Tuesday, July 01, 2008

Things I've learned ...

The following are a few recipes I have acquired over the years as I have lived in places where one could not always find certain items. These days it is much easier to get imported items over seas, but they are often very expensive. I have found many of these items to also be expensive here in the USA.

Ranch Flavoring Mix

2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. dried minced garlic
2 tsp. dried minced onion
2 tsp. parsley flakes
2 tsp. pepper
2 tsp. sugar
2 tsp. paprika

Mix together. Makes 1/2 cup dry mix. Variations: 1) Add 1 T. mix to 1 cup mayonnaise and 1 cup sour milk for creamy salad dressing. 2) Add 1 T mix to plain yogurt for dips 3) Combine 2 T water with 1/4 cup vinegar. Stir in 2 T mix, then add 2/3 cups vegetable oil. Shake well for salad dressing.


Taco Seasoning Mix


1/2 tsp oregano
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cumin
1 T flour
1/2 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
Mix well. Equals one packet of seasoning, enough for 1/2 kilo meat. ( 1 lb)


Whole Milk Ricotta

2 liters whole milk
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice or white vinegar
1/4 tsp salt
Pour milk into saucepan. Heat slowly to 200* Stir in lemon, cover and turn off heat. Let stand until a solid surd forms.(3 -4 hours) Strain through cheesecloth. let drain for 30 minutes to 1 hour. The longer it drains, the firmer the curd.Turn cheese into a bowl and salt to taste. refrigerate. ( great for lasagna and recipes that call for ricotta or cottage cheese)


Blender Mayonnaise

1 egg
2 T vinegar
3/4 tsp salt
1 cup salad oil
Put 1 T of vinegar and all other ingredients EXCEPT the oil into blender. Cover and blend on low. Slowly pour 1/2 cup oil. Blend on medium. Add the second T of vinegar and the other 1/2 cup of oil into blender. Blend on high. yields: 1 cup



Homemade Mustard

1 cup sugar
3/4 cup flour
5 T dry mustard
dash of salt
1 cup water
1 cup vinegar
Tumeric


Mix sugar,flour, dry mustard, and salt together in saucepan. Add water and vinegar. Cook until desired thickness mixing with wire whip. Then add the tumeric to desired color.



Sweetened Condensed Milk


1 cup hot water
1/4 cup margarine
2 cups white sugar
4 cups powdered milk
Blend until well mixed. Keep refrigerated.


Evaporated Milk
1 cup dry milk
1/3 cup boiling water
1 cup sugar
3 T melted butter Combine all ingredients in a blender. Process until smooth. Refrigerate. Yields:1 and 1/2 cups.


Teriyaki
Sauce

1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup water
1 tsp powdered ginger
2 cloves minced garlic
1/4 cup honey
Use to marinate meat overnight. Good for chicken, beef, tapir, deer, wild boar and capybera!:)

Play Dough

1 cup flour
1 cup water
1/2 cup salt
2 tsp cream of tartar
1 T cooking oil
Mix all dry ingredients together.. Add food coloring to the water. Add colored water and salt to the dry ingredients. Cook stirring constantly until mixture forms a ball. Store in air tight container and may be refrigerated for longer use. NON TOXIC!!!


Baby Wipes


2 cups hot water
1 - 2 T baby shampoo
2 T baby oil
1 roll paper towels


Remove cardboard form center of towels and cut entire roll into half. Mix water, shampoo, and oil and pour over paper towels. Store in air tight container. Use best quality of paper towel available.

And especially for missionaries!


Unleavened Bread for Communion


2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
2/3 cups shortening
6 T milk
Combine flour and salt. Cut in shortening with a fork. With fork, mix in milk. Form into ball and let rest 5 minutes. Heat oven to 180* C ( about 375* F) Roll dough out to 1/8 inch thickness. Score dough into 1 inch squares without cutting completely through. Prick each square 2 or 3 times with a fork. Bake for 10 minutes or until lightly browned.

21 comments:

blank said...

My question is off topic, but not off topic completely. When in Amazon or other remote places, how do you keep from getting eaten by misquitos? I'm sure OFF is not exactly handy and would most likely get very expensive to have ot use constantly.

Mountain Mama said...

Thanks for sharing your recipes. I will have to tell my granddaughter's about the baby wipes. I had no idea you could make your own.

~~Deby said...

Thank you for all of these, Rita.
Deby

Papa Frank said...

Thanks for the recipes JM!!!

Sarah Joy said...

You are "DA BOMB"!

Thank you for the recipes! I'm particularly interested in the ricotta cheese recipe.

Someone gave me a BIMI cookbook, and it has some great recipes for convenience items that are hard to find overseas. I've used it MUCH.

Theophilus said...

hehe
play dough
mom has had to learn to make stuff too
like brown sugar

Nina in Portugal said...

What a treasure you have given me! Thanks so much....I plan to make the Teriyaki Sauce today!

Thursday's Child said...

Thanks for sharing! I've found recipes like these to be handy over here too. A bit of home for a fraction of the cost. :)

Tori Leslie said...

Hey those are great recipes. Does the Ranch really taste like Ranch?

I'm gonna save those, thanks!

CaraqueƱa said...

Hey Rita! Where are you?

Humble wife said...

Excellent! I will be using these too!
Jennifer

Brenda said...

This is great. I will tag this page and save some of those for myself. Personally though, I am happy not to have to make mayonaise any more. It tastes better, but its not as easy!

I want to know about the brown sugar theophilus talks about. We have not been able to get it in Paraguay for a while.

Jane said...

Great recipes! Thanks for sharing!

Harry said...

Interesting recipes. I find that I like the powdered mustard without out any additions. As for the unleavened bread, my family has always depended on the good people at Manischewitz. But then, my family has never lived in the Venezuelan rain forest.

fofinha said...

May I just say thank you. I was just chatting with a friend today about taco mix since I cannot get it her in Southern Brazil. With my husband being a native pastor, he is an associate pastor right now, if he gets a church of his own, the communion bread recipe will come in SUPER handy. Thank you again. I love the blog and pray that God continues to shower His many blessings on you and your family.

The Merry Widow said...

I'm copying this post for sure!
Might post it over at http://sensiblefolks.blogspot.com/, with attribution and a great big hat tip!

tmw

her said...

Thanks for the recipes! Got onto your blog after I finished an online bible study..very interesting and I lovedthe "what people want" you tube video...will haveto show that to my minister husband!

What do you use as repellant from the misquitos in the jungle.

Check out my blog anytime...will pray for you tonight.

Joy, John 15:11 DeeDee (Georgia, USA)

Findalis said...

Have you thought about writing a cookbook?

Unknown said...

neat! I hadn't seen some of these.

Anonymous said...

Hermana! Como estas? Yo tango una pregunta. Van a venir para el cuatro de julio? Gracias!

ExploreColorado said...

Peanut butter and Apple Pie were the two items I missed when I was in Bolivia. Three months isn't very long to do without an item, so I managed. You're very resourseful. Good work coming up with a way to still enjoy your stateside roots.
Vickie