Make your own mixes?

That's a great idea!

Plllog, I make a lot of my own mixes anyway. I am especially not a "morning person" so if the grandkids are over and I'm going to make pancakes or waffles, the dry ingredients get measured into the bowl, the wet ingredients are combined and in the refrigerator and the next morning I mix A&B and get pancakes. (shrug) It works for me.

Those cookie mix in jar things have been Christmas gifts for many years, and it's kind of the same thing. I always have brownie "mix", muffin "mix" and hot chocolate "mix", as well as various spice/herb blends like taco seasoning and pickling spice. I'm careful with things like taco seasoning because Amanda is celiac and it's amazing how many packets of stuff have wheat flour. At least I was amazed.

I used to keep biscuit/baking "mix" on hand but it contained shortening and I try to make my biscuits with butter. I found butter didn't store as well, unless I refrigerated the mix. Anyway, I store my mixes in individual canning jars (which we all know I have, LOL) and they're ready when I need them. Instructions for use are attached to the jar. I used to write them in Sharpie but now I make cards and just tie onto the jars, sometimes the Sharpie would rub off and then I'd have to look up baking instructions or whatever.

Anyway, it IS a good idea, far less expensive than going to the store and things like salt and preservatives can be controlled or omitted.

Annie

I make pancake mixes for camping trips - all of the dry ingredients, including the appropriate amount of powdered milk and then sharpie marker on the baggie how much water, fat and egg to add. You could easily use a powdered egg product as well, although I don't usually bother. As long as we're not backpacking, we bring eggs with anyway, as well as, of course, some form of fat and water. If we have extra baggies of pancake mix, I just throw them in the freezer until the next camping trip.

FWIW, I've made an all-purpose biscuit/pancake mix in the past, to give as gifts. For my own needs, it's easier to just measure & mix as needed, since I don't do as much baking as I used to when our kids were younger.

& 1 year I made a mix for 'mudpie' cake, which doesn't call for eggs & packaged it for gifts. It's a.k.a. wacky cake.

I still have the pictured cookbook (1978). It's been a great resource when trying to figure out gifts for those who are hard to buy for.

Maddielee, my Aunt had that book! Probably still does....

I see it's available on Amazon in paperback for $1.94.

Annie

Annie, thanks for the tips!

I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who thinks this is a good idea. :)

I've always thought it was a great idea, and it helped my girls do their own baking back when they got home from school a couple of hours before I got home from work.

As you know, I think most convenience mixes are sub-par in flavor, contain too much salt, too many chemical components that I don't want to eat and they cost too much. I'm sure there are other reasons why people avoid them, like GMO ingredients, or sustainable products, over-packaging, all valid concerns.

So I make my own. If Betty Crocker can do it, so can I! (grin)

Annie

All falls into the do-ahead category for us. Especially with our work schedule.

Two recipes I keep in Qrt Ball jars are crackers and a grain/seed/nut bread. The bulk ingredients are in the downstairs freezer and involves a spice grinder. So I make up a few extra to keep in the kitchen pantry. It also lets me know if I'm running out of an ingredient. Hence the single jar in the one pic...I needed more grain on my shopping list but still had the one do-ahead mix for last weekends bread. Both recipes just need 3 tbsp oil and one and a half cup water. Then a 1/4 to a 1/2 cup of 'anything goes'.

This cracker has toasted pepita and a homemade Za'atar. The bread this time has dried cranberries and pecans.

Last night I made another batch and three spares for the pantry and made a note that I have ingredients for three more...either the bread or crackers.

sleevendog, I've missed you! Welcome back.

The crackers look amazing, you remind me I have to find a gluten free recipe for Amanda that I can make for holidays to go with various dips.

Annie

I used to make a lot of recipes from Make a Mix cookery...it's a great book. I just don't bake as much as I used to.

I do make a gluten free flour mix because a lot of them have potato starch and son-in-law can't eat potatoes. That mix makes better scratch pancakes than I've ever made with wheat flour, so I usually have a few containers of the dry ingredients ready to go. I made some pretty darn good chocolate chip cookies with it last week...thinking that would make a good cookies-in-a-jar gift.

