Cream of _____ Soup

If you are like me, you run out of stuff and it drives me crazy! I love this recipe to use in a pinch or to save money. It can be used in any recipe for cream of chicken, mushroom, celery, whatever.

Ingredients:
2 cups powdered milk
3/4 cup corn starch
1/4 instant chicken bouillon granules
2 tsp onion flakes
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp dried basil
1/4 tsp pepper

Mix well and store in airtight container

To make 1 can cream of ____ soup:
Mix 1/3 cup dry mix and 1 1/4 cup water in a saucepan. Cook and stir until thick. Use in your favorite recipe.

Pumpkin Pie Cake

• I adore this cake in the fall! it is a Fantastic twist on pumpkin pie. The original recipe calls for 1 1/2 tsp of pumpkin pie spice, but I like it with more, so i double it. A quick tip about buttermilk, if you only have sweet milk, put a splash of vinegar in to curdle the milk. I never buy buttermilk.

  Ingredients

  • CAKE:
• 1 (15-ounce) can pumpkin
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 4 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 cups all-purpose flour (about 13 1/2 ounces)
• 3 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup buttermilk
• 
  GLAZE:
• 1/3 cup buttermilk
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch
• 1/8 teaspoon baking soda

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350°.

To prepare the cake, lightly coat a 10-inch tube pan with cooking spray; dust with flour. Spread pumpkin over 2 layers of paper towels; cover with 2 additional layers of paper towels. Let stand about 10 minutes. Scrape drained pumpkin into a bowl.

Place 3/4 cup granulated sugar, brown sugar, and 1/2 cup butter in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed 3 minutes or until well blended. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in pumpkin and vanilla. Lightly spoon 3 cups flour into dry measuring cups, and level with a knife. Combine flour and next 4 ingredients (through salt) in a bowl, stirring well with a whisk. Add flour mixture and 3/4 cup buttermilk alternately to sugar mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture.

Spoon batter into prepared pan. Bake at 350° for 55 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 minutes on a wire rack. Remove from pan, and cool completely on wire rack.

To prepare glaze, combine 1/3 cup buttermilk and remaining ingredients in a small saucepan over medium heat; bring to a boil. Cook 1 minute or until thick, stirring constantly; remove from heat. Drizzle cake with glaze.

Quick Buttermilk Bread

This was so fast and easy. The bread was moist and almost cake-like in texture. This will definitely become a staple in our house. Before baking, it is a batter, not dough, so don't be confused. If you don't have buttermilk on hand, for every cup of milk, replace 1 tbsp of milk with vinegar or lemon juice. That is a good tip for anytime you need buttermilk.

Ingredients

2 cups flour

2 tbsp sugar

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups low-fat buttermilk

1/4 cup butter, melted

2 large egg whites, or 1 large egg

Directions

Preheat oven to 350. Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl; make a well in the center of mixture. Combine wet ingredients, stirring with a whisk. Add wet ingredients to dry mixture stirring just until moist. Spread batter into a 8 x 4-inch loaf pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in pan or a wire rack; remove from pan. Cool completely on wire rack.

Thoughts on yoghurt

I hate mayonnaise/miracle whip and am not a big sour cream fan either. Besides the fact that these are not healthy, I don't like the taste. A few years ago I read an article about substituting plain yoghurt for sour cream/mayo/cream cheese. I haven't tried the cream cheese substitute because I love cream cheese, but I have turned over a leaf in healthy cooking. You truly can put plain yoghurt in any recipe that calls for sour cream or mayo. I have tried everything from stroganoff to egg salad and it is amazing. You can get the same creaminess and taste, but much better for you.

Healthy Tips--quick oats for breads

Frances, I hope you'll allow me to offer a suggestion that we can share healthy tips for cooking as well, not just recipes. I've found that healthy cooking involves tweaking good recipes just as much as finding them.

For instance, I've just recently figured out that adding quick oats with a wheat flour substitute improves the texture of wheat bread, and adds more whole grain. Example: I have a bread stick recipe that calls for 3 C flour. I substitute 1 C wheat flour (old trick) and 1/2 C quick oats (new trick!) for the same amount of all-purpose flour. You can't even see the quick oats in the bread when you're done, and it gives the wheat bread a more moist texture.