Review: Great for creative cooks!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 03 28, 2014
This is a short little book with about 31 recipes for making your own mixes. I think it's a great idea to make your own, because then you know exactly what the ingredients are.I originally got the idea that it might be fun to make my own mixes from a roommate who was a student in Italy last summer. One of her Italian friends sent her homemade mixes for different Italian pasta dishes for Christmas, and they are great. She keeps them in baggies and just adds to her pasta dishes.The book covers recipes for all kinds of mixes, cakes, taco seasoning, ranch dressing, gravies, pancakes, biscuits, soup, tea and others.I made the taco seasoning, in fact 8 batches of it. It tasted just like the packets that I used to buy in the store. However, all 8 cost me less than buying one store bought packet.I also tried the Vanilla Coffee Creamer. Usually I buy Nestle Italian Cream, at a pretty high price. I used the container I got with the store bought version and made my own. It is excellent, and I see all sorts of possibilites for adding chocolate or other flavors.I probably won't bother making a few of the recipes. I'm picky about my maple syrup and want it to come from trees. But lots of the mixes can be made ahead in about 30 minutes, using things I already have in the pantry. I'll devote a half hour to measuring and bagging or jarring multiple mixes for the month.Highly recommended.