Kitchen

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Make Ahead Pantry Mixes – Healthy Options for the Sweet Tooth

Last week I shared how to mix make ahead rice mixes using ideas I got from from this little book:

Quick Fix Healthy Mix

I saw it recommended in Homesteading Family’s Homestead Kitchen Community. It’s become a good reference because even though I can’t use the recipes included in it because of all our allergies, I can use them as inspiration and modify them to suit our needs.

Do you have a sweet tooth and wish you have a healthier option from store bought cake mixes? Here’s your answer. Below, you’ll find make ahead mixes that will sit on your shelves for months until you need them.

Make Ahead Sweet Tooth Cake and Quick Bread Mixes:

Homemade Chocolate Cake Mix Recipe:

This recipe will fill two regular 24 oz spaghetti sauce jars or quart size canning jars. It yields two 9” cakes.

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1 tsp salt

2 tsp baking powder

Combine all the above in a bowl, transfer to two glass jars, and label with ingredients, what to add on baking day, and baking instructions.

On Baking Day Add…

1 cup of milk

2 eggs

1/3 cup of oil

1 tsp vanilla

Chocolate Cake Baking Instructions:

Grease and flour two cake pans. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.

Cinnamon Coffee Cake Mix Recipe:

1 cup all purpose flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

3/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/8 tsp baking powder

2 tbsp sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

Combine all the above in a bowl, transfer to a glass jar, label with ingredients, what to add on baking day, and baking instructions.

On Baking Day Add…

3/4 cups milk

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

1/3 cup oil

1 tbsp vinegar

Coffee Cake Topping:

Store this mixture in a baggie in the mouth of your jars. Pour topping mixture into a bowl and cut in 4 tbsp of butter. Then sprinkle on the top of your cake just before baking.

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup oatmeal or flakes spelt

1/4 cup all purpose flour

Coffee Cake Baking Instructions:

Bake in greased 9” cake pan, or 8×8” casserole on 350 for 35-40 minutes.

Homemade Banana Bread Baking Mix Recipe:

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

3/4 cups whole wheat flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

Optional: Add 1/4 cup chocolate chips.

Combine all the above in a bowl, transfer to two glass jars, and label with ingredients, what to add on baking day, and baking instructions.

On Baking Day Add…

2 eggs

1/3 cup oil

1-2 ripe bananas

Banana Bread Baking Instructions:

Bake in a greased 8×8” casserole on 325 for 1 hour until a toothpick comes out clean.

Shelf Life of Homemade Baking Mixes:

Shelf life is for all baking mixes is 4-5 months if kept cool and dry. See the note at the bottom of this post for how to extend the shelf life for a longer period.

I hope you’ll try some of these recipes. And guess what? If they sound good to you right now, there’s not need to wait for later. Go ahead and mix up a something sweet right now!

Pro Tips for Making Your Own Baking Mixes:

Pro Tip #1: Always use dried spices, never fresh as the moisture contained in fresh spices will cause your mixture to mold.

Pro Tip #2: Save your empty spaghetti sauce jars to fill with dry pantry mixes to give away to friends. That way you won’t have to give away your good canning jars.

Pro Tip #3: If using canning jars, use this little hand held vacuums sealer with this handy jar attachment to suck the air out of your jars and really increase the shelf life of the dry mixes that you make.

Preserving 101: Homesteading Family is currently running a Preserving Challenge in their Homestead Kitchen Community. Check it out if you want to learn more about stocking your pantry with shelf stable, natural foods. The challenge includes canning, dehydrating, freezing, fermenting, and freeze drying.

Note: This post contains affiliate links.

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Make Ahead Pantry Mixes – Savory Rice Mixes at the Ready

We mixed up a box full of these shelf stable pantry mixes last week to send to an ill family member who we thought might need some convenience meals.

We got the idea from this little book:

Quick Fix Healthy Mix

I saw this book recommended in Homesteading Family’s Homestead Kitchen Community the other day. It’s become a good reference for me as we can’t buy any packaged convenience meals, spice blends, cake mixes, and so on because of all of our unusual allergies and food sensitivities. But this book has been a great help to me because even though I can’t use the recipes included in it, I can take them as a starting off point and modify them to suit our food restrictions.

Here’s the ones we came up with. We decided to try two savory rice mixes, and three sweet ones. Comfort food you know… 😊

This week I’ll give you the instructions for the rice mixes, and next week I’ll share the sweet recipes which will include Cinnamon Coffee Cake, Chocolate Cake, and Banana Bread – all as shelf stable, make ahead desserts!

