What all do you homemake?

[Jzsnow]

We are trying to cut corners where we can regarding money. I have recently starting making my own taco seasoning so I don't have to buy it all the time. What all do you homemake?

 

I want to learn to make bread, but I have no idea where to even start! Any ideas??

 

Jessica

[cathmom]

You can buy a huge thing of taco seasoning at Sam's. I do that because it's easier.

[hsmamainva]

I make my own pasta (my kids LOVE making pasta!! It's a lot of fun!! Pasta machines can be found at any store that sells cooking gadgets)

 

I make my own bread also, and not with a bread machine. Bread machines take all the fun out of it!

 

I make all of my own desserts (brownies, cookies, cakes, pies, etc.) and from scratch.

 

I make most of our food from scratch, actually.

 

My parents owned, and ran, their own restaurant, so I learned how to do these things from childhood. (Funny story... when my husband and I were first married, I made mashed potatoes, and my husband was like, "What are these lumps in it?" And I looked and told him, "Those are potatoes." He had never had fresh mashed potatoes! His mother always made them from a box with dried flakes. :rolleyes:)

[Jzsnow]

Please share how you make bread! What do I need to buy to get started doing it?

[Storm Bay]

WW bread for dh

all my gf/cf baking, etc for my dc (corn bread, amaranth brownie, buckwheat pancakes, etc)

If I had a pasta maker, I'd make my rice pasta as we're having to cut way back on that.

 

I buy flours, meals, legumes & grains in 25 & 50 lb bags, too, & store them in our chest freezer. In addition, when we don't have a garden, I buy frozen peas, corn & green beans in 5 lb bags from our coop.

[mrsdash]

I make my own breads (except the Ezekial bread) , bagels, focaccia and pizza w/my kitchen aid.

I make my sauce for pizza and pastas, most snacks, salsa, hummus.

[hsmamainva]

Please share how you make bread! What do I need to buy to get started doing it?

 

Are you interested in making just plain old white bread? Or something more creative?

 

If you're interested in making regular white bread, then all you need are bread pans and alot of elbow grease! (I posted in another reply that the biggest mistake first-timers make is not kneading the bread dough long enough.)

[lwilliams1922]

taco seasoning takes 2 mins VERY easy!

 

we make soap, lotion, deoderant and toothpaste.

 

I started out to avoid questionable chemicals and it's a bonus that we save money.

 

I make the majority of our food from scratch now.

[shalom22]

If you want to have fresh bread available all the time. Check out "Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day" by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois.

 

I Have the book and I am wanting to try this method. It looks so easy that even I can do it.

[Jzsnow]

oooh....how do you make pasta sauce?? I am new to this homemaking thing. Been married 5 years, but I was raised by a single dad and we were dirt poor. I lived on ramen noodles for years!!

[Jzsnow]

Are you interested in making just plain old white bread? Or something more creative?

 

i want to make whole wheat bread! Do i need a mixer?

[Renee in NC]

I don't make taco seasoning - we just add chili powder, cumin, garlic, and salt to cooked ground meat.

 

We do buy creole seasoning, though! It is pretty cheap for a large container.

[hsmamainva]

Are you interested in making just plain old white bread? Or something more creative?

 

i want to make whole wheat bread! Do i need a mixer?

 

Ahh...mixers! I haven't found a mixer that I like -- and I've been making bread for some 40 years now! I have a large stand-alone mixer, but it doesn't really do a good job, as far as I'm concerned. I much prefer using a handmixer, but not many handmixers can stand up to making bread. But it depends on the brand.

 

So I use a mixer to get everything blended, but I don't try to use a mixer to do the job of kneading -- if that makes sense. Nothing kneads better than your own two hands.

 

As long as you're planning on using a mixer just for blending the ingredients, and then you're willing to do your kneading by hand, then any regular $20 mixer from Wal-Mart will do just fine.

[skissugar]

ooo im going to have to check out that artisan bread book!!

