Making Do Without Missing A Thing---Putting It All Together---Week Six

   Are you as excited as I am? I have been looking forward to this week for, well, quite a while. It has been an endeavor from the heart, let me tell you, and I am thrilled that my words have touched so many people and started you on your own journeys. Your comments here and in personal emails, face-to-face conversations, and now again on my personal blog page on FB have made me realize that this information is SO needed in our culture today. I just figured it was simply me, just doing what works for us, and hoping I could have a little splash in someone's puddle in an attempt to help. But YOU have made so much possible around the Welcoming House.
   As of today, I can not believe how many people are reading and talking about this series. God is moving in a big way, using this as a vehicle to help more people start on a journey of living simply and yet abundantly. I hope that you, too, are well on your way.

  This week I am going to spend time each post adding new recipes, more tips and tricks, and giving you more ideas to add to the previous week's postings. The last post of this week will be about a giveaway I am going to be doing, to finish off the week in style. All you will have to do to enter it is share my blog on FB, or Pinterest, or Twitter...and head on over and "like" my new page on FB. Everyone is allowed one entry and then I will select the winner through random.org, a random number generator that will choose one of you for the prize.
   So week one was Master mixes, and I have two new mixes to add to your basic line up of cornbread, bisquick, muffins, cookies and cream of everything white sauce mix.
   Today I am giving you a basic master cake mix recipe and a basic, All purpose baking recipe that you can use for just about anything!

  Before I do that though, I want to encourage you to LITERALLY begin to think outside the box. Now, as I have said before, there is nothing wrong with buying an occasional treat or whatever, or if you know you are totally swamped with time, to pick up a cake mix. But I am telling you......when you get in the habit of making a few up at a time, and then having them on hand, saving SO MUCH money in the end for a few minutes of your time, you wont look back. I do it with a lot of things, and which ones I make up ahead of time varies with the season. In my baking cupboard right now are the following mixes: Cookie, Muffin, Cornbread, "Bisquick", (all masters), tortillas (corn and WW), pasta, brownie and my master cake mixes. I also have waffle/pancake mixes made up because those get used often around here with my meal planning. If I find a new recipe that I like to bake I look at it to see if there is a way to adapt it with one of the mixes I already have, or if it is so different that I can make up another batch of something and keep it for a while to see how it works out. Time and time again, though, the mixes above are the ones I have fallen back on.

   One more thing. Did you know that you can replace either all of the oil, or all of the eggs in your baking with a white bean puree, and it makes absolutely no difference other than to make your breads, cakes, cookies and brownies just as delectable as can be. How crazy is that? And today, with the price of butter being around $3 or more a lb, it is nice to know you can "make do without missing a thing" (and your kids will never know the difference either).
   Have you priced  a bag of white beans lately? I want you to remember that beans, dried or canned, are a staple of many cultures. When combined with brown rice the ingredients in those two things create the perfect life-sustaining meal, that supports the whole body. Now I am not advocating everyone going into a vegetarian life-style. But as Americans, it would do us a lot of good for our health if we would focus on what is GOOD for us! In a local smaller grocery store, a bag of white navy beans will cost you right around $1. A year ago that was closer to 60 cents. But that single bag of beans can provide you a substitute for eggs or oil (not both in the same recipe please unless you want an inferior product) for five different batches at 1/2 cup of cooked beans at a time. Crystlal, over at www.everydayfoodstorage.net has a wonderful set of videos talking about using beans in your baking. You can click HERE for her information and learning more about that. If we are to be frugal, let us do so without missing the amazing taste of certain things, right? She was doing an amazing series on "Let Them Eat (Food Storage) Cake!" for the month of February, and posted a lot of great recipes for homemade cakes and such. Two of my favorites were: The Starlight Yellow Cake Master Mix, and the Dark Chocolate Cake Master Mix (doesn't that last one just make your mouth water??). I have personally made both of them and changed from the cake mix I was using before to hers as I think it creates a MUCH better product all around. I have made it into cupcakes as well and had the same results.........so why don't you try it?
   Next, I am passing on to you just a simple, all purpose Master Mix that came across my desk a couple years ago. If you are struggling for time and you just want a one-size-fits-all kind of Master mix, then this is the one for you. I am fussy and like to have different mixes for different things only because I have grown to the point of being able to fuss a little more over certain things. However, when I was first starting out, this would have been wonderful to have on hand and use all the time for everything. It's versatility makes me smile, because I know many of you will choose to start out with this one and learn how to make things you never did before, all because of it coming from a single mix. Good luck to you on this one! :) It is from an extension office of MSU, so you can print it off and have it in a binder for yourself. Have you started one yet? Just take a simple 3 ring binder, some page protectors meant for pictures and start writing some recipes down. Before you know it you will have created your very own cookbook for keeps with all your favorite recipes and mixes included. Mine is getting pretty extensive, and I think it might be time to pare it down a little. :)
   HERE is the link for the printable all purpose master mix, complete with ideas and recipes. :)

  I would love to hear feedback from you and know what you are up to. Are you sharing this with friends and family? Posting it on groups you are a part of? I want to thank many of you who have so far supported me on starting my own page on FaceBook. It has gotten a lot of feedback, and starting to get people traffic from places I have never been to before, so I know many of you are excited and sharing about Making Do Without Missing A Thing. If you haven't hopped on over to the FB page and checked it out, you should because I am posting on there a lot of ideas meant to help you save money, talking about how I do things, etc. click right here if you want to head on over there and check it out. :)

   Many blessings to you and yours,

Heather