The Money Mustache Community
General Discussion => Share Your Badassity => Topic started by: puglogic on July 06, 2015, 09:05:15 PM
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It started off innocently enough: Making our own salsa, guacamole, hot sauce, hummus. They turned out to be a gateway drug to pickles, relish, mayo. My husband looks worriedly into the kitchen when he sees me now making ketchup, beer mustard, hamburger buns, tortillas..... I only wish I had more free time (I work full time) because this stuff tastes SO much better than the stuff you get in the store, and doesn't have the chemical/preservative load, the trans fats, etc. Just have to make sure I keep a steady supply of jars and bags.
Does anybody else go over and above in the kitchen to make some of your own edible stuff? Care to share your favorite? (yes, you'll be enabling me...that's okay...I can quit any time I want, honest....) :)
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Yup. And more power to you! You name a kitchen thing, there is a good chance we DIY it. You're not alone.
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There are quite a few of us on the boards :)
My latest experiment has been lacto-fermenting. Just made a killer batch of Kimchi.
I have to actually think about it as some many things have just become second nature. Ohh...those fancy jars of green peppercorns? Super easy to buy the green peppercorns in bulk and make your own solution to rehydrate them. Then peppercorn gravy and pan sauces are a snap and those little tiny jars sell for big $$$.
Oh preserved lemons are another dead easy one and makes almost everything taste better.
I make my own tintures, tea blends and oxymels.
Not so much kitchen related but bug spray, sunscreen, soap....
Will have to keep this thread in mind, so much of it is just automatic I don't really stop to think people don't ususally make this kinda stuff.
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Nice job with the healthier and cheaper options! It's probably more rewarding time spent than watching some reality trash TV, so win/win.
I find that you can make some stuff much more cheaply than you can buy it (like sauerkraut). And other stuff the yield really isn't there (like pickles). I also limit the amount of stuff I DIY by having more pedestrian tastes. I don't even know what tintures or oxymels are, and I don't drink tea :)
The breads can be a saver too. But we don't eat a lot of that stuff. We mostly eat meals made from whole ingredients, with only some chopping and cooking involved.
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Love kitchen science experiments! Have you tried making yogurt? You can get it ready in the evening and let it ferment overnight.
Homemade wine? That is our favorite DIY by far and also quite popular with others.
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We've made yogurt in the past and need to get back on it. My favorite thing last year was making chevre (goat cheese). We were trading for goat milk by the gallon, and we made endless little logs of goat cheese and put them in the freezer. I can't wait to find another deal like that.
Coolest new thing this year was this recipe, which I can't try for another few weeks, but am looking forward to: http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/pickled-garlic-scapes-make-ahead-monday/
I'm also hunting for teeny-tiny red beets to make into spicy pickled beets. McCutcheon's has these Spicy Beet Balls that are so freaking good it's not even funny....for an anti-Mustachian $7.00/jar. No thanks.
Swick, do you have a personal favorite recipe for Kimchi? I've never made it but I have a big crock for lacto-fermenting and would like to give it a shot.
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Making yogurt is awesome. Making Greek yogurt, even from inexpensive store-bought yogurt, is the lowest-hanging fruit imaginable. The recipes for no-knead bread are also fun, and a project based on benign neglect.
My weekend project will be making strawberry jam, because it's the end of the season which means the flats of "jam quality" berries are cheap at the market. Nothing is more happy-making than opening the fridge and seeing a jar of bright-red jam!
The thing I haven't tried yet is roasting my own coffee. It's apparently very achievable with a hot-air popcorn popper, a strainer and a Ninja blender, all of which I have! But this will require experimentation and patience, and a team of samplers. I may give it a go for Thanksgiving dinner, so the family can offset their food comas with caffeine!
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I'm also hunting for teeny-tiny red beets to make into spicy pickled beets. McCutcheon's has these Spicy Beet Balls that are so freaking good it's not even funny....for an anti-Mustachian $7.00/jar. No thanks.
Swick, do you have a personal favorite recipe for Kimchi? I've never made it but I have a big crock for lacto-fermenting and would like to give it a shot.
I wonder if they use little tiny beets or they just cut them rounded?
I'm afraid I have only made Kimchi once so far and I took the general concept and kinda just free-styled to what I had to use up, (usually) ends up with tasty results but generally never the same twice. It drives my husband and family nuts.
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I'm also hunting for teeny-tiny red beets to make into spicy pickled beets. McCutcheon's has these Spicy Beet Balls that are so freaking good it's not even funny....for an anti-Mustachian $7.00/jar. No thanks.
I have family members who make pickled beets every summer. They just buy bigger beets (whatever's available) and slice them up before canning.
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Yep. I started canning my own jelly and just wandered through the fridge and pantry like "what else can I make?" I make most of my own condiments now- chow chow being my favorite b/c it's SO versatile and uses the green tomatoes you get at the beginning of fall. If you want full-on enablement check out the book "Make the Bread, buy the butter." Lots of good stuff in there and she shows the cost/benefit of making your own.
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I have family members who make pickled beets every summer. They just buy bigger beets (whatever's available) and slice them up before canning.
If you're hung up on having beet balls instead of chunks, either grow beets in a window box and harvest them when they are the appropriate size, or use a melon baller on large beets and use the remaining beets to make borscht.
Mmmmmm, beets!
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I bought a nut milk bag earlier this year, which means I now make my own yogurt (I prefer strained) and almond milk.
I started making my own BBQ sauce last year, and wondered if I should make the ketchup that goes into it? Decided not to go down that path yet.
Fruit jams/butters made from extras from my CSA box - strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, rhubarb (so disappointed this didn't show up at my farmer's market this year), apples, pears, squash. Great mix in for yogurt and oatmeal, and they all freeze well. I get good results without using the pectin that many recipes call for.
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Yes! I am excited to see what things/ideas others share!
I try to make as much as I can - not just to save money, but because it is healthier, tastes better and I enjoy the process. I no longer buy hummus, guacamole, marinara sauce, rice milk, almond milk, peanut butter, salsa, salad dressing. Pretty much anything I eat that is a sauce or can be done in a blender, I will make myself. Cashew "cheese" is my new favorite sandwich spread.
I have learned to make my own corn tortillas, but buying the pack at Costco is so cheap and easy that I have not been able to make the switch there.
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I've been loving making more and more condiments and things: ketchup, bbq sauce, mayo, yogurt, farmer's cheese, creme fraiche, fermented hot sauce, sauerkraut, coconut butter, tahini, hummus, kombucha, chutney, relish, jams, jellies, chile paste. Fun and delicious!
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America's Test Kitchen put out a book in 2012 called DIY Cookbook that's just great. It's broad on all kinds of DIY kitchencraft - great recipes for everything from corn chips to bacon. Highly recommended.
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We are getting much better about DIY....
Here are some we have tried (many of which are in our regular rotation)
Biscuits -- it's SOOOOO EASY! We make Biscuits & Gravy pretty much every week and I used to buy the biscuits... pssshhh no need. If I do a buttermilk version, the same dough makes donuts
Kombucha
Beer (that's DH's thing .... I don't know how)
Preserved Lemons
All salad dressings and most other sauces (yogurt sauce, pizza sauce, pesto)
Tahini which then gets put into hummus & sauces
Various preserves (when the food co-op has a bumper fruit crop, that usually becomes jam)
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Making yogurt is awesome. Making Greek yogurt, even from inexpensive store-bought yogurt, is the lowest-hanging fruit imaginable. The recipes for no-knead bread are also fun, and a project based on benign neglect.
My weekend project will be making strawberry jam, because it's the end of the season which means the flats of "jam quality" berries are cheap at the market. Nothing is more happy-making than opening the fridge and seeing a jar of bright-red jam!
The thing I haven't tried yet is roasting my own coffee. It's apparently very achievable with a hot-air popcorn popper, a strainer and a Ninja blender, all of which I have! But this will require experimentation and patience, and a team of samplers. I may give it a go for Thanksgiving dinner, so the family can offset their food comas with caffeine!
RE:Strawberry jam - save yourself time in the summer by freezing the berries now and pull out a bag or two at a time later on and maker freezer jam. Much better flavor as the berries aren't cooked. It takes just a few minutes to make them whenever you are running low. I freeze the jam in 1/2 cup ziplock/glad containers so no need to buy jars, lids, etc.
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I ferment my own hot sauce out of the peppers I grow in my backyard. I have had 3 excellent batches, better than any hot sauce I have ever tried, and one fully inedible batch. Red peppers make much better sauce than green. Lesson learned. It is actually good for you because fermented food is probiotic and helps your digestive system.
Here's some info. Not my intsrtuctable but this is the process.
http://www.instructables.com/id/Lacto-Fermented-Hot-Sauce-In-progress/step1/Materials/
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Awesome. We just went to a restaurant in Denver today that's all cultured/fermented foods, including kombucha. Really great stuff. They did something with carrots...lacto-fermented them with hot peppers and something sweet...served with cilantro...I can't explain but it was freakin' amazing and I can't wait to figure out a recipe.
Has anyone ever made their own nut butters? Almond butter, etc?
Is it difficult (or does it completely destroy your blender/food processor?)
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Was thinning the carrots and kept thinking we could do something with the greens. Turns out they make an excellent pesto...
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I read this the other day: http://www.attainable-sustainable.net/radish-leaf-pesto/
Seems worth a try...I have plenty of radish leaves....
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Love this thread. I'm trying to DIY more and more.
Right now I do: Pickles and pickled beets; yogurt, bread, spreadable butter, dips, marinades, dressings and BBQ sauce.
When I move back to a Western country when I can get more ingredients reliably (or at a reasonable price), I will keep upping the ante. I think my first foray will be into soft cheeses like marscapone and ricotta.
For those who make creme fraiche, would Bob's Red Mill powdered buttermilk work as the culturing agent? I can't get regular buttermilk here.
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Love this thread. I'm trying to DIY more and more.
Right now I do: Pickles and pickled beets; yogurt, bread, spreadable butter, dips, marinades, dressings and BBQ sauce.
When I move back to a Western country when I can get more ingredients reliably (or at a reasonable price), I will keep upping the ante. I think my first foray will be into soft cheeses like marscapone and ricotta.
For those who make creme fraiche, would Bob's Red Mill powdered buttermilk work as the culturing agent? I can't get regular buttermilk here.
I have made both Marscapone and ricotta. All the recipes I have seen just use lemon juice.http://www.pastryaffair.com/blog/2012/4/24/homemade-mascarpone.html (http://www.pastryaffair.com/blog/2012/4/24/homemade-mascarpone.html)
I don't remember where you are, Middle East somewhere? If you could get your hands on some water buffalo cream it would make amazing marscapone, very similar to the Turkish Kaymak, I imagine. Any cream would work though. I somtimes wonder how a goat marscapone would taste...
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I have made both Marscapone and ricotta. All the recipes I have seen just use lemon juice.http://www.pastryaffair.com/blog/2012/4/24/homemade-mascarpone.html (http://www.pastryaffair.com/blog/2012/4/24/homemade-mascarpone.html)
I don't remember where you are, Middle East somewhere? If you could get your hands on some water buffalo cream it would make amazing marscapone, very similar to the Turkish Kaymak, I imagine. Any cream would work though. I somtimes wonder how a goat marscapone would taste...
I'm in the Philippines. We mainly get UHT cooking cream, which probably won't work. I will try the lemon juice if I find some decent cream :)
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DIY typically revolves around three areas:
- Products whose flavor cannot be replicated in store bought versions
- Products with too many added "extras"
- Products wicked cheaper to make that purchase
For flavor, it is hands-down stewed tomatoes. The family recipe has a flavor that I cannot replicate in the store variety.
Avoiding added "extras" results in homemade bread, salsa, garden veggies and fruit. Can also link these under the first area.
Wicked cheaper to make than purchase: jam (free garden fruit), yogurt, pickled items (pepper rings, pickles, green beans, giardiniera).
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I've done mustard, drink mixes (with the help of 2 books Make A Mix and its sequel), loose sausages, vanilla extract, attempted vinegar (massive fail but the mold was a pretty pink and powder blue lol), bread on occasion as well. I want to do jellies and jams and once I get the dehydrator back from my mom who is holding it for me dried fruits and vegetables maybe herbs too.
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DIY typically revolves around three areas:
- Products whose flavor cannot be replicated in store bought versions
- Products with too many added "extras"
- Products wicked cheaper to make that purchase
For flavor, it is hands-down stewed tomatoes. The family recipe has a flavor that I cannot replicate in the store variety.
Avoiding added "extras" results in homemade bread, salsa, garden veggies and fruit. Can also link these under the first area.
Wicked cheaper to make than purchase: jam (free garden fruit), yogurt, pickled items (pepper rings, pickles, green beans, giardiniera).
Does the "wicked cheap" aspect of this come from a personal garden? I would love to make my own homemade things, but I find that by the time I get the ingredients its often a wash, money-wise (obviously there other elements at play--taste, preservatives, etc.).
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I read this the other day: http://www.attainable-sustainable.net/radish-leaf-pesto/
Seems worth a try...I have plenty of radish leaves....
Radish Top Soup is a favorite I discovered last year.
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/38036/radish-top-soup/
I use lots of leftover greens in smoothies. Except carrot tops - they affected the taste, so now I just use them when making stock.
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Awesome. We just went to a restaurant in Denver today that's all cultured/fermented foods, including kombucha. Really great stuff. They did something with carrots...lacto-fermented them with hot peppers and something sweet...served with cilantro...I can't explain but it was freakin' amazing and I can't wait to figure out a recipe.
Has anyone ever made their own nut butters? Almond butter, etc?
Is it difficult (or does it completely destroy your blender/food processor?)
You can do the carrots just the same as fermented pickles. Basically put them in a brine and wait. Love them because they stay crunchy. Green tomatoes, okra and young onions are also good additions to fermented pickles. http://www.foodrenegade.com/lactofermented-carrot-sticks/
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I, too, have been dipping my toes into this world, and I love it! It started with bread, which turned into beer. Then Mead, then sauces and guac and hummus and (of course) some pita chips to go with them. And mozzerella looked kinda good, so why not give it a try? I have tried lacto-fermentation with mixed results, but I am keen to give it another go or two!
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where do you guys find pickling salt? i want to try making pickles and recipes that i found say to use pickling salt.
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where do you guys find pickling salt? i want to try making pickles and recipes that i found say to use pickling salt.
You don't need it. Any fine, non idolized salt it fine. But typically you find it with canning jars.
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I have done cream cheese and butter. The butter I had to get the heavy cream from either Whole Foods or a known organic dairy. Same with the half and half since regular half and half is heat treated making it useless for butter and cheeses I have read. Mesophilic cultures that work with low heat are good for cream cheese. You add them to the room temp half and half let them sit for how long it says then drain them with good cheesecloth.
The butter was good but bland til I added buttermilk cultures to the cream and let them sit for about 8 hrs to multiply. Then beat the living daylights out of it with a mixer and drain the liquid off. I may do butter again once it gets cold for giggles.
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We do a few things, mostly the classicals:
bread
jams
preserved bell peppers
yogurt
kombucha
We tried cheese once, but I vetoed it
We're planning on start brewing our own cider and my SO plans to build a séchoir (we live really close to a farmers' market)
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I have a DIY food 'To Do' list that's about a mile long! I'm waiting until we have a bigger kitchen (ours is fine for cooking at the moment but it's pretty small so not great for prepping large amounts of stuff and we only have one eeny weeny freezer). However, things we do do at the moment:
- Bake all bread products (except for bagels, they are an occasional shop-bought treat)
- Make jam and sweet relishes for cheese/meats (though turns out we don't get through much jam... still got five of the six jars of blackberry jam I made last autumn! However, we do spiced jellies with cheese in a big way, so will be making lots more this year - WAY more than two jars of rosehip jelly, plans for winter spiced apple and mulberry jelly)
- Make our own flavoured spirits (blackberry gin, damson vodka, rhubarb gin) - I'm not a drinker but my husband just loves it
- All sauces (I can't eat onions or garlic or too much lactose at once, so no shop bought curry sauce for us!)
Tried and failed:
- Mead. We made some kind of gross honey vinegar. We might try again one day, but tbh we're not that interested in drinking it even if it does work. We just wanted something to do with the rinsings from extracting honey. I'll probably cook with them somehow this year.
Top of our list for the next few years:
- Kimchi and sauerkraut (am growing cabbages this year and intend to kimchi/sauerkraut everything we cannot eat)
- Soft cheese (I've heard mozzarella is really easy)
- Homebrew (not me personally, but I have a friend who's gearing up to it and I'd like to join in)
- Pesto with all the basil and misc greens I am growing (though I know a whole bowlful of basil makes one tiny jar of sauce but we LOVE pesto and even the shop one with basically zero onion and garlic gives my tummy a little wibble)
- Cordial (so many blackberries to be picked it seems a shame to leave them...)
- Pickles (hopefully carrots and beetroot if I grow enough!)
It's not a money saving thing for us at all. I'm delighted if we break even vs a shop bought version. It's partly a flavour/goodness thing (especially with the avoidance of sliced shop bread) and partly just for the fun of it! I don't even mind that we haven't eaten 5/6 of the jam because I enjoyed doing it so much!
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where do you guys find pickling salt? i want to try making pickles and recipes that i found say to use pickling salt.
Most major grocery stores carry it. Look down on the bottom shelf or way up on the top shelf in the regular salt area. It will probably be in a box vs a canister like table salt is.
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Thanks Mrs. LC
Btw, here's the list of items I make:
Bread
Yogurt
pasta noodles
various desserts
My mom makes us dried apricot, apricot fruit rollups, and apricot jam
I use lots of leftover greens in smoothies. Except carrot tops - they affected the taste, so now I just use them when making stock.
My family loves carrot top green smoothies. It's really good with apples, banana, water.
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DIY typically revolves around three areas:
- Products whose flavor cannot be replicated in store bought versions
- Products with too many added "extras"
- Products wicked cheaper to make that purchase
For flavor, it is hands-down stewed tomatoes. The family recipe has a flavor that I cannot replicate in the store variety.
Avoiding added "extras" results in homemade bread, salsa, garden veggies and fruit. Can also link these under the first area.
Wicked cheaper to make than purchase: jam (free garden fruit), yogurt, pickled items (pepper rings, pickles, green beans, giardiniera).
Does the "wicked cheap" aspect of this come from a personal garden? I would love to make my own homemade things, but I find that by the time I get the ingredients its often a wash, money-wise (obviously there other elements at play--taste, preservatives, etc.).
Yep. Strawberries, rhubarb, raspberries, cukes, peppers, tomatoes, onions, green beans. I do purchase cherries but we have pick your own farms in Door County that make it affordable.
I wish we had better stone fruit options, for the reason you listed. Hearing west coast forum members discuss having apricots, plums, peaches, lemon trees in their backyard makes me crazy jealous. I would love to have a Meyer lemon problem, or a neighbor with way too many apricots!
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Great thread! A lot of the kitchen experiments build on each other. For example, cheese makes whey, use that in bread.
We do a lot of lacto fermentation in the summer - sour pickles, sauerkraut, hot peppers, and asparagus are big favorites. We have wild concord grapes here, the leaves help a lot with the pickling (adds tannin).
We homebrew and I've got three recipes nailed down for different seasons that are big crowd pleasers. Planning to start doing sour beers next to link up the lacto+homebrew angles.
I did some mozzarella cheese recently and used the whey leftovers to make bread - really made a more complex, delicious loaf that I loved. I worked in a few handfuls of fresh basil to the mozzarella, which makes the cheese delicious.
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Wow, Axecleaver, your mozz sounds awesome......
Part of the cost thing, for us anyway, is that we buy a lot of things organic. The cost for a really good loaf of organic bread around here is $4-5.00, whereas I can make it organic at home for about $1.00 max (if it has walnuts and such in it)
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Count me in on this thread, too. There are not many things that we don't make -- from beer to bread to cheese to yogurt to pasta to corned beef and smoking our own bacon to all manner of condiments. We don't make ALL of them ALL the time, but over the last ten years or so I'd say we've acquired the skills so that we could do so, given the time. I second the earlier recommendation for that book "Make the Bread, Buy the Butter." And a way earlier one (late 70's?), called "Better than Storebought," that maybe you could find in a used book store.
Probably the greatest motivator in making our own is the decision to not spend, period. When buying isn't an alternative, making one's own is a particular pleasure.
BTW, anybody have a good recipe for toothpaste?
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Count me in on this thread, too. There are not many things that we don't make -- from beer to bread to cheese to yogurt to pasta to corned beef and smoking our own bacon to all manner of condiments. We don't make ALL of them ALL the time, but over the last ten years or so I'd say we've acquired the skills so that we could do so, given the time. I second the earlier recommendation for that book "Make the Bread, Buy the Butter." And a way earlier one (late 70's?), called "Better than Storebought," that maybe you could find in a used book store.
Probably the greatest motivator in making our own is the decision to not spend, period. When buying isn't an alternative, making one's own is a particular pleasure.
BTW, anybody have a good recipe for toothpaste?
A simple recipe for toothpaste is 1 tsp baking soda mixed with 1/2 tsp salt. Add enough water to make a paste. You can flavor it with mint if you choose. I wouldn't exactly call that a "good" recipe because the taste isn't that wonderful but it will get the job done.
Over the years we have made a ton of DIY food items - some good some not so good. Experimenting is fun! We grew much of the food we ate including fruit, vegetables, beef, pork, chicken, and eggs. The grocery store was avoided and purchases there limited. We made ketchup, mayonnaise, salad dressings, bread, spaghetti sauce, noodles, yogurt, vanilla extract, etc. Now we live in the 'burbs and no longer raise animals but still do grow some fruit and vegetables and continue to make many DIY foods as it just is a way of life.
Wine has to be our favorite DIY although I'm not sure it really counts as food. The science geek in me likes to experiment with different combos of fruit to make unusual wine. We just made an ecclectic mixture of apple, cranberry, raspberry, kiwi, and strawberry wine that is unbelievably good even though it doesn't sound tasty.
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Hey Mrs.LC--I have a bit of experience with beer, cider, and mead making, but I have never tried fruit wine. Is there a good book/website I should visit before I get started? I'm looking to do a pretty low-tech version (maybe crushing my own fruit, boiling with water, popping yeast in and letting it go). I'm hoping for drinkability in 4-6 months. Is that possible, or do I have a pipe-dream?
Also, have you ever tried using natural yeast from the air?
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Hey Mrs.LC--I have a bit of experience with beer, cider, and mead making, but I have never tried fruit wine. Is there a good book/website I should visit before I get started? I'm looking to do a pretty low-tech version (maybe crushing my own fruit, boiling with water, popping yeast in and letting it go). I'm hoping for drinkability in 4-6 months. Is that possible, or do I have a pipe-dream?
Also, have you ever tried using natural yeast from the air?
You're not dreaming. We have consumed young wine and it's good. Not going to win any international awards but perfect for enjoying with a couple friends. Winemakingtalk.com is great forum for information. You could start by using a kit to learn the basics and move forward from there.
We have not tried the natural air yeast route. We buy Red Star wine yeast and have had good luck with it.
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I tried to make sparkling lemonade once with champagne yeast but it never fermented my apartment was too cool plus it grew mold. On the upside my homemade yogurt came out well....
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Also, have you ever tried using natural yeast from the air?
My grandmother made dandelion wine when I was little. This uses the natural yeast in the dandelion blossoms. She made it in the Spring when dandelions were everywhere, and it was fun getting the extended family picking them in the country fields where we grew up.
It was incredibly variable, which is how it goes with open fermentation - some years it was sweet, delicious, effervescent and light. Other years it gave people terrible headaches the next day. I've never made it myself but it's on my to-do list.
My Italian-American wife makes limoncello out of vodka and lemon zest. It's very easy to do but took us a while to get the zesting operation down. Very good in summer cocktails.
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I tried to make sparkling lemonade once with champagne yeast but it never fermented my apartment was too cool plus it grew mold. On the upside my homemade yogurt came out well....
The yeast may not of worked due to the acidity of the lemonade. We make a lemon wine that is excellent and a great drink in the summer. To combat the high acidity of the lemon we make a slurry with the yeast and slowly add lemon to it as it multiplies. The process takes a couple hours to get enough yeast bubbling before we pitch it into the remaining lemon mixture.
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America's Test Kitchen put out a book in 2012 called DIY Cookbook that's just great. It's broad on all kinds of DIY kitchencraft - great recipes for everything from corn chips to bacon. Highly recommended.
Thanks for the tip, requested from the library
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I do heaps of things. My most recent attempts are vanilla essence (= vanilla beans + vodka, wait a few months) and curing olives (the tree was laden, and on public property). Both turned out well!
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I have sourdough starter in my fridge if no one has thrown it out. It hasn't turned sour yet it has kind of a sweet flavor and is an oogy gray but it is alive and usable. I made biscuits with it and mixed it with cornbread batter.
I need to feed it and let it come to room temp to see what it has been doing since I've been ignoring it.
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Mmm, this thread is making me hungry...
I like to make my own bread, but don't do it often enough. Hopefully I'll do it more often after my husband and I have our own apartment. The same with hummus. Whenever I want guacamole, I certainly make my own! I usually prefer to just eat the avocado on its own, though. My husband makes mead and once made beer--he didn't like it as much but at least I have the spent grain in the freezer to use for bread.
In the future I definitely hope to make my own tortillas, English muffins, refried beans, and other things. I just need more space!
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In the future I definitely hope to make my own tortillas, English muffins, refried beans, and other things. I just need more space!
Have you tried English muffin bread? All Recipes or Taste of Home have great online recipes. No kneading required, plus it makes great grilled cheese.
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Hey Mrs.LC--I have a bit of experience with beer, cider, and mead making, but I have never tried fruit wine. Is there a good book/website I should visit before I get started? I'm looking to do a pretty low-tech version (maybe crushing my own fruit, boiling with water, popping yeast in and letting it go). I'm hoping for drinkability in 4-6 months. Is that possible, or do I have a pipe-dream?
Also, have you ever tried using natural yeast from the air?
Hey PaRedbeard - I've made many alcoholic beverages using natural yeast in the air - mead is an easy one, because the sugar content is so high, it's just begging to ferment. While I've read stories of others catching "bad yeast" and having bad outcomes, I've never had that. Also, I have often made ginger beer using natural yeast -- I figured the characteristics of the strong fresh ginger are enough to ward off anything evil in the air. I highly recommend the books by Sandor Ellis Katz (Wild Fermentation and The Art of Fermentation) and for even more absurd ideas, Stephen Harrod Buhner's Sacred and Healing Herbal Beers (or something like that). On the last book, I made many of those recipes one gallon at a time, because they are so ridiculous, who needs a five gallon batch?! But they are enticing and taught me a lot about brewing and fermentation generally. Enjoy.
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Oh yes, and we also tried sourdough but it went really gross and rotten and cheeselike, because my work situation was too complicated at the time to keep up the feeding routine. It's something I'd love to try again when we have a bit more time/flexibility though!
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Oh yes, and we also tried sourdough but it went really gross and rotten and cheeselike, because my work situation was too complicated at the time to keep up the feeding routine. It's something I'd love to try again when we have a bit more time/flexibility though!
Once the sourdough gets going, it is quite happy with the odd feeding. It willingly accepts neglect. I just feed it the day before I want to use it.
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In the future I definitely hope to make my own tortillas, English muffins, refried beans, and other things. I just need more space!
Have you tried English muffin bread? All Recipes or Taste of Home have great online recipes. No kneading required, plus it makes great grilled cheese.
