Tuesday, February 12, 2008

The Job of Cooking #7 - Substitutions

Here are three general substitution suggestions:
1. If a recipe calls for wine and you don't have it on hand or prefer not to use it, you can substitute an equal amount of apple juice or water.
2. Usually you can substitute a different veggie in a casserole recipe. Experiment and use what you have - fresh, frozen, and canned are pretty much interchangeable as well.
3. Use non-fat dry milk when possible in recipes. It is low in cholesterol and is cheaper than fresh milk. It good for economy and for health!
Extra Hint: The first thing I always do when I start to prepare a meal is to fill one sink with hot soapy water. As I use utensils and pans I put them in and wash as I go along. Even with a dishwasher it helps to have the cooking mess cleaned up before the meal is served. It really is no trouble at all to do this -- just wash a pan while you wait for the oven to preheat, or between periods of stirring a veggie, or anytime there is 30 seconds free. Any available children (or other adults) can dry and put them up, and there is little to do after the meal. This is a good way to involve the children and establish in their minds that getting the meal ready is one of their responsibilities as a member of the family.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Really good suggestions. I need to heed the one about washing dishes and pans as I cook.

Shari said...

We use powdered milk a lot. It's cheaper and I don't have to worry about running out. We even use it for pudding even though the box says not to. (I just cut down the milk to 1 3/4 c.) I should take your advice and clean as I go.

Andy McCullough said...

We had some friends who returned overseas last month and before they left they gave us a bunch of unused food stuff including their box of powdered milk and we were like 'what do with that?'. When I was growing up my mom drank it but we kids turned up our nose to it and gave it to the cat. Wish I read this when I was making Valentine's Day Muffins this am for breakfast - I would have used that tip and the dish washing tip.