What are you mixing now? Dry mixes, Gifts-In-A-Jar, Herb Blends, etc

[ChikeeMomma]

Quote:
Made some of the mix up tonight. And then made some of the beef stroganoff. It was yummy! Thanks Kim_NC for posting this! We liked Hamburger Helper, but hadn't had it in years because it was a processed food. Thanks again!

 

[winstonterr]

Hi,
Ideas for gift jars other than hot chocolate mix?I am going to make some gifts using baby food jars filling with treats then using fabric tie with a cute ribbon instead of a lid....I thought hot chocolate mix with small marshmallows will be cute but what other ideas can I use??? It has to be something single serving since the size is quite small. I also am making small tags with construction paper and a whole punch to label the ingredients and tie onto the ribbons Thanks.

 

[Kim_NC]

Take a look at this one for Spiced Tea Mix:
http://www.allfreecrafts.com/giftinajar/spicedtea.shtml

It makes a quart, but a single serving is only 3 tsp - should fit a baby food jar easily. She also has a nice little gift tag graphic already made and posted on the page!

My mom makes it for the holidays and always has it just sitting on the counter for guests, kind of like an option instead of only coffee available.

 

[Amanda0609]

I am going to make some cookie mixes for Christmas gifts how early is to early to get them put together?

 

[Kim_NC]

Amanda - for Christmas, I start after Thanksgiving. Baking mixes are typically good on the shelf for 10 - 12 weeks. By making them 30 days or less before the holiday, the gift recipient has 6-8 weeks to use them. Things like soup mixes with dry beans, pasta, rice, dry herbs, etc will keep longer.

 

[Kim_NC]

Quote:
Oh, I missed this. Here are a some options for Cream Soups and premade mixes...

Home-Made Cream of Whatever Soup (base recipe)
2 Tbs butter
2 Tbs flour
1/4 tsp salt (optional)
1 cup milk
In a heavy saucepan, melt the butter.
Sprinkle the flour over it and stir to incorporate.
Cook over medium low heat for 2-3 minutes, stirring constantly.
Slowly whisk in the milk.

Cream of Chicken Soup
use half broth and half milk. or toss in some chicken bullion.

Cheese sauce
To make a cheese sauce, add grated cheese and stir until melted.

Cream of Mushroom or Celery
To make a cream of something, saute 1/4 cup or so finely chopped celery, mushrooms, or onion in the butter before adding the flour and use half broth and half milk.

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A friend on another board also posted this one. It uses powdered milk, so it won't be suitable to those who try to avoid that. But it's shelf stable, and has the convenience of a packaged mix. You can make it ahead and just measure out enough to make a single recipe when cooking.

Base for cream of anything soup

Ingredients:
2 cups Powdered nonfat milk
3/4 cup Cornstarch
1/4 cup (or less) instant chicken (or Vegetable) Bouillon
2 tablespoons Dried onion flakes
1 teaspoon Basil leaves
1 teaspoon Thyme leaves
1/2 teaspoon Pepper

Directions:
To use in place of canned cream soups in casseroles or as a base for your own soups.
Much lower in fat and salt than the canned versions.
The trick is to have it made up ready to use!

Combine all ingredients, mixing well. Store in an airtight container until ready to use.
To substitute for one can of condensed soup: Combine 1/3 cup of dry mix with 1 1/4 cups of cold water in saucepan.
Cook and stir until thickened. Add to casserole as you would the canned product.

Variations:
Mushroom Soup: Add 1/2 cup finely chopped mushrooms
Celery Soup: Add 1/2 cup minced celery
Potato Soup: Add 1 cup diced potatoes, cooked
Chicken Soup: Add 1/2 cup diced chicken, cooked
Vegetable Soup: Add 3/4 cup mixed vegetables, cooked
Broccoli Soup: Add 1 cup chopped broccoli, cooked
Asparagus Soup: Add 1 cup chopped asparagus, cooked
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Edited to Add: One more......