That sounds interesting, but not what I'm looking for--I want the round shape of the English muffin for making egg sandwiches. Thanks, though!
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I never realized how easy it is to cook from scratch. We have been experimenting with a lot of different things including tortillas! I did have an epic sour cream failure and Mr. Crackin’ gave me weird looks when he found my dry mix for cream of chicken soup! Here’s an idea for you… pancake syrup (water, honey, maple extract, white and brown sugar).
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In the future I definitely hope to make my own tortillas, English muffins, refried beans, and other things. I just need more space!
Have you tried English muffin bread? All Recipes or Taste of Home have great online recipes. No kneading required, plus it makes great grilled cheese.
That sounds interesting, but not what I'm looking for--I want the round shape of the English muffin for making egg sandwiches. Thanks, though!
I have made English muffins, honestly, given how long they took to cook (even being able to do it on a griddle and not be limited to pan size) the energy usage and the hand-on time having to be there while they cooked, just wasn't worth it. Maybe if you did some hybrid of starting on the stove top and finishing in the oven.
At the end of it...you get an English Muffin.They are usually cheap enough though that I would rather spend the time making bagels* (they are actually faster and way tastier) Now you do get bragging rights for making the whole breakfast sandwich from scratch...but I didn't even find that really worth the time and effort.
Oh, and bagels make awesome breakfast sandwiches too!
* In no way, shape or form a paid message from the bagel board.
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Anything baked: hamburgers become gourmet and healthy with fresh buns incorporating some whole wheat flour, blueberry streusel coffeecake, pies made with real leaf lard pie crust (I render my own lard), any cake, cupcake or cookie, breads.
Chicken and beef stock, and soups of many kinds. Super easy, endless variety. Cold soups in the summer.
Various curries. Guacamole. Hummus. Occasionally salsa, but that takes a lot of chopping time. Long smoked brisket once or twice a year. Home fried chicken (marinated in buttermilk).
Homemade carnitas. Takes a bit of time, but so good.
Ice cream, sherbets and sorbets. Bought a gelato maker years ago, and it gets a lot of use. Also, ice cream sandwiches.
For Christmas gifts, I candy organic fruit in the summer and then use it to make a luscious old fashioned, rich, cognac-soaked fruitcake in the autumn that I send to family members and a few close friends. It is quite expensive, alas, but you cannot buy a fruitcake that tastes like it (dark, medieval and complex - not remotely like a doorstop!) anywhere. It makes you understand why fruitcake once was popular. The recipients who dare, sometimes suggest that I should send more of them, but it is not a small operation: last year we made 34.
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For Christmas gifts, I candy organic fruit in the summer and then use it to make a luscious old fashioned, rich, cognac-soaked fruitcake in the autumn that I send to family members and a few close friends. It is quite expensive, alas, but you cannot buy a fruitcake that tastes like it (dark, medieval and complex - not remotely like a doorstop!) anywhere. It makes you understand why fruitcake once was popular. The recipients who dare, sometimes suggest that I should send more of them, but it is not a small operation: last year we made 34.
That sounds amazing! Most of my husband's family LOVE fruitcake and they only get the crappy door stop kind. This would blow them away (and we have committed to doing a "homemade only" Christmas) Any chance you would share or PM me the recipe?
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For Christmas gifts, I candy organic fruit in the summer and then use it to make a luscious old fashioned, rich, cognac-soaked fruitcake in the autumn that I send to family members and a few close friends. It is quite expensive, alas, but you cannot buy a fruitcake that tastes like it (dark, medieval and complex - not remotely like a doorstop!) anywhere. It makes you understand why fruitcake once was popular. The recipients who dare, sometimes suggest that I should send more of them, but it is not a small operation: last year we made 34.
That sounds amazing! Most of my husband's family LOVE fruitcake and they only get the crappy door stop kind. This would blow them away (and we have committed to doing a "homemade only" Christmas) Any chance you would share or PM me the recipe?
Agreed. I'd also love the recipe if you'll share.
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For Christmas gifts, I candy organic fruit in the summer and then use it to make a luscious old fashioned, rich, cognac-soaked fruitcake in the autumn that I send to family members and a few close friends. It is quite expensive, alas, but you cannot buy a fruitcake that tastes like it (dark, medieval and complex - not remotely like a doorstop!) anywhere. It makes you understand why fruitcake once was popular. The recipients who dare, sometimes suggest that I should send more of them, but it is not a small operation: last year we made 34.
That sounds amazing! Most of my husband's family LOVE fruitcake and they only get the crappy door stop kind. This would blow them away (and we have committed to doing a "homemade only" Christmas) Any chance you would share or PM me the recipe?
Agreed. I'd also love the recipe if you'll share.
Thirded!
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This thread has been great! I sort of forgot that people didn't DIY their food. I don't have enough time/space to do as much as I'd like, but we make our own bread/tortillas, sauces, stock, guac, hummus, veggie chips, vegan ice cream, and sweet baked goods. We've made our own pasta and previously made beer (which was great, but we don't have the space now). I also DIY my own deodorant out of food. Definitely some things mentioned here that I would like to try.
I've wanted to make my own almond milk, but I can't get it to be cost-effective.
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In the future I definitely hope to make my own tortillas, English muffins, refried beans, and other things. I just need more space!
Have you tried English muffin bread? All Recipes or Taste of Home have great online recipes. No kneading required, plus it makes great grilled cheese.
That sounds interesting, but not what I'm looking for--I want the round shape of the English muffin for making egg sandwiches. Thanks, though!
I have made English muffins, honestly, given how long they took to cook (even being able to do it on a griddle and not be limited to pan size) the energy usage and the hand-on time having to be there while they cooked, just wasn't worth it. Maybe if you did some hybrid of starting on the stove top and finishing in the oven.
At the end of it...you get an English Muffin.They are usually cheap enough though that I would rather spend the time making bagels* (they are actually faster and way tastier) Now you do get bragging rights for making the whole breakfast sandwich from scratch...but I didn't even find that really worth the time and effort.
Oh, and bagels make awesome breakfast sandwiches too!
* In no way, shape or form a paid message from the bagel board.
Hmm. The English muffins I buy aren't cheap, because I don't eat dairy and avoid added sugar. The recipe I looked at also seemed fairly simple. I still want to try making them sometime, but if it's as labor-intensive as you say, maybe once will be enough.
You do make a GREAT point about bagels, though! In fact, now that I think about it, I think dairy/sugar is the reason I switched from bagels to English muffins. And I would love to make my own bagels, but somehow it's not on my list. Well, that will be rectified! Thank you!
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I have access now to a charcoal grill and I want to learn how to hot and cold smoke things in it. It can be done I have seen it on Youtube. I want to do chicken and turkey parts. I have brined turkey parts in salt water and spices and herbs then coated them in liquid smoke and slowbaked them. Very salty but excellent as garnish meat on salads and in pots of beans in the Crock Pot where the salt disperses out.
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This thread has been great! I sort of forgot that people didn't DIY their food. I don't have enough time/space to do as much as I'd like, but we make our own bread/tortillas, sauces, stock, guac, hummus, veggie chips, vegan ice cream, and sweet baked goods. We've made our own pasta and previously made beer (which was great, but we don't have the space now). I also DIY my own deodorant out of food. Definitely some things mentioned here that I would like to try.
I've wanted to make my own almond milk, but I can't get it to be cost-effective.
Hah hah hah! I'm the same way. "What do you mean, pancake mix? What is this mix thing you speak of?" Substitute frozen waffles, store-bought cookies, ravioli, canned soup - pretty much anything normal people just go buy ready made. Totally does not compute for me. On the other hand, this is my kids 90% of the time:
(http://funnyand.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/When-theres-no-cooked-food-left.jpg)
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Erica
You. Made. My. Day.
This was my kids.
Thank you.
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I've done a lot of the things listed here, from grinding flour in a stone mill by hand for sourdough bread to making yogurt, kimchi, kombucha, beer, cheese, jam, ice cream. But my best accomplishment was making a solar dehydrator out of our lawn cart. It tilts and has wheels so it can be aimed at the sun easily, the window was free from craigslist but I added the handles to it, all the parts lift right out so it still works as the lawn cart when needed.
The black corrugated drain pipe was cut to fit in all the spaces between the shelves to absorb heat. I have styrofoam panels to clip to the outside for insulation. It gets up to 135F when the air temp is 70F.
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Erica
You. Made. My. Day.
+1 It's funny because it's true!
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Wow, Jakejake, that IS badassity. Love it.
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All:
I'm happy to share the fruitcake recipe, but will have to type it up tomorrow or Sunday, as I had a client deadline that I just finished, but it's 1 am and I am toast!
Will post it on this thread over the weekend.
Best wishes,
Embok
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Hey Mrs.LC--I have a bit of experience with beer, cider, and mead making, but I have never tried fruit wine. Is there a good book/website I should visit before I get started? I'm looking to do a pretty low-tech version (maybe crushing my own fruit, boiling with water, popping yeast in and letting it go). I'm hoping for drinkability in 4-6 months. Is that possible, or do I have a pipe-dream?
Also, have you ever tried using natural yeast from the air?
Unless you live in a particular area of Belgium, expect natural occurring yeasts and other microscopic bugs to do something NASTY to your efforts.
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Hey Mrs.LC--I have a bit of experience with beer, cider, and mead making, but I have never tried fruit wine. Is there a good book/website I should visit before I get started? I'm looking to do a pretty low-tech version (maybe crushing my own fruit, boiling with water, popping yeast in and letting it go). I'm hoping for drinkability in 4-6 months. Is that possible, or do I have a pipe-dream?
Also, have you ever tried using natural yeast from the air?
Unless you live in a particular area of Belgium, expect natural occurring yeasts and other microscopic bugs to do something NASTY to your efforts.
Not so sure about this. I've read of folks making their own hard cider by just letting it ferment and freeze.
Not natural yeast wine but I've made venison bresaola. It develops a white mold (if all goes well!). Some people spray theirs with a starter but I let mine develop naturally.
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I've wanted to make my own almond milk, but I can't get it to be cost-effective.
One thing we have done more and more of in the kitchen is use what would normally be thrown out from cooking one thing to use in another. Make cheese--use the whey for bread, pancakes, soups, etc. Our best was using the dregs from making a big batch of plum bounce to make jam. The jam was better than the bounce!
Never done almond milk but wouldn't it be sort of like doing soy milk? For almond milk, couldn't the dregs be used in breads or muffins for example? Anything you might want some almond flavor in. Toast it and use it as a topping on salads? Add it to your potato, egg, or ham salad? Add it to a squash soup?
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Hey Mrs.LC--I have a bit of experience with beer, cider, and mead making, but I have never tried fruit wine. Is there a good book/website I should visit before I get started? I'm looking to do a pretty low-tech version (maybe crushing my own fruit, boiling with water, popping yeast in and letting it go). I'm hoping for drinkability in 4-6 months. Is that possible, or do I have a pipe-dream?
Also, have you ever tried using natural yeast from the air?
Unless you live in a particular area of Belgium, expect natural occurring yeasts and other microscopic bugs to do something NASTY to your efforts.
Someone should have told my great grandfather before he spent 75 years on the other side of the Atlantic making wine with wild yeast.
In other words, YMMV.
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Make the Bread, Buy the Butter is a really entertaining book about what is good to make and what's better not to. (Cream is evidently too expensive to make butter-making worthwhile.)
I don't make bread. Just can't do everything. But I grew up in a house where dinner was usually something like frozen fried chicken with canned spinach, so I'm proud that I now can make:
1. dried beans in the crockpot.
2. hummus (from aforementioned crockpot beans).
3. barbecue sauce
4. potato salad from scratch
5. yogurt
6. granola bars (yum!)
etc.
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Hey Mrs.LC--I have a bit of experience with beer, cider, and mead making, but I have never tried fruit wine. Is there a good book/website I should visit before I get started? I'm looking to do a pretty low-tech version (maybe crushing my own fruit, boiling with water, popping yeast in and letting it go). I'm hoping for drinkability in 4-6 months. Is that possible, or do I have a pipe-dream?
Also, have you ever tried using natural yeast from the air?
Unless you live in a particular area of Belgium, expect natural occurring yeasts and other microscopic bugs to do something NASTY to your efforts.
Someone should have told my great grandfather before he spent 75 years on the other side of the Atlantic making wine with wild yeast.
In other words, YMMV.
I'll second that (not with wine, but other alcoholic beverages and wild yeasts). Maybe try some of Sandor Katz's books (Wild fermentation) as a first port of call. I suspect his approach will appeal.
Edit: got rid of unintentional faux-pas
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Natural yeasts are unpredictable, so if you're trying to make something taste a certain way (such as Cantillon beer) then you have to know a lot about what you have and how to use it.
I use natural yeast when I make sourdough starter and lacto-fermented stuff. I'd never use our local wild yeasts for beer or wine - not good.
I think one of the best purchases I ever made was five bucks on a bread machine at the thrift store. I like to make bread by hand, but I often don't have time these days. It's still better and cheaper than anything you can buy in the store.
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I made this mayo recipe this week, with a clove of garlic and some sundried tomato. I'm sold. The small quantity it makes is just perfect for us.
http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2011/10/two-minute-mayonnaise.html
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Oh yes, and we also tried sourdough but it went really gross and rotten and cheeselike, because my work situation was too complicated at the time to keep up the feeding routine. It's something I'd love to try again when we have a bit more time/flexibility though!
Once the sourdough gets going, it is quite happy with the odd feeding. It willingly accepts neglect. I just feed it the day before I want to use it.
It never did get going, though, because I stupidly started it and then started commuting/travelling to another city for most of the week. Husband was not as dedicated to the cause as I was. It was gross...
Also, +1 to having sudden revelations that people actually BUY pancake mix. I mean, wtf?! You're buying the easiest bit!
This thread has got me making an actual list of things to make, which led me to remember another one: ravioli. If it's not too fiddly, when we have a proper sized freezer I'd totally spend a whole day making a colossal batch and then freezing it in portions for emergency meals.
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I do a basic bread recipe I make 2 to 3x per wk. Also ketchup, chutneys, pastry, vegetable stock, crackers. There is a great sense of achievement of doing this myself. Our weekly grocery bill has reduced approx $80 due to all of this. We have a significant reduction in garbage from all the packaging.
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I want to make my own barbecue sauce again one day. And I now have recipe for homemade mustard from Cook's Illustrated that uses dry mustard powder so once I find my dry mustard powder I will use it.
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I make something called "browning sauce".
I use it to add that deep brown color and depth to dishes, especially vegetarian ones. It also adds a familiar background note that you can't identify in the finished dish.
A small bottle at the store costs ~2.00, and homemade costs me less than thirty cents the last time I priced out the homemade version.
The ingredients are molasses and brown sugar, cooked until all the sweetness is gone and then added water to thin it.
So yep, it's the "caramel coloring" listed on many prepackaged foods.
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Ahoy, I think that's one of the BIG draws for this for me. I'm so d*mned sick of all the garbage we generate, including the recyclable plastic and glass and cardboard that things come in. It takes energy and spits out pollution to transport and recycle all those containers, even if you CAN recycle them. I've got a nice collection of Ball jars in the fridge now with ketchup, mustards, pickles, pancake syrups, mayo....and I'm loving it. And thanks to you guys, I'm going to go fire up the bread machine before going out for my morning meetings.
Now if I could only wean myself off those nonrecyclable #7 plastic clamshells (strawberries, cherry tomatoes, etc...)
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Ahoy, I think that's one of the BIG draws for this for me. I'm so d*mned sick of all the garbage we generate, including the recyclable plastic and glass and cardboard that things come in. It takes energy and spits out pollution to transport and recycle all those containers, even if you CAN recycle them. I've got a nice collection of Ball jars in the fridge now with ketchup, mustards, pickles, pancake syrups, mayo....and I'm loving it. And thanks to you guys, I'm going to go fire up the bread machine before going out for my morning meetings.
Now if I could only wean myself off those nonrecyclable #7 plastic clamshells (strawberries, cherry tomatoes, etc...)
I just threw out a stack of those clamshells from buying a ton of blueberries and strawberries. Sickening. I thought about keeping them to start plants in but I already have a ton of other containers saved for that.
I have had the same bread machine since they first hit the mass markets - around 1993. It works just like the day it came out of the box and it has been used many, many times. When the kids were at home I would make bread 2-3 times a week. I bought bread flour in 25 pound bags and packaged up my own bread mixes. Flour, dry milk, salt, sugar, etc. All there was to making a loaf was to add the water, dump in the flour mix, and top with yeast. Mr.. LC and the kids could make bread whenever we needed some. Totally convenient.
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Love this thread.
My most recent DIY ahah moment was making my own golden curry roux. I used to make Indian food regularly, but for some reason it took me years to see past the grocery store boxed roux cubes! A friend who used to live in Japan introduced me to it and it was special to her to have a certain brand that isn't available in our town, so if I saw it out of town I'd pick up a box for her and myself. Then I'd hoard it because it was special! Such silliness. This spring I found a copy cat recipe online. It's just butter, flour, curry powder and garam masala. So simple. Of coures our grocery store also doesn't carry garam masala, but that was easy (and better) to mix my own from spices I had on hand.
I made a big batch today that I'll eat all week. To make it even more DIY most of the vegetables in it are from my tiny bucket garden. I also must brag that instead of buying pesticides I've manually removed the moths and worms from the brocoli leaves for the past two months. gross. But the results are so satisfying.
I've done pasta, bread, cheese, yogurt, wine, hummus, mayo, all sorts of canning... a lot of it was when I lived with my parents and brothers, they haven't been as cost/time efficient since living alone. I have a hand-me-down bread machine now that I used most for pizza dough (and soft pretzel dough once. yum.).
I make fun drinks. spiced cider, hot buttered rum, pepermint hot chocoalte. Homemade simple syrup, homemade vanilla. sprinkles of nutmeg on top. drizzles of homemade sea salt caramel sauce. I make iced coffee. I'll make cold brew coffee overnight, then crush some ice in my (homemade) lewis bag with my "kitchen hammer". I drink a lot of homemade sweet tea. This spring I got a loose black tea with orange rind and spices in it, I used a lot of honey to sweeten it and a generous splash of bourbon. Oh that was so good! Looking forward to fall and more hot drinks!
People seems shocked that I'll bake a cake from scratch. I've made my own confectioners sugar and ground spices in my blade coffee grinder.
Frosting: peanut butter, chocolate, peppermint, vanilla, buttercream.
My friends were mystified when we were having a "come and cook together" dinner and I brought potatoes and sweet potatoes that I cut up and roasted in the oven for "fries." I kept saying "It's just potato wedges." then I realized that to them even homemade potatoes wedges were precut and frozen.
I thought this would be a short post. oops. looking forward to getting more ideas here.
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This thread is encouraging and happy. I'm not up to your standards yet, just doing no-knead bread (which becomes almost effortless after a couple of dozen times) and the occasional jam or pickle.
But the one thing that has a huge time/money/flavour payback for me is flour tortillas/roti. I make up a batch of dough with whatever grease I have lying around (lard, chicken fat, you name it), and keep it in a plastic bag in the fridge. Every day I pull off a couple of chunks and roll them out while the frypan heats up (pro tip: use oil to prevent sticking while rolling, instead of flour). They're still hot and bubbled and awesome after I fry an egg or two in the same pan.
(I don't know how long the dough keeps in the fridge because I tend to use it up pretty quickly... I guess if I got worried about it, I would roll it out and bake it into crackers.)
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I have that America's Test Kitchen DIY book. I had to search 3 Whole Foods locations to get it. I made the mustard using mustard seeds out of it then wondered what to do with all the dry mustard powder lurking in my cabinet. Lo and behold they put out a recipe using the microwave and dry mustard powder such as Colman's.
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I ferment my own hot sauce out of the peppers I grow in my backyard. I have had 3 excellent batches, better than any hot sauce I have ever tried, and one fully inedible batch. Red peppers make much better sauce than green. Lesson learned. It is actually good for you because fermented food is probiotic and helps your digestive system.
Here's some info. Not my intsrtuctable but this is the process.
http://www.instructables.com/id/Lacto-Fermented-Hot-Sauce-In-progress/step1/Materials/
I'll have to try this (though I'm not sure what lacto fermentation is). I made a bunch of habenero turmeric hotsauce last year and loved it. It'll be a while before I work through my supply, but I like the idea of trying a fermented one (I had to pressure can mine).
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I read this the other day: http://www.attainable-sustainable.net/radish-leaf-pesto/
Seems worth a try...I have plenty of radish leaves....
Radish leaf pesto is so delicious. I use the leaves the same way I make basil pesto and walnuts can be a good nut instead of pine nuts.
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I also strongly recommend making your own enchilada sauce. I'll make a big pot and freeze it. Also veggie scrap stock. Save all the veggie peelings - ends of carrots, ends of onions, stems from greens, etc. and boil to make a free veggie stock.
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I ferment my own hot sauce out of the peppers I grow in my backyard. I have had 3 excellent batches, better than any hot sauce I have ever tried, and one fully inedible batch. Red peppers make much better sauce than green. Lesson learned. It is actually good for you because fermented food is probiotic and helps your digestive system.
Here's some info. Not my intsrtuctable but this is the process.
http://www.instructables.com/id/Lacto-Fermented-Hot-Sauce-In-progress/step1/Materials/
I'll have to try this (though I'm not sure what lacto fermentation is). I made a bunch of habenero turmeric hotsauce last year and loved it. It'll be a while before I work through my supply, but I like the idea of trying a fermented one (I had to pressure can mine).
Lactofermentation is the original way of getting the sour flavor of pickles, sauerkraut, and probably Tabasco, and a very low-tech food preservation method. It's a natural process that will occur when vegetables are submerged in a saltwater brine. Lacto-fermented hot sauce is the bomb; that's what I do with all my random peppers from the garden at the end of the season.
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I make my own yogurt and granola. Its so much cheaper and tastier than store bought stuff. Its less than 1/3 the price for the yogurt, and roughly 1/2 the price for granola.
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Sauces. White sauce. Cheese sauce. Caramel sauce! Chocolate sauce. I don't make any of those regularly but they are so simple. I gape at the costly jars of sauce at the grocery.
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Sauces. White sauce. Cheese sauce. Caramel sauce! Chocolate sauce. I don't make any of those regularly but they are so simple. I gape at the costly jars of sauce at the grocery.
Teach me your ways! My husband loves those type of sauces, but I don't know how to make them. I would love to attempt a tried and true recipe!
The microwave is a great way to cook white sauce. Melt 4 TBSP butter in a glass casserole dish. Add in 4 TBSP flour and stir. Microwave for 45 seconds to "cook" the flour. Whisk in 4 cups milk and microwave on high for 3 minutes. Whisk until smooth and heat for another 3 minutes. Whisk and continue to heat for another minute or two as needed until thickened. You can easily cut the recipe down but know that the heating times after adding the milk will be less as well. Works great as a base for cream soups and macaroni and cheese.
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Love this thread! Following. :)
always make from scratch:
- salad dressings
- hummus
- baked goods
things I occasionally make from scratch:
- pickles
- jam/fruit butters
- nut butters
- stocks & broths (I should do this always...)
- yogurt (using the crock pot method)
- granola
- mayo (SO GOOD...I should move this to my always list!)
- mustard
For pickles, a shortcut is to just cut up cucumbers or other items (I like onions) and put them in the pickle juice left from the last batch. Without cooking or with shorter storage times, they aren't as intense as the originals but I really like them. Works with home made or store bought. Not sure what the limit is on how often or how long you can store these since the canning kills off the bacteria and preserves them but I've not had any problems with doing a second or third use this way over a period of about 4 weeks.
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Last DIY 'food' - salamoia bolognese!
Grey salt from France (left by an old roommate), dried rosemary, dried garlic, dried sage; all chopped finely together. It goes well on everything and everybody at home loves it.
Next experiment: balsamic vinegar salt. Can't wait!
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Last DIY 'food' - salamoia bolognese!
Grey salt from France (left by an old roommate), dried rosemary, dried garlic, dried sage; all chopped finely together. It goes well on everything and everybody at home loves it.
Next experiment: balsamic vinegar salt. Can't wait!
Sriracha salt is also awesome!
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Erica
You. Made. My. Day.
This was my kids.
Thank you.
HA! This is my boyfriend! "How do you manage to make such awesome meals with nothing in the fridge?!"
Um... lol.
Thanks for this thread! I grew up making things from scratch, but just the basics. I'm super excited to learn how to make more. My biggest problem is that I like to cook in big batches, and I'm cooking for 1, sometimes 2. I really need to start learning how to do canning (my brother's gf is going to teach me as soon as I have the time to go see her in the fall).
Mostly now I'm just doing:
Bread
Salad dressings
Tomato sauce
Various baking
Does anyone know a good Thai Chili sauce recipe?
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Ahoy there, yoghurt makers! I'd like to try it but am wondering how to buy some for a starter - how do you know if yoghurt is 'live' or not? Are there any particular brands (UK)? Or would you recommend buying a powdered starter?
P.S. If it makes a difference, I am intending to strain it as I don't like runny yoghurt.
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I just buy it in little blisters at a health store, never had it not working. Well, except that one time I didn't check the temperature and I killed it, but hey, happens to the best of us...
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Ahoy there, yoghurt makers! I'd like to try it but am wondering how to buy some for a starter - how do you know if yoghurt is 'live' or not? Are there any particular brands (UK)? Or would you recommend buying a powdered starter?
P.S. If it makes a difference, I am intending to strain it as I don't like runny yoghurt.
I'm in the US - we have a brand called Fage (plain "Greek" yogurt) that I used as my starter. It says "live active yogurt cultures" in the ingredient list. I used about 2oz for 1/2 gal of milk, and froze the rest for future batches. Then I freeze some of my current batch for a future batch as well...
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So is there a difference between "made with live cultures" and "contains live cultures"?
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So is there a difference between "made with live cultures" and "contains live cultures"?
Not 100% sure, but if something is "made with live cultures" sounds to me as if they were alive before making the product, and now could be dead.
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Ahoy there, yoghurt makers! I'd like to try it but am wondering how to buy some for a starter - how do you know if yoghurt is 'live' or not? Are there any particular brands (UK)? Or would you recommend buying a powdered starter?
P.S. If it makes a difference, I am intending to strain it as I don't like runny yoghurt.
I just check on the side and it should say something about live cultures. I try to get natural yogurt without extra additives or sugar as my starter and no ultra pasteurized milk, just normal milk.
To thicken mine (because I am too lazy to strain it), I put some milk powder in at the point where I add my starter. Not loads though, just kind of dump a bit in.
If you read the ingredients on greek yogurt, it often says something about milk solids. I think many manufacturers are doing the same thing as I am. The yogurt will come out nice and thick.
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So is there a difference between "made with live cultures" and "contains live cultures"?
You want "contains live cultures." Just find some plain yogurt (no added flavors or sugar) at the store that says something like: "contains live cultures of Lactobacillus bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus." Actual strains can vary- that's ok. Just pick a brand you like. That's all the starter you need.
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I use the plain yogurt from Aldi for a starter. Freeze 2-3 oz in Glad 1/2 cup containers and thaw before adding to the milk. Also add in a couple tablespoons of dry milk powder. Leave it incubate overnight and it comes out plenty thick.
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I use the plain yogurt from Aldi for a starter. Freeze 2-3 oz in Glad 1/2 cup containers and thaw before adding to the milk. Also add in a couple tablespoons of dry milk powder. Leave it incubate overnight and it comes out plenty thick.
