Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Homemade convenience mixes

I am trying to be a bit more budget friendly in my grocery bill these days. I stumbled upon these and thought perhaps others may be in the same situation and so I wanted to share. The terrific part is these items are usually the ones I am out of in the pantry when trying to throw together a quick meal, or are a big part of the recipes I use. This makes it easy to have them on hand in "bulk" to use as needed.

Homemade "Cream of" soup mix recipe

2 c. non-fat dry milk
3/4 c. cornstarch
1/4 c. Instant bouillon, prefer low sodium chicken, beef, or vegetable or combination of all three
2 tbsp. dried onion flakes
1 tsp. dried thyme, crushed 1 tsp. dried basil crushed
1 tsp. pepper

Combine all ingredients until well blended. Store in airtight container.

To make soup, use 1/3 cup of dry mix, add 1 1/4 cups of cold water in saucepan. Heat and cook until thickened to desired consistency, add 1 Tbsp. butter for smooth sauce. To use as substitute for cream of mushroom, add desired amount sauted mushrooms. For cream of celery, add sauted chopped celery. The variations are endless so feel free to add ingredients to suite your taste or recipe.



Homemade Chocolate Pudding mix

3/4 C powdered milk
7/8 C cornstarch, (1 C minus 2 T)
1 1/2 C sugar
3/4 C cocoa powder
1/4 tsp salt (generous)

Combine all dry ingredients and store in airtight container.

For pudding, add 2/3 cup of mix to saucepan. Add 2 cups milk, whisk well to combine. Heat to a boil, reduce heat, continue cooking until thickened. Pour into serving dishes and cool.



Homemade onion soup mix

1 1/2 cups dried minced onion
2/3 cup beef bouillion granules
2/3 cup onion powder--not onion salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar

Combine all ingredients and store in airtight container. Use 4-5 tablespoons of this mix for each envelope of soup mix in a recipe.


Homemade Whole Wheat Baking mix

5 cups unbleached white flour
4 cups whole wheat flour
1-1/2 tablespoons salt
4 tablespoons baking powder
2 cups solid vegetable shortening


Add all dry ingredients in large bowl or mixer. Add shortening and mix until thoroughly combined and resembles coarse crumbs. Store in airtight container. Use mix as instructed for any recipe using that expensive store bought biscuit mix, you know the one I mean..... Only this one is way cheaper and gets the added bonus of whole grains, less sodium, and easy to whip up.

2 comments:

Menopausal New Mom said...

Wow! These are great recipes to have on hand when we don't have the convenient packages on hand. Funny how we have lose the art of cooking from scratch since it's not really that hard.

Thanks for sharing!

Tara said...

wow--I didn't know i could replicate these-thanks!