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Substitutions from Grandmother’s Recipe File (Kathy in FL)
- 1 t. baking powder = 1/4 t. baking soda + 1/2 t. cream of tartar
- 1 c. granulated sugar = 1 c. packed brown sugar OR 1 c. corn syrup - 1/4 c. liquid in the recipe OR 1 c. molasses - 1/4 c. liquid in the recipe OR 1 c. honey - 1/4 c. liquid in the recipe
- 1 c. sweet milk = 1 c. sour milk + 1/2 t. soda
- 1 c. sour milk = 1 c. sweet milk + 1 T. of vinegor or lemon juice
- 1 c. buttermilk = 1 c. sour milk or 1 c. yogurt
- 1 c. light cream = 7/8 c. skim milk + 3 T. butter
- 1 c. heavy cream = 3/4 c. skim milk + 1/3 c. butter
- 1 c. sour cream = 7/8 c. sour milk + 3 T. butter
- 1 c. bread crumbs + 3/4 c. cracker crumbs
- 1 t. lemon juice = 1/2 t. vinegar
Brown Sugar (Kathy in FL)
- 2 tablespoon molasses
- 1 cup granulated sugar
Add molasses to sugar and stir with a fork. Store brown sugar in an airtight container to keep it soft.
Boullion (TT in Ada OK)
Next time you have roast beef, get a really large one. Add whatever you like. I use very little or no salt, pepper, garlic, onion—or just add an inexpensive pkg of dried onion soup. Cover with water and put on a tight lid or cover with foil. Check to keep liquid over meat. When well done, and meat is falling apart, ladle out your supper. Cut or tear what’s left over into blender sized chunks and return to broth. Cover and refrigerate over night. Skim off fat which will all rise to top. I save this and portion it out into the broth which I freeze. When there’s enough to can, I can the broth. Pull out the meat and squeeze out the moisture in a towel or by pressing in a colander—put this juice in the broth, it’s the yummiest part. Puree the meat, and onions, carrots, etc., if you’ve added any. Spread this on a lightly greased cookie sheet and dry at about 130 degrees F in the oven with the door propped open with a wooden spoon. A range fan or better yet an electric one on a stool to blow across the top of the oven door really speeds this up. Stir and tear it apart about every 1 - 3 hours until it is drier than jerky, almost or at the crumbly and crisp stage. Chop this to powder in the blender, or save as jerked out chunks. If ground to a powder, you can put it in a sterile jar in the cupboard and it will last a couple of months at least. A teaspoon in a cup of boiled water will stir up to a really good broth for a sick person. Add to liquid for cooking vegetables or rice or beans. Sprinkle into a can of vegetables if there’s no heat source to cook for a nutritious meal in a real crisis. Jerked-out chunks can be soaked over night and then add veggies and cook for beef-based soup. This works with boiled, boned chicken or turkey, also.
Butter - How to make butter go further (Kathy in FL)
You can’t use this for baking, but if you are trying to come up with a way to make your butter go further for spreading then you might want to try this. For every cup of butter, mix it with 1/2 cup of olive oil.
Another variation is for every cup of butter, mix with 1/2 cup olive oil and 1/2 cup flaxseed oil. I prefer the flavor of just using the butter and olive oil, but the flaxseed is supposed to have the essential omega fats for brain function.
BUTTERMILK SUBSTITUTE (Kathy in FL)
- 1 cup water
- 1/3 cup powdered milk
- 1 Tbsp vinegar or lemon juice
Stir together and give the vinegar or lemon juice a moment or two to “sour” the milk.
Cheese Substitute - Day Cheese (Kathy in FL)
Mix 2 2/3 cups of instant dried milk to about 4 cups of water in a double boiler. If it foams, skim it off or let it settle. Turn on the oven and add a little bit of lemon juice or about 2 T. of vinegar. Trick here is you have to keep stirring the milk to keep it from scorching. DO NOT bring to a boil, you want it just under a boil. Your milk should “curdle” so that you have a mostly clear liquid (whey) and a soft curd. If that isn’t happening try adding a little more lemon juice or another tablespoon of vinegar. Once it has curdled, turn the heat off and pour the stuff into a wire strainer. The whey will run off. There was a little bit of a language barrier between me and the lady giving me this recipe. She said that you could use the whey for other things … but she was talking so fast and using words I didn’t know, so you will have to look up that one on your own. <grin> Once the whey is drained off the curds, rinse with cold water to remove the last of the whey.