So freezing doesn't kill the starter? Good to know!
My last batch, I added chia seeds instead of straining to thicken it. It's really good that way, and nice and thick without pouring off any whey. But I forgot to same some back as a starter for the next batch, oops.
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I actually delay the start of our fall travels until I finish canning every last freaking tomato in my garden! I made green tomato salsa last year from the tomatoes that were too late to ripen, and it tasted just like regular salsa, except it was a gross color!
I freeze or can everything in my garden and I also buy some produce like corn in season and blanch and freeze it. Same with fruits like strawberries, blueberries and raspberries. Go to the U-pick and freeze for winter use in smoothies and yogurt.
We also are raising 25 meat chickens for the freezer. Should get us to Spring when we can to some more.
I love all the money we save and the great food we eat.
Miss Prim
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I also am a big fan of english muffin bread mentioned above. I use the recipe from Bernard Clayton's New Big Book of Breads, which I highly reccommend. English Muffins themselves are a pain in the ass to make and we don't buy any premade items. My only suggestion if you want to be able to use them for egg sandwiches is to use a bigger loaf pan(or casserole dish that fits the bill) and put the recipe(which makes two loaves) into the one pan. Then the loaf is more square and is larger than the circular egg. I suppose aesthetically this isn't as pleasing, but I have done it and it works.
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Someone above posted that they get a lot of surprised looks when they bake from scratch. Once you start you just can't go back to mixes or store bought. Even kids with non discriminating palates have commmented that my cakes are the best they've ever had. And all I've done is follow the recipe from my gift copy of The Cake Bible. Not difficult at all. Now that I know how to make a variety of buttercream and whipped cream creations from that book I can't stand icing made from shortening and powdered sugar. Ugh!
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question for all your Fantastic foodies...any ideas on how to cut/break a little more ripe then I would like green walnuts? I Had no luck with a cleaver, very little lucky sawing them with a serrated knife (and almost took off my finger)
My excitement at discovering my hubby's grandma has a English walnut tree is slightly tempered by realizing I should have harvested them in June, I really want to try and make some nocino!
ETA: so I walked away and it hit me, yeah walnut...nut cracker would probably work...and it did :)
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We had our first go at yoghurt! Turns out we do have Fage in the UK - I've just always known it as 'Total' because that's the biggest writing on the packet. It went... OK. We scalded the milk on the stovetop, cooled to 43 degrees, stirred in the starter and popped it in a briefly-on oven all day. I didn't want to open the door in case I let the heat out, so I didn't check for eight hours when I found it was stone cold, but definitely very thin yoghurt! Back in the oven it went for another few hours and we did end up with a fairly sharp, stiff yoghurt (and some whey which I used to bake DELICIOUS bread). It's now in a Tupperware in the fridge, awaiting honey. We make 1l of milk worth.
We're going to have another go, probably next week, and try it in the slow cooker. We clearly had difficulty keeping it at the right temperature so hopefully that will help, but I do worry about different specs on different slow cookers.
However, I can confirm that the effort level was not significant. The hardest bit was checking the temperature as it cooled (we bought a child thermometer, not a very good idea because if it's above 45 degrees it beeps to tell you your child is going to die. Am planning to buy a scientific 'mercury' thermometer that we can just leave in and watch the mercury go down, because constantly testing with a digital one is a PITA.)
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We had our first go at yoghurt! Turns out we do have Fage in the UK - I've just always known it as 'Total' because that's the biggest writing on the packet. It went... OK. We scalded the milk on the stovetop, cooled to 43 degrees, stirred in the starter and popped it in a briefly-on oven all day. I didn't want to open the door in case I let the heat out, so I didn't check for eight hours when I found it was stone cold, but definitely very thin yoghurt! Back in the oven it went for another few hours and we did end up with a fairly sharp, stiff yoghurt (and some whey which I used to bake DELICIOUS bread). It's now in a Tupperware in the fridge, awaiting honey. We make 1l of milk worth.
We're going to have another go, probably next week, and try it in the slow cooker. We clearly had difficulty keeping it at the right temperature so hopefully that will help, but I do worry about different specs on different slow cookers.
However, I can confirm that the effort level was not significant. The hardest bit was checking the temperature as it cooled (we bought a child thermometer, not a very good idea because if it's above 45 degrees it beeps to tell you your child is going to die. Am planning to buy a scientific 'mercury' thermometer that we can just leave in and watch the mercury go down, because constantly testing with a digital one is a PITA.)
Wife makes ours with a small picnic cooler. Takes it off the stove, warms a couple damp towels in the microwave, wraps the jar and puts it in the cooler overnight. Keeps it a nice warm temp overnight. Thick yogurt in the morning. Thickness is now more a matter of the milk fat content. Very nice consistent results.
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We had our first go at yoghurt! Turns out we do have Fage in the UK - I've just always known it as 'Total' because that's the biggest writing on the packet. It went... OK. We scalded the milk on the stovetop, cooled to 43 degrees, stirred in the starter and popped it in a briefly-on oven all day. I didn't want to open the door in case I let the heat out, so I didn't check for eight hours when I found it was stone cold, but definitely very thin yoghurt! Back in the oven it went for another few hours and we did end up with a fairly sharp, stiff yoghurt (and some whey which I used to bake DELICIOUS bread). It's now in a Tupperware in the fridge, awaiting honey. We make 1l of milk worth.
We're going to have another go, probably next week, and try it in the slow cooker. We clearly had difficulty keeping it at the right temperature so hopefully that will help, but I do worry about different specs on different slow cookers.
However, I can confirm that the effort level was not significant. The hardest bit was checking the temperature as it cooled (we bought a child thermometer, not a very good idea because if it's above 45 degrees it beeps to tell you your child is going to die. Am planning to buy a scientific 'mercury' thermometer that we can just leave in and watch the mercury go down, because constantly testing with a digital one is a PITA.)
I wrap my pot in a towel before sticking it in the oven to help insulate, and leave the interior light on. In the winter I'd warm it up a little first just to take the chill out (not necessary here in the summer). You could also stick it in at 46 degrees or so if it's cooling off too fast.
I haven't tried the slow cooker, I think it would be harder to keep a constant temp.
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My crock pot I the kind with a thick removable crockery bowl. I just use the bowl as a way to keep the heat. So I add the starter to my milk, put on it's lid, place the bowl in the oven with the light on. It stays warm. I usually do it for 16 to so hours, then strain, over a couple of hours. I want to get a nut milk bag to strain it in, right now I am just using cheesecloth.
I just started to make flavored syrup for coffee.
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I did the Cooks Illustrated mustard with the dry powder am waiting for reviews from my cousin now....If she says it is edible then I make another one for a friend.
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I bake my own whole wheat bread (and recently tried my hand at an Italian loaf, even confident enough in my baking abilities these days to modify the recipe!), chocolate chip cookies, and granola. Started making my own yogurt (I got a yogurt maker off my local Buy Nothing group, and almost scored a mini cooler - I'd prefer the mini cooler method and mason jars since the yogurt maker uses multiple small glass jars, so I'm still on the lookout...) and my own spreadable butter (butter/olive oil). We also can our own tuna and have traded tuna for canned salmon with our Alaska cousins, and occasionally catch our own salmon for smoking.
Next up to try is baking hamburger and hot dog buns, "Cheezits", "Graham Crackers" (I'm nervous about crackers turning out soggy so I've been dragging my feet on these) and canning apple sauce, marinara sauce and pickles. I also need to perfect my pie crust which has never turned out flaky.
Does anyone have a great marinara sauce recipe they love that works well with canning? I currently buy Hunt sauce which the kids love, but would like to stock up the pantry with home made. Also any tips on where to score cheap apples and tomatoes for canning? Time of year to do it?
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I always found stuffing them to be the annoying part of making my own bao. Probably because I tried to put in too much stuffing, and it would ooze out and stop the dough at the top from sticking together.
Then I thought... what do I care if the filling is inside? So now I just steam the buns plain, and dip them into heated pork/sauce mixture (they're super-absorbent). I guess I could also slice them open and put stuff inside, like they do at Momofuku.
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America's Test Kitchen put out a book in 2012 called DIY Cookbook that's just great. It's broad on all kinds of DIY kitchencraft - great recipes for everything from corn chips to bacon. Highly recommended.
Thanks for the tip, requested from the library
Also check out "Make the Bread, Buy the Butter" if you are looking for more. It is a couple years of one woman's goal of making everything from scratch and deciding what is better to buy at the store (some things but not a lot). Very entertaining book with some good recipes.
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I made pickles for the first time. I'm inordinately excited. The cukes were free from my friend's farm share.
Edited to add: I cannot believe how easy and yet completely delicious they are. It's nuts!
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We're going to have another go, probably next week, and try it in the slow cooker. We clearly had difficulty keeping it at the right temperature so hopefully that will help, but I do worry about different specs on different slow cookers.
I do a slowcooker hack version. I turn the slow cooker on, to low. Heat the milk in a saucepan till there are bubbles round the edges and a bit of steam. No thermometer involved. Remove from heat. After the slowcooker has been on for 20 mins or so, I turn it off. Wander off.
Come back in a while when the milk has cooled down. Stir in the starter and the powdered milk if you want that. (Don't put the starter in until the milk has cooled down). Put it in the slowcooker and wrap in in a towel overnight.
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I love DIY kitchen too, I can't believe I haven't seen this thread before.
This past weekend, I made butter chicken sauce in the slow cooker. I now have the equivalent of 4 grocery store jars in my freezer, and by my calculation the cost was about 60% vs. buying the ready made jars.
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Does anyone have a great marinara sauce recipe they love that works well with canning? I currently buy Hunt sauce which the kids love, but would like to stock up the pantry with home made. Also any tips on where to score cheap apples and tomatoes for canning? Time of year to do it?
Axe's marinara sauce:
2-3 Tbsp olive oil
8-12 garlic cloves, crushed and chopped up
Add Some onion, some peppers, and maybe a carrot. Saute until softened, about 5-10m
Add one pound of meat - if it's ground beef, I drain the fat, clean the pan and add all the ingredients back in. Bison, chicken, venison or sausage works, too.
Add Two 14.5oz cans of diced tomatoes, or 1 large mason jar of canned tomatoes, or frozen.
Add 1/2-1 tsp oregano or marjoram.
Reduce until it's as thick as you want it. I like to mix half canned, half diced or frozen together for the texture.
When done, remove from heat and add fresh or frozen basil, about two handfuls. If you add it at the end, it retains the oil, otherwise it cooks out in a couple of minutes. Do not use dried basil.
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I love DIY kitchen too, I can't believe I haven't seen this thread before.
This past weekend, I made butter chicken sauce in the slow cooker. I now have the equivalent of 4 grocery store jars in my freezer, and by my calculation the cost was about 60% vs. buying the ready made jars.
Would you mind sharing the recipe?!
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Does anyone have a great marinara sauce recipe they love that works well with canning? I currently buy Hunt sauce which the kids love, but would like to stock up the pantry with home made. Also any tips on where to score cheap apples and tomatoes for canning? Time of year to do it?
Axe's marinara sauce:
2-3 Tbsp olive oil
8-12 garlic cloves, crushed and chopped up
Add Some onion, some peppers, and maybe a carrot. Saute until softened, about 5-10m
Add one pound of meat - if it's ground beef, I drain the fat, clean the pan and add all the ingredients back in. Bison, chicken, venison or sausage works, too.
Add Two 14.5oz cans of diced tomatoes, or 1 large mason jar of canned tomatoes, or frozen.
Add 1/2-1 tsp oregano or marjoram.
Reduce until it's as thick as you want it. I like to mix half canned, half diced or frozen together for the texture.
When done, remove from heat and add fresh or frozen basil, about two handfuls. If you add it at the end, it retains the oil, otherwise it cooks out in a couple of minutes. Do not use dried basil.
This looks like a wonderful recipe, thank you. I'm assuming that anyone looking to can this recipe needs to use pressure-canning, not water-bath, due to the ingredients. Looks like it would freeze well, too.
For tomatoes and apples, if there aren't local farms to contact, see if there are any produce distributors in your area that would sell to you by the case. We've bought cases of serranos, tomatoes, etc., and the price was quite good for beautiful (but conventional) produce.
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I love DIY kitchen too, I can't believe I haven't seen this thread before.
This past weekend, I made butter chicken sauce in the slow cooker. I now have the equivalent of 4 grocery store jars in my freezer, and by my calculation the cost was about 60% vs. buying the ready made jars.
Would you mind sharing the recipe?!
http://www.canadianliving.com/food/slow_cooker_butter_chicken.php
I used this as my launching off recipe. I kicked up the spices to my taste. I made a double batch and did the recipe up to the purée point, then took out what I needed for diner and lunch the next day and packaged the rest in 500ml containers. To eat on the day, I marinate two chicken breasts in yogourt and tandoori spices, and cook on the grill, this makes for a more authentic butter chicken flavour then just stewing the chicken in the sauce.
Next time I make it, I will pre cook the onions, garlic and spices, then blend the whole recipe in the vitamix before dumping it into the slow cooker for the day. I don't have an immersion blender and blending the hot mixture was a pain in the ass, that I think will go much smoother if just done cold. Cooking the onions and spices first should enhance the flavour too.
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I'm assuming that anyone looking to can this recipe needs to use pressure-canning, not water-bath, due to the ingredients.
Rather than make this whole batch using fresh ingredients, I prefer to can the plum tomatoes all by themselves, adding a Tablespoon of lemon juice to the mixture, which lets you raise the acidity and prevent spoilage without using pressure canning. Then in the winter I buy fresh meat, combine the canned tomatoes, and frozen basil to make the final recipe.
This way it's super easy to do the canning at harvest time - just process the tomatoes, done! - and you get to enjoy cooking the recipe during the winter when you have plenty of time.
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I love DIY kitchen too, I can't believe I haven't seen this thread before.
This past weekend, I made butter chicken sauce in the slow cooker. I now have the equivalent of 4 grocery store jars in my freezer, and by my calculation the cost was about 60% vs. buying the ready made jars.
Would you mind sharing the recipe?!
http://www.canadianliving.com/food/slow_cooker_butter_chicken.php
Thanks!
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This week I made my own pectin! I've never done that before, I feel like some kind of magician.
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I made whole wheat bagels this weekend! I'm really happy with them, and they're definitely far cheaper than the fancy English muffins I have been using. I had one with my egg for breakfast this morning and it was great. Thanks, swick, for motivating me to try it!
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I made whole wheat bagels this weekend! I'm really happy with them, and they're definitely far cheaper than the fancy English muffins I have been using. I had one with my egg for breakfast this morning and it was great. Thanks, swick, for motivating me to try it!
Whoot! :D nice Job! Cheddar jalapeno bagels are my fave for breakfast sandwiches. Once you have the basics you can customize them however you like!
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It started off innocently enough: Making our own salsa, guacamole, hot sauce, hummus. They turned out to be a gateway drug to pickles, relish, mayo. My husband looks worriedly into the kitchen when he sees me now making ketchup, beer mustard, hamburger buns, tortillas..... I only wish I had more free time (I work full time) because this stuff tastes SO much better than the stuff you get in the store, and doesn't have the chemical/preservative load, the trans fats, etc. Just have to make sure I keep a steady supply of jars. :)
Would you be willing to share your hamburg bun recipe?
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I also, from time to time, make my own spring rolls because I can't eat onions or garlic but they are SO YUMMY. Making the filling and doing the frying is a piece of cake. The wrapping took me half a dozen goes to get right, and I'd recommend watching a youtube video, but now I can do it just fine. I tend to make a big pile of filling, wrap loads and then freeze them raw. Defrost for an hour on the counter and fry away! My favourite filling is cabbage, carrot, ginger and beansprouts.
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Re the discussion about english muffin further back: I make my own and don't find this recipe to be hard or time-consuming. I roll them out the way you would a bun and put 5 to a pan at a time.
http://www.laurainthekitchen.com/recipes/english-muffins/
I also make my own croissants and can report that even though they take a full 2-3 days to make (most of that time is spent in the fridge) they are so absolutely worth it.
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Love kitchen science experiments! Have you tried making yogurt? You can get it ready in the evening and let it ferment overnight.
Homemade wine? That is our favorite DIY by far and also quite popular with others.
Homemade wine? This is something that I would love to try since I drink wine every night but I live in an apartment and probably don't have the space. How do you do it?
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I was off work this week for staycation and decided to do some once a month cooking to fill my freezer. I made lasagne with home made Italian sausage, tastier, cheaper and easier to handle than buying the premade stuff. I had enough ground pork left over to make a batch of breakfast sausage patties as well.
This weekend I have plans to make donair meat from scratch too. This likely would only impress eastern Canadians though!
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A friend of mine is an absolute pasty junkie so I am learning how to make my own. There is a wonderful pasty place near us in Northern Virginia I have gone to in the past but I know it is right to learn to make my own. I do need to improve on my crusts but luckily the fillings can be almost anything.
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I bake my own whole wheat bread (and recently tried my hand at an Italian loaf, even confident enough in my baking abilities these days to modify the recipe!), chocolate chip cookies, and granola. Started making my own yogurt (I got a yogurt maker off my local Buy Nothing group, and almost scored a mini cooler - I'd prefer the mini cooler method and mason jars since the yogurt maker uses multiple small glass jars, so I'm still on the lookout...) and my own spreadable butter (butter/olive oil). We also can our own tuna and have traded tuna for canned salmon with our Alaska cousins, and occasionally catch our own salmon for smoking.
Next up to try is baking hamburger and hot dog buns, "Cheezits", "Graham Crackers" (I'm nervous about crackers turning out soggy so I've been dragging my feet on these) and canning apple sauce, marinara sauce and pickles. I also need to perfect my pie crust which has never turned out flaky.
Does anyone have a great marinara sauce recipe they love that works well with canning? I currently buy Hunt sauce which the kids love, but would like to stock up the pantry with home made. Also any tips on where to score cheap apples and tomatoes for canning? Time of year to do it?
This is the recipe I use all the time
1 ¼ cup of Tomato Sauce (I always use San Marzano or Pomi)
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 white onion, diced
Salt and Pepper to taste
1 tsp Sugar
Dried Oregano, to taste
Dried Basil, to taste
To make the sauce, heat the oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the garlic and onions and cook until soft but not browned, 2 minutes. Add the rest of the sauce ingredients and cook on medium heat, stirring occasionally, for about 20 minutes
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It started off innocently enough: Making our own salsa, guacamole, hot sauce, hummus. They turned out to be a gateway drug to pickles, relish, mayo. My husband looks worriedly into the kitchen when he sees me now making ketchup, beer mustard, hamburger buns, tortillas..... I only wish I had more free time (I work full time) because this stuff tastes SO much better than the stuff you get in the store, and doesn't have the chemical/preservative load, the trans fats, etc. Just have to make sure I keep a steady supply of jars. :)
Would you be willing to share your hamburg bun recipe?
Not the OP but this is a very reliable recipe.
http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/beautiful-burger-buns-recipe
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Love kitchen science experiments! Have you tried making yogurt? You can get it ready in the evening and let it ferment overnight.
Homemade wine? That is our favorite DIY by far and also quite popular with others.
Homemade wine? This is something that I would love to try since I drink wine every night but I live in an apartment and probably don't have the space. How do you do it?
You have plenty of room in an apartment to make small batches of wine.
We published a blog post today on how to make wine from frozen juice concentrate. Take a look at it. Leave any comments or questions you may have. Cheers!
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I fail always at yoghurt anyone have a foolproof recipe?
Cheese sounds interesting. What would be recommended for a beginner?
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I fail always at yoghurt anyone have a foolproof recipe?
Cheese sounds interesting. What would be recommended for a beginner?
Here's what I do:
Bring 4 cups of whole milk to a boil slowly while stirring with a whisk fairly often
Allow to cool to 110 degrees (ice bath to speed up the process)
Remove 1 cup of the milk and stir in plain yogurt (I use 1/2 of the single serving size of Fage Greek yogurt)
Return milk/starter to the pot and whisk to evenly incorporate
Pour in jars and place in yogurt maker for 8 hours
If I want to make vanilla yogurt I stir 4 tbsp of white sugar and 1 tbsp of vanilla into the milk before adding the milk/starter back to the pot.
Are you using a yogurt machine or the cooler method? My guess if you're failing is that it's not incubating warm enough, or that you're adding the starter in before the milk has cooled enough. Besides that yogurt really is so fool proof, you shouldn't have any trouble!
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Cheese sounds interesting. What would be recommended for a beginner?
Mozzarella is really easy. The temperature is critical, so make sure to get a submersible thermometer (dairy thermometer or the like) and test it out in boiling water, which should read exactly 100 degrees C or 212 F (assumes altitude is near sea level - otherwise subtract 1.75 degrees F per 1000'). The other key is getting very fresh milk. I tried it with direct-from-the-farm (but still pasteurized) milk and had much more reliable results than the grocery store milk.
Fresh made mozzarella is so incredibly good, and so easy to make. As a bonus, use the whey (the leftover liquid) to make bread, delicious and more nutritious.
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I fail always at yoghurt anyone have a foolproof recipe?
Cheese sounds interesting. What would be recommended for a beginner?
Here's what I do:
Bring 4 cups of whole milk to a boil slowly while stirring with a whisk fairly often
Allow to cool to 110 degrees (ice bath to speed up the process)
Remove 1 cup of the milk and stir in plain yogurt (I use 1/2 of the single serving size of Fage Greek yogurt)
Return milk/starter to the pot and whisk to evenly incorporate
Pour in jars and place in yogurt maker for 8 hours
If I want to make vanilla yogurt I stir 4 tbsp of white sugar and 1 tbsp of vanilla into the milk before adding the milk/starter back to the pot.
Are you using a yogurt machine or the cooler method? My guess if you're failing is that it's not incubating warm enough, or that you're adding the starter in before the milk has cooled enough. Besides that yogurt really is so fool proof, you shouldn't have any trouble!
The milk can be heated in the microwave - decreases the chance of scorching and need to stir frequently. You can also use the microwave as an incubator vessel.
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Marmalade today! I just made enough mixed citrus marmalade for about two years*. The citrus today was lemons, limes, oranges and a few mandarins. Plus a few cape gooseberries I had lying about (I know, not a citrus, but is a slightly tart aromatic fruit which matches perfectly).
500g citrus : 1 lemon : 1L water : 500ml additional citrus juice : 1.5kg sugar
I prefer a mix of citrus fruit, not just straight oranges, and I tend to put the entire peel and pith in, and tie up the pips into a muslin bag and cook that in with it too, which seems to provide sufficient pectins to achieve set.
* I suspect most of it will be gone before the end of the year as sweet preserves make easy gifts
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I love this thread! In fact, it inspired me to finally figure out DIY BBQ sauce.... and it was 'meh'. I know BBQ sauce is really divisive by region- I tend to favor the smoky flavors, not a fan of very sweet or tomato-y tasting. The sauce I made tasted a bit like BBQ-ish marinara sauce. Anyone have a good recipe?
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I love this thread! In fact, it inspired me to finally figure out DIY BBQ sauce.... and it was 'meh'. I know BBQ sauce is really divisive by region- I tend to favor the smoky flavors, not a fan of very sweet or tomato-y tasting. The sauce I made tasted a bit like BBQ-ish marinara sauce. Anyone have a good recipe?
Hi Bracken_Joy!
I haven't settled on a favorite BBQ sauce yet - but one of the things that is on my list to experiment is using raisin paste to build the flavour profile off of. Hubby got gifted some really good artisanal BBQ sauce for his Birthday and this was the first ingredient. It also has Tamarind paste and some anchovies in it (although I never would have guessed.)
Those ingredients would definitely keep it from the tomato-forward realm. Also if you cut some of the sugar with the fruit pastes it would be less sweet. To pump up the smoke you could add some smoked salt and/or liquid smoke to it.
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I love this thread! In fact, it inspired me to finally figure out DIY BBQ sauce.... and it was 'meh'. I know BBQ sauce is really divisive by region- I tend to favor the smoky flavors, not a fan of very sweet or tomato-y tasting. The sauce I made tasted a bit like BBQ-ish marinara sauce. Anyone have a good recipe?
Hi Bracken_Joy!
I haven't settled on a favorite BBQ sauce yet - but one of the things that is on my list to experiment is using raisin paste to build the flavour profile off of. Hubby got gifted some really good artisanal BBQ sauce for his Birthday and this was the first ingredient. It also has Tamarind paste and some anchovies in it (although I never would have guessed.)
Those ingredients would definitely keep it from the tomato-forward realm. Also if you cut some of the sugar with the fruit pastes it would be less sweet. To pump up the smoke you could add some smoked salt and/or liquid smoke to it.
I was considering playing with adding fish sauce since it really pumps up the depth on a lot of things, so I'm glad to see anchovies as an option... maybe I'm on to something!
I used strained tomatoes as the base of the last recipe. Is ketchup or tomato paste a better option? It's hard to balance flavor with keeping it cheap! Tamarind could be a good idea, it's usually fairly cheap at indian markets.
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I used strained tomatoes as the base of the last recipe. Is ketchup or tomato paste a better option? It's hard to balance flavor with keeping it cheap! Tamarind could be a good idea, it's usually fairly cheap at indian markets.
Personally, I have never liked using Ketchup as a base, there is so.so. much sugar in it that it limits your options for what you can add. If you are anywhere that that a Middle Eastern market, they usually have HUGE jars of tomato paste for fairly cheap. Most of the brands I am familiar with are Turkish.
I don't have a market close by, so when the sales are good (usually their shipping) I will order my spices/pastes from Tulumba. http://www.tulumba.com/icy_qSrch.asp?ops=s&x=&tag=&s=tomato+paste (http://www.tulumba.com/icy_qSrch.asp?ops=s&x=&tag=&s=tomato+paste) that is the link to their tomato pastes, you can get a 24 oz jar for less than 5.00. So much cheaper than getting those stupid little tins from the store.
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I've been making a crockfull of lacto-fermented carrots with jalapenos, onion, and garlic. I tasted it today (after about 10 days) and it's amazing. I've just put 4 heads' worth of garlic cloves back into the brine. I've never made lacto garlic before but it seems it would be ridiculously healthy.....
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I love this thread! In fact, it inspired me to finally figure out DIY BBQ sauce.... and it was 'meh'. I know BBQ sauce is really divisive by region- I tend to favor the smoky flavors, not a fan of very sweet or tomato-y tasting. The sauce I made tasted a bit like BBQ-ish marinara sauce. Anyone have a good recipe?
I like this one but I use half the amount of chilli powder. Works well on pretty much everything.
http://www.food.com/recipe/kittencals-famous-barbecue-sauce-for-chicken-and-ribs-232433
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I've been making a crockfull of lacto-fermented carrots with jalapenos, onion, and garlic. I tasted it today (after about 10 days) and it's amazing. I've just put 4 heads' worth of garlic cloves back into the brine. I've never made lacto garlic before but it seems it would be ridiculously healthy.....
Do you have a rough recipe you would be willing to share? I haven't explored any other veggies other than making kimchi, but those carrots sound amazing!
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Sure! It was pretty easy -
I have a 3 quart crock. I used 5 lbs of carrots, 5 large jalapenos, a medium-sized yellow onion, and a handful of peeled garlic cloves.
I sliced the carrots on the bias into long coins, sliced the peppers right across the middle, and sliced the onion into about 1" wide strips. Mixed it all up, then added a brine: 2 quarts of filtered water mixed with 3 tablespoons sea salt, so like a 2.5% brine. Ish. I weighted the veggies down below the surface of the liquid and covered loosely (my crock has a lid and a water channel, but you could cover any container with a couple of layers of cheesecloth and tie it on)
It fermented about 10 days; I tasted it after 7 and it wasn't very sour. Now it is.