[jmgconner]

I make my own pasta (my kids LOVE making pasta!! It's a lot of fun!! Pasta machines can be found at any store that sells cooking gadgets)

 

 

PLEASE tell me about making your own pasta. I tried to do that on Tuesday with my DS12. And we don't have a pasta machine, so the pasta didn't get very flat or skinny, and it was just, umm, yucky. The dough seemed nice, though. I guess I'm asking if the pasta machine is going to make the difference?

[Jenny in Florida]

I occasionally bake bread, but when my daughter isn't home we just don't eat all that much. And I end up eating most of it. So, I don't bother all that often.

 

I cook dried beans (mostly black beans and chickpeas) and freeze them in meal-sized servings. Beans are cheap, anyway, of course, but I figured out one time that I could cook and bag my own for about one-quarter of the cost of buying canned.

 

I love my crockpot for those and other purposes.

 

In general, I just do most of the cooking from scratch or nearly scratch. (I do use canned tomatoes, for example, instead of fresh.) I don't buy mixes for pancakes or biscuits or cakes, for example.

 

I do some baking of cookies and other treats, although, again, I'm the one who is most interested in those.

[hsmamainva]

PLEASE tell me about making your own pasta. I tried to do that on Tuesday with my DS12. And we don't have a pasta machine, so the pasta didn't get very flat or skinny, and it was just, umm, yucky. The dough seemed nice, though. I guess I'm asking if the pasta machine is going to make the difference?

 

The only time I've made pasta w/o a pasta machine is if I'm using it for pierogies or ravioli or something like that where I can use flat pasta squares.

 

The pasta machine is what turns it into spaghetti and the other fun shapes. And the kids love carrying the pasta around and placing it on the drying rack! They get a kick out of it (almost like playing with play-doh!)

[laughing lioness]

I'd check out the Urban Homemaker and Marmee Dear. Great stuff on homemaking. Also, Carla Emery's Enclyclopedia of Country Living as well as Doris Longacres More with Less cookbook.

We make 97% of food from scratch. Can, dry and freeze a LOT.

I do have a Bosch mixer. I got it on sale, with a bonus cook-book from Marmee Dear and it's worth the money! I do like making bread from scratch but there's only so much time in the day.

[Mom to Aly]

We are trying to cut corners where we can regarding money. I have recently starting making my own taco seasoning so I don't have to buy it all the time. What all do you homemake?

 

I want to learn to make bread, but I have no idea where to even start! Any ideas??

 

Jessica

 

Recipe for taco seasoning please? Thank you!

[Dayle in Guatemala]

I can't get a lot of the stuff I'd normally buy, sometimes because it's unavailable, or it's too expensive. Here's some things I do on my own:

 

pizza sauce, spagetti sauce, soup bases (stocks), bread, all sweets, pickles, pizza crust, bread sticks, chili seasoning, lemonade, pancake mix

 

I'm sure there's a lot more, but, I really just don't think about it anymore because I'm so used to it! When I was visiting in the US, I was surprised at the things that I'm now used to making that I used to buy.

 

One thing that really helps me is making a double batch of stuff when I'm making it so that I have it on hand when I need it. Saves a lot of time!

[Sharon H in IL]

I've been experimenting lately, and I can proudly say I make:

 

- all desserts except ice cream ;)

- spice mixes

- chicken, beef, and vegetable stocks

- quick breads

- laundry powder

- dishwasher detergent

- yogurt (just made this last night for the first time!)

- kefir

- liquid soap from my friend's homemade bar soap

 

And I just bought a food dehydrator at a garage sale that I'm going to experiment with.

 

Things I don't make:

- yeast bread, at least very often

- tomato sauce. I don't have a garden so the cost of fresh tomatoes would be prohibitive. Better to find organic sauce on sale and stock up.

[JudoMom]

Get this book: Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day

[skissugar]

someone asked about sandwich bread.. and it might have been on another post but here is the sandwich bread we make (it came from a poster at www.feingold.org named Elaine! she is fabulous!!) this is the best sandwich bread we have had!! I am sure you could skip the bread machine and do it in the oven.. but we have not tried that.