Season with salt … or salt and pepper if desired. You can eat it “as is” or use it in pasta recipes.
Cheese Substitute - Quick Soft Pressed Cheese (Kathy in FL)
- 2 c. boiling water
- 1–1/2 c. dry milk powder
- 3 T. vegetable oil
- 1 c. buttermilk
- 3–4 T. fresh lemon juice
Blend water, milk and oil, allowing foam to settle slightly. If colored cheese is desired, add ½ tablet cheese coloring (or cake decorating paste color) while blending. Pour into hot saucepan coated with a nonstick spray and heat to at least 160 degrees. Add lemon juice and continue to stir until mixture curdles. Pour into a cheesecloth lined colander. Rinse curds with warm water, then salt to taste. Place cheese in cloth between two plates or spoon into a cheese press. Apply weight and let sit for ½ hour or longer, depending on how firm you want the cheese to be. Remove from plates or cheese press, rinse, wrap in plastic and refrigerate. Use within one month or freeze. This cheese can be sliced, grated, or crumbled. For Smoky Cheese, add ½ t. Liquid Smoke flavoring and ½−1 t. salt after rinsing curds.
Cheese Substitute - Soft Cottage Cheese (Kathy in FL)
- 1 1/2 cups non-instant dry milk
- 2 cups hot water
- 4–5 Tbls. white vinegar or fresh lemon juice
Blend water and dry milk powder and pour into Pam’d saucepan (or use a non-stick one) over low heat. Sprinkle vinegar or lemon juice slowly around edges while stirring, just until milk curdles, separating into curds and whey. Rinse in hot, then cold water, press out liquid, and salt if desired.
COFFEE SUBSTITUTES (Kathy in FL)
RYE COFFEE: Place 2 cups of Rye seed grain on a cookie sheet and roast in the oven until the grain become nicely browned. Cool and grind coarsely in any hand mill or coffee grinder. Make coffee as usual only use the Rye Grain substitute.
SOY COFFEE: Roast 2 cups of Soy Beans, (cleaned and picked through for debris) on a cookie sheet at 200 degrees F until they are the nice, dark brown color of roasted coffee. This will take several hours. Grind them medium fine with a coffee grinder or your blender to release the flavor. Tightly store in a cool place to retain the unique flavor. Boil about 1 quart of water and add 1/2 cup of the grounded beans, adding a dash of salt. Simmer for about 25 minutes or longer for stronger flavor. This Soy Coffee can be reheated the next day.
Dried Eggs as Egg Substitutes
Note on dried eggs---I baked a pound cake and it turned out good but did not rise like my normal cake. It is a heavy cake butter and sour cream. Read in Peggy Layton’s book she has a pound cake and she calls for 1 cup of dried eggs. So last night I made brownies and I used instead of one egg, powdered eggs to amount to 3 eggs and it worked good. So it seems for baking it will take more than you would think. (Love Texas)
What I found was that on items that call for a lot of eggs, I needed to increase the powdered eggs … because the powdered egg measurement appeared to be for a “small” egg and most of us use medium to extra large eggs any more. Recipes that only used the egg as a binding agent or similar did just fine. At least in my experience. (Kathy in FL)
Egg Substitute 1 (Kathy in FL)
- 6 egg whites (or the equivalent from powdered egg whites)
- 1/4 c. instant nonfat dry milk powder
- 2 t. water
- 2 t. oil
- 1/4 ground turmeric
Combine all ingredients in blender and process for 30 seconds. Use immediately or refrigerate. Note: I’m not sure how much equals one egg, but would think that it would be similar to the measurements on the artificial liquid eggs that you can buy at the grocery store.
EGG SUBSTITUTE 2 (Kathy in FL) (from WaltonFeed site)
For each egg needed, place in blender:
- 1 heaping tablespoon of whole organic flax seed, blended until it becomes a fine meal
- Add 1/4 cup cold water and blend 2–3 minutes until thickened and has the consistency of eggs
Each 1/4 cup of flax seed mixture will replace one egg in baking.
Fat Substitute (for Baking) (I’m-workin’-on-it)
You can substitute white beans for fats in baking. They do change the end product some. I haven’t tried it myself but know someone who has and she said her family didn’t know the difference.
