Passover Prep! A Step by Step Guide
What Is Passover? Passover is the first feast that God gave us. It is the first feast that Israel as a nation kept, and it is the first feast of the year. It is a wonderful time to celebrate the victory of Christ Jesus, the victory of salvation and the victory of life that overcomes sin and death. We remove the leavening from our homes symbolizing the removal of sin from our lives. We do this every year as a remembrance so that we never forget Christ’s sacrifice on our behalf. Christ is the Passover and the Lamb of God.
Preparation Takes Effort It can be sometimes difficult to prepare for the Passover, especially if you have to work or your children have to go to school during the week.
Passover Throughout the Generations We have kept the Passover all of our lives. I have wonderful memories of the Passover as a small child, my father telling us the story of Israel’s first Passover, and my parents teaching us about Jesus. When I was very small I was excited and a little worried about the destroying angel coming out again at midnight, but I was glad I was safe at home with my family! : )
Here Are Some Tips! We would like to share with you some practical solutions to help take away the “difficult� part of preparing for Passover and increase the joy and anticipation of this holy week.
Step # 1 If you are like me you have lots of food in your freezer. Buy less bread and breaded items as the time of Passover gets closer. About 3-4 weeks before Passover look through your freezer to find all of the items with leavening. Prepare your meals around these items. Be careful, a lot of prepared meals, frozen dinners etc, have leavening in them. It’s a good time to (ugh) clean the dreaded freezer.
Step # 2 Two or three weeks before Passover check your refrigerator for perishables with leavening. Isolate them on a certain shelf or a container so they can be easily removed, or so you can remember to eat them before Passover. Most brands of turkey bacon have yeast extract.
Step # 3 About a week before Passover check the cabinets, clear away crumbs and isolate in a box all of your non-perishable things like baking powder, baking soda, yeast, cake mixes and bread mixes. Yeast is often found in soup, canned or dry, most bouillon and many prepared foods. And don’t forget to look for leavening in unusual places like cookies in lunch boxes, or in children’s rooms or family rooms. Also keep in mind that baking soda and other leavening ingredients can be found in some tooth paste and cleaning supplies. Check these also.
Step # 4 On the Eve of Passover, all you have to do is toss perishables with leavening (if you didn’t eat them) and store the non-perishables out of the house.
Cooking Ideas Homemade unleavened bread is very easy to make and very yummy! If you have time to cook it fresh every day, good for you, I can’t! We will include a few of our favorite recipes including our communion bread recipe that we only use for communion and not for every day eating, a perfect popover recipe, and a flat bread recipe.
Cooking Ideas If you don’t cook, or simply can only prepare for the convocation days you can find some things in the store. I always buy Matzos. Since there are only two of us at home now one box will do. Always check the label because some of them have leavening in them. They are handy to have to use in place of crackers for tuna salad, lunch meat and cheese or peanut butter, or in place of bread with a meal.
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Cooking Ideas I found Wasa crackers that taste better to me, not as hard as Matzos, though my husband prefers Matzos. My daughter likes Triscuits. Ingredients often change so check the labels. Wheat thins used to be made without leavening but they use it now. It’s hard to find cookies, but I did find coconut macaroons this year, they were so good. I also found éclairs and crème puffs in the freezer section without leavening.
Cooking Ideas Popovers are also a special treat. The batter will last several days in the refrigerator in a covered container. Just bake what you need each day. They are best freshly baked with a little butter and your favorite jam. They can also be used as a soft bread roll with dinner, or cut in half for a little bun; the hole in the middle makes a perfect pocket for things like meatballs or sloppy joe. The flat bread can also be mixed in advanced and wrapped in plastic, stored in the refrigerator just like pie crust or cookie dough.
Cooking Ideas Look through your cookbook for other ideas. I found a recipe for pancakes made with cottage cheese that was really good. You can find recipes for cookies, pound cakes, brownies, sponge and angel food cakes without leavening. Don’t forget that you don’t add leavening to pie crusts.
Cooking Ideas I can’t leave out the good ideas from my church sisters that make Passover more enjoyable. Many of them are very organized, and some have small children and hungry husbands to feed. I hope you have a very happy Passover!
Communion Bread Recipe Communion Bread Recipe 1 stick of butter (room temperature) 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract 1 and 1/4 cups of flour 1/4 cup of honey Combine flour, butter, vanilla extract, honey, cinnamon and nutmeg, stirring by HAND ONLY until everything is mixed together. (NOTE: DO NOT OVER STIR AS THIS WILL CHANGE THE TEXTURE). Form mixture into a soî‚? round ball. (Continue to next slide....)
Communion Bread Recipe Pre heat oven to 350 degrees. Take a 9 1/2 x 13 cookie sheet and spray lightly with non stick cooking spray. Place so� ball mixture in middle of cookie sheet and spread over entire pan. As an OPTION, you can mix together cinnamon and sugar and lightly sprinkle on top of uncooked bread. Poke holes throughout entire bread, using fork. Place bread into preheated oven at 350 degrees and bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until edges are brown like a cookie. Once bread is completely baked, take out of oven. While hot, drizzle a little honey all over bread. Next, cut bread into small squares while it is still hot on cookie sheet. Allow communion bread to cool for 10 minutes before you take o of cookie sheet. Enjoy!
Popover Recipe Basic Popovers 1 large egg, 1 cup of milk or 1/2 milk or water 1/2 tsp of salt 1/2 tsp of oil or melted butter 1 cup of flour, siî„—ed 1 tsp. of sugar (optional) Start oven 10 minutes before baking; set at 450 degrees. Butter a popover pan with 9-12 medium cups or use custard cups, and heat 3-4 minutes in oven. Mix flour, salt, sugar and resiî‚? into mixing bowl. Combine milk, egg and butter, add to flour mixture then beat thoroughly with a rotary beater a minute or two. Batter should be bubbly. Pour batter quickly into the hot pan or cups, half full. Place in hot oven and bake for 15 minutes, then reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake 15 minutes longer. IMPORTANT TIP: Mother Marjorie found the perfect solution to perfect popovers every time. Just run on out to the store and buy aluminum cupcake cups. Spritz with baking spray and use any recipe! Guaranteed perfect! Yummy, enjoy!
Flat Bread Recipe First Unleavened Bread Recipe 3 cups of flour 2 tbsp of oil or butter 3 large eggs 1/2 cup of water or milk 1 tsp of salt Combine dry ingredients. Combine eggs and oil, then beat. Add eggs to flour. Add milk, then beat for 2-3 minutes. Pour into three 8 inch square pans, greased, and bake for 20 minutes in a hot oven (450 degrees).
Special Thanks This presentation was developed from the class entitled “Passover Preparation� by: Evelyn C. Pointer, Elder