Cream of Tomato Soup Mix
3 cup dried tomato slices
1/2 cup dried milk powder
1 T sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon

Powder tomato slices in a blender or with a pestle. Add remaining ingredients. Store in a plastic bag, glass jar, or any tightly sealed container.

label for jar:
TO USE: add to 1 1/2 quarts boiling water and simmer 10 minutes. Add 1 teaspoon butter or margarine after cooking. Serves 4 to 6.

 

[Amanda0609]

Quote:
Thanks Kim! I will hold off then until much closer to Christmas. I was just excited to get started

 

[Kim_NC]

You're welcome, Amanda.

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One of my favorites is the following snack cake mix. It makes six 8” or 9” square cakes and is wonderful to have on hand. Can also be used to make 13” x 9” cakes if you double the individual cake recipes. Here is a Chocolate Chip variation I made for dessert a couple nights ago. I used white chocolate chips because that's what I had. We liked it as well or better than the standard chocolate chip version.

MASTER MIX FOR SNACK CAKE

Make a batch of the mix and have it in the pantry to make a quick dessert or snack. Gives you all the convenience of a commercial mix at a fraction of the cost. Use within 10 to 12 weeks. Makes 6 packages or about 14 cups Snack Cake Mix.


8 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons baking soda
1 tablespoon salt
5 1/4 cups granulated sugar

In a large bowl, combine all ingredients. Stir with a wire whisk until blended. Divide mixture into six portions, about 2 1/3 cups each. Store in containers with tight-fitting lids or ziplock bags. Label with date and contents. Store in a cool, dry place.

Below are recipes for 8 variations of individual cakes.

Note: If using for gifts, I like to put the cake mix in the bottom of a quart jar, add any additional spices the individual recipe calls for, then layer any additional dry ingredients such as nuts, raisins, chocolate chips, etc. For the gift tag, I only list the wet ingredients that must be added when actually making the cake – such as oil, applesauce, grated carrot, etc.

Banana Walnut Snack Cake
1 package Snack cake mix (2 1/3 cups)
1/2 cup Mashed banana
1 Egg
1/2 cup Buttermilk, milk or water
1/3 cup Vegetable oil
1/2 cup Chopped walnuts

Pour snack cake into bowl. Add rest of ingredients.
Pour into 8 or 9 inch square ungreased pan and blend well.
Bake at 350 degrees for 30 - 35 minutes.
Serving Size: 8
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Applesauce Raisin Cake
1 package Snack cake mix (2 1/3 cups)
1/2 teaspoon Ground allspice
1 Egg
1/3 cup Vegetable oil
1/8 teaspoon Ground cloves
3/4 cup Applesauce
1/2 cup Chopped nuts
1 1/2 teaspoons Cinnamon
1 cup Raisins

Pour snack cake into 8 or 9 inch square ungreased pan.
Combine egg, oil, applesauce and spices.
Add to pan and blend well.
Stir in nuts and raisins.
Bake at 350 degrees for 35 to 45 minutes.
Serving Size: 8
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Carrot Snack Cake

For the cake:
1 package Snack cake mix (2 1/3 cups)
3/4 cup Orange juice
1 Egg -- slightly beaten
1 teaspoon Cinnamon
1/3 cup Vegetable oil
1/2 cup Chopped nuts
1 cup Grated carrots

For the cream cheese frosting:
3 tablespoons Butter, softened
1 2/3 cups Powdered sugar
3 ounces Cream cheese, softened
1/2 teaspoon Vanilla

Pour snack cake mix into ungreased 8 or 9 inch square pan.
In a medium bowl, combine egg, oil, carrots, orange juice and cinnamon, beating with fork to blend. Stir into snack cake mix, blending well.
Stir in nuts.
Bake 35 to 45minutes at 350 degrees until done.
Cool cake. Frost with cream cheese frosting.

Frosting: Cream butter and cream cheese until light and fluffy.
Beat in powdered sugar and vanilla until smooth.
Thin with orange juice, milk or water until desired consistency.