I transferred it all to quart Mason jars and put into the fridge to slow down fermentation. I thought we'd end up with too much and would have to give some away, but they're so good we're having a few with every meal and so I'll end up making more in September....and October....and..... :)
I boiled and cooled the remaining brine, and then put about 4 heads' worth of peeled garlic cloves into it, weighted it down, and now it's doing its thing.
We also do a lacto slaw that is equal parts shredded red cabbage, shredded red beets, and shredded carrot, with a few spoonfuls each of chopped garlic and chopped ginger. Couple of tablespoons of sea salt mixed throughout, and you pound it as it goes into the crock to make it start releasing its juices. It's an amazing tonic.
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Sure! It was pretty easy -
I have a 3 quart crock. I used 5 lbs of carrots, 5 large jalapenos, a medium-sized yellow onion, and a handful of peeled garlic cloves.
I sliced the carrots on the bias into long coins, sliced the peppers right across the middle, and sliced the onion into about 1" wide strips. Mixed it all up, then added a brine: 2 quarts of filtered water mixed with 3 tablespoons sea salt, so like a 2.5% brine. Ish. I weighted the veggies down below the surface of the liquid and covered loosely (my crock has a lid and a water channel, but you could cover any container with a couple of layers of cheesecloth and tie it on)
It fermented about 10 days; I tasted it after 7 and it wasn't very sour. Now it is.
I transferred it all to quart Mason jars and put into the fridge to slow down fermentation. I thought we'd end up with too much and would have to give some away, but they're so good we're having a few with every meal and so I'll end up making more in September....and October....and..... :)
I boiled and cooled the remaining brine, and then put about 4 heads' worth of peeled garlic cloves into it, weighted it down, and now it's doing its thing.
We also do a lacto slaw that is equal parts shredded red cabbage, shredded red beets, and shredded carrot, with a few spoonfuls each of chopped garlic and chopped ginger. Couple of tablespoons of sea salt mixed throughout, and you pound it as it goes into the crock to make it start releasing its juices. It's an amazing tonic.
Awesome, THANK YOU! Will try and report back :)
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I don't do as much DIY as I used to (combination of living alone and a tiny kitchen with almost no space to store things) but it was always something I found fun - bagels, whole wheat bread, grilled pizza, baked goods, jam, refrigerator pickles, fancy chocolate truffles/caramels/filled chocolates*. My grandfather was a baker and my dad is a scientist, so there is a certain amount of genetic inevitability towards scientifically-minded tinkering in the kitchen, I suspect.
Kind of a weird one, but I've been wondering lately about trying to make homemade breath mints. Did any of you ever give that a shot? I found a recipe or two online but I'm hesitant to shell out for specialty ingredients without having some reliable reviews. I like to keep some of the tiny-size Altoids in my bag, but they cost a buck and change for a third of an ounce... it looks like you could make it DIY for about about 80% cheaper. (OTOH they are something you use so little of that it's not exactly a major budget item... but...it could be fun?)
*Someday my willpower will waver and I will drop $400 on a tabletop chocolate tempering machine and it'll be the best and worst thing I ever did.
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Homemade no-knead bread
dehydrated fruit
beef, chicken and turkey jerky
various ferments (sauerkraut with carrots and granny smith apples, beet kvass)
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I love this thread! In fact, it inspired me to finally figure out DIY BBQ sauce.... and it was 'meh'. I know BBQ sauce is really divisive by region- I tend to favor the smoky flavors, not a fan of very sweet or tomato-y tasting. The sauce I made tasted a bit like BBQ-ish marinara sauce. Anyone have a good recipe?
Hi Bracken_Joy!
I haven't settled on a favorite BBQ sauce yet - but one of the things that is on my list to experiment is using raisin paste to build the flavour profile off of. Hubby got gifted some really good artisanal BBQ sauce for his Birthday and this was the first ingredient. It also has Tamarind paste and some anchovies in it (although I never would have guessed.)
Those ingredients would definitely keep it from the tomato-forward realm. Also if you cut some of the sugar with the fruit pastes it would be less sweet. To pump up the smoke you could add some smoked salt and/or liquid smoke to it.
I was considering playing with adding fish sauce since it really pumps up the depth on a lot of things, so I'm glad to see anchovies as an option... maybe I'm on to something!
I used strained tomatoes as the base of the last recipe. Is ketchup or tomato paste a better option? It's hard to balance flavor with keeping it cheap! Tamarind could be a good idea, it's usually fairly cheap at indian markets.
Butter is a good secret ingredient in BBQ sauce. I made a killer one with my homemade yellow tomato/habanero ketchup as the base, added in butter, smoked paprika, fish sauce or Worcestershire sauce, powdered onion and garlic, some maple syrup (my ketchup isn't sweet) cumin and mustard powder. I think that was it. There's a locally made BBQ sauce we bought a couple years ago that is good, albeit too sweet, and butter turned out to be the secret ingredient in that.
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I love this thread! In fact, it inspired me to finally figure out DIY BBQ sauce.... and it was 'meh'. I know BBQ sauce is really divisive by region- I tend to favor the smoky flavors, not a fan of very sweet or tomato-y tasting. The sauce I made tasted a bit like BBQ-ish marinara sauce. Anyone have a good recipe?
Hi Bracken_Joy!
I haven't settled on a favorite BBQ sauce yet - but one of the things that is on my list to experiment is using raisin paste to build the flavour profile off of. Hubby got gifted some really good artisanal BBQ sauce for his Birthday and this was the first ingredient. It also has Tamarind paste and some anchovies in it (although I never would have guessed.)
Those ingredients would definitely keep it from the tomato-forward realm. Also if you cut some of the sugar with the fruit pastes it would be less sweet. To pump up the smoke you could add some smoked salt and/or liquid smoke to it.
I was considering playing with adding fish sauce since it really pumps up the depth on a lot of things, so I'm glad to see anchovies as an option... maybe I'm on to something!
I used strained tomatoes as the base of the last recipe. Is ketchup or tomato paste a better option? It's hard to balance flavor with keeping it cheap! Tamarind could be a good idea, it's usually fairly cheap at indian markets.
Butter is a good secret ingredient in BBQ sauce. I made a killer one with my homemade yellow tomato/habanero ketchup as the base, added in butter, smoked paprika, fish sauce or Worcestershire sauce, powdered onion and garlic, some maple syrup (my ketchup isn't sweet) cumin and mustard powder. I think that was it. There's a locally made BBQ sauce we bought a couple years ago that is good, albeit too sweet, and butter turned out to be the secret ingredient in that.
Awesome, thank you! I'll have to give this a go, it sounds very in keeping with our flavor preferences.
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I don't do as much DIY as I used to (combination of living alone and a tiny kitchen with almost no space to store things) but it was always something I found fun - bagels, whole wheat bread, grilled pizza, baked goods, jam, refrigerator pickles, fancy chocolate truffles/caramels/filled chocolates*. My grandfather was a baker and my dad is a scientist, so there is a certain amount of genetic inevitability towards scientifically-minded tinkering in the kitchen, I suspect.
Kind of a weird one, but I've been wondering lately about trying to make homemade breath mints. Did any of you ever give that a shot? I found a recipe or two online but I'm hesitant to shell out for specialty ingredients without having some reliable reviews. I like to keep some of the tiny-size Altoids in my bag, but they cost a buck and change for a third of an ounce... it looks like you could make it DIY for about about 80% cheaper. (OTOH they are something you use so little of that it's not exactly a major budget item... but...it could be fun?)
*Someday my willpower will waver and I will drop $400 on a tabletop chocolate tempering machine and it'll be the best and worst thing I ever did.
I've wondered about breath mints as well. Trader Joe's has both green tea and ginger mints that I am in love with, and I'd love a home grown option.
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where do you guys find pickling salt? i want to try making pickles and recipes that i found say to use pickling salt.
Sometimes it's marketed as "popcorn salt." Smart & Final has it if you happen to have Smart & Final in your area. :)
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I've made DIY altoids (you can google that for the recipe). I made plain peppermint ones, and also chocolate peppermint ones which were awesome. I don't have the patience to do the fussy cutting them out with a straw nonsense - I just did sheets of it on my dehydrator fruit roll trays, and scored it with a plastic knife into little chunks.
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I've made DIY altoids (you can google that for the recipe). I made plain peppermint ones, and also chocolate peppermint ones which were awesome. I don't have the patience to do the fussy cutting them out with a straw nonsense - I just did sheets of it on my dehydrator fruit roll trays, and scored it with a plastic knife into little chunks.
Yeah, I figured I'd just cut them into little squares like a sane person :-) What did you do for chocolate peppermint ones? Add cocoa powder?
My real problem is that I love the Altoids Smalls, which I suspect are a lot harder to make at home...
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cocoa powder to taste, yes.
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Not the OP but this is a very reliable recipe.
http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/beautiful-burger-buns-recipe
I made this recipe once and found it gaggingly sweet. Others might not. YMMV, as they say.
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Not the OP but this is a very reliable recipe.
http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/beautiful-burger-buns-recipe
I made this recipe once and found it gaggingly sweet. Others might not. YMMV, as they say.
Yes, you are right! I forgot to mention that I halve the amount of sugar when I make it :)
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Not the OP but this is a very reliable recipe.
http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/beautiful-burger-buns-recipe
I made this recipe once and found it gaggingly sweet. Others might not. YMMV, as they say.
Yes, you are right! I forgot to mention that I halve the amount of sugar when I make it :)
+1 on both those recommendations - that bun recipe is awesome IF you massively cut down on the sugar. I thought they tasted like sweet rolls, too.
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Does anyone have recipes for taco seasoning and taco sauce they can recommend? I'm done with paying for the packets and tiny bottles at the grocery.
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Love kitchen DIY. We cook 3 meals a day and make/have made our own:
- Kimchi
- Sauerkraut
- Pickled carrots and ginger
- Pickles
- Pickled garlic
- Canned tomatoes
- Apple sauce (13 gallons a year!)
- Apple cider vinegar
- Mayonnaise
- Almond milk
- Almond butter
- Almond flour
- Sun butter (sun flower seeds)
- Pizza dough (gluten free)
- Pasta sauce
- Jams (blueberry, raspberry)
- Apple juice
- Chocolate "ice cream" (just frozen bananas and cacao)
- Yogurt
- Kefir
By far the most rewarding and least time consuming has been sauerkraut. Most fun is our apple products as we have set up an assembly line that would rival the productivity seen in a plant. :) 17 seconds from an unpeeled apple to chopped and in the pot for sauce. We save the scraps for apple cider vinegar. We get organic apples in bulk from a local orchard that does pick your own. We get so many, they give it to us at the conventional price. $168 last September... and we still have roughly 6 gallons!
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I've been making a crockfull of lacto-fermented carrots with jalapenos, onion, and garlic. I tasted it today (after about 10 days) and it's amazing. I've just put 4 heads' worth of garlic cloves back into the brine. I've never made lacto garlic before but it seems it would be ridiculously healthy.....
We are a huge fan of my wife's first go at lacto-fermented carrots. She added ginger and it was freaking awesome!
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Does anyone have recipes for taco seasoning and taco sauce they can recommend? I'm done with paying for the packets and tiny bottles at the grocery.
This is the recipe I use. It tastes quite a bit like the Penzey's taco mix, if you've ever had that. I quadruple the recipe. As with any seasoning mix, stores best if you can get a dessicant packet from something (I use the ones that come in seaweed bags and put it under the lid- keeps it from clumping).
http://www.rachelcooks.com/2011/10/28/homemade-taco-seasoning/
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1 and 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 to 1 teaspoon sea salt (more or less to taste)
1 teaspoon black pepper
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The cucumbers are finally coming in and the bok choy is finished. Six quarts of the latter blanched and in the freezer, and the first 2 lbs of the former have gone into refrigerator bread-and-butter pickle slices for sandwiches. I'm a little frightened at the number of pickling cucumbers out there right now in the garden....thinking about the long day I'm going to have getting them all into jars. But in my house that's a darned good problem to have. We both love pickles of all kinds, and this year I'm going to try making sweet gherkins, which I never have. Anyone have a recipe they've tried?
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I love to bake and cook. When my son was little he had a ton of food allergies so I learned to make most things from scratch. I still bake cookies, rolls, breads, and muffins. I have made ketchup, bbq sauce, spaghetti sauce, etc. I make my own sloppy joe sauce and taco seasoning mix. I used to have a big container of pancake mix for the kids. I have a recipe that I use to make my "special" pancakes on the weekends. It's also the dinner I make to ensure hubby will be home for dinner. I love breakfast food for dinner!
I always have a container of hot cocoa mix in the house.
I make a lot of soups and stocks to freeze. I do make kimchi but haven't tried making pickles since we don't eat a lot of pickles. I would like to try making homemade gochujang/red pepper paste. First I have to eat down my pantry before attempting to make it.
The one thing I have been searching for is an alternative to ranch dressing mix.
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Since discovering this thread:
I got a couple of the books mentioned in this thread from the library for some ideas.
I found an AWESOME cracker recipe that I've made a few times. I have a severe crunchy-salty craving problem.
Learned how to make mayonnaise. SO easy!
Made sauerkraut. Currently it's in progress. I've made it before, ages ago. Hopefully it works this time too.
Boyfriend started making lemonade regularly. Tastes delicious.
We also made our first batch of cheese. So easy. We made ricotta and used a little on the pizza that evening. Pressed the rest overnight. Used the whey to make pizza dough and dinner rolls.
We make pizzas rather often and I ran out of tomato sauce. I have lots of tomatoes from the garden and just cooked them up into sauce each time we make a pizza. Nothing special though. Cook them down, add spices. I really like it on the pizza.
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Made up a bunch of pesto for the freezer Sunday morning.
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Made up a bunch of pesto for the freezer Sunday morning.
Mind sharing your recipe?
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Made up a bunch of pesto for the freezer Sunday morning.
The squirrels ate all my basil this year =( No pesto for me this time around!
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Made up a bunch of pesto for the freezer Sunday morning.
Mind sharing your recipe?
I'm fairly informal with my pesto. One part basil to one part kale, throw it in the food processor with roughly a tablespoon of chopped garlic per packed cup of leaves. Drizzle on some olive oil and process, add more olive oil if it seems dry to the point of not wanting to cooperate.
Pack into a couple of ice trays when its pastelike rather than leafy, and freeze (I add more olive oil when I cook with it, but I think it freezes better a little "dry.") I don't use pine nuts because I can't get them here in the sticks. If I remember, I'll reprocess some with chopped walnuts when the black walnuts get ripe, but we ate pesto-based pizza tonight and it was marvelous even nut-free.
Once it freezes in the ice trays, I pop out the cubes and wrote them in a ziplock in the freezer.
BrackenJoy, sucks about your basil. I'm about to plant some in pots for in the house, grew it all winter last year and so I had some for fresh eating.
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We make our own vanilla extract. It's incredibly easy, much less expensive, and tastes way better than anything store bought. We just take a 375ml bottle of Brandy (you can also use Vodka and probably some other spirits) and add a few vanilla beans that were partially slit down the middle. Then we leave it for 3 months and you are good to go!
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Made up a bunch of pesto for the freezer Sunday morning.
Mind sharing your recipe?
I've been freezing it, too. My recipe is about a cup of shredded cheese (parmesan and romano), one clove of garlic, three T pine nuts, and then fill the rest of the food processor with green stuff (basil and spinach). I pour in a bunch of olive oil while it's running--the base recipe calls for I think half a cup, but I just add oil till it, you know, looks like pesto.
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Considering making hot chocolate mix. But it's pretty cheap to buy, so I am wondering if There is any cost savings to make it.
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Hot chocolate mix is super easy, very inexpensive, and you can control what goes in it to suit your taste. Basic recipe is two parts unsweetened cocoa to one part sugar, with a pinch of salt. Good additives are cream/half and half, peppermint, dried jalapeno, chili powder, caramel, or vanilla extract. You can use this basic recipe with whatever liquid you like, milk, coconut milk, rice milk, almond milk or plain old water.
Use about 2 Tbls of this mix per 8oz of liquid. A pound of cocoa with a half pound of sugar is about $6-10 and will last all winter. If it tastes too watery, add a little more salt.
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My son adores hot chocolate but due to his Crohn's he is unable to have too much if any dairy. I will hunt for a non dairy dry hot chocolate mix to make for him to enjoy.
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Onehair, dairy isn't required. We often mix ours with coconut milk.
We use roughly the same recipe as above, but sometimes add a spoonful of instant coffee, and some cinnamon and a tiny bit of cayenne. Mexican hot cocoa with a kick - yum.
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Considering making hot chocolate mix. But it's pretty cheap to buy, so I am wondering if There is any cost savings to make it.
I've never done a cost breakdown on hot cocoa. I just make it from scratch because I know what's in it when I do. Here is the one I use:
1 c powdered milk
1/4 c cocoa powder
1/2 c sugar
1 pinch salt
I use 3-4 Tablespoons of mix to 1 cup hot water. The kids love it and the oldest will use it to make mochas.
I've used Hoosier Hill Farm and Peak powdered milk that I get from Amazon. For those that have dairy issues you could use an alternative milk powder - soy, almond, etc
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I've DIY'd sorbet (rhubarb & ginger! yum), stocks, chutney, mozzarella (my ricotta attempt failed but I'd like to try again), yogurt, half-sour pickles, pesto, mayonnaise, bread (have to try sourdough this year), pasta noodles, stewed plum tomatoes (useful for so many things), hollandaise sauce, currant cordial (amazing in cocktails!), jams & jellies, ground turkey (from a holiday-priced turkey). Many inspiring ideas in this thread! I will be following to see what people add.
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Made up a bunch of pesto for the freezer Sunday morning.
The squirrels ate all my basil this year =( No pesto for me this time around!
We made a pesto with almonds and carrot greens. Works for me. Always hated throwing out carrot greens...
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Wish me luck, I am off to make coconut butter and coconut milk :)
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Lucky me, I was gifted a kombucha SCOBY today and have brewed my first batch. Love that stuff, and $3.00/bottle wasn't very mustachian.
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DIY typically revolves around three areas:
- Products whose flavor cannot be replicated in store bought versions
- Products with too many added "extras"
- Products wicked cheaper to make that purchase
For flavor, it is hands-down stewed tomatoes. The family recipe has a flavor that I cannot replicate in the store variety.
Avoiding added "extras" results in homemade bread, salsa, garden veggies and fruit. Can also link these under the first area.
Wicked cheaper to make than purchase: jam (free garden fruit), yogurt, pickled items (pepper rings, pickles, green beans, giardiniera).
Willing to share your stewed tomatoes recipe? We're trying to cut down on salt at our house. I made chili over the weekend and took the middlin' approach -- soaked my own beans and used lower sodium canned tomatoes from Costco. But, no sodium tomatoes are soooo expensive. I've canned and frozen tomatoes before. I understand the technique, just not the combo of ingredients that will make them flavorful.
Of course soaking your own beans is the low-hanging fruit of the DIY world, but each time I do it I can't get over how wonderful they are. So much more flavorful and less bitter. AND CHEAP!!!!
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Made not-quite-pesto yesterday with just salt, olive oil, and basil and garlic from the farmer's market. I blanched the basil first so it would stay bright green. Had some with breakfast this morning and it was a million times better than the weak commercial pesto I just had on my airport-lounge pasta.
Also roasted and peeled and froze a half-bushel of poblano peppers from the market. I don't often see them up here in Canada, and I rarely see them for cheap.
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Can't believe I didn't discover this thread earlier! We love to make our meals from scratch, but could make much more ourselves than we're currently doing. We recently were gifted a mortar, so our next step will be to make curry paste ourselves. Looking forward to read the entire thread!
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I did it! I made non dairy hot chocolate dried mix for my son last night using non dairy creamer, cocoa powder, granulated sugar a little salt and vanilla paste. It called for vanilla powder but I used what I had on hand. It's a little lumpy thanks to the paste and i am waiting on a review from him when he drinks it.
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I love the ideas here! We've done our own basil pesto for a while (so tasty) but I like the ideas here for "diluting" the basil with radish or carrot greens. I never have enough basil to satisfy my pesto cravings.
We do wine a lot. I think someone up thread recommended winemaking talk. That recommendation is heartily seconded. Very helpful folks on that forum. They got me started on my adult lemonade to help take care of my over abundance of Meyer lemons. Oh so juicy and sweet!
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I did it! I made non dairy hot chocolate dried mix for my son last night using non dairy creamer, cocoa powder, granulated sugar a little salt and vanilla paste. It called for vanilla powder but I used what I had on hand. It's a little lumpy thanks to the paste and i am waiting on a review from him when he drinks it.
Once the paste has dried to a solid, you can toss it all in a blender and take it to a fine powder. Doing so will help the granulated sugar dissolve faster as well.
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Anybody heard of the Make A Mix series of cookbooks? There are three of them and they specialize in mixes one can make to store in the freezer or the pantry. I have used it to make drink mixes as family gifts. I wish I had freezer room to do the meat mixes.
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I have really enjoyed this thread so I am going to bump it to revive it. I read this great blog post about making dairy products such as creme fraiche and sour cream at home. As soon as I find decent cream (hard to do at a reasonable price in Manila), I am going to try this.
http://zerowastechef.com/2014/12/10/5-two-ingredient-recipes-for-dairy-staples/
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Does anyone have recipes for taco seasoning and taco sauce they can recommend? I'm done with paying for the packets and tiny bottles at the grocery.
http://www.budgetbytes.com/2013/02/oven-fajitas/
this is my go to fajita recipe, I also use the seasoning for tacos/Mexican stews
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I had buttermilk left over from my aebleskiver experiment, so on Friday I made fried chicken for the first time ever. It came out great although I don't love the inefficiency of all that leftover used cooking oil. Still, it's great to have a new skill and to put my biggest Revereware skillet to use.
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I had buttermilk left over from my aebleskiver experiment, so on Friday I made fried chicken for the first time ever. It came out great although I don't love the inefficiency of all that leftover used cooking oil. Still, it's great to have a new skill and to put my biggest Revereware skillet to use.
This is probably terrible for your health, but my dad would always run the oil through a strainer and re-bottle it, then use it again. I once asked him how long he did this for, and he said, "until it's brown like coffee or thick like mud".
(Oxidation isn't a joke though, it's probably terrible for your health!)
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Thank the MMM forum for introducing me to the Instant Pot. I finally got one at the beginning of the month and it is probably one of the best kitchen items I have ever bought. I have made yogurt and ricotta cheese with it. The ricotta was amazing, so much better than anything I have ever ate from the store. I am never buying it again! On Saturday, I made a vegetable lasagna from homemade spaghetti sauce, homemade fresh whole wheat noodles, fresh basil from my kitchen plants, and the fresh ricotta. It was really good except it could have used more sauce. I just had what I had. Next weekend, I am going to try to make quark with the IP.
I bought some Instant Jel and hope to be able to make some instant, no-cook pudding mix with it.
I had buttermilk left over from my aebleskiver experiment
How did it go? I have a Lodge aebelskiver pan on the way for making those and takoyaki. Hoping it is here by Friday so I can give it a shot Saturday morning. I've never made either before, so should be interesting.
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We also just bought an Instant Pot, and it has been life changing.
Yesterday, we made and froze 12 servings of pesto from basil harvested from the garden. Has anyone here ever foraged for pine nuts?
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Yesterday, we made and froze 12 servings of pesto from basil harvested from the garden. Has anyone here ever foraged for pine nuts?
I made pesto over the weekend as well, but I just used walnuts because that's what we had in the house. Still tasty!
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I never spent so much time in the kitchen as I did all last weekend.
My dad sent me home with boxes and boxes of tomatoes he'd grown a couple weeks ago. I don't like fresh tomatoes, but make sauce from them. Made a few gallons of tomato sauce from about half of what he'd sent. The rest are still ripening.
Made cheese from a gallon of milk. I've only done it a few times before. This time I got creative, split the cheese into 4 sections, and played around with some flavoring options. Maple-cinnamon, Sage-parsley, Garlic-chive, and habanero.
Made crackers again. 3 different flavors. Lemon-dill, poppy seed, and Onion-sage.
Made 2 casseroles to use up some beans and celery from the garden, and buns from the freezer.
Used up a pumpkin, tried to make 'pumpkin chips' but it didn't work out, used the rest of that half of the pumpkin to make pumpkin puree. Used the other have to make pumpkin fries. Roasted the seeds. yum.
Made 4 zucchini breads.
Made Thai Chili sauce for the first time! Delicious!
Made saskatoon-rhubarb crisp. Threw in 4 leftover frozen strawberries for good measure.
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@Cookie78 You wouldn't per chanse have a recipe for those crackers to share?
I made chili salt this weekend. It's yet to settle it's flavour, but if it works well this is an easy way to preserve things like herbs. I plan to make a parsley salt: the thing I miss most in winter is fresh parsley on my morning eggs (my parsley is alive and well in winter, but I would not be happy if I took my sleepy self out onto a snowy front porch. I know: I've tried.).
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I'm still pretty new to DIYing food, but I had a small victory last night. My wife and I had a sweet tooth for crepes, so she pulled out some eggs, milk, and flour and whisked up a quick mix. I started pulling out potential fillings: thin strawberry jam, caramel sauce, and some whipped cream. As we were assembling our crepes, I realized that everything (the jam, the sauce, and the whipped cream) had been made by us. I know that all four of the components are pretty darn easy to make, but it filled me with a little joy!
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Thank the MMM forum for introducing me to the Instant Pot. I finally got one at the beginning of the month and it is probably one of the best kitchen items I have ever bought. I have made yogurt and ricotta cheese with it. The ricotta was amazing, so much better than anything I have ever ate from the store. I am never buying it again! On Saturday, I made a vegetable lasagna from homemade spaghetti sauce, homemade fresh whole wheat noodles, fresh basil from my kitchen plants, and the fresh ricotta. It was really good except it could have used more sauce. I just had what I had. Next weekend, I am going to try to make quark with the IP.
I bought some Instant Jel and hope to be able to make some instant, no-cook pudding mix with it.
I had buttermilk left over from my aebleskiver experiment
How did it go? I have a Lodge aebelskiver pan on the way for making those and takoyaki. Hoping it is here by Friday so I can give it a shot Saturday morning. I've never made either before, so should be interesting.
Would love to have the ricotta recipe.
Just made steel cut oats in the Instant Pot that were amazing.
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@Cookie78 You wouldn't per chanse have a recipe for those crackers to share?
Sure!
I started to type it out, but found this link which is pretty much identical.
http://www.craftylittlegreyfox.com/#!lavash-crackers/c1x2v
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Mostly, I bake, keeping my family well-supplied in muffins and bread (breakfast and snacks on the cheap!).
I dream about canning/preserving, yogurt making, and salsa (from a salsa-garden fantasy I've had for a couple years and haven't made a reality yet)
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Yesterday, we made and froze 12 servings of pesto from basil harvested from the garden. Has anyone here ever foraged for pine nuts?
I made pesto over the weekend as well, but I just used walnuts because that's what we had in the house. Still tasty!
I've actually switched to macadamia nuts. They are still pricey, but I think they make a better pesto because they counteract any bitterness that might be in the basil. They also work awesome in a Thai basil pesto. Cashews work well too.