So, let’s get started!

Make Ahead Savory Rice Mixes:

Orange Rosemary Rice Mix Recipe:

This recipe will fill a regular 24 oz spaghetti sauce jar or quart size canning jar.

2.5 cups uncooked brown rice

1/4 cup dried orange peel

2 tsp dried chives

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1.5 tsp dried rosemary

1 tbsp parsley

1/2 tsp onion flakes

Herb & Spice Rice Mix Recipe:

This recipe will fill a regular 24 oz spaghetti sauce jar or quart size canning jar.

2 1/2 cups uncooked brown rice

2 tsp dry oregano

1/2 tsp dried Basil

1 tsp dried parsley

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp marjoram or thyme

1 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

1/4 tsp chili powder

1/4 tsp cumin

Mixing and Storage Instructions for Rice Mixes:

Mix all the ingredients in a large bowl. Once combined, fill your jar, secure the lid, and label with ingredients and cooking instructions. Shelf life is 6 months it kept cool and dry. See the note at the bottom of this post for how to extend the shelf life for a longer period.

Cooking Instructions for Rice Mixes:

Add 2 cups of water for every cup of rice. Simmer covered for about 20 minutes until all the water is absorbed.

I hope you’ll try some of these recipes. And guess what? If they sound good to you right now, there’s not need to wait for later. Go ahead and mix up a batch of rice to go with dinner and something sweet for dessert.

Pro Tips for Making Your Own Baking Mixes:

Pro Tip #1: Always use dried spices, never fresh as the moisture contained in fresh spices will cause your mixture to mold.

Pro Tip #2: Save your empty spaghetti sauce jars to fill with dry pantry mixes to give away to friends. That way you won’t have to give away your good canning jars.

Pro Tip #3: If using canning jars, use this little hand held vacuums sealer with this handy jar attachment to suck the air out of your jars and really increase the shelf life of the dry mixes that you make.

Preserving 101: Homesteading Family is currently running a Preserving Challenge in their Homestead Kitchen Community. Check it out if you want to learn more about stocking your pantry with shelf stable, natural foods. The challenge includes canning, dehydrating, freezing, fermenting, and freeze drying.

Note: This post contains affiliate links.

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Why make things from scratch?

Those of you that know me, know that I work hard in my kitchen and work my kitchen hard. I make many things like bread, pasta, broth, ferments, jams, kombucha, and cheese that most people buy at the store. I do this not because I necessarily love the challenge of mastering these skills, but because it means that I can control the ingredients and the quality so that we can eat these foods that we would otherwise have to avoid if store bought were my only option.

I honestly can say that Homesteading Family’s the Art of Homemade Bread Class 🍞and Practical Homemade Dairy 🥛 have been life changing for our family, Caleb and I in particular, in terms of the variety and quality of foods that we can eat.

Consider signing up for Carolyn’s free Dairy training. Carolyn gives lots of great info away in these trainings. It’s always good to have something to listen to while you cook or clean.

And even if you don’t aspire to make cheese there are lots of easy recipes to use with fresh dairy – butter and homemade coffee creamer. Mmmm. 😋 And did you know you can easily make buttermilk, yogurt, sour cream, and ricotta easily with no special equipment? Or you can try your hand making your own cheddar, mozzarella, Parmesan, and more. 🧀

If you’ve read this far, click here to join the fun. the link and check it out.

Other posts you might like:

Easy Homemade Cheese 3 Ways

Homemade Boursin Garlic & Herb Soft Cheese

Wild Milk, Clabber, and Cheese

My Collection of Sourdough Recipes

Lemon Cranberry Relish

Cranberry Orange Scones

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Coffee Kombucha

Never heard of it? Me either. But it’s a thing.

I just learned about it from Farmhouse Teas Kombucha Mastery Class, and since I am more of a coffee girl, I had to give it a try and mix up a batch.

Don’t get me wrong. I like a good cup of tea, and I love making my own tea blends with black tea and herbs. And my husband and I are faithful kombucha drinkers, but this peaked my interest. I didn’t even know coffee kombucha was a thing.

But it’s so easy to try. Just mix up some sweet coffee and add some starter tea and let it sit for about 5 days checking it often. It will brew faster than coffee becomes coffee is more acidic. So keep an eye on it and taste it to determine when it is ready. I’m grateful to have the Kombucha Mastery course to guide me along with this advanced brewing technique.

I can’t wait to try it. I’ll come back in five days and keep you posted as to how I like it. 😊

Note: This post contains affiliate links.