Method 1: Cover beans with water and cook until very soft. Mash until consistency of shortening (use blender). Replace in recipes cup for cup. Example: Recipe calls for 1 cup margarine - use 1 cup mashed beans. Liquid may be added to adjust the consistency. Mashed beans do not keep long in the fridge, so freeze them.
Method 2: Grind beans in your wheat grinder. Store in air-tight container. Replace fat in the recipe cup for cup as above. You will need to add liquid since the ground beans will be part of the dry ingredients.
FLOUR SUBSTITUTES (Kathy in FL)
In standard recipes, one of the following may be substituted for one cup of wheat flour:
- 1 cup corn flour
- 3/4 cup coarse cornmeal
- 7/8 cup rice flour
- 1 scant cup fine cornmeal
- 5/8 cup potato flour
There are some problems in the use of substitutes for wheat flour. The following suggestions will improve the eating quality of the final product:
- Rice flour and cornmeal tend to have a grainy texture. A smoother texture may be obtained by mixing the rice flour or cornmeal with the liquid called for in the recipe, bringing this mixture to a boil, and cooling it before adding the other ingredients.
- Soy flour must always be used in combination with another flour, not as the only flour in a recipe. It has no gluten, and by itself has an unappealing taste.
- When using other than wheat flour in baking, longer and slower baking time is required. This is particularly true when the product is made without milk and eggs.
- Because they have little or no gluten, substitutes for wheat flour do not make satisfactory yeast breads.
- Muffins or biscuits, when made with other than wheat flour, are of better texture if baked in small sizes.
- Dryness is common characteristic of cakes made with flours other than wheat flours. Moisture may be preserved by frosting or storing cakes in closed containers.
Garlic Butter Substitute (Kathy in FL)
- 1 lb or so of margarine substitute (see recipe for margarine substitute using powdered milk & oil)
- 1 head of garlic, minced
- salt
- ground black pepper
Let “butter” stand at room temperature until soft, if you have stored it in the fridge. Meanwhile, clean and mince an entire head of garlic. Put the “butter” and the garlic into a mixing bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Blend well with the back of a spoon or a rigid spatula.
You can also half, quarter, etc. this recipe quite easily depending on the amount of garlic “butter” you want. If you don’t have fresh garlic, try reconstituting dried, minced garlic. Another variation would be to roast a head of garlic and then use that to make the garlic “butter.”
This stuff works wonders with cornbread, fry bread, skillet cakes, etc. Also worked pretty well on plain, cooked pasta.
Margarine Substitute Using Powdered Milk (Kathy in FL)
- roughly 1/2 cup powdered milk
- roughly 1 1/2 cups of chosen cooking oil
- 2/3 cups of water
- couple of drops of yellow food coloring if desired
Mix water and food coloring with powdered milk until completely dissolved. Drizzle the cooking oil into the milk/water mixture and whisk as you drizzle. You need a nice, even incorporation of the oil. If your mixture is still too soft for your preference, you can mix in a little additional powdered milk. You can also add just a little bit of salt if you desire.
Notes: Found this and tried it using several different types of cooking oil (olive, canola, corn, etc.) and they all worked equally well. It was actually the method of incorporating that made a bigger difference. Use a small whisk and really whisk the oil in (incorporating) as you drizzle it into the water/milk mixture.
I added some butter flavor flakes (Molly McButter) and a little bit of salt to the margarine substitute. Since it was in liquid form, I put it in a spray margarine bottle and used it that way. (Hillbilly Bill)
Other Margarine Substitutes (Kathy in FL)
You can substitute applesauce or prune baby food in many recipes where they require margarine.
Marshmallow Substitute (for rice crispie squares, etc.) (Kathy in FL)
For the marshmallow part of the equation … instead of marshmallows use canned “Fluff” or mallow cream.
Milk Gravy (Kathy in FL)
- 1 cup powdered milk, mixed with 3 cups water
- 1 tablespoon margarine
- 3 heaping tablespoons flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Mix the water and powdered milk together. Add the flour and salt. Cook over medium heat until the gravy is thickened. Add the margarine and stir until smooth.
NUT AND SEED MILK (Kathy in FL)
- 1/2 c. sunflower seeds
- 1/4 c. walnuts
- 1/4 c. almonds
- 1 c. pure water
In an electric blender or food processor, blend ingredients until smooth.
