One of my favorite quick comfort-food treats has always been
cinnamon-sugar on whole wheat toast. As I was preparing a slice the
other day, I got to thinking about cinnamon-sugar and what the
”
right
”
proportions might be.
One of my favorite quick comfort-food treats has always been cinnamon-sugar on whole wheat toast. As I was preparing a slice the other day, I got to thinking about cinnamon-sugar and what the “right” proportions might be.
This, in turn, got me to thinking about other foods you can prepare ahead of time and keep in a jar in the cupboard for future snacking – or even real cooking. They’re kind of like mini insurance policies for those times when you don’t get the grocery shopping done on the day you planned.
First of all, believe it or not, I did find a cinnamon-sugar recipe. This one is from “Cooking 1-2-3” by Rozanne Gold and it makes 2 cups, which will neatly fit in a recycled mayonnaise jar.
Cinnamon-Sugar
2 cups granulated sugar
3 tablespoons good-quality ground cinnamon
Place sugar in a small bowl. Stir in cinnamon and mix thoroughly. Transfer to a jar or container with a tight-fitting cover. Lasts indefinitely.
You can, of course, alter the proportions to your taste.
Another standby that’s easy to make and keep is granola. I found lots of recipes that called for flaxseed, dried fruits, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds and other fancy additions, but I wanted something simple that can be made with items that are likely to be on hand. I found a recipe in Volume I of “The Tightwad Gazette” by Amy Dacyzyn.
Granola
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup honey
1/2 cup dry milk
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
pinch of salt
Step 1: Preheat oven to 365 degrees.
Step 2: Mix brown sugar, oil and honey in a saucepan. Heat until the sugar is dissolved.
Step 3: Combine dry ingredients in a large cake pan. Pour sugar mixture over dry mixture and mix well.
Step 4: Bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes. Let cool completely in the pan and store in an airtight container.
When ready to eat, then you can add raisins, flaxseed, other kinds of seeds and embellishments. But this is great just the way it is when you’re hungry for a handful of something.
While I had my copies of all three volumes of “The Tightwad Gazette” off the shelf, I found a couple of other recipes that fit the “have it on hand” category. One was a recipe for a coating for chicken pieces or pork chops that are shaken in the mixture, then baked.
Homemade “Shake and Bake”
This recipe equals about 20 store-bought packets.
4 cups flour
4 cups crushed saltines
4 tablespoons salt
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 teaspoons onion powder
3 tablespoons paprika
1/4 cup vegetable oil
Mix well and store in one of your mayonnaise jars or other airtight container in the refrigerator.
This next item is not so much a recipe as a recommendation. Amy Dacyzyn was a genius at computing the true cost and efficiency of homemade versus store bought.
Ten years ago, when her book was published, she found that homemade pie crusts were about one-seventh the cost of store bought.
Amy’s main discovery was that it is more efficient to make several pie crusts at once because the measuring and cleanup times are about the same. Only the rolling and shaping must be done individually.
She gave several methods for storing them: Freeze as one-crust portions balls of dough, shape into aluminum pie tins and freeze, or roll out, cover with plastic wrap, then roll several plastic wrap/crust “sandwiches” around an empty paper towel roll, and freeze.
Back to handy-to-have-on hand snacks, one of my favorites is Cracker Jack, even though the “prizes” are now paper puzzles instead of real toys. This recipe for a homemade version is from “Top Secret: Creating Kitchen Clones of America’s Brand Name Foods,” by Todd Wilbur. It’s simple, but you will need a quick-read thermometer.
Homemade
Cracker Jack
4 quarts popped popcorn (or 2 bags microwave popcorn)
1 cup Spanish peanuts
4 tablespoons butter
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
2 tablespoons molasses
1/4 teaspoon salt
Step 1: Preheat oven to 250 degrees.
Step 2: Combine the popcorn and peanuts in a metal bowl or on a cookie sheet and place in the preheated oven.
Step 3: Combine all of the remaining ingredients in a saucepan.
Step 4: Stirring over medium heat, bring the mixture to a boil.
Step 5: Using a cooking thermometer, bring the mixture to 260-275 degrees (the hard-ball stage) or the point at which the syrup, when dripped into cold water, forms a hard but pliable ball. This will take about 20 to 25 minutes, or until you notice the mixture turning a slightly darker brown.
Step 6: Remove the popcorn and peanuts from the oven, and working quickly, pour the caramel mixture in a fine stream over them. Then place back in the oven for 15 minutes.
Step 7: Mix well every 5 minutes, so that all the popcorn is coated.
Step 8: Cool and store in a covered container.
This recipe for Crunchy Party Mix is from “The Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book.” It makes about 20 cups and can be frozen for up to 4 months.
Crunchy Party Mix
5 cups pretzel sticks
4 cups oat cereal “O”s
4 cups wheat or bran squares cereal
3 cups mixed nuts
1 cup butter
3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
Step 1: Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
Step 2: In a large roasting pan combine pretzels, oat cereal, wheat cereal, rice cereal and mixed nuts; set aside.
Step 3: In a small saucepan heat and stir butter, Worcestershire sauce, garlic powder and hot pepper sauce until butter melts. Drizzle butter mixture over cereal mixture; stir gently to cool.
Step 4: Bake in the preheated 300 degree oven for 45 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes. Spread on a large piece of foil to cool. Store in one or more airtight containers.
