I've decided to make this resolution into a challenge for 2009.....care to join?
The challenge - take one item from your pantry (or freezer) every month (that's just 12 items people :) and reproduce it from scratch. Soups, sauces, dressings, crackers....be creative (anyone have a recipe for pretzels?)
As much as possible use local sources for the ingredients of your homemade version as well as garden produce. But even if you don't have a garden, using fresh produce and no additives is a huge improvement over store brands.
Post on your blog (or email me) the recipes you used, photos of the process, and what kind of lessons you learned. I'll do a monthly recap with links to the blogs so we can all benefit....my evil plan here is to get recipes from people way smarter than me :)
Let me know if you care to join....anytime!
...and for those of you who already have a pantry full of homemade soups, sauces and snacks...feel free to join and share your success stories with us.
AMMENDED (with special thanks to Chorus for advice and encouragement)....I've decided to add house-cleaning and body care products to the challenge...hey, I keep my shampoo in the pantry!
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12 comments:
This is such a nifty idea! I may not get to it every month, but I definitely want to try! We have a great farmer's market here in Prairie City, so maybe I'll try to get my ingredients there...
:)
Yipee Yahoo...my first participant!
Thanks so much for deciding to give this a try...you just made my day :)
Let me know when you start and I'll post a link to your blog.
Meg - I love this idea! (I'm behind on your blog and just catching up today).
I have loads of homemade recipes I should send you - including an excellent Potato Soup that is my Gold Standard.
And this reminds me of what I'm thinking about giving up for Lent: High Fructose Corn Syrup and trans fats. Though I don't purposefully consume these things I do believe that the more "from scratch" I can cook the better my health with be!
Sadly, I can't do a lot of your suggestions (buying local or from my garden) right now because I live in Holland MI an it's 10 degrees outside. :)
We should email more: nienhuisdj@gmail.com
You SO need to send the recipe! I do make potato soup but I'm kind of tired with mine.
And I love your trans-fats/corn syrup ban idea...I would go for that challenge!
Maybe I should amend this challenge to not concentrate on local so much and put the emphasis on the 'from scratch' idea. I'll see if I can re-word it that way.
thanks for stopping by...and I sent you an email :)
Fun! I've been working on this slowly already, but this will give me a specific goal to work on. I'll probably start with chicken and veggie stock, because I've that before, and I just ran out again. :)
Woowoo we have another participant...Yippee yahoo! Can't wait to see what everyone comes up with. I'm making the soup this weekend....must go get mushrooms!
I am very intriqued by this ... I may try to play along .... we have an excellent open-all-the-time farmers market here which I should take more advantage of:)
how hard is it to roast your own peanuts???
Now we have 5! Welcome Mandy (I'm taking maybe as a yes...I'm very needy:)
Not sure about the peanuts (and I hadn't actually thought about it til you asked) but I don't think it'll be that hard. I roast my pecans in the oven (in the shell) because we don't spray and I can't always get to them right away....don't want the bugs to eat them before I can. Even in the shell they get a nice roasted taste to them. I'm sure the internet will provide plenty of instruction when I get to that point, but thanks for reminding me that they will need to be 'cooked'.
ps. and everyone please email me (address on profile page) when you post your recipes etc. I'll do a once a month (or week?) recap of what everyone is doing with links to your blogs....thanks!
I love this. Mr Chiots and I started doing this last year and we have only a few products in our pantries that we purchased. We even make our own butter and sometimes our own cheese. It's been fun, I hope you had a lot of people get into this. I'll be trying to add a few more homemade items to my lists this year, including cleaning & personal care products.
My favorite homemade alternative is to tomato soup. Here's a link to my blog post about it.
Except on the recipe when we warm in up I don't add milk & baking soda, I add chicken stock instead and a tablespoon of homemade butter.
http://chiotsrun.com/2008/10/01/tomato-soup-success/
I just discovered this post - love the challenge. I did this cold turkey on 1/1/09 and have only bought a few things all year not from farmers. I make all our food from scratch, now lotion and hoping to soon add soap. I already make our household cleaner from pantry items and essential oils as well. Love it!
Here is the link to the lotion (really a cream): http://www.sustainableeats.com/2009/12/12/body-lotion/
Wow....I'm impressed! I plan on continuing this as one of next years resolutions also....maybe I should plan on using your blog as a resource :)
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