Last weekend I made my best batch of yogurt yet in the Instant Pot. Next time I will try using this yogurt as a starter instead of buying a cup of yogurt to start the batch.
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@Cookie78 You wouldn't per chanse have a recipe for those crackers to share?
Sure!
I started to type it out, but found this link which is pretty much identical.
http://www.craftylittlegreyfox.com/#!lavash-crackers/c1x2v
These look interesting, but how important is the eggshell? I don't usually have egg shells hanging around... And isn't 4 fluid ounces a half cup rather than 2/3? I suppose that's less important, but it doesn't inspire confidence!
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@Cookie78 You wouldn't per chanse have a recipe for those crackers to share?
Sure!
I started to type it out, but found this link which is pretty much identical.
I like to use sunflower seeds in pesto...they taste great and cheap.
http://www.craftylittlegreyfox.com/#!lavash-crackers/c1x2v
These look interesting, but how important is the eggshell? I don't usually have egg shells hanging around... And isn't 4 fluid ounces a half cup rather than 2/3? I suppose that's less important, but it doesn't inspire confidence!
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It looks like they converted a UK recipe from ml to ounces/cups, but rounded them in different directions and ended up with a confusing conversion. 125ml is about half a cup (0.52c)
I didn't understand the bit about using an egg shell to dissolve the yeast in - I can't imagine that makes a difference.
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seasoned sweet potato chips... requires a slicer to get the chips thin enough and a large deep fryer, but so good.
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As we were assembling our crepes, I realized that everything (the jam, the sauce, and the whipped cream) had been made by us. I know that all four of the components are pretty darn easy to make, but it filled me with a little joy!
That is wonderful!
Helvegen, the aebleskiver was a success, even picky DH liked them. Definitely an interesting breakfast treat if you have the pan.
Today's exciting development was that today I bought a pasta machine for $5 from a roadside seller, tonight I made fresh fettuccine noodles from flour and our backyard chicken eggs. It came out lovely. I had mine with sauteed shiitake mushrooms, homegrown thyme and olive oil, and the kids had theirs plain. So great to know that I don't need to buy pasta at a store if I don't want to!
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Thursday we took 4whole chickens and turned them into: boneless skinless breasts, thighs, had legs and separated wings, and chicken tenderloins.
I'm so unbelievably proud. This is our third try and we did it. I figure we got 2 1/2 extra meals out of those chickens as we'd get out of buying the pieces. Plus we get chicken breasts which I'm too thrifty to buy. And bone broth too.
Also made 7lbs of meatballs for an extended family dinner tomorrow. Harder because has to be gluten free and dairy free.
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@Cookie78 You wouldn't per chanse have a recipe for those crackers to share?
Sure!
I started to type it out, but found this link which is pretty much identical.
http://www.craftylittlegreyfox.com/#!lavash-crackers/c1x2v
These look interesting, but how important is the eggshell? I don't usually have egg shells hanging around... And isn't 4 fluid ounces a half cup rather than 2/3? I suppose that's less important, but it doesn't inspire confidence!
The eggshell doesn't make a difference. At least, I've never used it, and I still enjoy the crackers. I usually only end up putting 1/3 cup of water in . You just add water slowly until it's kneadable dough.
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What is takoyaki I forgot to ask?
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dill pickles!
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It looks like they converted a UK recipe from ml to ounces/cups, but rounded them in different directions and ended up with a confusing conversion. 125ml is about half a cup (0.52c)
I didn't understand the bit about using an egg shell to dissolve the yeast in - I can't imagine that makes a difference.
Maybe there is sugar in the leftover egg white that the yeast is eating? Or else the person didn't want to dirty a small bowl?
Yesterday I made spiced syrup for the homemade pancakes I made today. Hadn't made it in years and was so glad that I took the time to make it.
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Would love to have the ricotta recipe.
Just made steel cut oats in the Instant Pot that were amazing.
I used this recipe: http://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-make-homemade-ricotta-cheese-cooking-lessons-from-the-kitchn-23326
I would suggest using full lemon juice for sweeter applications (like for cannoli filling) and the full vinegar for more savory dishes. I use half lemon juice and half vinegar for mine. I've never used the citric acid, so can't comment. I have also used 2% milk and it turned out nice. But I tell you, I am never going to go back to buying store bought ricotta. I had no idea it was so stupid easy to make, especially with the Instant Pot that does the 'hard' part for you!
What is takoyaki I forgot to ask?
Takoyaki is a savory Japanese pancake ball, generally filled with octopus (tako). But you can fill with whatever you like best and an aebleskiver pan works great to make them. Here is a recipe: http://www.japanesecooking101.com/takoyaki-recipe/
This weekend, I made my first batch of cultured buttermilk. Yay, another thing I don't have to buy at the store!
I also made a bunch of apple butter and it is D-E-L-I-C-O-U-S. I can just eat it straight from the jar, but I also used it to flavor my Greek yogurt, put on/in aebelskiver, and on bread. I used this recipe, though I subbed Truvia baking blend for the sugar and added a little pumpkin pie spice. http://allrecipes.com/recipe/229900/apple-butter-recipe/?internalSource=search%20result&referringContentType=search%20results
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This lady is my hero. Look around on her site for all kinds of DIY & preserving.
https://youtu.be/T3Rq-AazK20
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This lady is my hero. Look around on her site for all kinds of DIY & preserving.
https://youtu.be/T3Rq-AazK20
She's sort of a mixed bag for me. I like the dehydration series and how much they try to do themselves like home improvements and raising animals. I totally dig that and would like to have a hobby farm at some point myself. At the same time, she cooks a lot of unhealthy food. I mean, meatloaf stuffed with mac and cheese and then actually bothering to can processed canned cheese? She bakes a lot of full fat/sugar desserts, some of which definitely look good! But then you read later on that her husband is a type II diabetic, if it wasn't bad enough that she herself is obviously quite morbidly obese with a laundry list of obesity exacerbated health problems. I don't ever really see any attempts in her vids to eat well. I guess she just assumes that if she made/raised it herself, that is good enough. I used to believe that too, made almost all of my food from scratch/organic/etc, and I used to also have a BMI in the mid 40s.
It just seems a bit odd to be so into self-sufficiency and prepping and not work on having something that would be so valuable to have in that situation - your health and general fitness. She looks like she could barely make it through Canadian Tire, let alone through the woods with 20 zombies or whatever other end of the world fantasy you can come up with. She couldn't even work in her garden this year. Yes, she is definitely no spring chicken, but IMO, makes it even more important that she not be carting around two extra people in fat. It has enough work with just one person at her age! Why hamstring yourself like that? She doesn't even have to exercise to start, just eat less. And when you eat less, you are conversing more food. You don't need as much cloth for clothing because there are less inches to cover and so on. Just makes more sense to make yourself as efficient as possible in a SHTF scenario.
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I'm still pretty new to DIYing food, but I had a small victory last night. My wife and I had a sweet tooth for crepes, so she pulled out some eggs, milk, and flour and whisked up a quick mix. I started pulling out potential fillings: thin strawberry jam, caramel sauce, and some whipped cream. As we were assembling our crepes, I realized that everything (the jam, the sauce, and the whipped cream) had been made by us. I know that all four of the components are pretty darn easy to make, but it filled me with a little joy!
That's awesome! I love moments like that.
I'm just jumping into this thread now and have been reading back a bit- good ideas abound.
We do most of our cooking from scratch, and I'm slowly picking off the things that are still being bought processed.
This year I started making sandwich bread every Sunday, inspired by a friend of mine. I took a break for the summer, but am back at it. Its so satisfying.
Another recent success: A month or two ago I put a call out on facebook for a waffle iron, because my son was having waffles for breakfast most mornings, and we were using the store-bought frozen kind. I got one hand-me-down from a friend for free. So now I make a batch every week or two and freeze them up. Not something I ever did before, because I'm not really a waffle or pancake kind of gal.
I also make granola bars pretty consistently, though we still buy those ready made for my son's lunches sometimes. I've found there are not many nut-free options unless you cook them for yourself.
I am itching to make crackers. If anyone has links to favorite cracker recipes, I am eager to try some.
Thanks again for all the inspiration!
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I'm still pretty new to DIYing food, but I had a small victory last night. My wife and I had a sweet tooth for crepes, so she pulled out some eggs, milk, and flour and whisked up a quick mix. I started pulling out potential fillings: thin strawberry jam, caramel sauce, and some whipped cream. As we were assembling our crepes, I realized that everything (the jam, the sauce, and the whipped cream) had been made by us. I know that all four of the components are pretty darn easy to make, but it filled me with a little joy!
That's awesome! I love moments like that.
I'm just jumping into this thread now and have been reading back a bit- good ideas abound.
We do most of our cooking from scratch, and I'm slowly picking off the things that are still being bought processed.
This year I started making sandwich bread every Sunday, inspired by a friend of mine. I took a break for the summer, but am back at it. Its so satisfying.
Another recent success: A month or two ago I put a call out on facebook for a waffle iron, because my son was having waffles for breakfast most mornings, and we were using the store-bought frozen kind. I got one hand-me-down from a friend for free. So now I make a batch every week or two and freeze them up. Not something I ever did before, because I'm not really a waffle or pancake kind of gal.
I also make granola bars pretty consistently, though we still buy those ready made for my son's lunches sometimes. I've found there are not many nut-free options unless you cook them for yourself.
I am itching to make crackers. If anyone has links to favorite cracker recipes, I am eager to try some.
Thanks again for all the inspiration!
Homemade waffles are the best thing! A bit fat, but holy mother of god, I could eat them every day!
Here's my husbands' recipe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDm5qGHBYR0
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Made veg stock in the pressure cooker with frozen veg scraps. It's too easy.
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Made 4 loaves of bread last night after work, plus won ton soup using home made turkey stock. My 7yo has some suspected food intolerances (dairy and soy) so I've been doing lots of experimenting lately. Plus I've become the crazy lady blocking the isle at the supermarket while she reads all the labels. I think kombucha and lacto fermented carrots might be next on the list.
Does anyone have a great recipe for non-dairy cheese? Particularly mozza and parmesan? I've been buying the cheese replacements in the health food section, but they are expensive and most are truly awful tasting. I've googled recipes, but most of them look like they'd produce something that would taste like nut butter.
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Could you please post your spice mix per 100gm of meat? I have tried making homemade breakfast sausage and it never tastes like the store sausages (they are not gluten free and now I can't eat them, must make my own). Usually home made tastes better, but not my home-made breakfast sausages.
Donair meat? Neat. I prefer shish taouk (sort of like shawarma), which I will never make at home - unless you have a home version? It is so good.
I had enough ground pork left over to make a batch of breakfast sausage patties as well.
This weekend I have plans to make donair meat from scratch too. This likely would only impress eastern Canadians though!
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I roasted green coffee beans in a Whirley-Pop.
It seems like it actually worked because I'm enjoying this cuppa quite a bit. Now I have to decide if I want to own 22.5# of green coffee from Costco or make the trip to our local roaster on a regular basis to pick up green beans. (Or none of the above.)
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Made kimchi! It worked! But now we have lots and are struggling to eat it up...
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I love beans prouts. Years ago I discovered how easy and cheap it is to "make" them yourself.
Now during the winter months I often have weeks on end where I grow bean sprouts continually on my kitchen counter. Excelent sourse of fresh produce to make a salad, stir fry or rice dish interesting at a time of year where nothing grows outside.
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Made kimchi! It worked! But now we have lots and are struggling to eat it up...
Is it fermented? It should last ages in the fridge. I have a big jar of fermented kraut that is over a year old and still good and crunchy.
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Good to know! Most of what I've read online says to eat it up within 'a few months'.
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Made fresh butter from heavy whipping cream, using the stand mixer, just because every damn book says don't bother making butter. It was fun.
Later this week, going to make skillet cornbread to use up the buttermilk and some frozen corn kernels left over from the summer.
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I bake a loaf of crusty bread almost every weekend, adapted from this recipe: http://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/11376-no-knead-bread
It's just too easy! I use a sourdough starter now, however. Probably comes in at about 25 cents a loaf vs 5 or 6 dollars at the local bakery.
I'd love to get into canning or preserving some day, but we've eaten our garden harvest for the year already! Sigh.
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Last week I bought by mistake a clear honey that my DH doesn't like, so this w-e I made some nocciolata! I took blanched hazelnuts (expensive, I know, but it's not the same with other nuts!) I crushed them until they were flour, then I mixed them with the honey. That's it. It's insanely delicious, we both loved it! The only problem is, DH ate half the pot already and said we should always have some in our pantry, so I'm afraid this will cost me A LOT in the future...
Also, some people add cocoa powder to their nocciolata, haven't tried yet but just FYI.
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I am going to attempt homemade sunflower butter cups this week I think. It is my first effort at chocolate cups ever. I attempt candy on and off.
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I made rumballs this weekend and realized too late that I could have made them with Oreo cookies instead of Nila wafers. Oh well.
I also made a marzipan stollen and Nurenburger lebkuchen. The lebkuchen is awesome, but pretty time intensive. Have to glaze the tops and bottoms of each one. The chocolate bottom requires time in the freezer to set so the tops can be glazed. Only time where I have ever wanted one of those blast chillers I see on Cutthroat Kitchen. :p
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Bought a bag of apples that went from firm to overripe overnight. Made apple sauce in the Instant Pot. Yum!
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I made rumballs this weekend and realized too late that I could have made them with Oreo cookies instead of Nila wafers. Oh well.
I also made a marzipan stollen and Nurenburger lebkuchen. The lebkuchen is awesome, but pretty time intensive. Have to glaze the tops and bottoms of each one. The chocolate bottom requires time in the freezer to set so the tops can be glazed. Only time where I have ever wanted one of those blast chillers I see on Cutthroat Kitchen. :p
I'm going to try to make a marzipan stollen this week. My husband loves it. Made rum balls too, but they don't last very long in this house :)
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I am making some infused vodka for Christmas. The cranberry one I made for Thanksgiving was awesome and now I am doing a spiced apple and pear one :)
Love this thread, please keep it going!
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I am making some infused vodka for Christmas. The cranberry one I made for Thanksgiving was awesome and now I am doing a spiced apple and pear one :)
Love this thread, please keep it going!
Oooh, Mmmaybe, recipe?
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Going to make my first foccacia this week (yes, for part of Christmas lunch). I make a lot of other breads, and it looks like foccacia is fairly similar to those, so I'm quietly confident.
Helvegen, lebkuchen is the best. It's not Christmas without lebkuchen.
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I made up, then made cinnamon yogurt frozen dog treats tonight - does that count? Spoon 1/2 tsp cinnamon into enough plain yogurt to fill four cells in an ice cube tray, stir well, freeze in ice cube tray, and give one to each dog with leftovers for tomorrow. The girl has been on a lot of antibiotics and could use the yogurt, the boy loves cinnamon with a deep attachment bordering on the unnatural, and they both like frozen treats (usually they get ice cubes).
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Oooh, Mmmaybe, recipe?
I started with this recipe.
http://boulderlocavore.com/homemade-spiced-pear-vodka/
But I was unable to get the normal green pears here and the Asian pears were not very flavourful so I had to throw a couple of Granny Smith apples in as well. I'm also doing a shorter infusion period (5 days) so I used double the fruit called for in the recipe.
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The following comes to mind for DIY food items I make somewhat consistently:
(Vegetarian) Worcestershire Sauce
Iced tea with lemon
Lemonade
Bread (sometimes)
Pizza (every time)
Hummus
Cooked beans :)
Taco seasoning (I use the same recipe as Braken_Joy, but multiply it greatly and keep it in a spice jar)
Cinnamon rolls
Biscuits
Vegetarian gyoza and gyoza sauce
For those who like hot cocoa/hot chocolate, try adding a little powdered ginger to your cup. It is so delicious! Now that I've started keeping fresh in the freezer, I may try that as well.
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We've had yogurt making going for so long that when we left it too long in the fridge I forgot you could use store bought as a starter! And if I can do it, anyone can! My other claim to fame is that my kiddos didn't know that you could buy beans in a can.
I would love to know what stollen recipes people are using.
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Just made English marmalade with some bitter oranges we were gifted. Delicious.
Tried to make candied orange peel, but not as delicious.
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Just made English marmalade with some bitter oranges we were gifted. Delicious.
Tried to make candied orange peel, but not as delicious.
Were the candied peels too bitter? If so, you may have needed to do more clean water boils before the sugar boils. Grapefruit peels take me longer than (normal, sweet) orange peels.
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Taco seasoning (I use the same recipe as Braken_Joy, but multiply it greatly and keep it in a spice jar)
I do the same actually! I hoard the desiccant packets in seaweed packs and stick them in the jar. No clumping! Even making filling a leftover BBQ sauce jar, I have to make more every month at least. I've recently added a ton of turmeric to the recipe though, really adds a good dimension of flavor.
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I was just gifted milk kefir grains... tomorrow morning I get to try my first batch. We'll see if I can take care of my new 'pet' for a month or so, and I might add a culture of water kefir grains.
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I was just gifted milk kefir grains... tomorrow morning I get to try my first batch. We'll see if I can take care of my new 'pet' for a month or so, and I might add a culture of water kefir grains.
I got mine 1.5 years ago and they're still going strong. Kefir goes great in smoothies. I find that the sweetness is just right if you blend it with a banana.
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We do water kefir. Can anyone comment on the flavor of water kefir vs milk kefir?
Our kitchen is turning into a biology lab with all the yeast bread, kefir, bresaola, kambucha...
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Thursday we took 4whole chickens and turned them into: boneless skinless breasts, thighs, had legs and separated wings, and chicken tenderloins.
I'm so unbelievably proud. This is our third try and we did it. I figure we got 2 1/2 extra meals out of those chickens as we'd get out of buying the pieces. Plus we get chicken breasts which I'm too thrifty to buy. And bone broth too.
Don't toss out the skins. Do something like this--
http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/chicken-crisps
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Yesterday, we made and froze 12 servings of pesto from basil harvested from the garden. Has anyone here ever foraged for pine nuts?
I made pesto over the weekend as well, but I just used walnuts because that's what we had in the house. Still tasty!
We often sub ingredients. I hated wasting the carrot tops. Found this for carrot top pesto and in keeping with using what we had subbed pecans for the pine nuts. Southern style pesto anyone?
http://www.culinate.com/books/collections/all_books/roots/carrot_top_pesto
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There are quite a few of us on the boards :)
My latest experiment has been lacto-fermenting. Just made a killer batch of Kimchi.
I have to actually think about it as some many things have just become second nature. Ohh...those fancy jars of green peppercorns? Super easy to buy the green peppercorns in bulk and make your own solution to rehydrate them. Then peppercorn gravy and pan sauces are a snap and those little tiny jars sell for big $$$.
Oh preserved lemons are another dead easy one and makes almost everything taste better.
I make my own tintures, tea blends and oxymels.
Not so much kitchen related but bug spray, sunscreen, soap....
Will have to keep this thread in mind, so much of it is just automatic I don't really stop to think people don't ususally make this kinda stuff.
How do you make the preserved lemons? And how do you use them afterwards?
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I just made this granola that I saw on Budget Bytes. The spices are perfect for the holiday season. I didn't have powdered ginger so I subbed fresh grated ginger. So good :)
http://www.budgetbytes.com/2015/12/gingersnap-granola/
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I was just gifted milk kefir grains... tomorrow morning I get to try my first batch. We'll see if I can take care of my new 'pet' for a month or so, and I might add a culture of water kefir grains.
I got mine 1.5 years ago and they're still going strong. Kefir goes great in smoothies. I find that the sweetness is just right if you blend it with a banana.
Working on my third batch. I've been drinking it in the mornings with off-brand powdered instant breakfast mixed in. I'm still figuring out the timing of everything, so my first couple of batches were super tart, and the instant breakfast tones it down enough for me. I think my grains are fermenting too fast because they came from culturing whole milk, and I've got them in 1%, since that's what I already had in the fridge. Third batch was only fermented for 14 hours, and I think it's closer to what I was expecting. :) Next time I shop I'll pick up some over-ripe bananas and freeze them for the kefir.
FYI, the blade from an Oster blender fits a regular mouth mason jar perfectly... I use it for my breakfast every day. :)
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Thursday we took 4whole chickens and turned them into: boneless skinless breasts, thighs, had legs and separated wings, and chicken tenderloins.
I'm so unbelievably proud. This is our third try and we did it. I figure we got 2 1/2 extra meals out of those chickens as we'd get out of buying the pieces. Plus we get chicken breasts which I'm too thrifty to buy. And bone broth too.
Don't toss out the skins. Do something like this--
http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/chicken-crisps
Thanks for this recommendation. I have some chicken skin in the freezer (long story). I'm going to try this recipe!
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How do you make the preserved lemons? And how do you use them afterwards?
Lemons salt and time (not thyme!):
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/preserved-lemons-231570
To use, pull them out and save the rind--the rest we toss (anyone have a good use for this?). We add it to rice and other dishes. Look for "Moroccan" lemons, Mediteranian lemons, etc. Some good uses are here:
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/preserved-lemons-231570
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I just made baklava for the first time last night. It turned out great! (I did purchase the phyllo dough, as I only wanted to try one new recipe.)
Prep time was around 1.5 hours, and bake time is 50 minutes:
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/9454/baklava/ (http://allrecipes.com/recipe/9454/baklava/)
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If you want the ultra-mustachian foods, research wild edibles in your area, especially invasive species. Garlic mustard grows rampant around my area in the summer and is quite a nuissance, non-native plant that threatens the local ecosystem. I do my part by picking a bushel or so (from uncontaminated areas) and turning it into pesto, adding to salad or cooking it as greens. Absolutely free food, highly nutritious, fun to harvest and you'll be doing Mother Nature a favor to boot.
We grew Jerusalem artichokes in the yard this year which is another wild edible, although a native one. However, the yield is so high, we're going to have to plant fewer next year. Just one sunflower stalk of this plant seems to produce several pounds of "potatoes" as we call them. Versatile and delicious!
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How do you make the preserved lemons? And how do you use them afterwards?
Lemons salt and time (not thyme!):
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/preserved-lemons-231570
To use, pull them out and save the rind--the rest we toss (anyone have a good use for this?). We add it to rice and other dishes. Look for "Moroccan" lemons, Mediteranian lemons, etc. Some good uses are here:
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/preserved-lemons-231570
Yep Lemons, Salt and Time :) I use organic lemons and dip them in boiling water and scrub to remove the wax. I ususally add a few peppercorns, bay leaf and cinnamon stick to the jars as well.
To use:
Mostly you only use the skin- scraping off the white pith and insides. It adds great flavour to rice dishes, tajines, salad dressings, beans, Tabouli and grain-based salads. It is suggested that you wash off all the salt, but depending on the recipe, I don't I just don't add any other salt to the dish.
Two of my favorite recipes for using perserved lemons (and I think there is a recipe for the lemons themselves) comes from The Mediteranean Street Food Cookbook: http://amzn.to/1P2qMOA (http://amzn.to/1P2qMOA)
The Perserved Lemon and Olive chicken and the Cumin Scented Lamb are amazing. The Lamb is my go-to impress dish.
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How do you make the preserved lemons? And how do you use them afterwards?
Lemons salt and time (not thyme!):
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/preserved-lemons-231570
To use, pull them out and save the rind--the rest we toss (anyone have a good use for this?). We add it to rice and other dishes. Look for "Moroccan" lemons, Mediteranian lemons, etc. Some good uses are here:
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/preserved-lemons-231570
Yep Lemons, Salt and Time :) I use organic lemons and dip them in boiling water and scrub to remove the wax. I ususally add a few peppercorns, bay leaf and cinnamon stick to the jars as well.
To use:
Mostly you only use the skin- scraping off the white pith and insides. It adds great flavour to rice dishes, tajines, salad dressings, beans, Tabouli and grain-based salads. It is suggested that you wash off all the salt, but depending on the recipe, I don't I just don't add any other salt to the dish.
Two of my favorite recipes for using perserved lemons (and I think there is a recipe for the lemons themselves) comes from The Mediteranean Street Food Cookbook: http://amzn.to/1P2qMOA (http://amzn.to/1P2qMOA)
The Perserved Lemon and Olive chicken and the Cumin Scented Lamb are amazing. The Lamb is my go-to impress dish.
Fabulous, I have to try it! Big fan of lemon and preserved food, so this is great.
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I haven't read the whole thread so this may be a repeat, but I've recently discovered banana 'nice cream':
Chop up 2 bananas and throw them in the freezer.
Whenever they're frozen, throw them in a blender or food processor with 1/2 cup coconut/almond milk. Once it's fairly smooth you can throw in 1/2 tsp vanilla extract and 1 tbsp cacao powder. Blend again. It should have the consistency of soft serve ice cream, you can re-freeze if you want more firm. I also throw in chopped walnuts for a rocky road style. Great thing about this is you can eat unlimited amounts guilt free, and my entire family (even my picky 5 year old son) love it.
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Yep Lemons, Salt and Time :) I use organic lemons and dip them in boiling water and scrub to remove the wax. I usually add a few peppercorns, bay leaf and cinnamon stick to the jars as well.
Nice suggestions! Thanks!
Reminds me that when my wife makes red pepper paste that we re-use the salt. The red pepper adds a nice flavor. Wanted to do the same with the lemons but the juice just dissolves it all. Maybe it will build up over time or we will just use the juice.
Love this thread! One of the best on this website.
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Count me in on this thread, too. There are not many things that we don't make -- from beer to bread to cheese to yogurt to pasta to corned beef and smoking our own bacon to all manner of condiments. We don't make ALL of them ALL the time, but over the last ten years or so I'd say we've acquired the skills so that we could do so, given the time. I second the earlier recommendation for that book "Make the Bread, Buy the Butter." And a way earlier one (late 70's?), called "Better than Storebought," that maybe you could find in a used book store.
Probably the greatest motivator in making our own is the decision to not spend, period. When buying isn't an alternative, making one's own is a particular pleasure.
BTW, anybody have a good recipe for toothpaste?
A simple recipe for toothpaste is 1 tsp baking soda mixed with 1/2 tsp salt. Add enough water to make a paste. You can flavor it with mint if you choose. I wouldn't exactly call that a "good" recipe because the taste isn't that wonderful but it will get the job done.
I just make a toothpowder - half baking soda and half salt. I keep it in an old toothpick container and we sprinkle it on our wet toothbrushes. As a bonus, our teeth are more sparkly and feel soooo much cleaner. After you get used to it, the taste is just fine.
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Posting to follow because I am also into all this stuff too and want to see what others are doing. Thanks for the OP! My recents efforts include BBQ sauce made from rhubarb, pickled ginger, kombucha, aioli, pesto from garlic scapes, almond and rice milk, ...
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Conjou, I first read that as your having made BBQ sauce from rhubarb and all those other things, and I thought, "Wow, anyone who can make that combination taste good is a way smarter cook than I am!"
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I am going to attempt duck prosciutto as soon as I can get a good deal on some duck breasts using a recipe from Bon Appetit. Also my vegan nut free candy came out ugly as sin but it did taste good...now to make more that isn't as ugly...
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Yesterday, we made and froze 12 servings of pesto from basil harvested from the garden. Has anyone here ever foraged for pine nuts?
I made pesto over the weekend as well, but I just used walnuts because that's what we had in the house. Still tasty!
We often sub ingredients. I hated wasting the carrot tops. Found this for carrot top pesto and in keeping with using what we had subbed pecans for the pine nuts. Southern style pesto anyone?
