Top Ten Experiments I Want To Conduct In My Kitchen:
1) Yogurt--like I said, it's in the crockpot. :D Thanks to Audrey from Trugars for talking me through this one.
2) Sour cream--Starving Student Survivor put up a tutorial on how to make this on her blog and got the wheels in my head turning.
3) Freezer jam--I mentioned previously how Jane did this with strawberries.
4) Canning--a step up from freezer jam. I don't have the *few* things you need for this. Do you can fruits or veggies? Of course, the Pioneer Woman has a colorful tutorial on it and she says it's not too hard.
5) Cream of Mushroom Soup--I've been hesitant to make a big batch of this because I hear it doesn't freeze well and I'm not sure how I would use a big batch up in a week's time. Do you know of any recipes for this that taste good and freeze well? If you're using it for baking, does it even matter if it freezes well? Hmmmm.
6) Vegetable Stock--I am saving veggie scraps in my freezer in hopes of making this.
7) Chipotle Salsa--For my Chipotle Chicken with Peppers, of course.
8) Flour tortillas--Publix sells these jokers for $2.89/pkg of 10. I'm sure it's a fraction of the price to make them at home, and they would taste better, too.
9) Pasta--Toni from The Happy Housewife has instructions on this. My sister Michaela had the chance to make pasta with some ladies when she went to Argentina. Doesn't that sound like fun? Not sure if I could pull it off everytime we wanted to eat pasta, but...
10) Butter--This one is really ambitious and not something I plan on incorporating into every day life, but, I think it would be really cool to make at least once! Did you ever read Laura Ingalls' description of it in Little House In The Big Woods
? Maybe I'll do this as a homeschool lesson when my kids are old enough. :DHave you tried your hand at any of these? Anything in particular you want to experiment with in your kitchen?
P.S. It's Top Ten Tuesday, so head on over to OhAmanda's and join the fun. :)
YUM!! First, tortillas ARE really easy. Go for it. And I've made pasta before, and it's really easy too (freeze or dry to use at a later date, and then you're not making it each time).
ReplyDeleteNow, you've inspired me. I want to make homemade sour cream (which I absolutely LOVE and eat way too much of)!!! And I'm curious about people's experiences with storing Cream of Mushroom soup too....
I actually made butter when I was a kid. It was an activity my mom set up for my brother's boy scout troop. It was done with a mason jar and this wooden churn. I remember feeling like it took a long time, but I was thinking about trying it again. It's definitely something good to do with kids. We went through a phase where we made all the butter, but then it got not as much fun I guess. I wonder if my mom still has those churns somewhere...
ReplyDeleteAs far as pasta, I tried to make stuff shells once. I found it really frustrating. My pasta dough would very rapidly shrink every time I rolled it out or tried to cut it. I'd be interested to know how it goes for you though.
would love to try the yogurt. putting that on my summer to do list!
ReplyDeleteYay! I hope the yogurt and sour cream work well for you. I've actually had two or three crockpot yogurt failures in a row, and so I need to do some research on how to fix that.
ReplyDeleteI love the idea of saving veggie scraps for stock. And I just started reading Little House in the Big Woods to my son. I think it's fascinating! I love that Laura's mother had six chores, one a day for the week, and spent an entire day each week just making butter. And how hard she worked to make it look pretty on the table!
We are reading Little House in the Big Woods now, so the description of making butter is fresh in my mind! I, too, would like to learn how to can vegetables, but I am going to save that goal for next summer. My goal this summer was to grow my first garden, which I am doing, so next year I'll figure out which vegetables I can make last through the winter!
ReplyDeleteI love your list. I do canning and I've made yogurt, but not in the crockpot. I'll have to try that one. For your cream of mushroom soup, I'd put it in casseroles and then freeze it. I just received my copy of So Easy to Preserve from the Georgia Extension Office. It is FULL of ideas and I'm glad I bought it. Here's a link.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.uga.edu/setp/
I'll be blogging about this book in an upcoming post. (I'm not getting any advertising money for it, it is just a really good book)
I'll be looking forward to hearing about your projects!
Nancy
http://www.howtohomemaker.com/
This is a good list. I can all of the time and have started posting some canning and freezing tutorials on my blog. I have 7 quarts of green beans in the pressure canner right now. I will probably do another 7 before I go to bed. (Late night tonight) Have fun with all of your experiments.
ReplyDeleteGreat list. I haven't done most of these but want to (like yogurt & tortillas). One thing I do make all the time is freezer jam. It is super easy & uses way less sugar than regular jam. I've made raspberry & blueberry and both recipes are on my blog.
ReplyDeleteLove it! I'd love to try all of it, too! So, how'd the yogurt turn out?
ReplyDeleteFunny you mention about the Cream of Mushroom Soup. I made a Chicken Casserole with homemade Cream of Chicken & froze the batch - I was disappointed & pretty certain it was the homemade sauce, but not completely sure. Sounds like it might have been though based on your what you've heard - that's a bummer!!
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness, I loved the yogurt! I sweetened it with some honey and sugar and vanilla extract...
ReplyDelete