Oil Substitute (lauraB)
Applesauce works great as an oil substitute also.
Powdered/Confectioner Sugar (Kathy in FL)
For powdered or confectioners’ sugar, just place granulated sugar in a processor and process until it is the consistency you want.
Sour Cream Substitute (Kathy in FL)
To make SOUR CREAM, add one tablespoon vinegar or lemon juice to one cup (8 fluid ounces) of undiluted evaporated milk and allow it to stand for five minutes.
Whipped Evaporated Milk (Kathy in FL)
- 1 cup evaporated milk
- 2 Tbsp lemon juice
Thoroughly chill evaporated milk. Add lemon juice and whip until stiff. Sweeten and flavor as desired. Makes 3 cups.
Whipped Topping Substitute (RipleyRules)
In the absence of power, and, therefore, refrigeration, this could obviously only be done during the winter. ;)
- 1/2 c instant nonfat dry milk
- 1/2 c icewater
- 2 tsp sugar
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
Chill small bowl and beaters. Combine milk powder with water in bowl. Beat until stiff, adding sugar gradually. Add vanilla. Serve. Makes about 2 c.
Whipped Topping (Kathy in FL)
- 6 tablespoons powdered milk
- 1 cup water
- 2 teaspoons gelatin
- 1 1/2 tablespoons cold water
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Dissolve the milk and gelatin in boiling water. Add sugar, stir, and chill in the refrigerator until it gels. Beat the mixture until it looks like whipped cream. Add vanilla and whip again.
Whipped Topping Substitute (Kathy in FL)
- 1/3 cup Carnation Instant Nonfat Dry Milk
- 1/3 cup ice cold water (might be an issue if the power is out in the middle of summer)
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Chill bowl and beaters of electric mixer in freezer for 15 minutes. (This part might be difficult if the power is out. I didn’t put mine in the freezer and it did take longer for things to get fluffy, but they did fluff eventually). In chilled mixing bowl, combine powdered milk, ice water, sugar, lemon juice and vanilla extract. Beat on high speed until peaks form. (Note: I used a whisk to simulate that the power might be off. Took longer of course, but it did work.) Serves 4.
Yogurt - Home Made Yogurt (Kathy in FL) (from waltonfeed site)
- 3 3/4 cup tap water
- 1 2/3 cups instant non-fat dry milk powder
- 2 to 4 tablespoons plain store-bought yogurt (with active yogurt cultures)
Combine the water and dry milk powder. Heat it to 180 degrees. Cool it to 110 degrees F. Mix in the store bought yogurt. Incubate in a warm place for 4 to 8 hours. This is quite cryptic, for more detailed information, read on. Each cook develops her own way of preparing home made yogurt through trial and error. I am going to describe my method, followed by some other common methods and ideas. But first there are a few things you need to know. Yogurt is cultured from acidophilous bacteria, which you can sometimes buy in powdered form at the health food store. I have never actually seen it, but I’ve heard tell about it. Yogurt can also be cultured from store-bought yogurt which contains “active yogurt cultures” or live bacteria. Read the label and it will tell you if the yogurt contains active cultures or not.
I always use prepared yogurt as my culture. I buy a large container of plain store brand yogurt from the store. I bring it home and scoop it into a couple of icecube trays. Then I freeze it. When it is completely frozen, I take the frozen yogurt cubes and pack them in a plastic freezer bag. Each time I make yogurt, I use one cube as the starter. You can use your own yogurt as a starter too, but eventually it loses it’s power due to the introduction of foreign bacteria, usually after using it about 3 or 4 times. I like to use a new frozen yogurt cube each time I prepare yogurt. I’ve had my best results this way.
When making yogurt with powdered milk, it is good to use more dry milk powder than you would to just make fluid milk. For instance, normally I would use 1 1/3 cups of dry milk powder to make a quart of milk. When I reconstitute milk for yogurt, I add an extra 1/3 cup of dry milk powder, using 1 2/3 cups of dry milk powder for a quart of yogurt. This makes the yogurt thicker and also higher in calcium. Even when preparing yogurt from fluid milk, the results are better if you add a little extra powdered milk for thickness.