Yes! I use carrot tops and beet tops for this. Beet tops are slightly bitter but are lovely paired with a firmer meat like pork or beef. Haven't foraged for pine nuts- would love to learn though.
http://www.culinate.com/books/collections/all_books/roots/carrot_top_pesto
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Does anyone have a really good salsa recipe that isn't runny?
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Also my vegan nut free candy came out ugly as sin but it did taste good...now to make more that isn't as ugly...
Do you have a recipe for this you'd be willing to share?
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Does anyone have a really good salsa recipe that isn't runny?
I'm not sure if you wanted one for canning, but this is the one I use, renowned on Gardenweb: http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/1948662/annies-salsa-recipe-and-notes-2012
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Does anyone have a really good salsa recipe that isn't runny?
This is a fresh salsa recipe from DBF's SIL's mother.
10 ripe plum tomatoes (or equivalent full-size tomatoes), finely chopped with seeds and goopy seed bits removed (quantity is a little variable)
1 small yellow onion, finely chopped
1 bunch fresh cilantro leaf, chopped (amount to taste)
1 cucumber, peeled and finely chopped (if the seed bit in the middle is soft and overly watery, scrape that out, too)
2 Serrano peppers, seeded and minced (NOTE!!!)
salt to taste (GENEROUS shake over top)
Combine all ingredients in a sealable container that will hold at least 8 cups.
Refrigerate for at least 1 hour to let flavors combine and serve.
NOTE: Especially if you wear contact lenses, make sure to wear plastic gloves (or the grocery store produce bags) over your hands when you cut up Serranos, jalapenos, or other spicy peppers. I have cut up Serranos with bare hands, washed hands thoroughly and multiple times (even scraping under fingernails), and then had my eyes burn the next morning when I go to put my contact lenses in. The juice or oil really soaks into the skin!
We eat this on tacos/burritos, black beans & rice drizzled with lime juice, and chips. I thought the recipe was underwhelming at first, but now I find myself craving it.
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We do most of our cooking from scratch but this thread definitely has me inspired to try more things!
Currently, we typically/regularly make our own:
-bread and crackers
-chicken stock for soups
-nut butters
-roasted nuts (Indian grocery down the street sells super cheap raw almonds, cashews, peanuts)
-any sort of baked good (muffins, cookies, etc)
-curry paste (make friends with someone who has an overproductive lemongrass plant and you are SET!)
On a more occasional basis I have also done:
-yogurt (always kind of disappointed with the yield, sigh)
-various pickled/fermented vegetables
-fruit rollups/dried fruit (we have a dehydrator, so when something is in season and super cheap, stock up and dehydrate)
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We do most of our cooking from scratch but this thread definitely has me inspired to try more things!
Currently, we typically/regularly make our own:
-bread and crackers
-chicken stock for soups
-nut butters
-roasted nuts (Indian grocery down the street sells super cheap raw almonds, cashews, peanuts)
-any sort of baked good (muffins, cookies, etc)
-curry paste (make friends with someone who has an overproductive lemongrass plant and you are SET!)
On a more occasional basis I have also done:
-yogurt (always kind of disappointed with the yield, sigh)
-various pickled/fermented vegetables
-fruit rollups/dried fruit (we have a dehydrator, so when something is in season and super cheap, stock up and dehydrate)
This bothered me too, when I first started making yogurt. I've switched to 2 parts 2% milk and 1 part half and half, and now I don't have to strain off any whey to get a nice consistency (not Greek style, but nice and creamy, and very little whey separates from the yogurt). So I get a full 3 quarts from a 1/2 gallon of milk and quart of half and half.
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We do most of our cooking from scratch but this thread definitely has me inspired to try more things!
Currently, we typically/regularly make our own:
-bread and crackers
-chicken stock for soups
-nut butters
-roasted nuts (Indian grocery down the street sells super cheap raw almonds, cashews, peanuts)
-any sort of baked good (muffins, cookies, etc)
-curry paste (make friends with someone who has an overproductive lemongrass plant and you are SET!)
On a more occasional basis I have also done:
-yogurt (always kind of disappointed with the yield, sigh)
-various pickled/fermented vegetables
-fruit rollups/dried fruit (we have a dehydrator, so when something is in season and super cheap, stock up and dehydrate)
Care to share info on the crackers and the curry paste? Haven't had much luck with my attempts at these...
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Had a rare fail. Tried to make coconut butter from coconut flakes. It wouldn't process down into butter at all.
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Had a rare fail. Tried to make coconut butter from coconut flakes. It wouldn't process down into butter at all.
Happier, assuming you have a good blender, start out with some melted coconut oil, and then feed the flakes in by the handful. The added oil seems to be necessary to get the party started.
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Thanks horsepoor! I'll try again using your tip :-)
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Had a rare fail. Tried to make coconut butter from coconut flakes. It wouldn't process down into butter at all.
Happier, assuming you have a good blender, start out with some melted coconut oil, and then feed the flakes in by the handful. The added oil seems to be necessary to get the party started.
I've noticed it also depends on the brand of coconut flakes... the only one I haven't had to add oil to is the Sprouts brand.
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We do most of our cooking from scratch but this thread definitely has me inspired to try more things!
Currently, we typically/regularly make our own:
-bread and crackers
-chicken stock for soups
-nut butters
-roasted nuts (Indian grocery down the street sells super cheap raw almonds, cashews, peanuts)
-any sort of baked good (muffins, cookies, etc)
-curry paste (make friends with someone who has an overproductive lemongrass plant and you are SET!)
On a more occasional basis I have also done:
-yogurt (always kind of disappointed with the yield, sigh)
-various pickled/fermented vegetables
-fruit rollups/dried fruit (we have a dehydrator, so when something is in season and super cheap, stock up and dehydrate)
Care to share info on the crackers and the curry paste? Haven't had much luck with my attempts at these...
For curry paste, I use this (http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/thai-red-curry-paste-109465) recipe as a guideline, I do generally use ginger instead of galangal. My friend with the lemongrass plant also has a keffir lime tree, but if for some reason I can't get leaves from her I have also used lemon zest/juice. I'll admit I can also get somewhat sloppy with precise amounts...basically do taste as you go and adjust as you see fit.
Crackers, a recipe I have been using a lot lately are these crackers, (http://www.mynewroots.org/site/2014/07/the-life-changing-crackers/) which are made mostly from seeds and oats. Very tasty, relatively high protein/low carb. I use sunflower seeds in place of the more expensive pumpkin seeds. If you live near a Sprouts in the US, they seem to have really good sales on both chia and flax seeds every few months, so whenever one of those rolls around, I stock up.
And thank you to the PP with the tip on adding half and half to yogurt! My husband much prefers super creamy high fat yogurt so I think he might be on board with this idea :)
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I am now considering doing vegan cheese for my son since I see it is so easy to try. Looks like sharp Cheddar is doable I just need to get some agar agar to make it solidify. I have everything else in the house plus my silicone loaf pans.
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I've discovered this threat just as I've been given a book called diy food! I've previously made quite a few things: bread, beer, wine, pickles, kefir, sauerkraut and make kraut and kefir for every week still.
Soon to add, from my new book: salami, bacon, donner kebab, cheese, kimchi. Fun stuff!
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I had a failure today. My first attempt at aquafaba cookies resulted in them soaking through the thin "nonstick" silicone sheet, gluing themselves to the sheet and the sheet to the cookie pan. When I try to flex them off, peel them off, or slip a metal spatula beneath them, they break into a thousand shards of chickpea meringue. :(
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Does anyone have a really good salsa recipe that isn't runny?
This is a fresh salsa recipe from DBF's SIL's mother.
10 ripe plum tomatoes (or equivalent full-size tomatoes), finely chopped with seeds and goopy seed bits removed (quantity is a little variable)
1 small yellow onion, finely chopped
1 bunch fresh cilantro leaf, chopped (amount to taste)
1 cucumber, peeled and finely chopped (if the seed bit in the middle is soft and overly watery, scrape that out, too)
2 Serrano peppers, seeded and minced (NOTE!!!)
salt to taste (GENEROUS shake over top)
Combine all ingredients in a sealable container that will hold at least 8 cups.
Refrigerate for at least 1 hour to let flavors combine and serve.
NOTE: Especially if you wear contact lenses, make sure to wear plastic gloves (or the grocery store produce bags) over your hands when you cut up Serranos, jalapenos, or other spicy peppers. I have cut up Serranos with bare hands, washed hands thoroughly and multiple times (even scraping under fingernails), and then had my eyes burn the next morning when I go to put my contact lenses in. The juice or oil really soaks into the skin!
We eat this on tacos/burritos, black beans & rice drizzled with lime juice, and chips. I thought the recipe was underwhelming at first, but now I find myself craving it.
Sounds great, thank you! I will definitely try this.
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Just enjoyed delicious DIY granola.
Store granola is crazy expensive.
Homemade using oats from Costco--you toast em in the oven--and whatever else is around (dried fruit etc.) is real, real cheap.
Could eat it 3 times a day but that would seem childish.
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I just made coconut water kefir. It was pretty nice actually, especially with a bit of apple juice.
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On the regular I make my own:
- Flour tortillas
- Pizza (homemade dough and sauce)
- Baked potato chips
- Baked goods: biscotti, muffins, cookies, cakes, cinnamon buns
- Pickled turnips (the pink middle eastern ones)
- Granola
Items I've made in the past but I now buy out of convenience:
- Almond and coconut milk (blender and nut milk bag)
- Kombucha (Turned out well but I just got sick of drinking the stuff)
- Yogurt
- Chicken/ Veggie stock
- Thai curry paste
I pretty much cook everything from scratch otherwise. I definitely want to try making pasta and bread in the future.
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On the regular I make my own:
- Flour tortillas
- Pizza (homemade dough and sauce)
- Baked potato chips
- Baked goods: biscotti, muffins, cookies, cakes, cinnamon buns
- Pickled turnips (the pink middle eastern ones)
- Granola
Items I've made in the past but I now buy out of convenience:
- Almond and coconut milk (blender and nut milk bag)
- Kombucha (Turned out well but I just got sick of drinking the stuff)
- Yogurt
- Chicken/ Veggie stock
- Thai curry paste
I pretty much cook everything from scratch otherwise. I definitely want to try making pasta and bread in the future.
I'm with you on the "buy thai curry paste for convenience". Very hard to make vs what I can buy (thanks mae ploy!).
I would love your pizza sauce recipe. All mine have been BAD. Not even "meh", straight up BAD.
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On the regular I make my own:
- Flour tortillas
- Pizza (homemade dough and sauce)
- Baked potato chips
- Baked goods: biscotti, muffins, cookies, cakes, cinnamon buns
- Pickled turnips (the pink middle eastern ones)
- Granola
Items I've made in the past but I now buy out of convenience:
- Almond and coconut milk (blender and nut milk bag)
- Kombucha (Turned out well but I just got sick of drinking the stuff)
- Yogurt
- Chicken/ Veggie stock
- Thai curry paste
I pretty much cook everything from scratch otherwise. I definitely want to try making pasta and bread in the future.
I'm with you on the "buy thai curry paste for convenience". Very hard to make vs what I can buy (thanks mae ploy!).
I would love your pizza sauce recipe. All mine have been BAD. Not even "meh", straight up BAD.
I use this recipe:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IcEyz5kAww
I skip the fresh oregano but the anchovies are not to be skipped!
Rounding up all the thai curry ingredients is definitely the hardest part.
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On the regular I make my own:
- Flour tortillas
- Pizza (homemade dough and sauce)
- Baked potato chips
- Baked goods: biscotti, muffins, cookies, cakes, cinnamon buns
- Pickled turnips (the pink middle eastern ones)
- Granola
Items I've made in the past but I now buy out of convenience:
- Almond and coconut milk (blender and nut milk bag)
- Kombucha (Turned out well but I just got sick of drinking the stuff)
- Yogurt
- Chicken/ Veggie stock
- Thai curry paste
I pretty much cook everything from scratch otherwise. I definitely want to try making pasta and bread in the future.
I'm with you on the "buy thai curry paste for convenience". Very hard to make vs what I can buy (thanks mae ploy!).
I would love your pizza sauce recipe. All mine have been BAD. Not even "meh", straight up BAD.
I use this recipe:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IcEyz5kAww
I skip the fresh oregano but the anchovies are not to be skipped!
Oh I bet the anchovies really do kick it up! Added to my recipe collection. Thank you!
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Just enjoyed delicious DIY granola.
Store granola is crazy expensive.
Homemade using oats from Costco--you toast em in the oven--and whatever else is around (dried fruit etc.) is real, real cheap.
Could eat it 3 times a day but that would seem childish.
Just made my own as well. No more $6 boxes of granola. Shopped Costco for almost everything and bought unsweetened coconut flakes from the bulk foods section at the coop. I bought Erika's (NWEdible on MMM) book and have slowly been working my way through it. I'm not trying to do everything, but just take on one or two new challenges per week. There's a feeling of accomplishment.
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Someone here posted that mackerel is crazy cheap and can be used in (most?) salmon recipes, so I bought some.
Last night I did baked patties, and will definitely do them again.
Drain mackerel and take out skin and bones. Rinse and drain. Marinate in lemon juice as the rest is prepped.
Mix a pat of melted butter and eggs.
Toast some bread and mash to crumbs.
Dice some onion and peppers (I used frozen fajita mix).
Mix all w/ some mayo and good splash of hot sauce.
Form to patties and bake - I used a new-to-me silicone baking mat and they slid right off.
Topping/sauce: mayo, lemon zest, dill and some Worcestershire sauce.
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Wife has been taking some lunches to work (she works close enough that she often comes home by bike). I just made up a load of 20 burritos --half chicken/bean and half bean/cheese. Finishing them by throwing on a hot iron pan on each side for a couple minutes really makes a nice finish. They freeze great. Gotten to be a habit to do this after making a batch of homemade refried beans. Need to learn how to make good homemade tortillas. Got the ones for this batch when they went on sale for $1 a package at Kroger.
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I've been making my own bread for awhile now and am about to start a long-term sourdough starter. I'm nervous and excited!! My fiancee got me a bread slicer guide and a better knife for bread and it is definitely making me more and more crazy about my bread recipes. ^_^
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I've been trying to make the perfect non-dairy milk. Tried homemade coconut milk and rice milk-both good. But the best one yet is cashew milk. Its really creamy and almost dairy milk like in texture.
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After 1 failed attempt, I successfully made yogurt! It shouldn't take too long to make back the investment in a smaller crockpot and a thermometer (both of which can be used for other things), and I can make it with organic milk for cheaper than the non-organic TJ's-brand Greek yogurt I usually buy. The sense of accomplishment is palpable :D
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I just started my first jar of preserved lemons last night. I couldn't get Meyer so I got 12 sad looking lemons from the store, cut them almost in quarters, sprinkled salt in them like Cooks Illustrated said, juiced as much as I could, and shoved them in a jar. I covered them almost with lemon juice from a bottle and whatever came out put them in the fridge like they said now to wait and be patient..
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Successfully made tasty tasty yogurt. The instant pot is awesome, guys. At first I had some buyers remorse, but now I LOVE it. Whole chickens from frozen, easy broth that doesn't smell up the house, chickpeas for hummus, and now yogurt are my main uses for it. Loving it.
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It took me a while too, Bracken, but now I use the IP all the time. Last night I made a curry in it.
My new batch of kimchi came out great. Not sure if its the carrots or the kombu or what, but its as good or better than the $6 per jar stuff I sometimes buy because I didn't like previous batches as much.
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Successfully made tasty tasty yogurt. The instant pot is awesome, guys. At first I had some buyers remorse, but now I LOVE it. Whole chickens from frozen, easy broth that doesn't smell up the house, ...
I love how the sudden smell of chicken is my "alarm" to know when the stock has finished depressurizing... :-)
I've been doing whole roast chicken > chicken stock in IP once a week for a few weeks. It makes for some really easy, healthy meals during the week. I've been having tons of fantastic chicken soup. Perfect for February.
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Successfully made tasty tasty yogurt. The instant pot is awesome, guys. At first I had some buyers remorse, but now I LOVE it. Whole chickens from frozen, easy broth that doesn't smell up the house, ...
I love how the sudden smell of chicken is my "alarm" to know when the stock has finished depressurizing... :-)
I've been doing whole roast chicken > chicken stock in IP once a week for a few weeks. It makes for some really easy, healthy meals during the week. I've been having tons of fantastic chicken soup. Perfect for February.
+1. Just took one out and am on the stock part right now =) I shred all the meat up and use it in wraps/sandwiches/bowls/salads for work the next several days, and to send with DH. So convenient. Especially when I make DH shred the chicken ;)
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Yesterday I made stock from a left over roast chicken. Today I added lentils, carrot, onion, pepper and curry spices. Put in the pressure cooker for 30 minutes. Whizzed up in the blender for the most delicious soup. My son loves this.
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I put my preserved lemons in the refrigerator on the 8th of this month. I am now waiting for them to turn so I can use them. I have noticed a lacy substance in the jar but I have been told this is entirely normal....
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I just made a pot of oat and honey vodka. Anyone else make this recipe? It is killer. I absolutely recommend it. I don't know if it will even make it to the weekend (when it is officially "done").
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Acquired a Kombucha Scoby a couple of weeks ago. First batch is almost done. I'll have quite a few tweaks to replicate my favorite commercial brand, but that's part of the fun!
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Preserved lemons came out good I used them mixed with roasted potatoes. Am now awaiting my homemade Kahlua but I didn't see I should have used instant coffee instead of ground coffee so it may be gritty...
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Preserved lemons came out good I used them mixed with roasted potatoes. Am now awaiting my homemade Kahlua but I didn't see I should have used instant coffee instead of ground coffee so it may be gritty...
Maybe you could pour it through a coffee filter? :-)
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I keep a ziplock back in my freezer for vegetable scraps, which I pull down whenever I chop veggies. That outer later of onion that gets peeled off alongside the papery skin? In the bag. Parsley stems, kale stems, the top bit of carrots and zucchini, celery bunch bottoms, bell pepper cores, corn cobs... in they go. Just about anything works (provided it's been cleaned) -- just skip any strongly flavored cruciferous vegetables like broccoli or they'll dominate.
When the bag is full, dump it all into a pot, fill with water just to cover, and simmer 30 minutes. This makes a lovely, flavorful vegetable stock, and it's never exactly the same twice. I consider this a double frugality win -- it uses up odds and ends that might have otherwise been thrown away, and I get delicious homemade stock with zero effort :).
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I keep a ziplock back in my freezer for vegetable scraps, which I pull down whenever I chop veggies. That outer later of onion that gets peeled off alongside the papery skin? In the bag. Parsley stems, kale stems, the top bit of carrots and zucchini, celery bunch bottoms, bell pepper cores, corn cobs... in they go. Just about anything works (provided it's been cleaned) -- just skip any strongly flavored cruciferous vegetables like broccoli or they'll dominate.
When the bag is full, dump it all into a pot, fill with water just to cover, and simmer 30 minutes. This makes a lovely, flavorful vegetable stock, and it's never exactly the same twice. I consider this a double frugality win -- it uses up odds and ends that might have otherwise been thrown away, and I get delicious homemade stock with zero effort :).
Do you save cucumber peels? I was debating this with my freezer bag today (I use EXACTLY the same system, but add it to my chicken stock). I've generally stuck to the trimmings from carrots, celery, onion, green beans, and garlic. Knew not to do broccoli, but haven't expanded from there. Asparagus? Cucumber? What about various herbs- I toss in thyme or parsley, but what about cilantro or green onion?
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I keep a ziplock back in my freezer for vegetable scraps, which I pull down whenever I chop veggies. That outer later of onion that gets peeled off alongside the papery skin? In the bag. Parsley stems, kale stems, the top bit of carrots and zucchini, celery bunch bottoms, bell pepper cores, corn cobs... in they go. Just about anything works (provided it's been cleaned) -- just skip any strongly flavored cruciferous vegetables like broccoli or they'll dominate.
Do you save cucumber peels? I was debating this with my freezer bag today (I use EXACTLY the same system, but add it to my chicken stock). I've generally stuck to the trimmings from carrots, celery, onion, green beans, and garlic. Knew not to do broccoli, but haven't expanded from there. Asparagus? Cucumber? What about various herbs- I toss in thyme or parsley, but what about cilantro or green onion?
I wouldn't do cucumber or asparagus (asparagus is gross boiled). I would do cilantro and green onion.
I don't have a ziplock, I have a hard sided plastic container - when it is full, I know I need to do a batch, like I did yesterday.
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My parents dug up a ton of carrots last week. I was going to blanch some but decided to try to make pickled carrots instead. Made seven pints (gave some back to them).
I make most of my food from scratch, and in the summer we do a lot of canning from their garden (they are retired and love to garden, so my son and I just go help them work theirs instead of having our own). We usually can salsa, tomato sauce, relishes, etc.
I also do a bunch of "mixes" when I bake (since I already have all the ingredients out). I have rye roll, corn bread, and pie crust mixes, along with others, in the cabinets right now.
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I did it! Using a cookbook from Martin Yan of Yan Can Cook I made my second batch of Chinese BBQ Chicken. He used pork but since I don't eat pork I used chicken. At first I wanted it to be sweet sticky and shiny like it is from the carryouts but I didn't use any food coloring. The first batch I didn't marinate long enough and I baked it for 20 minutes at 350 then 25 at 375 not quite the recipe time but it was still quite flavorful. I also used granulated sugar the first one and am using raw sugar for this one. It was excellent over lo mein noodles and sort of stir fried onions, cabbage,carrots broccoli and cauliflower. No loss of fiber lol...
My lo mein clumped together my first time cooking it now to work on stir frying properly.
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I did it! Using a cookbook from Martin Yan of Yan Can Cook I made my second batch of Chinese BBQ Chicken. He used pork but since I don't eat pork I used chicken. At first I wanted it to be sweet sticky and shiny like it is from the carryouts but I didn't use any food coloring. The first batch I didn't marinate long enough and I baked it for 20 minutes at 350 then 25 at 375 not quite the recipe time but it was still quite flavorful. I also used granulated sugar the first one and am using raw sugar for this one. It was excellent over lo mein noodles and sort of stir fried onions, cabbage,carrots broccoli and cauliflower. No loss of fiber lol...
My lo mein clumped together my first time cooking it now to work on stir frying properly.
Martin Yan is a badass - have you ever watched him debone a whole chicken? If Yan Can Cook...
I'm not sure if you are buying refrigerated noodles from the store or not (I usually do), but if so, it helps to loosen them up in a pot of hot/simmering water first before stirfrying.
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Every time I try to cut up and debone a chicken it looks like Freddy Krueger put on a blindfold and got to work on it. Sad...I did learn from his book how easy it is to make sauces and I will work on chopping vegetables better.
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Every time I try to cut up and debone a chicken it looks like Freddy Krueger put on a blindfold and got to work on it. Sad...I did learn from his book how easy it is to make sauces and I will work on chopping vegetables better.
Just to put you in the mood...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gI_c7PpIwR4
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Every time I try to cut up and debone a chicken it looks like Freddy Krueger put on a blindfold and got to work on it. Sad...I did learn from his book how easy it is to make sauces and I will work on chopping vegetables better.
Haha, I'm not much better with deboning chicken - chicken usually ends up slipping and sliding all over the counter.
Every sauce ever in Chinese cooking is basically thickened up with cornstarch, lol. Easy peasy!
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I'm getting more and more into DIY condiments. In the past few months I've successfully made ketchup, home-canned relish, thousand island and ranch salad dressing, and next up is mustard. All sweetened with honey or coconut sugar. Boyfriend was especially excited about the thousand island because I"d banned the bottled stuff from the house some time ago after reading a label and becoming horrified at all the crap that was in there.
He also has started making his own barbecue sauce using my homemade ketchup.
I've been doing a lot of jams too as fruit comes into season.
The down side is, I'll spend a day making condiments or canning jam, and then realize there's nothing to eat for actual dinner. :)
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I'm getting more and more into DIY condiments. In the past few months I've successfully made ketchup, home-canned relish, thousand island and ranch salad dressing, and next up is mustard. All sweetened with honey or coconut sugar. Boyfriend was especially excited about the thousand island because I"d banned the bottled stuff from the house some time ago after reading a label and becoming horrified at all the crap that was in there.
He also has started making his own barbecue sauce using my homemade ketchup.
I've been doing a lot of jams too as fruit comes into season.
The down side is, I'll spend a day making condiments or canning jam, and then realize there's nothing to eat for actual dinner. :)
I HATE that feeling! There is nothing worse than spending all day canning, whole tomatoes for example, then realizing you have nothing prepared. Reminds me of this:
(http://funnyand.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/When-theres-no-cooked-food-left.jpg)
Which normally I love, but sometimes is exhausting =P
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Yes, that's it exactly! I'm embarrassed to admit that I've called in a pizza before because I'd spent the entire day canning (and cleaning up repeated canning messes), the house was boiling hot, and I just couldn't face any more cooking.
Oh - this week I'm going to take a crack at homemade veggie broth for the first time. We'll see how that goes. I don't have a pressure canner so I'll have to freeze the broth. I'm running out of storage space for all of this stuff, though. We really could use a chest freezer but as we live in a smallish 3rd-floor apartment that doesn't seem possible.
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Yes, that's it exactly! I'm embarrassed to admit that I've called in a pizza before because I'd spent the entire day canning (and cleaning up repeated canning messes), the house was boiling hot, and I just couldn't face any more cooking.
Oh - this week I'm going to take a crack at homemade veggie broth for the first time. We'll see how that goes. I don't have a pressure canner so I'll have to freeze the broth. I'm running out of storage space for all of this stuff, though. We really could use a chest freezer but as we live in a smallish 3rd-floor apartment that doesn't seem possible.
I've had a chest freezer in a studio apartment before =) You can get the smaller ones, and they make nice kitchen "extenders"- I would use the top as my dish drying rack. (That apartment only had a mini-fridge, and I lived there for two years!)
And yes, I've done the pizza order too! Always right around mid-August when the tomatoes are overtaking me =D
Best of luck on the broth! I recommend freezing it so it thaws easily, like flat in a large ziplock. When it's in hard-to-use bricks, I never got around to it! Edit to add: and be sure, if freezing in a container, to leave lots of headspace- it'll expand quite a bit. I've lost quite a few mason jars that way =o I don't use glass in the freezer much anymore... one of the reasons I prefer canning to freezing for many things, since I like to avoid plastics.
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Yes, that's it exactly! I'm embarrassed to admit that I've called in a pizza before because I'd spent the entire day canning (and cleaning up repeated canning messes), the house was boiling hot, and I just couldn't face any more cooking.
Oh - this week I'm going to take a crack at homemade veggie broth for the first time. We'll see how that goes. I don't have a pressure canner so I'll have to freeze the broth. I'm running out of storage space for all of this stuff, though. We really could use a chest freezer but as we live in a smallish 3rd-floor apartment that doesn't seem possible.
You can reduce your broth way down so it's concentrated and doesn't take up much freezer space. I use little 4 oz Rubbermaid containers for the equivalent of 1 pint of stock.
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Great ideas, thanks! I was going to freeze it in mason jars but it sounds like that's not such a good idea. I guess I could try it in big ziplocs. I was going to portion it out in the quantities that we typically use in recipes so we can just grab one when we need it.
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Great ideas, thanks! I was going to freeze it in mason jars but it sounds like that's not such a good idea. I guess I could try it in big ziplocs. I was going to portion it out in the quantities that we typically use in recipes so we can just grab one when we need it.