Last year I made mug cake mixes for my work Christmas goody basket. Those went over pretty well.

Hey, Katie, welcome back! Peppi and Sherry were here about a week ago and we were reminiscing about Canning Camp, so we were talking about you. Were your ears ringing? (grin)

Annie

Hi Annie...these are gluten free. No wheat, no dairy, Vegan.

Hi sleevendog -- good to see you back.

Annie, I recently saw the KAF recipe for simple gf almond flour crackers... have you tried that yet? I've tried a few other gf cracker recipes I've found on-line and they weren't worth eating. (which reminds me of the HORRIBLE homemade cat treats recipe I tried recently. lol!) I recall a "rain tree crisps" (?) post here a long while back... I had never heard of them, but found an on-line "copy cat" type recipe for them that I converted to gf. The first time I made them they were wonderful! The second time they failed -- but it was my fault for baking them with other (wet) things in the oven at the same time. I should try that recipe again. I do remember learning then not to add sunflower seeds to a recipe containing baking soda because it turns the seeds green. :)

PM, I haven't tried those yet, now I'm going to have to. KA has actually provided a couple of pretty good GF recipes.

Sleevendog, can I have that recipe? Please?

Annie

Good recipe. It's been around a few years so you may have tried it. I nailed it right out of the gate but had to make some changes. Lowered the oven temp because of the fan and my sheets are steel and get hot, 325 instead of 350.

I toast any raw seed or nuts. Any nut allergy can be replaced with seed. Buckwheat can replace the oats if that is an issue. Buckwheat is a seed not a wheat.

I use whole flax but break it a bit in the spice grinder. 1/2 cup of the oats I pulse to a flour. Any nuts and pepitas, after toasting I like to grind just a second or two.

Most important, it does not work without the psylium husk, chia, and the flax. Binders. She mentions that in the bread recipe. Many substitutions are even welcomed unlike most recipes.

Cocoa powder and finely diced candied ginger, yum.

Crispy like a cross between a triscuit and a wheat thin.

The dough is very wet so rolls out so much easier than my other crackers that requires the pasta roller. Easy to get very thin quickly. I then stack my trays and cover with a damp towel and let rest as long as possible. I let it ret all night or all day...10-12 hours. The seeds need the soaking time to swell. I use some teff so it really needs that time.

Once I flip the first tray, then back in the oven, the second tray I put on the lower rack to get started...saves time and oven heat. I put them all back in once the oven is off to continue to dry out using that last dry heat.

Olive oil, rosemary, garlic and parm, I brush on the flip side for the last cooking minutes...same with Tamari, wasabi, and crushed dulse, (seaweed flake)

crackers , bread , another similar bread

Good recipes on her site. The chocolate granola is killer. Again many substitutions, like any granola, is possible. I'm not Vegan nor gluten dairy-free but like the variety.

Seeds and nuts are not low in calorie but the calories are good ones. I can't swallow oatmeal goop, so the bread toasted, a few crackers, granola, are my go-to quick breakfast or snack. (drink lots of water) ...seeds and nuts are very filling. Good for digestion.

All freeze really well. Slice the bread first, then freeze.

Thanks, sleevendog, I'll have to give these a try, although they'll have to be for me and not my daughter. She can't eat many seeds or nuts, but does better if they are ground or chopped finely, as she has diverticulitis along with her lactose intolerance and her celiac. Cooking a holiday meal for her is an experience, but I'm getting better. Anyway, seeds and nuts finely chopped and in moderation seems to be OK, but not many.

Annie

I thought so. I remember some nuts and seed were an issue. If the psylium and chia are ok, any other gluten-free flours would work. It is the soaking that makes this easier to digest than most recipes. Once the seed coat is softened and the seed/grain embryo starts to form a plant, it is no longer that seed/grain. I've been dealing with this for so long with both sides of our families. Almost all nephews are married, now some more adorable babies...more dietary sensitivities came with that.

I like the challenge. All my stocks are made for the Vegan vegetarian dressing...gluten free, dairy free....