Fat Frog Diary

  Homemade Spice Blends from AllRecipes.com I love spice blends I make myself, and not just because I save a ton of money. I know what's going into my spice blends and can make adjustments if needed. For instance, I'm slightly allergic to rosemary and both my roommate and I can't stand cilantro. These adjustments are important to us, since they truly affect our enjoyment of food.  These links below are my go-to recipes for some of my favorite spice blends, plus a few I'm dying to try too! Who says an old dog can't learn new tricks?  Homemade Spice Blend Recipes (allrecipes.com)   Homemade Seasoned Salt Recipe (allrecipes.com) (1) How to Make Pumpkin Spice (Pumpkin Pie Spice)! - YouTube   4 DIY Spice Blends | Recipes (tasty.co) In a previous recent post on September 12, I mentioned making your own blends to keep around in Ziploc snack bags. Well, I'm correcting myself. I have an alternative place to store your single-use or small batch seasoning blends. Pop one o...

  Sweet Quick Bread Mix Not only does this make a great "shelf special", it's a gift you can give with a few additions and a card.      Recipe Notes:  Preheat oven to 325F. To make the bread, use 3-1/2 cups of the mix. Add 2 eggs, 1/3 cup of vegetable oil, 1 tsp of vanilla or other flavoring, and enough liquid like juice, milk, or water to moisten. Keep in mind that your add-in like pumpkin, banana or zucchini may also have moisture inherent to the add-in, so you may want to hold off adding liquid until after you've included your add-in. Nuts may be rolled in the powder mix before beginning the recipe to avoid them sinking to the bottom. On average, most sweet breads take about an hour to bake in a standard loaf pan.    Personal Notes: As seen in the picture, the possibilities are varied and may be adjusted to fit what's seasonally available. Carrot-Orange loaf in the spring, Zucchini Bread in early summer, Pumpkin Bread with Pumpkin Spices...

 SLOPPY JOE SEASONING MIX and PANTRY GOOPS This one is a good one for keeping handy in the pantry. There will always be nights when you can barely manage to shuffle into the kitchen to cook a meal for yourself, much less something nutritious and filling for anyone else in your household.  While the recipe for the seasoning mix says to create a foil packet and label it, I recommend instead a small snack-sized Ziploc bag.  That way you can create several bags at once to keep on hand for those nights when you might be able to manage something quick and easy in the electric skillet.  Now, let's take this concept of "dinner on the shelf" a step further. Why buy boxed products to make up a dish full of chemicals when you can have your own ready on the shelf?  Think of the different boxes of dinner "options" available in the grocery aisles. Most of them are a starch (pasta or rice) in one container, a seasoning packet made of seasonings appropriate for that particular ...

RUSSIAN REFRESHER This delicious hot drink was the thing to give your friends and family in a fancy jar set  back in the 1970's. I loved it as a kid, and my mother was happy to make a big batch every fall.  Tang can be purchased via Amazon using this link:  Amazon.com : Tang Jumbo Orange Naturally Flavored Powdered Drink Mix 2 Count 63 Oz Canisters : Grocery & Gourmet Food My choice for the lemonade mix is Countrytime Lemonade, but you can decide based on what's available to you.  Please note that I personally substituted instant tea for 1 cup of the orange drink mix (aka Tang.)  Get creative with this, especially for any tea drinkers in your friends and family. What if you sealed this in a fancy jar and included it with a fun and fanciful tea set for a host(ess) gift or housewarming? 

 ONION SEASONING MIX Love this! I hate paying extra for a box of two envelopes of onion seasoning mix when I use this several times a month at minimum! If you can't find the Bon Appetit Seasoning, try this: Simply Organic All Purpose Seasoning . I've also substituted Bea Monde seasoning in a pinch.  So easy! Save a bottle from the recycle bin to keep it in. I keep mine in a pint jar. Yes, I use that much! Each foil bundle saves me so much time and money. 

I keep a giant pickle glass pickle jar of this in my pantry at all times, winter and summer. You'll want some big bowls and some crusty bread for this one. This bean mix works well any time you want some extra "filler" in your soup, stews, and chili. If you don't have a giant pickle jar like I do, then make up 2-cup increment zip-top bags, label, and store in the pantry for immediate use.  Calico Bean Soup Note: while you can boil then soak your beans overnight, a faster method is to use your Instant Pot. To the two cups of beans add 4 cups of water. Add salt, if desired. Lock down the lid, set to Pressure Cook, 25 minutes. Walk away. Natural Pressure Release (NPR) for at least 30 minutes after it's done, then release any excess pressure. Drain the beans, keeping them in the pot.  Add:  8 cups water 1-1/2 lb ham hocks or ham bone 1 onion, chopped (about a 1/2 cup or more if you like onions) 1 garlic clove minced or 1/2 tsp garlic powder 1 tsp chili powder 1 28-oz ...

  Canned' or 'Jarred' Butter!! I'm re-sharing this post because I've been hearing and reading about a possible butter shortage and continuing high prices for butter. I don't know if that will happen (I hope it doesn't), but just in case it does I wanted to share this again to help you all be as prepared as possible for whatever may come... bad weather, shortages, rising food prices, inflation, illness, job insecurity, etc... The more prepared we are the better we can handle whatever comes our way! I firmly believe we should 'Be Prepared - Not Scared'!! Before I go on I want to post a portion of what I've written in my 'about' section... I'm not an expert, but I am a wife, a mother, a grandmother, and a great-grandmother who likes to cook and bake and store up for my family! I'll be sharing some favorite recipes. I will also be sharing canning recipes - methods - and pictures. Some of the canning recipes I share may not be FDA or U...

I don't talk about my diet much on Facebook. No one gives a rat's patootey about your diet except someone else on the diet. Your friends will applaud when you've lost a few pounds, but this is a long-haul marathon slog. In fact, it's a full lifestyle change. This is kind of like how vegans seem to brag about their diet choice and post recipes like they expect you to join in. The most I could ever manage was a lacto-ovo-pesco-pollotarian. (Willing to give up beef and pork, but will eat chicken, fish, eggs, and milk.) I've been back on a low-carb diet for months, and transitioning over to the Phase One of the pre-surgical diet has been relatively smooth. Do I miss my carbs? YOU BETCHA! Especially my morning bowl of hot cereals. Everything else I can live without, but that's a lifetime habit to have a bowl of carbs in the morning to fuel the day. I don't even miss red meat right now. This may change, but so far I'm okay with just fish, eggs, beans, white ...

While I can agree with most of these, I have to admit there are some (like clam juice) that I consider specialty items. I wouldn't keep them in stock. That's the way we roll here. However, overall this list pretty much guarantees a way to have most of what you need on hand. http://www.savingdinner.com/news/UltimatePantryStockUp.html Check it out and see if you don't agree.  I think I'm going to merge this list with my regular grocery list and see how well it matches.