Option:
Substitute 1 jar of junior baby food carrots for grated carrots and orange juice; add 1 small can of undrained crushed pineapple for orange juice.
Serving Size : 8
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Chocolate Chip Snack Cake

1 package Snack cake mix (2 1/3 cups)
1 teaspoon Vanilla
3/4 cup Buttermilk, milk or water
1/2 cup Chocolate chips
1/3 cup Vegetable oil
1/2 cup Chopped nuts

Mix together all ingredients except for chocolate chips and nuts in 8 or 9 inch square baking pan.
Blend with fork.
Sprinkle with chocolate chips and nuts.
Bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 40 minutes.
Serving Size : 8
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Pineapple Upside Down Snack Cake

For the topping:
1/4 c. butter or margarine
1/2 c. packed brown sugar
1 (8 oz) can pineapple slices, drained
7 maraschino cherries

For the cake:
2 1/3 c. snack cake mix (2 1/3 cups)
3/4 c. milk
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp. vanilla
1/3 c. oil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Add butter to 9 inch square cake pan, place in oven until melted. Sprinkle brown sugar evenly over melted butter. Space pineapple slices evenly over brown sugar. (You may need to halve a couple pineapple slices to space things evenly.) Set maraschino cherries in center of pineapple rings.

Beat all cake ingredients until well blended. Pour over topping ingredients in cake pan.

Bake 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. Remove from oven, immediately invert onto serving plate. Serve warm with whipped topping (optional).
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Boston Cream Snack Cake

For the Cream Filling:
1/3 c. sugar
2 Tbl. cornstarch
1/8 tsp. salt
1 1/2 c. milk
2 egg yolks, slightly beaten
2 tsp. vanilla

For the cake:
2 1/3 c. snack cake mix
3/4 c. milk
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp. vanilla
1/3 c. oil

For Chocolate Glaze:
2 squares (1 oz each) unsweetened chocolate
3 Tbl. margarine or butter
1 c. powdered sugar
3/4 tsp. vanilla
About 6 tsp. hot water

For the cake: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a round layer pan (9 x 1 ½ in.) or 9 inch square cake pan. Beat all cake ingredients until well blended. Pour into prepared pan. Bake 30 minutes. Remove from pan; cool.

While cake cools, make filling: Mix sugar cornstarch and salt in 2-qt saucepan. Stir in milk gradually. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens and boils. Boil and stir 1 minute. Stir at least half of the hot mixture gradually into the egg yolks. Blend into hot mixture in saucepan. Boil and stir 1 minute. Remove from heat; stir in vanilla. Cool to room temperature.

To make chocolate glaze: Heat chocolate and margarine over low heat until melted. Remove from heat, stir in powdered sugar and vanilla. Stir in water, 1 tsp at a time, until glaze is of desired consistency.

Split cake into two thin layers. Fill with cream filling. Top with Chocolate Glaze. Refrigerate.
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Martha Washington Snack Cake

For the cake:
2 1/3 c. snack cake mix
3/4 c. milk
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp. vanilla
1/3 c. oil
For the filling:
1 c. jelly

Powdered sugar for topping

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a round layer pan (9 x 1 ½ in.) or 9 inch square cake pan. Beat all cake ingredients until well blended. Pour into prepared pan. Bake 30 minutes. Remove from pan; cool.

Split cake into two thin layers. Fill with jelly. Dust with powdered sugar (optional).
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Spicy Raisin Snack Cake

2 1/3 c. snack cake mix
3/4 c. milk
1 egg, beaten
1/3 c. oil
1 ts. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
1 c. raisins

Beat all cake ingredients except raisins until well blended. Stir in raisins. Pour into 8” or 9” square cake pan.

Bake 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted near center comes out clean.

 

[Kim_NC]

I'm starting to pull supplies together. Next week I'll start making gifts-in-a-jar pasta and soup mixes for the holidays. I gift them, and we sell them at a year-round farmers market.

Anyone else?

ETA: I won't start the baking type mixes until after Thanksgiving weekend.

 

[Amanda0609]

I have stuff stock piled. I bought 4lbs of chocolate chips at Costco, DH thinks I'm crazy, he didn't understand that I am making these as gifts. I have a few to put together as birthday gifts this month. I need to find some pretty paper for the tags.