 

Elaine's Most Excellent Sandwich Bread for the Bread Machine

I make a loaf or two a day for my girls.

I looked in several books for a recipe with egg and finally made up my own. I have a 1.5 pound Oster.

1 c water

2 T butter

1/4 c sugar

1 egg

3 c flour

1 1/2 t yeast

1 t salt

Place in machine in the order your machine asks for and cook on the regular cycle.

the bread has enough body to slice for sandwiches.

Sometimes I substitute 3 T molasses for the sugar or add 1 T Italian seasoning.

You can also put it on the dough cycle and shape into hamburger buns, hot dog buns or hogie rolls.

[Storm Bay]

oooh....how do you make pasta sauce?? I am new to this homemaking thing. Been married 5 years, but I was raised by a single dad and we were dirt poor. I lived on ramen noodles for years!!

 

There are many, many, many different pasta sauces. You could go to all recipies dot com and find some there. I make all my sauces from scratch (didn't really think of it before.) If you can make a white sauce, that can be a great base for non-tomato sauces. I learned to make white sauce, which is also the base for cheese sauce, from the 1979 edition of the Fanny Farmer cookbook. That's a fabulous teaching cookbook, and the older and newer editions of this book aren't always nearly as good for that, and I even replaced my old one with a used one of the same year.

 

I also make all my own soup stocks (I learned the basics from that same cookbook and do whatever variations I want now) with NO boullion. To me, stock made with boullion never tastes the same as one made the old fashioned way.

[FriedClams]

For bread I would recommend hitting a Salvation Army type store and getting a bread machine. You should be able to score one for about $5. Then just use the dough cycle. You can use pretty much any dough recipe - WW or otherwise - and it'll work like a charm with very little effort. Fresh dough in 90 minutes! When you use the machine to bake bread it's very finicky - but for dough it's pretty close to dump and go. You'll know in the first 3 minutes if you need a drop more flour or water. I do WW, white, pizza dough, rolls, etc. SUPER easy. I use all the recipes for bread at Tammy's Recipes - SHE ROCKS!!!! The WW recipe is AMAZING.

[FriedClams]

Oh, and laundry soap - here's a step by step lesson with pictures on my blog...

[melissel]

someone asked about sandwich bread.. and it might have been on another post but here is the sandwich bread we make (it came from a poster at www.feingold.org named Elaine! she is fabulous!!) this is the best sandwich bread we have had!! I am sure you could skip the bread machine and do it in the oven.. but we have not tried that.

 

Elaine's Most Excellent Sandwich Bread for the Bread Machine

I make a loaf or two a day for my girls.

I looked in several books for a recipe with egg and finally made up my own. I have a 1.5 pound Oster.

1 c water

2 T butter

1/4 c sugar

1 egg

3 c flour

1 1/2 t yeast

1 t salt

Place in machine in the order your machine asks for and cook on the regular cycle.

the bread has enough body to slice for sandwiches.

Sometimes I substitute 3 T molasses for the sugar or add 1 T Italian seasoning.

You can also put it on the dough cycle and shape into hamburger buns, hot dog buns or hogie rolls.

 

Christina, what kind of flour are you using here? White or WW? TIA!

 

Great thread, by the way. It finally cooled off enough here that I pulled my breadmaker out, and I forgot how much I love using it! I even found an awesome raisin bread recipe that I love. IMO, handmade bread definitely tastes better than machine bread, but I don't have good pans anymore, and frankly, if it were any more work, I just wouldn't do it :001_unsure: So my bread machine is worth its weight in gold around here!

[Audrey]

We are trying to cut corners where we can regarding money. I have recently starting making my own taco seasoning so I don't have to buy it all the time. What all do you homemake?

 

I want to learn to make bread, but I have no idea where to even start! Any ideas??