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Homemade Sour Cream

Did you know that you can make your own sour cream at home?

All you need is two ingredients – heavy cream (any kind is fine, but the less additives the better) and buttermilk with live active cultures.

In a clean, dry jar, pour 1 cup of fresh heavy cream from a newly opened carton and add 1 tablespoon of buttermilk. Put on the lid and shake vigorously. Let the jar sit on the counter undisturbed for 6 hours or overnight until the whole mixture thickens and sets.

The key success with this recipe is to use fresh buttermilk with live cultures AND to use heavy cream from a carton that has just been opened. If the carton has been previously opened, you will need to pasteurize your heavy cream to 165 degrees F and then let it cool to room temperature before adding your buttermilk. If you add the buttermilk to the cream while it is hot it will kill the cultures and you won’t end up with anything but a tangy heavy cream and you’ll be back where you started.

If you have access to raw milk you can also use a culture from some of your milk that has clabbered to make some wild sour cream. Simply follow the instructions above replacing the buttermilk with clabber. It works quite well and some people, like my son, tolerate the wild culture better than the cultures in the buttermilk. You can use the cream that you have skimmed from your fresh milk, or cream from the store, and both work fine to make this sour cream at home.

Once the cream has set, store in the refrigerator and use within two weeks.

You can also keep your culture going perpetually if you make a new batch within 7-10 days of culturing the last batch. And if you need extra, just double or triple the recipe. It works great!

Want to learn to make cheese at home?

Consider Homesteading Family’s Free Dairy Training. I love their Practical Homemade Dairy Masterclass. That’s where I learned to make cheese. I’ve made many delicious cheeses using my wild clabber culture and store bought milk. Happy dairy making!

Stay tuned for an allergy friend recipe for homemade, sugar and vinegar free ranch dressing….

Note: This post contains affiliate links.

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Homemade Boursin Garlic & Herb Soft Cheese

You can make this in a matter minutes, the ingredients will cost 1/4 of the price, and you’ll end up with 4x the cheese.

First begin by making this Soft Cheese recipe. It couldn’t be easier.

Homemade Boursin Garlic & Herb Cheese:

For 1 gallon of milk, stir in the following:

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

1 1/2 tsp granulated garlic

3/4 tsp onion powder

2 tsp dried parsley

Adjust the seasonings to your own tastes. I have also tried this recipe with dill for a little added punch and it’s got a little flare reminiscent of Ranch dressing.

Refrigerate this cheese and consume within 7-10 days.

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DIY Spice Blends – Garlic Salt

Garlic Salt is the seasoning I use the most. It’s basic and I find it to be the most versatile. I use it on the kids chicken strips that they eat every day for lunch, and I REALLY like it on our sourdough crackers. If you want to try to craft your own, save an empty grinder and mix the following together.

Homemade Garlic Salt:

3 tsp parsley flakes

3 tsp dried minced garlic

2 tsp onion flakes

2 tsp salt

And if you’re interested in making your own spice blends and seasoning mixes, check out Homesteading Family’s Homestead Kitchen Membership (affiliate link). They have a full Pantry Challenge going on right now with a whole workbook full of DIY baking and spice mixes that you can make yourself for pennies.

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Easy Homemade Cheese 3 Ways – Soft Cheese, Ricotta, or Cream Cheese

Easy Homemade Cheese:

This cheese couldn’t be easier. All you need is a gallon of whole milk that has not been ultra-pasteurized, a big pot, colander, tea towel or cheese cloth, lemon juice, and milk.

This recipe yields about 1 pound plus of cheese. If you want a smaller batch, this recipe can also be halved. Just buy a half gallon of milk instead.

Ingredients:

1 gallon whole milk (not ultra-pasteurized)

¼-½ cup acid such as lemon juice or vinegar

¼ tsp salt

Optional Ingredients:  seasonings like pepper, garlic, chives, and parsley for a savory cheese, or your favorite jam for something sweet.