To begin, I get out my double boiler. I measure the water (3 3/4 cups) in the top of the double boiler and whisk in the powdered milk (1 2/3 cups). Then I put the lid on top and let it sit for several minutes over the bottom of the double boiler (which is filled with water), heating at medium high heat. Every now and then I check the milk. The water below the milk is boiling. When it looks like the milk is almost ready to boil, I take it off the stove. You can use a candy thermometer if you like. The temperature should be at least 180 degrees F. The reason you heat the milk is to kill off any bacteria which could interfere with the yogurt starter. The few times I have made yogurt without heating the milk first, I wound up with runny yogurt. My best results come when I heat the milk first.
You could heat the milk directly on the stove if you liked. I don’t do this because I have scorched the milk many times this way. Instead, I prefer my double boiler method. Next I take the top of the double boiler, containing the hot milk, out of the bottom, and set it on my washing machine to cool. The washing machine is metal, so it cools the pan down faster. The pan has to cool down to 110 degrees. This is when the bottom of the pan is comfortably warm when you place your hand on it. If the yogurt is too hot, it won’t work, the heat will kill the starter.
While the milk is heating, I take out a large mouth quart size canning jar and place a frozen yogurt cube in it. By the time the milk is cooled down, the starter cube will be thawed. When the milk is cool enough, pour about 1/3 of it into the canning jar over the starter yogurt. Stir it up with a wire whisk or a fork to mix it up completely. The starter yogurt should be totally combined with the milk. Pour in the rest of the cooled milk and stir again. Put a lid on it and shake it up to make sure it is all liquified together. Now it is time to incubate the yogurt.
I do this in my electric oven. I set the stove dial half way between off and two hundred degrees, or at approximately 100 degrees F. The light which signifies the oven is on, pops on for a moment, and then pops off when the temperature is reached. I set my jar of yogurt in the oven and leave it for between 4 and 8 hours, usually overnight, or while I’m out for the day. I take out the yogurt when it is thick and done. It works every time. My yogurt has a very mild flavor, which the kids like better than the sour stuff we used to get from the store.
There are many other ways to incubate yogurt. It should rest undisturbed while it incubates. Some people pour the warm milk combined with the starter, into a large preheated thermos and let it sit overnight. Other folks set the yogurt on top of a warm radiator, or close to a wood stove, or in a gas stove with the pilot operating, or on a heating pad set on low. Sometimes I have placed the jar in a pan filled with warm water, to keep the temperature even. This worked pretty well when I incubated the yogurt next to the wood stove. It kept the yogurt at a uniform temperature, even with occasional drafts from the front door opening and closing. The heating-pad method is supposed to be pretty reliable. You set it on low and then cover the heating pad with a towel, place the yogurt on top of it, and put a large bowl or stew pot upside down over the yogurt. This makes a little tent which keeps the heat in. I don’t have a heating pad, and have never actually used this method myself, but a good friend swears by it. Another friend uses a medium sized picnic cooler to incubate her yogurt. She places the jars inside the cooler and then add two jars filled with hot tap water, to keep the temperature warm enough. After 4 hours, check the yogurt to see if it is thick enough. If it isn’t then refill the water jars with more hot water, return them to the cooler, and let the yogurt sit another 4 hours. When I tried this method, it worked very well. It took a full 8 hours, but the yogurt was perfect, and I liked not having my oven tied up during the day. Also, there was little danger of getting the yogurt too hot while it incubated, and drafts weren’t a problem because of the closed nature of the cooler.
After the yogurt is thick, place it in the fridge. It will stay sweet and fresh for about a week. You may prepare more than one jar at a time if you like. I just included the method for a quart because this is the size canning jar I use. Narrow mouth canning jars would probably work too, but I prefer the wide mouth ones because it is easier to stick a measuring cup or ladle down inside of it, to scoop the yogurt out. I usually prepare two quart jars at a time. The prepared yogurt is good mixed with jelly, fresh or canned fruit, served with granola for breakfast, or substituted for sour cream in many recipes like stroganoffs. It is also nice pureed in fruit smoothie blender drinks, or stirred into gelatin or popsicles before freezing them. It can also be stirred half and half with regular mayonnaise to make a very tasty low fat mayonnaise. This mixture can be used in just about any recipe which calls for mayonnaise.
Yogurt from Powdered Milk (sak)
I make yogurt with powdered milk all the time and in my experience it does not need to be heated before making. I mix about 5–1/2 oz powder with a quart of water and the starter then let it incubate. I think the process the milk goes thru to get powdered does the same thing that heating regular milk before making yogurt does.