Author Topic: DIY Food items...  (Read 140904 times)

puglogic

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Re: DIY Food items...
« Reply #150 on: August 18, 2015, 09:14:43 PM »
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.....

MMMaybe

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Re: DIY Food items...
« Reply #151 on: August 19, 2015, 04:52:28 AM »
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

swick

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Re: DIY Food items...
« Reply #152 on: August 19, 2015, 08:56:39 AM »
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!

puglogic

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Re: DIY Food items...
« Reply #153 on: August 19, 2015, 12:38:38 PM »
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.


swick

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Re: DIY Food items...
« Reply #154 on: August 19, 2015, 01:27:51 PM »
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 :)

Dollar Slice

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Re: DIY Food items...
« Reply #155 on: August 20, 2015, 10:58:31 PM »
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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Re: DIY Food items...
« Reply #156 on: August 21, 2015, 10:00:17 AM »
Homemade no-knead bread
dehydrated fruit
beef, chicken and turkey jerky
various ferments (sauerkraut with carrots and granny smith apples, beet kvass)

horsepoor

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Re: DIY Food items...
« Reply #157 on: August 21, 2015, 06:08:37 PM »
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.

Bracken_Joy

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Re: DIY Food items...
« Reply #158 on: August 22, 2015, 09:26:22 AM »
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.

10dollarsatatime

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Re: DIY Food items...
« Reply #159 on: August 22, 2015, 10:46:05 AM »
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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Re: DIY Food items...
« Reply #160 on: August 22, 2015, 11:00:48 PM »
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. :)

Jakejake

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Re: DIY Food items...
« Reply #161 on: August 23, 2015, 05:51:29 PM »
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.

Dollar Slice

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Re: DIY Food items...
« Reply #162 on: August 23, 2015, 08:51:16 PM »
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...

Jakejake

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Re: DIY Food items...
« Reply #163 on: August 23, 2015, 09:43:14 PM »
cocoa powder to taste, yes.

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Re: DIY Food items...
« Reply #164 on: August 23, 2015, 09:50:59 PM »
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.

MMMaybe

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Re: DIY Food items...
« Reply #165 on: August 24, 2015, 05:40:10 AM »
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 :)

Erica/NWEdible

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Re: DIY Food items...
« Reply #166 on: August 25, 2015, 12:01:33 PM »
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.
« Last Edit: August 30, 2015, 09:50:36 PM by Erica/NWEdible »

FIRE Artist

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Re: DIY Food items...
« Reply #167 on: August 29, 2015, 09:01:23 PM »
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.

PFHC

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Re: DIY Food items...
« Reply #168 on: August 29, 2015, 09:42:06 PM »
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!
« Last Edit: August 29, 2015, 09:51:32 PM by PFHC »

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Re: DIY Food items...
« Reply #169 on: August 29, 2015, 09:48:56 PM »
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!

Bracken_Joy

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Re: DIY Food items...
« Reply #170 on: August 30, 2015, 09:05:46 AM »
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


puglogic

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Re: DIY Food items...
« Reply #171 on: August 30, 2015, 09:23:16 PM »
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?

Kimchi Bleu

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Re: DIY Food items...
« Reply #172 on: August 31, 2015, 10:30:03 AM »
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. 

Cookie78

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Re: DIY Food items...
« Reply #173 on: August 31, 2015, 10:41:58 AM »
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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Re: DIY Food items...
« Reply #174 on: August 31, 2015, 05:15:53 PM »
Made up a bunch of pesto for the freezer Sunday morning.

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Re: DIY Food items...
« Reply #175 on: September 01, 2015, 07:22:10 AM »
Made up a bunch of pesto for the freezer Sunday morning.

Mind sharing your recipe?

Bracken_Joy

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Re: DIY Food items...
« Reply #176 on: September 01, 2015, 08:32:21 AM »
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!

Rural

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Re: DIY Food items...
« Reply #177 on: September 01, 2015, 06:42:10 PM »
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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Re: DIY Food items...
« Reply #178 on: September 02, 2015, 12:29:10 AM »
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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Re: DIY Food items...
« Reply #179 on: September 02, 2015, 01:09:41 PM »
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.

meadow lark

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Re: DIY Food items...
« Reply #180 on: September 03, 2015, 12:46:18 AM »
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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Re: DIY Food items...
« Reply #181 on: September 03, 2015, 07:42:54 AM »
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.

onehair

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Re: DIY Food items...
« Reply #182 on: September 03, 2015, 08:26:43 AM »
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. 

puglogic

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Re: DIY Food items...
« Reply #183 on: September 03, 2015, 11:57:41 AM »
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.

Kimchi Bleu

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Re: DIY Food items...
« Reply #184 on: September 03, 2015, 01:07:44 PM »
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

Peony

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Re: DIY Food items...
« Reply #185 on: September 03, 2015, 01:52:27 PM »
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.

Arktinkerer

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Re: DIY Food items...
« Reply #186 on: September 05, 2015, 09:34:28 PM »
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...

MMMaybe

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Re: DIY Food items...
« Reply #187 on: September 06, 2015, 12:33:27 AM »
Wish me luck, I am off to make coconut butter and coconut milk :)

puglogic

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Re: DIY Food items...
« Reply #188 on: September 06, 2015, 09:42:05 PM »
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.


Trudie

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Re: DIY Food items...
« Reply #189 on: September 07, 2015, 12:09:43 PM »
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!!!!

Gerard

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Re: DIY Food items...
« Reply #190 on: September 07, 2015, 04:00:23 PM »
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.

Susan

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Re: DIY Food items...
« Reply #191 on: September 09, 2015, 09:24:33 AM »
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!

onehair

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Re: DIY Food items...
« Reply #192 on: September 09, 2015, 12:21:18 PM »
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.

Lizzy B.

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Re: DIY Food items...
« Reply #193 on: September 09, 2015, 12:26:30 PM »
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!

10dollarsatatime

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Re: DIY Food items...
« Reply #194 on: September 09, 2015, 01:08:54 PM »
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.

onehair

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Re: DIY Food items...
« Reply #195 on: September 10, 2015, 08:21:22 AM »
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.

MMMaybe

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Re: DIY Food items...
« Reply #196 on: September 27, 2015, 01:11:17 AM »
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/

albijaji

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Re: DIY Food items...
« Reply #197 on: September 27, 2015, 10:59:11 AM »
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

jengod

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Re: DIY Food items...
« Reply #198 on: September 27, 2015, 02:45:32 PM »
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.

Bracken_Joy

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Re: DIY Food items...
« Reply #199 on: September 28, 2015, 06:14:17 AM »
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!)

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!