Tools:

Cheesecloth or non-fuzzy tea towel

Colander

Large heat proof bowl 

Heavy bottom pot (stainless steel, enameled cast iron, or Instant Pot)

Digital food thermometer (optional)

Instructions:

  1. Pour 1 gallon of milk into an Instant Pot or heavy bottomed pot. Heat until the milk is steaming or until a thermometer reads 185 degrees F. If using the Instant Pot, pour the milk in and select the Yogurt setting. When the display reads Yogt, the milk has been sufficiently heated.
  2. Add ¼ cup of your acid and stir. Let the milk sit for 10 minutes. If it doesn’t begin to separate and curdle, then check your temp and heat your milk so that it is a little hotter, or add 2 tbsp more acid at a time stirring to distribute the acid through the milk. Do this until you begin to see the curds separate into greenish looking whey.
  3. Once you see the separation, let the curds sit in the whey for 10 minutes.
  4. Line your colander with the cheesecloth or tea towel and pour the whey into the colander being careful not to burn yourself. There will be lots of whey. Be sure the bowl doesn’t overflow.
  5. Once all the contents of the pot have been poured into the colander, move the colander over to the pot to continue draining until the desired texture has been achieved. If you wish a drier, more crumbly cheese, let it drain longer. If you desire a softer, more spreadable cheese, drain less. 
  6. Add salt and seasonings if desired and mix through the cheese.
  7. Serve immediately, or store in an airtight container in the fridge. Consume within 7-10 days.

Soft Spreadable Cheese: Simply drain drain the whey, salt and either immediately warm, or cool and refrigerate until needed. If your cheese is too dry, simply add a little bit of the whey that you poured off and stir back in until the desired soft texture is reached.

Ricotta: Follow the instructions above but drain a little longer until the cheese is a little drier and the curd is crumbly.

Cream Cheese Variation: If you desire a smoother, cream cheese texture, run your cheese through the food processor until smooth. This can be used as a cream cheese substitute. If your cheese is too dry, and won’t blend to a smooth texture, simply add some of the whey back in until the desired texture is achieved.

This cheese is great spread on crackers with a little of your favorite jam to sweeten it up. 😊

Note: Leftover whey from cheese can be used in baking or to water acid loving plants.

Want to learn more….

Consider Homesteading Family’s Practical Homemade Dairy Course (affiliate link) if you’re interested in creating more homemade dairy products in your kitchen. Carolyn covers basic fresh dairy products that you can make in your kitchen like homemade coffee creamers and butter, and then she moves on to cultured dairy like buttermilk and sour cream, and finally easy and advanced cheeses. It’s definitely an all in one course. My family has benefited as now I can make cheese for my son that he can eat because I can control the cultures that are added. It’s the most comprehensive homemade dairy course out there.

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Cranberries! Try this Fermented Lemon Cranberry Relish for Thanksgiving!

Do your local grocery stores have fresh cranberries yet? If so, snatch them up while you can. I’ve made this fermented Lemon Cranberry Honey the last couple of years and realized last year that I didn’t make nearly enough last time. So I upped my game and instead of the two jars I made last year, this year I made six! One bag of cranberries will yield about three cups worth of relish. Hopefully this will last us through till next year when I can get fresh cranberries again. I tell you there is nothing better on toast in the morning and it makes whipping up a batch of lemon cranberry scones a cinch!

It couldn’t be easier, chop the cranberries in your food processor, put them in a jar, add some lemon peel, cover them with honey, and put on the lid. Let it sit on the counter for a couple of weeks agitating the jar a little each day and then move to cold storage. I’ve had a forgotten jar last nearly a year and it was still delicious.

If you want to delve deeper into ferments, try Homesteading Family’s Fearless Fermenting Workshop.

Note: This post contains affiliate links.

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Fermented Cherry Tomatoes

We finally had cherry tomatoes begin to ripen after a long, cool spring, and the hottest, driest summer I can remember. And they are ripening just as it’s beginning to hit the 30’s at night, so I’m trying to bring them in as soon as there is a hint of yellow.

Of course, there are too many to eat fresh, even with a tomato loving six year old, so I have to do something with the extras.

So I made a batch of fermented garlic Basil tomatoes which I’ll probably blend up later on to use as a pasta sauce. After it ferments I’ll strain it and blend it all together in the food processor adding little bits of the fermenting liquid until I like the texture, and then pour over and toss with cooked pasta.

If you want to try your own, take fill a quart size jar with cherry tomatoes to about 1/2” below the shoulder. Add 2 1/2 tsp of salt, a few basil leaves if desired, and 1-2 cloves of garlic (also optional). Cover with filtered or distilled water. Weight down and cover with a glass weight, clean onion skin, or zip-lock baggie filled with a bit of water. Your goal here is to keep all the food particles under the liquid so that they are not exposed to oxygen so that they will not mold.

Loosely screw on your lid, and you’re done! That was easy wasn’t it? Let it sit for 2-3 weeks until it hits a flavor profile that you like, and when it does, move it to cold storage in the fridge. Fell free to open your jar to taste the tomatoes after the first week to see how they are progressing so that you can learn what flavors you like and when to stop the fermenting process by moving it to cold storage. But, each time you open the jar be sure that you settle everything back under the liquid and your weight or follower as fermenting weights are called.

