but I am not Russian (not the real reason) and I did not have a lot of the ingredients but needed bread (real reason). This is what I came up with and it tasted GREAT!

Ingredients

4 cups uncooked oat meal
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoon salt
2 cups corn flakes cereal, crushed
2 tablespoons sesame seeds, crushed
2 teaspoons instant coffee, caffeinated or decaf
2 teaspoon onion powder
2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon fennel seed, crushed very fine
2 (1/4 ounce) package active dry yeast
2 large eggs, wiped
2 1/2 cups milk
1/4 cup vinegar
1/2 cup molasses
1 ounce semi sweet or unsweetened chocolate
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 teaspoon corn starch
1/2 cup cold water

Directions

1. Combine in large bowl; flour, oat meal, sugar,salt,corn flakes, sesame seeds, coffee, onion powder, garlic powder, fennel seed, and undissolved yeast.

2. In sauce pan combine milk, vinegar, molasses, chocolate and butter. Heat liquid mixture over low heat until they are very warm (120-130 degrees F), butter and chocolate do not have to melt.

3.Gradually add heated liquid mixture to dry ingredients and beat (with electric mixer) for 2 minutes at medium speed, scarp bowl occasionally. Add wiped eggs, mix till well blended. If mixture is to dry add just enough water to it to form soft sticky dough. Turn dough on to a lightly floured board. Cover with clean towel and let rest for 15 minutes.

4. Knead dough until smooth and elastic (about 10-15 minutes), dough may be sticky. Place dough in greased bowl, turning dough to grease top. Cover bowl with towel and place in a warm, draft free place to rise until double in bulk (about 1 hour).

5. Punch dough down, knead lightly, divide into two balls, place each in a greased bread pan, cover let rise in a warm place until doubles (about 1 hour). Bake at 350 degrees F for about 40-45 minutes, or until done.

6. If you would like, I do not always do this step. Combine cornstarch and cold water. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture starts to boil; continue to cook mixture 1 minute stirring constantly. As soon as the bread is baked, brush cornstarch mixture over the top of each loaf. Return the bread to the oven and bake 2-3 minutes longer, or until glaze is set. Remove loaves from pans and cool on wire racks.

That last step, the one of cooling the bread usually does not happen at our home since everyone knows the best time to eat home made bread is hot out of the oven. YUM, YUM!

Because this bread is basically an all day project, don't think that is all I did. I am a Shepherd I was going back and forth checking sheep and doing chores. Remember I made it originally before lambing season. I would never attempt this recipe during lambing season, but that is OK because this bread freezes well.

Black Bread is a savory bread, great with hearty or light soups, salads, cheeses, with a cup of coffee or tea, or just by it's self. FYI, Instant coffee has been marketed in the USA since 1910. Just thought you would like to know that. Enjoy!  

Hearty Lamb & Barley Soup

The title of this post was not my first choice in titles. The dish we will make will have meat balls in it made from ground lamb. I have to admit the first title that came to mind was,

"Lamb Ball Soup".

 After some serious thought to that title I figured I would loose you before I ever got started. Admit it you were not thinking meat balls when you read that, were you?

So many people when I ask if they like lamb, respond by saying they have never tasted lamb or say they do not like it. Well for those people I always come back with,

 "You need to tasted my lamb before passing judgement."

Since I can not cook for everyone the best I can do is give you advice about how to properly purchase, prepare, cook, and serve lamb. Before jumping in with both feet and making you all experts on the art of lamb cooking, a little history lesson is needed. Both on myself and on lamb.

The first time I was ever served lamb was at my Granddad Hampton's. I was not very old but the memory of that meal is still with me to this day. We were up very early in the morning, see Granddad had a farm and dairy in Eastern Oregon. On top of that it was Summer and that meant hay had to be put up.


Food has always been a very important part of our family gatherings. Granddad believed in feeding the work crew well and the work crew was family, friends and neighbors. That is the way it was on traditional family farms.

This is Granddad Hampton
holding one of my brothers. He loved children.

My young feet awoke at the first touch of the cold wooden floors, as the rest of my body was awaken to the smell of corn meal mush served with fresh rich sweet cream and Granddad's home canned peaches. Fried home grown and raised lamb chops sitting along side baby red potatoes grown in his own garden. Boiled eggs that had been gathered from the hen house that very morning was smothered in sweet butter that us younger children had churned the night before at the foot of Granddad's chair while he read Bible stories to us.

OH how I digress......back to the recipe.

The first key to cooking lamb is to remember is you do not eat the fat of lamb. This does not mean you do not cook the lamb with out it's fat. That would dry the meat out. BUT... the exception to this rule is if you are going to combine the lamb meat with other ingredients such as we are going to do today.

So you will need:

Meat Balls
1 pound lean ground lamb (no fat at all!)
2 T. yellow corn meal
1 large egg
4 oz. finely grated Romano cheese
1 t. salt
1 t. pepper
1 t. garlic powder
1 t. onion powder
1 t. Italian seasoning mix

Work together in bowl by hand till well combined. Using a teaspoon size measuring spoon form small round meat balls. Place in glass baking dish, cover and bake in oven at 375 degrees till done, (about 30 min).

Soup base
2 Lg cans chicken broth
2 cups cooked barley
1/2 C sliced carrots 
3 C chopped fresh spinach
1 t salt
1 t pepper
1 t garlic powder
1 1 onion powder
1 T Italian seasoning

In large kettle put chicken broth, barley, carrots, and seasoning bring to boil. Turn down to simmer, cook till carrots are tender. Add meat balls and spinach continue to cook till spinach is tender (spinach cooks fast, matter of seconds). This is a hearty soup and a full meal onto its self so I usually only add a side dish of warm bread. This is a great introduction to lamb if you have never tasted it before.But... the meat balls can be made with other kinds of meat as well. I enjoy using ground turkey in this recipe. Enjoy!!