My All-Natural, Money-Saving Trick Recipes for the Kitchen!

Thanks to a few dear friends who are frugal chefs extraordinaire, I have learned so many tips and tricks on saving money with some healthier, cheaper alternatives to store bought items.  Here are a few of my recipes (Feel free to adjust the amounts of each ingredient to fit you taste!):

*****Dressings*****

Ranch Dressing

Take a container of plain yogurt or greek yogurt.  Add some onion powder, garlic powder, salt, dill, and lemon juice.  Mix and viola - you have Ranch.  This recipe does have a very strong yogurt taste that can be cut down with some mayo or buttermilk if you choose.

Italian Dressing

Use an olive oil base, mix in Garlic powder, onion powder, sugar, oregano, thyme, basil, salt & pepper.  That's it!  If you like spice, you can throw in some red pepper flakes or even paprika.  

Honey Mustard Dressing

In a bowl/jar, mix together 1/4 cup mayo, 2 T yellow mustard, 2 T honey, 1/2 T lemon juice.  Store in fridge.

French Onion Dip

Mix some Lipton Onion Soup mix into a container of sour cream.  Not the healthiest recipe, but then again, it is French Onion Dip!

*****Sauces*****

Marinara Sauce

Blanch a bunch of tomatoes. Remove tomato seeds. Brown some onions in butter or oil. Dices up and pour into large pot. Use masher to mash. Add garlic, salt, pepper, simmer. About 30-60 min. finished cooking, add herbs of choice and simmer for remainding time. (When serving, I often like to add some cream cheese and milk to make it a creamier marinara and other times I like the plain marinara. Just a few different options.)

*****Soups*****

Chicken Broth and Chicken Stock

Place a whole chicken into a large pot with water.  Add 3 celery stocks, 3 whole carrots (leave skins on), 1 onion (quartered).  Boil chicken.  Add garlic and desired herbs during last 30 min of cooking. (At this point, if you want chicken broth, strain the broth with a cheese cloth and you are done.)  If you want chicken stock, continue... Once cooked, remove chicken and pick off the chicken meat.  Place the chicken carcass back into the liquid.  Add another round of the celery, carrots, onion, and garlic.  If you have access to other chicken parts (feet, neck, etc.) add those.  Let the stock simmer at least 3 hours.  The longer it simmers, the healthier the stock. We place our stock in a slow cooker and will simmer up to 3 days (yes, I said DAYS) during the sick season.  Just keep adding more water!!!  In the last hour, add all herbs and more onion/garlic as desired.  (The onion and garlic work as medicinal properties if added last minute.)  Remove from heat.  Strain with cheese cloth.  Place in fridge and depending on the amount of marrow and how condensed your stock is, it will thicken up, if not become a gel completely.  Place in individual ziplock bags in freezer and voila - you have lots of healthy, medicinal chicken stock for all your cooking pleasure!

Creamed Soups

Tips - I usually start with a Butter/flour starter.  I use about 1T of butter and melt until bubbly.  Then add 1T of flour and stir until it makes paste.  When adding milk, do so in small amounts to keep the milk warm so that it thickens evenly and the flour does not clump.

Cream of Cheese Soup

Butter/flour starter. Add milk. Melt in cheeses of your choice.

Cream of Chicken Soup

Butter/flour starter. Add ½ milk and ½ condensed chicken stock. Add herbs and seasoning.

Cream of Celery Soup

Butter/flour starter. Add milk and diced celery or celery juice. Add herbs and seasoning.

Cream of Onion Soup

Butter/flour starter. Add milk and onion or onion juice. Add herbs and seasoning.

Cream of Mushroom Soup

Saute mushroom and butter. Add flour. Add milk. Finish with herbs.

*****Bread Recipes*****

* For a bread machine.

Favorite Oatmeal Bread

1 1/2 cup Buttermilk

2T butter

1 1/2t salt

2T Black Strap Molasses (you can substitute real Maple Syrup or Honey)

4 cups Bread Flour

1 cup Oats (I ground mine in the Cuisinart first)

2 1/2 t active yeast

Place into container in this order.  White Bread setting.  Large (2 lb) loaf.  Chose crust to your desire.

Cinnamon Raisin Bread

1/3 cup Sugar

3/4 T Cinnamon

1 1/4 cup Raisins

Stir in a bowl and set to the side.  (You can easily adjust these amounts to fit your taste!)

1 1/4 cup

2 1/2T butter

1 egg

1t salt

1 1/2 T sugar

4 cups Bread Flour

2 1/4 t yeast

Place in order in bread container.

Start on White Bread cycle.  When signal beeps for mix-in, take the dough on of the container and mix the cinnamon/raisin mixture into the dough.  Replace into bread machine and start.  At next signal, remove paddle and allow bread to finish cycle.  Makes large (2 lb) loaf.

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Some Random Cooking Tips We use:

Sugar - always buy the unrefined sugar.

Salt - also always buy the urefined salt.  Second best option is sea salt.

Onion and Garlic have powerful anti-biotic properties but should not be cooked long times or long after they are cut - they will lose these properties.

Black Strap Molasses is an amazing resource for iron!  I put a little in everything I bake - cookies, breads, cakes, waffles, etc.  

Flour - We always try to buy organic whole-wheat flour.  It is a little more "gritty" in baked items.

Secret for Vanilla - try ordering white vanilla instead of brown.  Awesome taste!  I also like to use 1/2 vanilla and 1/2 almond extract for sweets.

Milk - controversial - use what you are comfortable with, just do your research on BOTH sides of the fence. :-)
Flax Seed - Keep frozen until ready to use and then grind it to release the nutritious oils.  
To save on BBQ sauce, we sometimes use a blend of ketchup and Catalina, or just some ketchup with a soy/mustard mix.

BON APETITE!