Ranch dressing

We have trying to find a good ranch dressing. This was the third attempt and I really, really like it. It is a little more runny than the storebought stuff but that might be because of my homemade buttermilk. But it was SO good on my french fries last night!

Ranch Dressing
1 C mayo- I used my homemade!
1 C buttermilk
1/8 tsp paprika
1/8 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp dry mustard
1/4 tsp alt
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp dill
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1 T parsley

Blend it all together and the enjoy on everything from french fries to salads to carrots. Store in refrigerator.

Yogurt from Powdered Milk

The excitement of finding all these ways to use powdered milk seems to never end. I had a little bit of plain yogurt in the fridge from the beginning of last week and my kids LOVE yogurt. I thought I would give yogurt from powdered milk another try. I say another try because years ago I attempted it and it never, ever turned out. Well, true to form the first batch was disgusting. So curdled and gross. I am still not sure what happened. I watched some stuff on the internet and decided to try again with the very last yogurt that I had.
Now I have a yogurt maker but I did find video of how you can do it in your crock pot from Crystal Godfrey at Everday Food Storage.
So here is my take on it. I can't wait until I can go buy groceries again just to get some new starter.

Yogurt from Powdered Milk
2 3/4 C nonfat dry milk
2 qts water
1/2 C plain yogurt- make sure it says 'contains' live and active cultures otherwise it won't work

I mixed about 4 cups water and the powdered milk in my blender until it was completely incorporated. Then I put it a pan on the stove with the other water. Heat this to 180 degrees - I used a candy thermometer- and stir often so it doesn't scorch. After it reaches 180 remove it from the heat and let it set until it reaches about 110- 115 degrees. I put a lid on mine and went about my housework. It took about 2 hours to come down that far, but mine was also in a cast iron pan. A regular pan shouldn't take that long.
Take out 2 c warm milk and mix with 1/2 c plain yogurt. Then add it to the remaining milk. Put in a yogurt maker and let sit for 5-8 hours. Mine was completely set up in 5 hours and I am thinking next time I make it that I will check it at 4 hours to see how it is.

This makes an amazing parfait with a little honey, berries and granola. I used my maple granola to top it. A great way to start my day!

Whipped Topping from Powdered Milk

Wow- two posts in one day. This one is pretty dang close to whipped topping. It will definitely do the job and the kids that tasted it loved it. It takes a little bit of time to make so be sure to give yourself a couple hours before you need it.

Whipped Topping from Powdered Milk

6 T powdered milk
2 tsp plain gelatin (you could probably used flavored too)
1/4 C sugar
1 C water
1 tsp vanilla

Dissolve milk and gelatin in boiling water. Add the sugar. Stir and chill until it jells. Beat the mixture until it looks like whipped cream. Add vanilla and beat again. Store in the refrigerator until use.

Magic Chocolate Crumb Bars

This no grocery shopping experiment is ruining my diet. Today I made these MAGIC bars. The reason they are magic is because the sweetened condensed milk was made from nonfat powdered milk. I made it yesterday and the kids were all over it. Eating the condensed milk by the spoon. They continued that through out today. I think it was a success. I had some too and it was so good. Better than the real thing.SERIOUSLY!!! Condensed milk is over $3 a can here in AK. I just made it for pennies. Three times!!! Yay!!!


Magic Chocolate Crumb Bars
1 C butter, softened
1 3/4 C flour (I used fresh ground whole wheat)
1/2 C sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 C chocolate chips
1 can(14 oz) or recipe (below) of sweetened condensed milk
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 C chopped pecans (or your favorite nut)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9x13 in pan.
Cut the flour, sugar, and salt into the softened butter until it resembles crumbs
Press 2 C of the crumbs in the pan and bake for 10 min or until edges are brown.
Combine 1 C chocolate whips with sweetened condensed milk in a saucepan over low heat until it is smooth. Remove from heat and add vanilla. Pour over hot crust.
Stir the nuts into the remaining crumb mixture and crumble over the chocolate layer.
Bake for an additional 25 minutes or until center is set.
Chill and enjoy!


Sweetened Condensed Milk
1 T butter
1 C sugar
1/2 C boiling water
1 C powdered milk
In your combine the butter, sugar and water and blend just until the sugar is mostly dissolved. Add the powdered milk and blend until smooth. Use immediately in recipe or store in the refrigerator until use. Or you could just spoon it into your mouth! :)

Homemade Mayo!

We are doing a little experiment at our house over the next seven weeks. No grocery shopping. Zero. Nada. None! As a result we are going to run out of a couple of things and I get to figure out how to make other things work. Well, today I decided to try my hand at homemade mayonnaise. I tried to make mayo a few weeks ago and it was an utter failure. As you can see today was a success and I can't be more thrilled with how it turned out.
I did notice on the regular mayo container that it contains lemon juice. Once we run out of this I will make more with lemon juice and update this post. But this is pretty dang good tasting all by itself!

Homemade Mayonnaise
1 whole egg
2 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 T vinegar
1 C oil
Combine egg, sugar, salt, vinegar and 1/4 c of the oil in a blender. Blend it together really well and then as slowly as you possibly can drizzle the remaining oil in. Turn the blender up to a decent speed. It should thicken as you add the oil and you may have to continue turning up the blender to get it all mixed in.
Enjoy with your favorite boiled eggs or tuna! Yay!!!

Never ending Buttermilk

I am forever running out of buttermilk and that stuff is expensive. I was reading somewhere on the internet thatyou can have a never ending supply of buttermilk if you have a little cultured buttermilk to start and regular milk. So I decided to give it a try. Last night I added buttermilk to milk and this morning I have a beautiful, creamy, delicious smelling jar of buttermilk. I am so excited. This is going to take my baking and cooking to another level.

I have powdered milk coming in a few days and I am going to experiment and see if I can make buttermilk from the starter and powdered milk. I hope it works. I am so super excited about this discovery.

Anyway, here is how you do it:

Never ending Buttermilk
1 part buttermilk
3 parts milk

Mix together and let sit on the counter for 24 hours but no more than 36 hours. Then keep it in the refrigerator until you need it. Once you need to make a new batch make sure you saved some from this batch and do it all again! If it doesn't get thick and creamy than the starter is bad and you will need to start again.

UPDATE: I just made this with the starter and nonfat dry powdered milk and it worked great! I am so excited about this because I was concerned I would have to buy regular milk to make buttermilk. Life is good right now!