 

Jessica

 

I'm with hsmamainva... do your bread by hand. You don't need a mixer. At. All. I do bread in 6 loaf batches. I use a big rubbermaid tub for the mixing and rising. I do all the kneading by hand. It makes for a great arm workout by the way. Bonus! :D

 

I make an awful lot of stuff. All our meals are from scratch and we grow quite a lot of the vegetables and fruits we eat. I can and freeze a lot. We have chickens for eggs, but NOT for eating chicken! No one is eating my biddies!

 

I make my own general cleaning products, air-fresheners, perfumes, body lotions, shampoo and conditioner (I also sell these witchy-inspired concoctions locally).

 

I knit some of our sweaters, scarves and tuques. Sometimes I'll make shirts if I find some flannel that the boys really like. I make our flannel sheets and pillowcases, too, when the flannel sales are on. If I really want a particular dress, jacket or suit, I might be inspired to make it myself (I'm pretty good at copying styles into patterns).

 

My husband is a very good woodworker (even if HE won't accept the compliment, it's still true!) He has made some of our furniture. He made the most extraordinary desk and chair for my office. He also made a fireplace surround for my office that kind of matches the desk. He also fixes almost everything that needs fixing around the house and farm. I think that counts as homemade, too?

 

Another couple of things my dh loves to make -- wine and beer. We, ourselves, aren't such big drinkers, but people absolutely love these as gifts or when we entertain.

[Guest Lorna]

Are you interested in making just plain old white bread? Or something more creative?

 

i want to make whole wheat bread! Do i need a mixer?

 

Traditional Bread Recipe

What is more delicious than home-made bread, warm and fresh from the oven? Try this simple recipe, and rediscover one of the great pleasures of life .

 

 

Ingredients:

3 lbs (1½ kg) wholemeal flour

2 teaspoons (10 ml) salt

2 tablespoons (30 ml) sunflower oil

1 packet fast action yeast

1½ pints (850 ml) warm water (approx.)

 

 

 

 

 

Method:

1.Sieve the flour and salt into a large mixing bowl. Rub in the oil. Add the yeast.

 

2. Pour the water into a pan, heat it up to about 37°C. Gradually add the water to the flour mixture, moulding it in with your hands until you get a dough that is easily malleable but not sticky.

 

3. Knead the dough for ten to fifteen minutes, and leave to rise in a warm place for about an hour, or until it has doubled in size.

 

4. Divide the dough into three pieces, and put in greased, 1 lb bread tins. Slit along the top of each loaf with a knife, brush with olive oil, and leave to rise for a further half hour.

 

5. Bake in a hot oven - 220°C, Gas Mark 7, 425°F - until they are brown on the surface and sound hollow when tipped out of the tin and tapped on the underside (approx. 35 min.)

 

 

 

[Mary in NJ]

oooh....how do you make pasta sauce?? I am new to this homemaking thing. Been married 5 years, but I was raised by a single dad and we were dirt poor. I lived on ramen noodles for years!!

 

I have been making this spaghetti sauce for years. It is so easy and it cooks in the crockpot. After it cools, I bag it up and freeze it. Plenty of fresh sauce for a couple of weeks.

 

1 pound bulk Italian Sausage

1 1/2 cups finely chopped onion

1 12 ounce can tomato paste

3 28 ounce cans Italian-sytle or plain crushed tomatoes in puree

2 cups water

4 teaspoons minced garlic (I buy the jarred minced garlic - much easier)

4 bay leaves

2 tablespoons sugar

4 teaspoons dried basil leaves

2 teaspoons dried oregano leaves

4 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

2 teaspoons of salt

 

Cook the Italian Sausage with the onion until the meat is brown; drain fat. Add sausage and remaining ingredients into the crockpot. I cook on low for 4 hours or on high for 2 hours. Makes 12 cups of sauce.

 

This recipe is from Once a Month Cooking.

 

Enjoy!

[skissugar]

Christina, what kind of flour are you using here? White or WW? TIA!

 

We use Bread Flour :)