As much of a hippy as I am elsewhere, I got sick of the cost and pain in the neck of cleaning glass out of the freezer. =\ No good solutions from me, unfortunately. I just don't put anything warm into the containers (wait until it's fully cooled before bagging) so that it's less reactive.
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I love making homemade stocks. Way cheaper and more tasty than store-bought stock and way better than using bullion products.
My other favorite thing to do at home is breads. I can make great breads at home for a fraction of the cost of store-bought loaves. I choose to use easy recipes that give a consistently pretty-good bread rather than the best recipes just so I can make sure I keep up with making breads myself. Only problem is my bread has to live in the refrigerator because it goes bad so quickly. After watching how quickly my homemade breads go bad, it disturbs me to think how they get store-bought bread to last so long. Baking my own is worth it only to know that my bread does not contain the artificial preservatives.
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One way to freeze stock that's worked for me is to cook it way down concentrated, then pour about an inch into muffin tins, freeze them, pop out the pucks, and store them in a big freezer bag or a yogurt tub.
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I made pizza for the first time last night with the budget bytes thin and crispy recipe and it was so easy!!! I'm a total convert.
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Made wild garlick butter last week. So simple it's hardly even a recipe, but very good butter. I ate toasted stale bread with it on and was in food heaven.
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One way to freeze stock that's worked for me is to cook it way down concentrated, then pour about an inch into muffin tins, freeze them, pop out the pucks, and store them in a big freezer bag or a yogurt tub.
Good idea.
I make stock in a five-gallon stock pot. After boiling for three hours and straining I usually come away with 5 or 6 quarts of stock which I store in quart-sized freezer bags in our chest freezer.
Am I correct in assuming that you boil for three hours (or however long you would boil to make "normal" stock), then discard the carcass/vegetables/bones, then continue to boil the finished stock down to a concentrate?
Do you concentrate to the point that one puck = about 1 quart of reconstituted stock? Or maybe 2 pucks = 1 quart reconstituted?
How much additional boil time do you have to give to concentrate it? Do you do it all in one day?
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Always learning - I don't follow any real formula on concentrating the stock. The nice thing is that it's flexible and you'll end up with a great product pretty much no matter what. Even the stock that I can is at least 2x concentrated in that it will turn to a gel in the fridge. I start in a 5 gallon pot, so have about 4 gallons of water to start, and cook it down quite a bit before taking the bones and scraps out.
So if I had two gallons of that, I'd take out all the bones, run it through a seive, and then let it simmer until it's reduced to about 2 quarts. So at that point, it would be about 8x concentrated, so a 4 oz portion would have as much flavor packed into it as a quart of the store-bought stuff. You're gong for something that is thick enough to coat a spoon, almost like a demi-glace. How long it takes to reduce depends on your method; you can keep the burner at medium and reduce it in an hour or so, or put it at a bare simmer, or let it go in the crock pot for several hours or overnight if you don't want to keep a close eye on it. I usually do the latter. When freezing stock, I don't bother to skim the fat out, because it's just extra flavor, so that's another step that can be skipped vs. canning.
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Great idea about concentrating stock, don't know why i didn't think of this before... it's always a bit of a pain to find room to store all the stock. Going to do that next time, what's the point of freezing all that extra water!
The sourdough bit in the thread drew my attention... we've been making sourdough for years now (probably comes down to less than 50c/loaf with flour from costco). As someone mentioned before, once you get it going it really can take all sort of abuse and neglect, so long as you re-feed it before use. then it's 3-2-1 rule: 3 parts flour, 2 parts water, 1 part starter + 2tsp. Barely any kneading required if you leave it overnight for gluten to develop and yeast to multiply (12 h or so). Bake in the morning and victory is ours :)
I'd be curious to know about what people do as far as the actual baking... I've never been a big fan of bread machine as i never managed to get a nice crispy country style french bread crust with them. We bake in a covered cast iron pot in the oven. Makes a beautiful crust... How do you guys bake?
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Re bursting mason jars in the freezer: the line that runs around the upper perimiter of the jar tells you when to stop filling if freezing. Neato! And if you freeze in glass - leave the tops off until solid so that the liquid has an escape route if overflowing.
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Another advantage of concentrating stock before freezing it is that some recipes actually call for concentrated stock (demi-glace). Sometimes I use it instead of mayo in chicken salad, or stirred into plain hot pasta before adding grated parm.
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These are all such great tips! I'm so glad I posted about this here, I hadn't thought about it much beyond "throw veg and herbs in pot, cook, put in jars." I really like the concentrating idea. Our freezer gets pretty crazy during summer as I buy up loads of in-season fruit and veg for cheap and freeze what's going to go off before we can eat it or otherwise deal with it.
I freeze food in mason jars all the time and have never had anything burst. But, I try not to fill them too full.
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We make our own protein balls. Better and cheaper than buying bars at the store that are high in sugar.
Oats, peanut butter, coco, honey, protein, almond milk, flax seed.
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Oooo..I am going to have to try protein balls! I buy the protein bars for when I go on long hikes/bike rides but wouldn't mind a homemade alternative.
For veggie scraps for stock, do u guys scrub your onions before peeling and cutting them up? I have been thinking of saving the tops but hubby is grossed out. I do leave the 2nd layer of peel on for stock. What about garlic? Do u wash the whole thing with peel?
I do keep celery ends and carrot ends (not carrot peels though) but those are easy to scrub before chopping them up. I also freeze all bone scraps and herb stems.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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My chives plant is crazy huge now, so I've been noodling around the internet for recipes and am going to make the following:
Chive Butter (easy peasy, and likely to be a hit the the hubs)
Chive oil for bread
Chive blossom vinegar (great on salads)
Frozen chives in olive oil
Wish me luck. The plant is huge! But I'm trying not to waste it for once. I will probably throw chive odds and ends into my stock veggies in the freezer.
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Has anyone tried paneer?
What recipe did you use?
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ooooo, thanks! My chive plant isn't huge but it's making more than I can eat.
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ooooo, thanks! My chive plant isn't huge but it's making more than I can eat.
You can freeze the chive butter and the chives in olive oil... therefore they are going to be my first projects.
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I've been doing pulled pork in the slow cooker frequently - .99 per pound for pork shoulder. Mrs. Axe made some Bao this week. We had this in Hawaii, make the pork the night before, the dough in the morning, then after work we put the spiced pork inside the dough and steam them. Cheap and delicious.
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Bought a bottle of citrus hop kombucha today and liked the flavor, so I'm trying to replicate it at home. I have tons of hops in the freezer and haven't made beer in a while, so it was nice to find another use for them.
Started making corn tortillas this week. Still need to perfect my methods, but the second round was really good!
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Currently trying to wake myself up enough to get into long sleeves and boots and head out into the not-yet-surface-of-the-sun heat to pick blackberries. Note to self: bug spray. There be ticks out there.
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Bought a bottle of citrus hop kombucha today and liked the flavor, so I'm trying to replicate it at home. I have tons of hops in the freezer and haven't made beer in a while, so it was nice to find another use for them.
Started making corn tortillas this week. Still need to perfect my methods, but the second round was really good!
Any tips on corn tortillas? I feel confident on my flour tortilla recipe, but I've been intimidated on the corn tortilla front.
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Bought a bottle of citrus hop kombucha today and liked the flavor, so I'm trying to replicate it at home. I have tons of hops in the freezer and haven't made beer in a while, so it was nice to find another use for them.
Started making corn tortillas this week. Still need to perfect my methods, but the second round was really good!
Any tips on corn tortillas? I feel confident on my flour tortilla recipe, but I've been intimidated on the corn tortilla front.
I'm still learning myself. The first time, the dough was too dry, so sticking to the wax paper wasn't a problem, but then they were too stiff once cooked. I added some water the second time, but then needed to use flour and PAM to prevent sticking. The second time, I cooked them in a ridged cast iron grill pan and they puffed up a little better. No need to be intimidated though; having them stick to the paper was the worst of it, and if they do that, just ball up the dough and try again.
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The chive butter and chives preserved in olive oil were easy successes.
Moving on... today's project is pickled red onions:
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/pickled-red-onions-1222211
There's nothing special about the onions themselves (bought at Aldi), but I think they will kick the flavor of some of my favorite foods up a notch.
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The chive butter and chives preserved in olive oil were easy successes.
Moving on... today's project is pickled red onions:
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/pickled-red-onions-1222211
There's nothing special about the onions themselves (bought at Aldi), but I think they will kick the flavor of some of my favorite foods up a notch.
Pickled banana peppers are one of my favorite things to make when there's a summertime abundance in the garden - they make all sandwiches instantly fancy.
Also, I haven't made any lately, but my favorite DIY food thing is homemade liqueurs - I've got a pretty great recipe for a ginger liqueur (a la Domaine de Canton) and for faux Chambord, as well as creme de cacao and coffee liqueur. Serious Eats has a great series of DIY vs Buy recipes for them.
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Making a spicy ketchup today with last year's canned tomato sauce, some paste I've been trying to use up, and the last of some homemade sriracha and fermented hot sauce. Hoping I'll have the gumption to can it tomorrow night.
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Did the vegetable stock on a rare cool day last week, and I think it came out pretty well. I used scraps I'd been saving in the freezer, as well as some herbs and scallions from the garden, celery, carrots, and onions. Maybe next time I'll use fewer tomato skins, though - had been saving those in the freezer because apparently you can make sauce from them? Haven't tried that yet, though.
Speaking of booze, I've been DIYing a cocktail that I like at a local bar. Raspberry vodka, lemonade, and cranberry. They charge like $8 for this; DIY is much cheaper, and a bit healthier as I'm using agave in my homemade lemonade (and not much of it; I like my lemonade tart). Yum.
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Try lemon juice and simple syrup. That should escalate the lemon tartness profile a bit.
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I'm trying to make seedy dijon mustard from scratch. Wish me luck!
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This is a fantastic thread. I got lucky and married a man who's always up for some DIY so that helps.
We live in a great part of the world for foraging and growing literally a few meters from our doorstep are wild strawberries. A bit further out is the forest full of bilberries, lingon and mushrooms (chanterelle, porcini, hedgehogs, etc) in Autumn. We cook as many mushrooms as we can eat and dry the rest. The berries get made into jam or jelly, usually mixed with other berries from the garden. In spring we make nettle soup and dandelion fritters.
I used to keep a sourdough starter but neglected it and it got mouldy. I've tried my hand at various different types of bread over the years, from easy (naan, pizza, Hönö flatbread) to more difficult (bagels, English muffins). We even made hard bread once. The bagels were fantastic but a bit too complicated to be a regular thing. The English muffins were average and not worth the effort. I'd love to try crumpets at some point.
DH keeps bees so we often make mead from the dregs that aren't good enough to sell. This has had mixed results. Sometimes wonderful and other times overly sweet and headache inducing. He also makes cider when we have a glut of apples.
My MIL gave us a crock a few months ago which we used to make some excellent sauerkraut. I'm keen trying the other fermentation recipes that have been suggested in this thread.
In the past we've made yoghurt, mozzarella and paneer, but I've stopped eating dairy, and when I tried to make soy yoghurt it was a disaster. If anyone has any tips on making plant based yoghurts I'd be incredibly grateful.
Has anyone tried paneer?
What recipe did you use?
We used this one: http://www.vegrecipesofindia.com/how-to-make-paneer-homemade-paneer/
but trippled the amounts to make it worthwhile.
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I had never eaten red currants, but I've been reading recipes for them and they became available from my CSA so I grabbed a couple pounds worth. Nothing could be simpler! I boiled them up today to make red currant jelly and am now going to mix the leftover pulp with a wee touch of Grand Marnier to make a rustic tart. They are so "cute"... I can see how they'd look lovely in cakes and sweet breads.
Next on the agenda (within the next couple of weeks) is going to be this cranberry jalapeno pepper jelly. I am going to give it as Christmas gifts.
http://monasterykitchen.org/cape-cod-cranberry-jalapeno-pepper-jelly/
It's very hot and humid today, but I may make my way outside this afternoon to snag the last of the local strawberries... even if I freeze them and save the project for a couple of weeks.
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Made gnocchi from scratch for the first time yesterday. They were a little gummy, but overall, a pretty good first attempt. Not something I'll be doing on a regular basis, but maybe once or twice a year. Not too difficult, cheap, and sounds impressive.
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I love this sort-of homemade ranch dressing:
1/2 cup milk with 1 tbsp lemon juice, let sit for 5 min.
Then mix with
1 cup sour cream
Dill, parsley, garlic, onion powder, and salt and pepper to taste.
I still buy the milk and sour cream, but at least it's better than buying a bottle of ranch at the store.
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I tried making tortillas and it was a total disaster. All totally fine apart from the crucial step of transferring from surface to pan, when they totally fell apart. I tried everything I could find online, from pressing in clingfilm to lifting with my rolling pin, but nothing helped. In the end I gave up and cooked them as shards to use for dipping. I'm pretty disappointed, though. Is there some great secret?
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I tried making tortillas and it was a total disaster. All totally fine apart from the crucial step of transferring from surface to pan, when they totally fell apart. I tried everything I could find online, from pressing in clingfilm to lifting with my rolling pin, but nothing helped. In the end I gave up and cooked them as shards to use for dipping. I'm pretty disappointed, though. Is there some great secret?
Do you have proper masa, rather than cornmeal? Cornmeal, which has been ground before the kernels are soaked in lime, will not form a dough.
The directions I found online said to press them in wax paper, but I've found that parchment paper does a better job of releasing them.
Maybe play with the moisture level in your dough. I've found that I need to make it a bit wetter, then let it sit for a few minutes so the masa can absorb the moisture, then readjust the moisture level if needed so that it is quite pliable, but not yet sticky. You could try adding some fat to the dough as well.
I'm far from expert, having just started, but those are the things that helped get me on the road to corn tortilla success.
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I have a some general hacked recipes I used over and over -- miscellaneous fruit bread, miscellaneous dog biscuits, miscellaneous carb pudding (using leftover noodles, rice, donuts, what have you), miscellaneous meat-with-beer stew. And soup of course -- the utility player for repurposing leftover stuff and sad veggies! My immersion blender is my friend.
It turns out mostly good, sometimes fabulous (of course you can never quite replicate it, bummer), and on rare occasions not-so-hot and ends up in the dog bowls. Whenever I make big batches, I freeze squares, blobs or spoonfuls on a cookie sheet then wrap in the freezer for future work lunches.
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I've had pretty good savings from doing some cheese making. I'm not brave enough to do hard aged cheeses, and I don't have the space to do it, but mozzarella is great. For a 4 litre bag of whole milk, the rennet tabs and Citric acid, it cost under $10 for about a pound of high quality, fancy mozzarella or made smaller into boccincini. The next day you cook the remaining whey into another 1 to 2 cups of ricotta!
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I took a fermentation class with the Extension Office yesterday. We made sauerkraut, and one lady shared some baby scobys to make kombucha. So, I have sauerkraut fermenting on one counter, and kombucha brewing on another. We'll see how they turn out...
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I made egg rolls using this recipe:
http://www.food.com/recipe/chinese-egg-rolls-134053
And tweaking it. I put the cabbage, scallions, ginger, garlic and sauce (omitting the salt) in a frying pan, added 1/2 lb of chopped raw shrimp (instead of pork) and cooked it until shrimp turned pink. Then I followed the remaining directions. They are insanely good. DH begged me to make another batch, so I did. They are frozen, and now he won't starve when I'm gone next week.
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I've had pretty good savings from doing some cheese making. I'm not brave enough to do hard aged cheeses, and I don't have the space to do it, but mozzarella is great. For a 4 litre bag of whole milk, the rennet tabs and Citric acid, it cost under $10 for about a pound of high quality, fancy mozzarella or made smaller into boccincini. The next day you cook the remaining whey into another 1 to 2 cups of ricotta!
Any DIY videos you can recommend?
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Last winter I made (and froze) meyer lemon curd. I need to eat it up soon but have been struggling. I've decided to make a "Lemon Curd Trifle" with fresh berries and angel food cake this weekend when guests visit. It will be beautiful and refreshing.
I am serving it alongside a pan of lasagna I made and froze a couple of months ago. All will be eaten after a 15 mile bike ride.
I hope that taking stuff out of the freezer to feed guests doesn't sound unclassy; I just don't have much time to cook on demand so it's a nice compromise.
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I hope that taking stuff out of the freezer to feed guests doesn't sound unclassy; I just don't have much time to cook on demand so it's a nice compromise.
Just don't tell them! I think around here that would be considered a win and using your time to socialize, build relationships and go for a bike ride makes MUCH more sense! Have a great time!
I've got a couple big jars of Kimchi going, which should be ready ....er soon...I've lost track of the days :) I'd like to think it will last a while, but hubby is a Kimchi fiend and with it taking 14 or so days to make, I'll have to start pondering my next batch. When we run out, he gets these horrible puppy dog eyes, sighs and says" You know what would be really good with this? Kimchi...."
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I took a fermentation class with the Extension Office yesterday. We made sauerkraut, and one lady shared some baby scobys to make kombucha. So, I have sauerkraut fermenting on one counter, and kombucha brewing on another. We'll see how they turn out...
Be careful to separate your fermentations. My wife made Kombucha, sauerkraut and water kefir. Everything went fine for quite a while until she stored the active fermentations next to each other. We think the Kombucha corrupted the kefir. Cleaned up both and restarted the Kombucha. Having to work to find a new starter for the kefir...
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Has anyone made their own paneer cheese for indian food?
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Another huge saver for me: homemade dairy free milks. When I wasn't drinking dairy, I would make my own rice or oat milks. Just boiled the grain with eight times the recommended water amount, blended it up, and filtered it. These types of specialty milks cost a fortune in a grocery store and and are typically loaded with added sugars and thickeners anyways. I buy a 25lb bag of organic oatmeal from a grain mill, and grind it myself to use, saving even more money. I would get brown rice on sale for under $1/lb to use. About a cup of grains would make me enough milk to last over a week!
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Last winter I made (and froze) meyer lemon curd. I need to eat it up soon but have been struggling. I've decided to make a "Lemon Curd Trifle" with fresh berries and angel food cake this weekend when guests visit. It will be beautiful and refreshing.
I am serving it alongside a pan of lasagna I made and froze a couple of months ago. All will be eaten after a 15 mile bike ride.
I hope that taking stuff out of the freezer to feed guests doesn't sound unclassy; I just don't have much time to cook on demand so it's a nice compromise.
Lemon curd is great just spread on graham crackers.
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I took a fermentation class with the Extension Office yesterday. We made sauerkraut, and one lady shared some baby scobys to make kombucha. So, I have sauerkraut fermenting on one counter, and kombucha brewing on another. We'll see how they turn out...
Be careful to separate your fermentations. My wife made Kombucha, sauerkraut and water kefir. Everything went fine for quite a while until she stored the active fermentations next to each other. We think the Kombucha corrupted the kefir. Cleaned up both and restarted the Kombucha. Having to work to find a new starter for the kefir...
Fortunately the recipe warned about keeping stuff to close. I have them well separated! I've considered keeping one in the kitchen, one in the basement, but wanted to see how stinky it got first (basement isn't as well ventilated).
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A small jar of pickled ginger costs $7 here! Surely it can't be that difficult to make.
Does anyone know how?
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I just shred/mince it and put it in rice wine vinegar in the fridge. Might be more complicated if you want the thin pinkish slices for sushi, but what I do works for keeping it on hand for cooking when I don't have time to grate fresh ginger.
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This pickled ginger recipe (http://allrecipes.com/recipe/100008/homemade-pickled-ginger-gari/) has good reviews on Allrecipes. I have not tried it, though.
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Last week I set up a continuous brew kombucha system, and pulled the first bottles from it tonight. It works great! Will add some more sweet tea to it tomorrow. It's just a 2-gallon water dispenser that sits on top of the fridge with a coffee filter where the lid should be, and a big old SCOBY forming in there. The kombucha comes out much more carbonated than when I fermented it in a big jar. I dispensed it into three bottles for a secondary ferment, so in about 48 hours I'll be enjoying some peach ginger, blueberry, and quince lime kombucha.
(http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p153/AQHAHunter/IMG_20160805_215828154_zpsld4u5t2t.jpg) (http://s127.photobucket.com/user/AQHAHunter/media/IMG_20160805_215828154_zpsld4u5t2t.jpg.html)
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Last week I set up a continuous brew kombucha system, and pulled the first bottles from it tonight. It works great! Will add some more sweet tea to it tomorrow. It's just a 2-gallon water dispenser that sits on top of the fridge with a coffee filter where the lid should be, and a big old SCOBY forming in there. The kombucha comes out much more carbonated than when I fermented it in a big jar. I dispensed it into three bottles for a secondary ferment, so in about 48 hours I'll be enjoying some peach ginger, blueberry, and quince lime kombucha.
(http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p153/AQHAHunter/IMG_20160805_215828154_zpsld4u5t2t.jpg) (http://s127.photobucket.com/user/AQHAHunter/media/IMG_20160805_215828154_zpsld4u5t2t.jpg.html)
Since starting two weeks ago, we've made blackberry, cherry, blueberry, peach, and plain. I may have to try continuous brew, but I didn't want to go out and buy a dispenser (my mom had a gallon sized glass jar so she gave that to me).
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Made a big batch of Erica's (NWEdible.com) choose-your-own-adventure granola, in part to use up some honey roasted almonds, dried cranberries and sunflower seeds that were languishing in the pantry.
It'll be good to have some "ready-made" cereal on hand to feed the hungry crowds when the baby comes in a week or two and I'm somewhat out of commission.
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Made a tomato pie this weekend. Homemade Pie crust, fresh tomatoes from the garden, garlic, onions, fresh basil, topped with a mix of 2:1 mozzarella and cheddar cheese. The secret ingredient is a tablespoon of mayonnaise, which sounds awful but pulls the flavors together and helps bind it, so it's not a wet mess. Lovely fresh garden taste profile.
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Made simple syrup so that I can be incredibly lazy and not need to stir in sugar when I want lemonade.
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I save my vegetable scraps for veggie burgers, no more waste.
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I tried making tortillas and it was a total disaster. All totally fine apart from the crucial step of transferring from surface to pan, when they totally fell apart. I tried everything I could find online, from pressing in clingfilm to lifting with my rolling pin, but nothing helped. In the end I gave up and cooked them as shards to use for dipping. I'm pretty disappointed, though. Is there some great secret?
Do you have proper masa, rather than cornmeal? Cornmeal, which has been ground before the kernels are soaked in lime, will not form a dough.
The directions I found online said to press them in wax paper, but I've found that parchment paper does a better job of releasing them.
Maybe play with the moisture level in your dough. I've found that I need to make it a bit wetter, then let it sit for a few minutes so the masa can absorb the moisture, then readjust the moisture level if needed so that it is quite pliable, but not yet sticky. You could try adding some fat to the dough as well.
I'm far from expert, having just started, but those are the things that helped get me on the road to corn tortilla success.
Did you let the dough rest?
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I tried making tortillas and it was a total disaster. All totally fine apart from the crucial step of transferring from surface to pan, when they totally fell apart. I tried everything I could find online, from pressing in clingfilm to lifting with my rolling pin, but nothing helped. In the end I gave up and cooked them as shards to use for dipping. I'm pretty disappointed, though. Is there some great secret?
Flour or corn? I used to live in Mexico and was taught to make corn tortillas from an expert. :) They normally use a thicker plastic to press the tortillas out -- I use two zip lock sandwich bags usually, but you could also take a quart zip lock and cut it into two sheets. The zipper causes a little line sometimes, but it's about the right size and the thick plastic releases easily from the dough.
So you press the dough out between two layers of plastic -- not too thin if you're a beginner so it doesn't tear. Then peel off the top plastic by starting on one side and pulling back and away slowly. Flip it onto your bare hand and then peel back the 2nd layer of plastic. So now your hand is palm facing up with the tortilla dough on top. Place the edge of the tortilla from your pinkie finger side on the pan and carefully turn your hand while pulling it away from the dough. You're sort of gently laying the tortilla onto the pan and avoiding getting any air bubbles on the bottom of it -- hard to describe it in words instead of showing you, but I hope this helps. :)
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Has anyone made their own paneer cheese for indian food?
I didn't see any answers to this, so:
Yes! Easy and perhaps worth it, depending on your local milk costs. I just bring some milk to a near-boil, toss in a couple of tablespoons of lemon juice per litre of milk, give it a stir or two, and let it partly cool in the pot. Line a sieve or colander with cheesecloth (or even paper towels, maybe), and let it drain a while. Wrap the solids in the cheesecloth, put it on a plate, put another plate on top, put a weight (like a can of beans) on top of that plate. It'll firm up into something like store paneer. Thick slices of it fry up really nice.
(I guess you could curdle it with vinegar instead of lemon juice to save money, and I've seen suggestions that you curdle it with the sour liquid that drains off when you thicken yogurt, but I've never tried that.)
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Has anyone successfully dried tart cherries in an oven? I don't have a dehydrator and would rather not buy another appliance. I've got about 5 lbs. of cherries in the freezer and would like to dry some - yummy on salads with some nuts and blue cheese. But a bag of dried cherries at the grocery store is like 5 bucks! ouch!
I found some recipes online but a) they call for setting the oven at 165 and our apartment's ancient oven's lowest temp is 200, and b) it says you have to leave them in for 8 hours, stirring every couple hours. I'm trying to figure out when, if ever, I will be home (and awake) for 8 hours straight to babysit them. Would be grateful for any tips or tricks.
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I believe freezing them ruptures the cell walls, so drying previously frozen cherries doesn't have the same outcome as drying fresh cherries. Best off using them frozen, pies and maybe half of a jam with something sweet would be the go-to for these.
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I believe freezing them ruptures the cell walls, so drying previously frozen cherries doesn't have the same outcome as drying fresh cherries. Best off using them frozen, pies and maybe half of a jam with something sweet would be the go-to for these.
+1. I have been using my sour cherry supply by heating them gently with honey to make a sour cherrry compot and blending that with coconut milk to a smoothie consistency (I don't do dairy) and popping them into popsicle molds for Sour cherry creamsicles. So, so good!
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Following!
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I am so glad I asked before trying to dehydrate them! I've already canned some cherry pie filling, and have been eyeing some jam recipes. So I have lots of other ideas for using them. The coconut milk recipe sounds fantastic!
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Speaking of cherries... Recipes are rare, but you can make sweet cherry pies and they are delicious. I don't care for sour cherry pies, so I was glad to find I liked their counterpart.
If you want the recipes I used, just ask.
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I took a fermentation class with the Extension Office yesterday. We made sauerkraut, and one lady shared some baby scobys to make kombucha. So, I have sauerkraut fermenting on one counter, and kombucha brewing on another. We'll see how they turn out...
Thank you so much for posting this. I just checked out my local one and they have a class coming up. I have a crock but my sauerkraut's never quite right so I'm excited to take it!
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The grocery store had cheap strawberries last time I went since they're in season right now and I caved. I was trying to think of a way to use the ones I bought before they went bad. I ended up making a 100% homemade fresh strawberry pie. No Jell-O filler (a lot of strawberry pie recipes online use this) and even the crust I made by hand. I was proud of myself. First time I've ever tried to make a pie 100% homemade!
http://www.shortstopblog.com/2011/05/gotta-make-it-best-fresh-strawberry-pie.html (http://www.shortstopblog.com/2011/05/gotta-make-it-best-fresh-strawberry-pie.html)
I used that recipe, though I didn't put lemon juice in it because I didn't have any lemon juice or lemons. I also didn't use her pie crust recipe since I have another one I use. It's very similar to hers though - I just don't use a food processor since I don't have one. I mix it up by hand.