You may notice that the jar I am using is not a regular mason jar. Any glass jar that you have will do. I have used canning jars, old jelly jars, spaghetti sauce jars, etc. as long as it is clean and you have a way to keep the contents submerged, you’re good to go! But these Weck jars are my new favorite jars for fermenting. Why? Well, they are very pretty, but the main reason is that they have glass lids that clip on. This means that I can grab a lid from a jar that is the next smallest size down and use that lid as my weight. It’s so easy and it fits perfectly! I love it! And they don’t need to be burped because the lids clip on. They will release the pressure on their own or you can just give the little tab on the sealing ring a pull if you want to and you never have to remove the lid until it’s ready to be eaten. Plus, if you are a canner, they work for that too. The rings can even be reused. So they are very versatile. They can be pricey if purchased new, but last a long while if cared for well, and I have even found some at thrift stores before and I definitely snatched them up!

Weck Small Batch Preserving (affiliate link) is a great book if you’d like to investigate using Weck jars further for either canning or fermenting. It’s available through most libraries as an e-book, which is how I discovered it. And if you are new to fermenting, the Fearless Fermenting workshop (affiliate link) by Carolyn at Homesteading Family is a great course to get you started.

Hope you get to concoct something fun and yummy in your kitchen soon! 😊

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Homemade Citrus Scrap Vinegar

I’ve been experimenting with making citrus scrap vinegar this summer and I must say that I am hooked!

Pictured here is a batch of lemon grapefruit vinegar and it couldn’t be easier to make your own. And the best part is, it’s a great way to use up all the rinds from oranges, lemons, limes, grapefruit, or whatever citrus you have on hand. Just keep the rinds in a jar in the fridge for a couple of weeks until you accumulate enough to make a batch.

So far I’ve tried lemon, lime (my favorite so far – the flavors are complex and delicious!), orange, orange with blood orange, orange and lemon, and now grapefruit and lemon, and they are all great!

To make a batch first collect your jar of rinds, add some sugar, add some just boiled water, cover with a coffee filter kept on the jar with a rubber band, and stir daily for 4-5 days. You will see it start tomorrow bubble. When the bubbling slows down, add more sugar and stir for another week. Strain out the fruit scraps pour back into a clean jar, cover again with the coffee filter and let it sit for a month. If a opaque film develops on the surface, don’t worry, that is the vinegar mother and a good thing.

For a 1/2 gallon jar of citrus peels add 1/3 cup sugar at the first mixing, and then another 1/4 cup somewhere around day 5 or once the bubbling settles down.

For a quart jar of citrus peels add 2 tbsp sugar at the first mixing, and then another 2 tsp somewhere around day 5 or once the bubbling settles down.

After a month can test the acidity of your vinegar if you like to be sure it is acidic enough (4-5 on the pH scale) using paper test strips, or you can just taste it. If it tastes like vinegar, then it’s done! You can store it in the fridge to age and mellow it if you want or keep it in a cool, dark cupboard or your pantry as you would your other vinegars.

You can really make vinegar out of almost anything with fruit or some level of sugar content. I’ve been really enjoying this book if you want to learn more. Kirsten does a great job of explaining it ALL!

Homebrewed Vinegar by Kirsten Shockey (affiliate link)

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Fermented Chard, Jalapeño, and Onion Relish

It may sound strange, and I’m not sure what to name it (comment if you have suggestions), but it is beautiful, delicious, and easy to make.

I saved my stems from my red Swiss Chard, chopped them, added some chopped onions, and a few slices of a chopped Jalapeño, added sea salt and mixed until it tasted pleasantly salty, covered with water and a follower (in this case a zip lock baggie with water), let it sit for 2-3 days on the counter and Voilà! I have a delicious, beautiful, probiotic rich relish that livens up any meal. I’ve added it to dinners, topped my lunches with it, and even added it to my fried egg with breakfast.

For other fermented vegetables ideas try some of these recipes:

Mexican Cole Slaw

Three New Ferments in my Kitchen

Fermented Lemon Cranberry Honey

Fermented Cherry Tomatoes (scroll to the bottom)

Visit the Pantry and the Cellar for more discussions on ferments.

Want to delve deeper into Ferments?

Check out Homesteading Family’s Fearless Fermenting course to learn about more delicious ways you can ferment vegetables.

Note: This post contains affiliate links.