Comments on: You Tell Me: What do you make from scratch?

By: Christine

Christine — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 14:14:10 +0000

Could someone please share their recipe for homemade crackers? My husband can go through a box of Club crackers like nobody’s business. Thank you!

By: Dana in NM

Dana in NM — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 19:30:08 +0000

Pizza crust and sauce
many types of bread
pancakes (Pumpkin and regular)
syrup
Soups
jellies
applesauce
dinner every night, unless mom has one of those once a decade colds ;)
The list is numerous and goes on and will get bigger as my garden improves each year or as the local fruit crop goes…gotta love those neighbors who will trade you lots of fruit for a few small jars of whatever you make.

PS Did you know that you can put dry quick oats in the food processor and make your own oat flour if you don’t have any…

By: Ruth

Ruth — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 16:49:45 +0000

@anna’s mom:
tortilla recipe (adapted from Joy of Cooking)
2 cups bread flour*
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup vegetable shortening
3/4 cup warm (105-115F) water
(* I use whole wheat flour and add 2 Tablespoons wheat gluten)

Mix by hand or on low speed until the dough comes together. Knead by hand or with the dough hook (if you have a stand mixer) for 4-6 minutes. Divide into 8 equally-sized balls and let rest for 20 minutes.

(This is where my directions diverge from “Joy’s”: they advocate baking on a stone in a 400 degree oven. I think this is too fiddly).

Heat a skillet over medium-high heat (I usually am more like medium-medium-high). Roll out your tortillas (one at a time–roll out each ball while the previous tortilla is in the pan) to 6-8 inches round, 1/8 inch thick. If the dough doesn’t want to be rolled out, leave that ball and move to the next. Come back to it later.

Cook the tortilla in the skillet (the skillet is dry–no oil) until it has dark brown spots. This will take about the same amount of time as it does to roll out your next tortilla. Flip it over. Let it puff. Done. Do the next one. I like to stack up my tortillas and let them cool that way (or eat them hot–I like that better).

I usually make a double-batch and freeze them after they have cooled completely. Then you can pry them apart individually, and microwave them for 30 seconds on 1/2 power, and they have softened again.

Fat is a preservative in baked goods, and tortillas have a fair amount. So these will probably last a couple of days unfrozen.

By: Ruth

Ruth — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 16:39:25 +0000

I make all baked goods from scratch–tortillas, bread, rolls, buns, pitas, naan, pie…if it’s got flour in it, I make it from scratch. In the summer, I hit up U-picks or the local peach farms and buy a large quantity of fruit and make jam and jelly. I have also made watermelon rind pickles, which I now send to my grandfater. I made chow-chow from my green tomatoes (which never ripened before frost). This year, I hope to have enough tomatoes grow (and ripen) to make salsa/pasta sauce for the year. One of my favorites: I grow basil, which is super easy, and I make pesto every week or so during the summer. Then I freeze it in ice cube trays, and pop a couple of cubes into some pasta in the morning, and I have lunch for school (I’m a grad student). I desire chickens, but cannot techically have them in my city.

By: Les

Les — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 00:42:46 +0000

I make my own gluten free bread, soups, stews, mole sauce and puddings. A friend and I share and swap gluten free ingredients. Buying bulk 25lb bags of rice flour is much, much cheaper than buying the 1lb bags at the grocery or health food store. I’ve found that buying bulk gluten free flours and grains online saves a lot of money. I also make my own gluten free beef jerkey from scratch using a food dehydrator. I’m learing how to prepare dried veggies with it too. I’m also trying to make my own seasoning mixes and herbal teas using bulk spices I’ve found at the oriental food market. I grind a ginger root in the food processor, aliquot 2T/snack baggie and store it in the freezer for teas, soup or stir fry. You can wash, dry and mince any fresh herb from the market and do the same thing with it so that bundles of basil or dill are not wasted.

By: Munchies

Munchies — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 21:14:27 +0000

We eat most everything raw and home grown. Our own canned and fresh and sprouts. We have avocados shipped in though.

“Scratch” is not the term I would use. It’s from quality IE- for raising our own quail and guinea, gathering eggs and cooking and eating meats when only minutes ago they were happily running the yard or pens.

We do buy our breads from a “close to out of date” store…$4.99 loaves of yummy high end bread for 35 cents? Just cannot make that kind of quality for 35 cents! We buy huge bags and freeze it. Whatever is still really good, we use. What is questionable goes to the chickens and the guineas. Nothing goes to waste.

We bake cookies to sell at the market, house warming gifts, parties etc.. We use quail eggs for gifts also.

By: Kim

Kim — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 07:04:32 +0000

If it’s food then it’s from scratch. I simply do not buy pre-package food. I’ve always made my own bread (BTW the best bread recipes are from the Dorie Greenspan book she did with Julia Child). I know it’s not a lot of drama to make bread by hand from my point of view why buy another appliance. I do my own jams and jellies; I live in Los Angeles so can usually beg a few pieces of fruit from the local growers. I also stock pile sugar when it’s on sale just for this purpose. I roast and pack peppers for use later. Make my own Mayo, the only thing about this is that I have to buy the eggs in the Farmers market. I make my own corn beef (not hard at all the Morton Salt people have some great products for this). In short from my point of view very few foods should be purchased packaged.
I’ve done this all of my life mostly because I like to know what’s in my food and then their is the packaging, no need to add more stuff to the land fills that will not biodegrade.

By: Anna's Mom

Anna's Mom — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 23:29:16 +0000

Since last summer, I’ve been making bread in our bread machine (purchased from a Craigslist user for $10), and for the last, oh, six months or so, I’ve been making pancakes from a recipe rather than a ready-made mix. I also prefer to make muffins from a recipe rather than purchase the bakery-style ones.

I really would like to try to make tortillas – any good recipes?

I would like to make laundry detergent (or rather, combine the ingredients), but I have not yet been successful in finding washing soda.

By: Sue

Sue — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 22:21:35 +0000

We love homemade pancakes and I take the basic recipe, subtract the wet ingredients, and place in baggies according to how much we eat at a time. Then I print what needs to be added (eggs, oil, milk in my recipe) on the outside of the bag with a permanent marker and store the bags in my pantry. You can even re-use the baggies. So much better than mix from a box, you can really tell the difference!

I also saw the suggestion for homemade granola bars…we do this and they are awesome!

By: Sarah

Sarah — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 09:59:29 +0000

Amen to all those making noodles from scratch. Homemade lasgane with homemade noodles is the BEST.

We have a bread machine that makes beautiful bread, and in conjunction with our freezer, we make $.28 loaves of bread that are comparable to the $4.00 loaves in the bakery department. I freeze them after they have risen the first time, and then let them thaw and rise the second time when I’m ready to bake, and they are wonderful.

The only down side to making everything from scratch is that its hard to diet because Its easy to make junk food with flour, sugar and eggs, which I always have on hand. If I get the urge for cookies, I usually have all the ingredients and can throw together somthing pretty quickly- or those great candied nuts that you pay $12 for a little tiny package for at the mall- takes about 30 seconds, and you can eat them warm… Anyway, the upside of making things from scratch is that it seems to keep the rest of the family from snacking, as my son says- MOM! We don’t have any FOOD in the house, we only have INGREDIENTS!

I showed him where I keep the cookbooks.