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As part of my being more responsible with food adventure, I decided to wean myself off of buying cheap, cheap Costco milk (*sniff) and buying my milk from a regional dairy that has high animal husbandry and environmental stewardship standards. They also use Jerseys instead of Holsteins. Yeah, this is double the cost plus I have to pay $2 bottle deposits to get started, which is fun because they all come in half gallon glass containers and we buy 3-4 gallons a fortnight. I also picked up some cream from this dairy.
Last night, I learned that if I put 16oz of cream in a 32oz jar, I can get an awesome and conveniently made jar of whipped cream. However, I also learned that I'm not going to get butter out of it because it took up all the space in the jar so that shaking was not effective. So I threw it in my food processor with the whipping attachment and about 45 seconds later had butter. Yay!
I'm really getting a hang of this dairy production thing. I now make my own yogurt/Greek yogurt/skyr, butter, cultured buttermilk, ricotta, paneer, whipped cream. I still have not been brave enough to try mozzarella again since my last major fail. I've decided that I will probably just buy buffalo mozzarella instead at Costco for now.
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I took a fermentation class with the Extension Office yesterday. We made sauerkraut, and one lady shared some baby scobys to make kombucha. So, I have sauerkraut fermenting on one counter, and kombucha brewing on another. We'll see how they turn out...
Thank you so much for posting this. I just checked out my local one and they have a class coming up. I have a crock but my sauerkraut's never quite right so I'm excited to take it!
Have you had your class yet? I'm in a different area, so you'll have a different instructor, but hope yours is as good as mine is (I've taken several classes over the years with mine).
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I took a fermentation class with the Extension Office yesterday. We made sauerkraut, and one lady shared some baby scobys to make kombucha. So, I have sauerkraut fermenting on one counter, and kombucha brewing on another. We'll see how they turn out...
Thank you so much for posting this. I just checked out my local one and they have a class coming up. I have a crock but my sauerkraut's never quite right so I'm excited to take it!
My wife has made gallons of sauerkraut. It is all about the cleanliness. The rest of it just happens on its own. Trust nature, she knows what she's about!
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I make my own energy bars for when I have lots of field work. I base mine off of this http://www.chowhound.com/recipes/dried-fig-and-nut-bars-11426 recipe, but I substitute less expensive dried fruits and nuts.
I love making bread, tortillas, and various fermented beverages.
If you're looking for a way to reduce waste and save money:
I also make my own broth/stock from kitchen scraps: http://ohmyveggies.com/how-to-make-vegetable-broth-with-kitchen-scraps/
and when I have milk that has just started to turn, I'll use it to make paneer.
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I make my own energy bars for when I have lots of field work. I base mine off of this http://www.chowhound.com/recipes/dried-fig-and-nut-bars-11426 (http://www.chowhound.com/recipes/dried-fig-and-nut-bars-11426) recipe, but I substitute less expensive dried fruits and nuts.
I love making bread, tortillas, and various fermented beverages.
If you're looking for a way to reduce waste and save money:
I also make my own broth/stock from kitchen scraps: http://ohmyveggies.com/how-to-make-vegetable-broth-with-kitchen-scraps/ (http://ohmyveggies.com/how-to-make-vegetable-broth-with-kitchen-scraps/)
and when I have milk that has just started to turn, I'll use it to make paneer.
We just had a thread recently were someone was asking if anyone had ever made paneer. I think you might be our expert automatically, because I don't think anyone who responded to that thread has. Will you share your recipe?
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How did I miss this thread? I have gotten seriously carried away with some DIY food lately. I may be overdoing it.
The worst one for us is pizza. I have a small agricultural operation growing tomatoes, garlic, and oregano. We make the crust from expensive flour and olive oil. Oddly enough the cheese that seems better than even the expensive stuff is just the Polly-O brand. I'm still worried I'm going to come home with a cow some day, though.
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I've had bone broth in the pressure cooker (Instant Pot) for 24 hours now. I started with a three-cycle pressure cook and keep warm setup, but it didn't have enough flavor (and wasn't getting enough out of the bones), so I put it on slow cooker, added some more stuff, and checked it again this morning. The marrow is starting to come out of the bones, but I think I'm going to go ahead and keep it going for another 24 hours.
The outside of the pressure cooker doesn't get as hot as the outside of my crock pot, so that's nice.
The broth contains
beef bones (from a cow my brother and niece raised)
ginger (bought on sale, stored in the freezer)
dried mushrooms (that I had dried on the dehydrator before they went bad, since I wasn't going to get them all used)
dried tomatoes (from my parent's garden, dried on the dehydrator--just a few for some added flavor)
apple cider vinegar
bay leaves
basil
garlic
onion
celery
a carrot
I'm hoping to get two quarts out of it and will give one quart to my parents. I'm debating smashing one of the beef bones with a hammer--it's a joint so very bulky and not breaking down much, might be lots of marrow in the joint that I can't get to otherwise.
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I've had bone broth in the pressure cooker (Instant Pot) for 24 hours now. I started with a three-cycle pressure cook and keep warm setup, but it didn't have enough flavor (and wasn't getting enough out of the bones), so I put it on slow cooker, added some more stuff, and checked it again this morning. The marrow is starting to come out of the bones, but I think I'm going to go ahead and keep it going for another 24 hours.
The outside of the pressure cooker doesn't get as hot as the outside of my crock pot, so that's nice.
The broth contains
beef bones (from a cow my brother and niece raised)
ginger (bought on sale, stored in the freezer)
dried mushrooms (that I had dried on the dehydrator before they went bad, since I wasn't going to get them all used)
dried tomatoes (from my parent's garden, dried on the dehydrator--just a few for some added flavor)
apple cider vinegar
bay leaves
basil
garlic
onion
celery
a carrot
I'm hoping to get two quarts out of it and will give one quart to my parents. I'm debating smashing one of the beef bones with a hammer--it's a joint so very bulky and not breaking down much, might be lots of marrow in the joint that I can't get to otherwise.
I don't know what your plans for the broth are, but you might try risotto. It's a great way to use good broth.
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I tried making tortillas and it was a total disaster. All totally fine apart from the crucial step of transferring from surface to pan, when they totally fell apart. I tried everything I could find online, from pressing in clingfilm to lifting with my rolling pin, but nothing helped. In the end I gave up and cooked them as shards to use for dipping. I'm pretty disappointed, though. Is there some great secret?
i know this is an old thread
but if you are talking about flour tortillas
these are the ones i make
vegetarian (i use any oil i have on hand really)
http://www.budgetbytes.com/2011/01/flour-tortillas-v-2-0-low-fat/
non - vegetarian (uses lard)
http://www.budgetbytes.com/2011/01/flour-tortillas/
flour tortillas cost around $2.99 ( the cheapest ones) for 8 of them
and there is so much crap in them its disgusting...
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I keep a ziplock back in my freezer for vegetable scraps, which I pull down whenever I chop veggies. That outer later of onion that gets peeled off alongside the papery skin? In the bag. Parsley stems, kale stems, the top bit of carrots and zucchini, celery bunch bottoms, bell pepper cores, corn cobs... in they go. Just about anything works (provided it's been cleaned) -- just skip any strongly flavored cruciferous vegetables like broccoli or they'll dominate.
When the bag is full, dump it all into a pot, fill with water just to cover, and simmer 30 minutes. This makes a lovely, flavorful vegetable stock, and it's never exactly the same twice. I consider this a double frugality win -- it uses up odds and ends that might have otherwise been thrown away, and I get delicious homemade stock with zero effort :).
i never do the stock that way, i have to try it (i always just use chicken bones and some veggies i have at home and let simmer for hours)
do you guys think it would be yucky if i make the stock with cut up ham in it?
i do not like ham but i could stand it as a flavoring/note in a soup - my MIL gave me a ton
(literally a ton, not exaggerating) and its just sitting in the freezer, no idea what to do with it...
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"Make the Bread, Buy the Butter" is a very useful & entertaining book (with recipes) comparing homemade vs. storebought items.
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Most hams from the store are heavily salted, so you can use them in soups instead of salt. They're great in chicken or beef stock, but too strong for fosh or vegetable stocks.
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Most hams from the store are heavily salted, so you can use them in soups instead of salt. They're great in chicken or beef stock, but too strong for fosh or vegetable stocks.
i will just put a bit in the chicken stock when i make it instead of the salt..
did not even think about that.. will also try to put it sliced in a stir fry, lets see how that pans out :o)..
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Chili, pizza and bbq sauce plus a few jars of salsa ready to go into the pantry. 83 jars of tomato sauce in the garage. I don't want to see another tomato today except there are hundreds sitting in the garage needing to get into the freezer. 6 bushels was way too much.
I enjoy French Canadian split pea soup which requires ham to give it rich flavour. You need to make sure the peas are reasonably fresh or they never soften. FCSPsoup shouldn't be crunchy. Great slow cooker meal.
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I just made fresh ricotta for the first time. As easy as promised and superfun.
Combining with tomatoes from our garden, thyme from our garden and homemade egg noodles to make lasagna for the kids' lunch tomorrow. They will probably starve themselves rather than try a new food, but to hell with them--their school sends home uneaten food and I am not above eating my kids' abandoned leftovers tomorrow afternoon. :)
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Eating homemade sushi right now. Why do people believe it's so hard to make sushi? Seriously it's super easy!
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Eating homemade sushi right now. Why do people believe it's so hard to make sushi? Seriously it's super easy!
I didn't think it was the preparation of sushi that was supposed to be difficult, just the finding of fresh fish that is fresh enough for raw consumption.
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We canned a few pints of home made marinara sauce from our garden (own tomatoes and basil). We're doing some crab apple jelly from the crab apple trees in the front yard.
In the late fall, I get together with relatives / hunting buddies, and we can hot peppers and also pickled beets. A lot of them. Last year we did ~180 quarts of each.
I'm very new at DIY food stuff, but its definitely satisfying feeling to eat something you grew/made yourself. Not all DIY things are cheaper, though. To be honest we probably spent more in natural gas to cook the marinara than it would have cost to buy pre-made at the store. Many things really are cheaper at factory scale. :)
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I'm very new at DIY food stuff, but its definitely satisfying feeling to eat something you grew/made yourself. Not all DIY things are cheaper, though. To be honest we probably spent more in natural gas to cook the marinara than it would have cost to buy pre-made at the store. Many things really are cheaper at factory scale. :)
I agree that I really enjoy eating meals where I made everything or close to everything in my meal from scratch, particularly meals with breads, butter, and cheese.
I started making my own butter at home using Jersey cream from a regional dairy. My husband asked me if it was cheaper than buying it at the store. I told him who knows, because to my knowledge, no one sells this specific product, so difficult to price. But is it more expensive than going to Costco and getting the 4lb pack or getting half-gallon of cream from there and whipping it? YES. However, it is worth it to us because the quality and taste is just out of this world amazing and far superior to what you can get from commercial Holstein cream.
Tomato sauce - I hear you. I could buy a mid-range brand quart of it for the same price I make it per quart at home. However, I use responsibly farmed and harvested tomatoes, the basil is fresh from a local farm that specializes in it about 20 miles away, the tomato sauce base is organic (but this is more because this is all Costco sells rather than a real preference on my part), etc. I would pay more at the store for what I make at home, so it is cheaper in that regard, but not cheaper altogether than buying at the store. Same thing with my breads. I use only Bob's Red Mill or King Arthur flours in my breads, so this is not the cheapest option. I think generic AP flour out of the bulk bin is .36 a lb, but the options I use are around .70 a lb. I also use a sourdough base for all savory breads that needs regular rye and whey feedings (and this is a great way to use up whey from yogurt production - it really helps promote the yeast and adds extra sour flavor) and buy extra gluten for some of my breads.
But that's the thing in general, I guess. I am not really making things at home to save every penny I can exactly. It is more about controlling for quality of ingredients. It is probably cheaper than buying a comparable product with comparable ingredients in store (assuming it exists), but not cheaper than just the just the cheapest product you can find at the store period.
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I am not really making things at home to save every penny I can exactly. It is more about controlling for quality of ingredients.
Definitely. Also eliminating some factory processing, packaging, etc.
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Here's a picture of the jelly setting. This was just from the good apples we picked off the ground. We haven't picked them off the trees yet. I would bet we will end up with 2-3x this much before we're done. Total cost: About $3.99 for the 8 lbs of sugar it took to make.
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I got a bunch of Italian plums, apples and grapes from anonymous coworkers today,so I'may making umeboshi, a plum sauce, prunes, Apple sauce applebutterand raisins. Working on a small batch of tomato sauce too. Last week I canned a bunch of soup and salsa.
Dang auto-correct. Plumber sauce does not sound delicious.
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Eating homemade sushi right now. Why do people believe it's so hard to make sushi? Seriously it's super easy!
I didn't think it was the preparation of sushi that was supposed to be difficult, just the finding of fresh fish that is fresh enough for raw consumption.
Ah. I can only assume it's easier to get super fresh fish here than it is in most of the US then.
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We were planning on doing some hiking this weekend, but now they are saying it will rain all weekend. Figures.
Well, looks like I am instead making some apple butter and trying out a recipe for ciabatta rolls. (http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/ciabatta-rolls-recipe)
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I got a bunch of Italian plums, apples and grapes from anonymous coworkers today,so I'may making umeboshi, a plum sauce, prunes, Apple sauce applebutter and raisins.
Though I was stationed in Japan a bit and learned a couple dishes there, I wasn't familiar with umeboshi.
It sounds intriguing (I luv plums) but I'm not going to buy the ingredients for one recipe.
I did find one for spiced pickled plums though, and that's now on my to-cook list.
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I got a bunch of Italian plums, apples and grapes from anonymous coworkers today,so I'may making umeboshi, a plum sauce, prunes, Apple sauce applebutter and raisins.
Though I was stationed in Japan a bit and learned a couple dishes there, I wasn't familiar with umeboshi.
It sounds intriguing (I luv plums) but I'm not going to buy the ingredients for one recipe.
I did find one for spiced pickled plums though, and that's now on my to-cook list.
Yep, I found instructions, and it turns out I need green, unripe plums, so that's a no-go.
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Fun story:
We had SIL and FBIL visiting for a couple of weeks; at some point we run out of our homemade yogurt, so they went to buy some. First, they were amazed at the fact that dairy here contains odd ingredients (carragene! corn starch!), but they were especially dissatisfied with the yogurt that they had bought. The following day FBIL went again to try and buy some better, but he couldn't find 'our brand' :-D
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Recurring theme here: It's hard to compare home-made to store-bought solely on price, because you're almost always talking about different levels of quality.
And even then it varies depending on where you live! We're eating a lot of bakery bread and supermarket butter this month, 'cause we're in Europe and that stuff is so good here. Once I'm back home, though, it's back to making my own bread. And, I guess, eating amounts of butter that won't kill me.
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My goal with homemade food is for the cost to be on average the same as the thing we would have bought from the shops. Bread wins big time because it's cheap to make and we would have bought a fancy expensive loaf (no pre-sliced cuboids for us!) and helps to balance out some other stuff where our version is a bit more expensive (but better!) like pesto.
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I just started some ginger ale. If it turns out ok, I can share the recipe, should know in a few days :) Very easy to make with ingredients I had on hand.
Also put another pot of bone broth on. Trying it a little different than last time. Also added a little salt before pressure cooking it, that way it takes less to give it the flavor.
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Made a lifetime supply of prepared horseradish yesterday. One pint with vinegar what, and one quart is fermenting.
Also ground up some chile flakes.
Made pizza for dinner tonight with my new Sourdough starter. Yum!
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Did our annual hot pepper canning day this weekend. We only did about 110 quarts vs the 170 quarts we did last year. However, last year was a wet year and the peppers were not too hot. This year was very dry, and the peppers are REALLY HOT. I took a bite of one and my eyes were watering for 20 minutes. Might be rough once we get to them.
Should note that the hot pepper canning is pretty mustachian. The guy who hosts the canning operations at his house knows a bunch of local farmers, and they let us go pick all the peppers we want out of the fields after they have done their picking to sell to the stores (or whoever they sell to). They leave all the peppers that aren't aesthetically "just right" in the fields to rot, so they let us do it. Entire cost of canning all the peppers is miniscule. The most expensive thing is probably the beer we drink while doing it.
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Wow, can you provide more details on how you process your peppers and what you use them for? I cleaned off all my plants yesterday since we're getting frost tonight. I roasted and canned some half pints of green chiles this year, but otherwise haven't canned peppers before.
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Wow, can you provide more details on how you process your peppers and what you use them for? I cleaned off all my plants yesterday since we're getting frost tonight. I roasted and canned some half pints of green chiles this year, but otherwise haven't canned peppers before.
We process them in hot water bath. To do 100-200 quarts in half a day, its a 7 or 8 person operation. A few guys go out super early and pick, several tailgate size large white chest coolers worth of peppers and bring back to the house. Then they are dumped in several sinks in the guys' garage (he has a whole canning / deer processing station there with stainless steel everywhere.) The cutters, usually 2 - 4 guys grab the peppers out of the sinks and slice them, dumping them into coolers, or buckets, whatever. There's another little team of guys who pack the quart jars with the sliced peppers. Then there's the canning crew, that ladels in the canning mixture (some combination of vinegar, salt, a touch of oil, not sure what else). Its probably a standard canning (Ball, etc.) recipe. The vinegar is to make sure the acidity is right so you don't get spoilage. They get processed for 15 min or so, and stacked on the tables to cool. Just store them in the basement or wherever until ready to eat. Typically they need to stay in the jar for a month or two for the juices to mix before they are very good eating.
I'm attaching a old photo I found of a few jars. (This was a batch 5 or 6 years ago, but it looks similar each year, slightly different mix of jalapenos and banana peppers depending on the harvest.) I've got about 25 quarts right now. 10 leftover from 2015's canning, and I took about 15 of the 110 we made last weekend home from 2016's canning.
(http://peps.jpg)
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The ginger ale turned out ok, but pretty "yeasty". I think next time I'll get a champagne or other light yeast from my local brew supply store. I used the "peter's pickler" tops, but you should be able to use any fermentation top...
https://peterspickle.com/blogs/news/182739847-homemade-ginger-ale
32oz mason jar
Ingredient:
3/4 tablespoons grated fresh ginger root
1/2 lemon, juiced
1/2 cup sugar
water
1/2 teaspoon active dry yeast
Instruction:
Sanitize your mason jar and Peter's Pickle fermentation kit
Fill the mason jar with ginger root, sugar, yeast, and lemon juice.
Pour water until nearly full. (Approximately 30oz or 0.9L)
Stir the ingredients and leave at room temperature for about 2 days.
Bonus step for carbonation: Pour the ginger ale from mason jar into a soda bottle with 1 tablespoon sugar and close the cap. Check every 12 hours until you get your desired carbonation level.
Refrigerate and enjoy!
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My son just made kvas and bottled it today. We both like it much better than the commercial stuff we drank in Poland (and then found at a Russian market in the "big city"). I don't know which recipe he used, but it was basically burnt rye bread soaked in water, then put in a mason jar with yeast, sugar and currants (he couldn't find the raisins). Liked it much better than expected.
We've been doing quite a few fermented drinks lately.
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I made falafel! We tried a few weeks ago with tinned chickpeas (due to ambiguous internet advice) but they were sort of squidgy. But we tried again the other day with soaked dried ones and they came up a treat! Really quite easy, actually, and something I'd love to make a big batch of and freeze.
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I made falafel! We tried a few weeks ago with tinned chickpeas (due to ambiguous internet advice) but they were sort of squidgy. But we tried again the other day with soaked dried ones and they came up a treat! Really quite easy, actually, and something I'd love to make a big batch of and freeze.
Every time I see a hummus recipe suggesting canned chickpeas, I wince. They just taste too weird.
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Every time I see a hummus recipe suggesting canned chickpeas, I wince. They just taste too weird.
I have trouble finding dry chickpeas, so I use canned cannellini beans.
And I use some sesame oil instead of tahini.
Been doing it so long I'm not sure if (or how much) it tastes different.
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Every time I see a hummus recipe suggesting canned chickpeas, I wince. They just taste too weird.
I have trouble finding dry chickpeas, so I use canned cannellini beans.
And I use some sesame oil instead of tahini.
Been doing it so long I'm not sure if (or how much) it tastes different.
Got me! If you have an Indian or Middle Eastern market near you, try there for dry chickpeas. I would use peanut butter if I couldn't find tahini, but I'm not sure it would be better.
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Today I'm working on the 3-4 bushels (!) of apples that my mother collected for me from a coworker. I was not expecting so many when she sent me the text asking if I wanted apples. :) Dehydrator is currently full. Will probably do at least 4 more loads with varying flavors. And probably some apple juice. Not planning on any applesauce, as I have a shelf full of pear sauce right now. And still have pie filling from last year.
Also spent time today making burritos for the freezer with previously home-canned turkey, some rice, and pinto beans. Headed out to see if I can salvage any of the peppers after last night's freeze, and I'll dry or freeze them, depending on the type.
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Today I'm working on the 3-4 bushels (!) of apples that my mother collected for me from a coworker. I was not expecting so many when she sent me the text asking if I wanted apples. :) Dehydrator is currently full. Will probably do at least 4 more loads with varying flavors.
*snip*
I have to ask: Flavors?
Is it similar to these creepy creations (http://www.grapplefruits.com/)?
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Today I'm working on the 3-4 bushels (!) of apples that my mother collected for me from a coworker. I was not expecting so many when she sent me the text asking if I wanted apples. :) Dehydrator is currently full. Will probably do at least 4 more loads with varying flavors.
*snip*
I have to ask: Flavors?
Is it similar to these creepy creations (http://www.grapplefruits.com/)?
Weird. No.
I will do at least one that is just cinnamon. Want to try a ginger flavor somehow, maybe soaking them in a ginger syrup before I dehydrate them? Not sure. And one with all the spices... like dried apple pie maybe. I've got a ton, so I can experiment. :)
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I am making my yearly batch of homemade pumpkin puree tonight.
1. get the biggest pumpkin I can find
2. Cut in half and scoop out the yummy seeds (I like roasting these in a pan)
3. Roast pumpkin halves until mushy
4. Cool. Mash. Get the liquid out of the puree. (I plan to make bread with the pumpkin-juice)
5. Freeze in handy portion packs
Wish me luck - it takes forever, but I do love my pumkin puree.. (you can't buy premade pumpkin puree around here)
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Put up 8 pints of roasted peppers yesterday. I hate peeling the stupid things. It takes forever, but totally worth it!
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I am making my yearly batch of homemade pumpkin puree tonight.
1. get the biggest pumpkin I can find
2. Cut in half and scoop out the yummy seeds (I like roasting these in a pan)
3. Roast pumpkin halves until mushy
4. Cool. Mash. Get the liquid out of the puree. (I plan to make bread with the pumpkin-juice)
How do you get the liquid out of the puree?
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I am making my yearly batch of homemade pumpkin puree tonight.
1. get the biggest pumpkin I can find
2. Cut in half and scoop out the yummy seeds (I like roasting these in a pan)
3. Roast pumpkin halves until mushy
4. Cool. Mash. Get the liquid out of the puree. (I plan to make bread with the pumpkin-juice)
How do you get the liquid out of the puree?
I put the purée in a fine mash strainer. And, I'm being inaccurate: I get a lot of the liquid out (3-4 cups today, ended up pouring out some) but it's still more watery than the stuff one buys. I could get it to that consistency, but ... a 10 pound pumpkin and one small strainer. It's a matter of having time to wait or not.
I got 12 cups of purée, cost me $6 and the time. It will last me until next fall.
I also made hummus, baba ganoush and patatas bravas, because the oven was hot and I wanted Mediterranean food.
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Put up 8 pints of roasted peppers yesterday. I hate peeling the stupid things. It takes forever, but totally worth it!
Yay! Do you roast peppers differently than I do? I stick the whole bell peppers under the broiler until black all over, set them in a covered bowl to steam for a bit, and then just wipe the skin off. What I hate is opening them and scraping out all the seeds. Do you have a trick for the seeds?
In an effort to save time, I took a rosemary bread recipe and used it make rosemary rolls, guessing at baking temp and time based on another recipe. Success!
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Put up 8 pints of roasted peppers yesterday. I hate peeling the stupid things. It takes forever, but totally worth it!
Yay! Do you roast peppers differently than I do? I stick the whole bell peppers under the broiler until black all over, set them in a covered bowl to steam for a bit, and then just wipe the skin off. What I hate is opening them and scraping out all the seeds. Do you have a trick for the seeds?
In an effort to save time, I took a rosemary bread recipe and used it make rosemary rolls, guessing at baking temp and time based on another recipe. Success!
I do mine the same way.
A trick I used for the seeds when I worked at a restaurant... With a bell pepper, push down on the stem, into the pepper. The stem will "pop" off (more correctly, into) the pepper and you can use the stem to pull it out. Most of the seeds will stay on the stem, and you can just shake or rinse out the stubborn ones that stay inside (might have to finger sweep it to get some of the stuff stuck on the membrane parts). Or, cut it in halve and pop the stem out. The pepper has to be pretty crisp for this to work though. For other peppers, blah. I cut the stem off banana peppers, scramble the inside with a small knife, then try to rinse them out.
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Put up 8 pints of roasted peppers yesterday. I hate peeling the stupid things. It takes forever, but totally worth it!
Yay! Do you roast peppers differently than I do? I stick the whole bell peppers under the broiler until black all over, set them in a covered bowl to steam for a bit, and then just wipe the skin off. What I hate is opening them and scraping out all the seeds. Do you have a trick for the seeds?
Slightly, though I may need to try it your way... I de-stem and seed the peppers first, then broil, then stick in a covered pot to steam. The skins are never 'just wipe off' loose for me though.
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Put up 8 pints of roasted peppers yesterday. I hate peeling the stupid things. It takes forever, but totally worth it!
Yay! Do you roast peppers differently than I do? I stick the whole bell peppers under the broiler until black all over, set them in a covered bowl to steam for a bit, and then just wipe the skin off. What I hate is opening them and scraping out all the seeds. Do you have a trick for the seeds?
Slightly, though I may need to try it your way... I de-stem and seed the peppers first, then broil, then stick in a covered pot to steam. The skins are never 'just wipe off' loose for me though.
I find that anything that isn't blackened takes some scraping. Could that be the issue? Could using precut peppers change the way they steam?
Also, thanks sparkytheop for the raw pepper seeding tips!
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I cut the peppers in half vertically, pull out the stems/seeds/pith, then flatten the halves with my palm and put them skin side up under the broiler. Then into a covered pot/bowl to steam. Sometimes the "shoulders" don't blacken and thus don't peel easily, so I just chuck the recalcitrant parts into a pot of chili.
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I bought my first butternut squash the other day. It made a lot of squash for just me.
Looking through recipes online I saw some that were similar to pumpkin recipes I'm familiar with, so I used the last of it in a pumpkin porridge, and it was good!
Now I'm making sausage and squash stew, and using pumpkin instead of squash.
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*Bumping useful threads for newer mustachians*
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We make our all our own bread etc which saves a lot as others have noted. Especially specialty breads.
Last year I started making my own kefir. It's easy once you get it down. The store bought is all really expensive and most of it is way too sweet. My homemade also has more diversity of cultures. It only costs as much as you pay for milk and very little milk is lost in processing. You can also use it to make kefir cheese and kefir cultured butter. It works as a looses substitute for yogurt mostly as well.