5 More Foods to Stop Buying and Start Making at Home

5 More Foods to Stop Buying and Start Making at Home

We’ve talked about 5 Foods you should stop buying and start making.

We explored tortillas, mayo, pancake mix, taco seasoning, and pizza. Today, we are going to explore 5 MORE foods to stop buying and start making at home.

BREAD

This is really an easy thing to make, once you get the hang of it. If you have never made your own bread before, you’ll be in for a heavenly experience! And, avoiding the HFCS and other additives that are in store bought bread makes this recipe a go to! You’ll never have to worry about running out during a winter storm, either. Just keep some flour and yeast on hand, and you can whip up a batch in no time! This recipe will make 2 large loaves.

2 cups warm water

1 T. dry yeast (or one packet)>

1/2 cup honey

1/2 cup coconut oil, or melted butter

1 tsp salt

4 cups wheat flour

2 cups white flour

Dissolve the yeast in the warm water.

Add the honey and oil and stir. Add the salt to the flour, and add in 2 cup increments while mixing. Knead by hand or mixer for about 10 minutes. Let rise in a warm place until doubled, about an hour. Punch down, and divide the dough in half. Shape into loaves, and place in two greased bread pans. Let rise a second time until doubled again.

Put the bread in a cold oven, and turn the oven on to 400 degrees. This helps give the yeast another “kick” and makes your bread more fluffy. Bake for 30 minutes from time you put the bread in.

Cool, and remove from pans. Enjoy!

*TIP allow the bread to cool for at least 30 minutes before you cut into it. This will avoid “weeping” and the bread will finish cooking during the cooling time.

BISCUITS

I used to love the convenience of opening up a can of biscuits.

My kids would argue over who got to “pop” the can open. Once I learned to make my own, I never bought another can. They are so light, and so easy to make! Here’s the recipe:

4 cups flour (you can use white, wheat, or a combination)

3 T. baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

4 T. cold butter

4 T. shortening (I use palm shortening)

*you could forgo the shortening all together and just use all butter, if you want*

2 cups buttermilk

2 eggs

Gently mix the dry ingredients together and cut the fat into it.

It’ll get crumbly, and you want pea sized crumbles. Mix together the eggs and buttermilk in a separate bowl and gently incorporate the wet ingredients into the dry. BE GENTLE! Pat out on floured counter until about 1/2 inch thick. Using a biscuit cutter, or other sharp end (not a glass!*) cut out your biscuits. Place on ungreased cookie sheet and bake in oven for 15-18 minutes until golden brown.

*TIPNow, as for why not a glass…I know you’ve heard everyone say that it’s okay, and best to use and all…but, truth be told here. It “seals” the ends up and you don’t get as high of a rise on your biscuits. Trust me. Try it for yourself. Next batch of biscuits you make, make 1/2 with a biscuit cutter or a sharp knife cutting them out and 1/2 with a glass and see which ones rise better for you. You can usually pick them up at a dollar store or Target pretty cheaply.

YOGURT

I have had people stare at me with this blank look when I tell them that I make my own yogurt.

You’d think I told them that I could trasmute base metals into gold! It’s really super easy to make your own yogurt, and I promise you’ll love it!

First, start off with milk.

I use raw, and whole milk is the best, but if you want to use skim I can’t stop you. Warm the milk gently in a pan until it reaches 145 degrees. You don’t want to leave it unattended during this time, as you will need to stir often to keep it from burning. Once it reaches that temp, turn off the heat and let the temp fall to 105 degrees.

Once it’s cooled, it will have formed a “skin” of sorts. Remove the skin and gently mix in 3 Tablespoons of starter yogurt. You can use store bought yogurt, but you need to check and make sure that it’s the plain kind and has the active cultures in it. That’s what you need to get your milk cultured. You can use any brand you want as long as it has the active cultures in it.

Pour into clean jars, and add a lid.

Place the jars in the dehydrator for 8-10 hours on 115 degrees. You can also set 2 large jars full of boiling water in a a cooler, add the yogurt next to the jars and shut the lid, undisturbed for 24 hours.

*TIP You can also use this to make your own frozen yogurt, instead of ice cream! Just as delicious and a great way to get more good bacteria in your guts!

CEREAL

The boxed stuff offers such things as convenience and ease of breakfast in the mornings, right?

Well, it also offers such things as GMO ingredients, HFCS and a host of preservatives. Making your own isn’t hard at all. As a matter of fact, make a batch of this on the weekend, and you’ll have easy breakfasts all week long! Alone in a bowl with milk, or as a homemade yogurt topping, and you can even make it into granola bars!

6 cups rolled oats

1 cup slivered almonds

1 cup shredded coconut (optional)

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup maple syrup

1/2 cup coconut oil

1 tsp. salt

2 cups dried fruit of choice

Preheat oven to 250 degrees.

Mix the dry ingredients, except fruit together, and add oil and syrup and stir to mix well. Place on a baking sheet and put in oven for 1 hour and 15 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes. Add fruit of choice, and store in covered container.

*TIP Granola is a personal cereal. You can switch out any of the ingredients, delete, add or whatever! Make it your own!

RANCH DRESSING

This is our family’s favorite for salads and dips.

A bottle of the store bought stuff only is about $1.50, but with the preservatives and MSG, I won’t feed that to my family. Making your own is so easy, too! Just a bunch of seasonings, some buttermilk and sour cream and you’re good to go! In a quart sized jar, just add:

1/2 cup dried chives

1/2 cup dried parsely

1/4 dried dill weed

1/2 cup dried onion powder

1/2 cup garlic powder

2 T. salt

1 T. black pepper

Mix together and store in an airtight jar for up to 6 months.

To use, simply add 2T. of the mix to 1/2 cup of buttermilk and 3/4 cup sour cream and mix well. Chill well before use (if you can wait) and use within a week. This recipe lasted me nearly 3 months before I had to make it up again, and I make ranch dressing nearly weekly.

*TIP forgo the buttermilk and mix 2 T. into 1 cup of sour cream for a delicious party dip!

Need some help getting back into the kitchen and cooking from scratch? Try this delicious collection of easy to make recipes to get you started!

Original article and pictures take thehomesteadinghippy.com site