| The LDSCN Weekly Recipe Archive Powdered Milk |  |
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These recipes are used with gracious permission of the list owner.
Check out this site. It is chockful of good things.***Chocolate Pudding***
a sassafrassy recipeIn a two quart sauce pan combine the cornstarch, cocoa, sugar and salt. Mix it very well. Gradually add the milk, whisking it in until the mixture is smooth. Heat the pan over medium heat, stirring constantly. Bring the pudding to a full rolling boil. Boil and stir for one minute. Remove from heat. Stir in the margarine and vanilla. The pudding will thicken as it cools. You can pour the pudding into a pretty serving dish, or small individual cups. Store it in the fridge either way. Makes 6 servings.
3 cups milk 1/3 cup cornstarch 1/3 c unsweetened cocoa 2/3 cup sugar Good dash salt 3 tablespoons margarine 1 teaspoon vanilla
***Cream of Something Soup***
a sassafrassy recipeThis is a convenient mix for making the equivalent of a can of cream of celery, or mushroom soup, which so many recipes call for. To make the mix, combine all of the ingredients in a bowl. Mix them up, distributing everything evenly. Store the mixture in a quart size container, well sealed. It will keep for several months.
2 cups non-fat dry milk powder (instant powdered milk) 3/4 cup cornstarch 1/4 cup chicken bouillon granules 2 tablespoons dry onion flakes 1 teaspoon each basil and garlic powder 1/2 teaspoon pepper 2 tablespoons dry celery flakes (optional) To cook: Combine 1/3 cup mix and 1 1/4 cups cool tap water in a small saucepan. Stir it well and bring it to a boil over medium heat. Boil and stir for a full minute. Remove from heat. It is now ready to use in any recipe calling for a can of Cream of Mushroom or Celery or Chicken Soup. I tested all of the casseroles in my website with this recipe and it worked perfectly without exception.
You can also make this in the microwave, in which case, reduce the liquid to 1 cup, because none will evaporate during the cooking process.
An additional benefit to this recipe, it contains no added fat. If you wanted to, you could add a tablespoon of margarine or bacon grease for more flavor, but it really doesn't need it.
***Hot Cocoa Mix***
a sassafrassy recipeMeasure all of the ingredients into a dry clean bowl. Use a whisk to sort of stir everything together. If the cocoa clumps up, smash the little balls with a fork. When everything is evenly distributed, transfer the Hot Cocoa Mix to a clean coffee can, or a sealed canister. Use 2 cups of sugar if you are making this for kids. The extra sweetness makes it especially kid-friendly. For grown-ups you could add 1/4 cup of instant coffee for a nice mocha flavor.
4 cups non-fat dry milk powder (powdered milk) 1 1/2 to 2 cups sugar 1 cup powdered non-dairy creamer (coffee lightener like Creamora) 2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa 1 package of instant store bought chocolate pudding mix (optional) To Prepare: Put 1/3 cup of Hot Cocoa Mix into a cup or mug. Add boiling water to the top. Stir and serve. This stuff tastes really really good. It is great for cold weather when you've been out sledding or picking apples. If you go camping, bring along a big bag of this stuff, it tastes best when sipped from inside a sleeping bag on a cool October morning, in the middle of the woods. Life just doesn't get any better than this. :-)
***Ranch Dressing***
a sassafrassy recipeGet out a medium sized bowl. Measure the mayonnaise into it. Gradually whisk in the buttermilk or yogurt. If you use powdered buttermilk, whisk in the powder first, and then slowly add a cup of water. Then add the seasonings. Whisk again. Or you can make it in the blender by putting everything into the blender and whirling until smooth. The mixture will be a little thin, but it will thicken on standing. Store in a pint size jar, makes 2 cups. Keep in the refrigerator for a few weeks. Tastes really good with yogurt by the way. This is my favorite way of making it. It tastes good with powdered buttermilk too, but the consistancy is thinner than with yogurt.
1 cup mayonnaise 1 cup buttermilk or yogurt (dry buttermilk is fine) 2 teaspoons parsley 1 teaspoon onion powder 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder 1/2 teaspoon salt Dash of dill weed 1/8 teaspoon pepper Note: If desired, you may add a tablespoon of Parmesan Cheese and/or a tablespoon of lemon juice to the dressing in addition to the seasonings above.
***Sweetened Condensed Milk***
a sassafrassy recipeFirst get out your blender. You can beat the mixture with electric beaters if you prefer, but a blender really does a better job. A food processor would probably work pretty well too, but I've never tried it. So anyway, measure your hot water into the blender. Add the sugar, dry milk powder and melted margarine. Put the lid on the blender and whirl it around for a full minute. The mixure will be kind of thin, but will thicken up after standing for about an hour. This recipe makes about 3 cups, or the equivalent of two cans of condensed milk. Each store-bought can of sweetened condensed milk contains about 1 1/2 cups. So this recipe is equivalent to two cans. The mixture may be measured and used right away in any recipe calling for sweetened condensed milk. Or for longer storage, divide the mixture equally between two clean pint size canning jars. Store them in the fridge for a week. Or for longer storage, freeze them for a few months, and then just thaw before using. Every time you use this recipe instead of buying the name brand stuff from the store you will save about $3.00. Not bad for less than five minutes work.
1 cup hot tap water 2 cups sugar 2 cups non-fat dry milk powder (instant powdered milk) 6 tablespoons melted margarine Blender or electric beaters
***Home Made Yogurt***
a sassafrassy recipeCombine the water and dry milk powder. Heat it to 180 degress. Cool it to 110 degrees. 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.
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) 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. 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. 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 ladel 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 popscicles 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.
Learning to make yogurt is a trial and error process. Most people don't have perfect or consistant results the first few times they make it. With a little practice though, anyone can learn to make it. When you get a little skill at it, the entire process becomes second nature, and you will have sweet fresh yogurt available whenever you like.
Home Page: http://waltonfeed.com/
All recipes compiled by Desi Ellis.
Revised: 1 Dec 01