We are a Home Brand no frills family and proud if it. Most of the time the taste is the same and often even better. There are a few things we will go name brand on but often it's baking goods like Cocoa - you should never skimp on chocolate - and maple syrup, if you're going to eat tree sap it's got to be the good stuff.
It's grocery day today and I as I was writing my list I thought of a few recipes I've come across that I want to share with you all.
They are recipes that allow for bulk batches. These are the best kind in my opinion. They save time in the kitchen - I don't mind cooking or baking but I loathe the clean up so recipes that allow for a big yield with only one mess to clean up are always going to win my vote - and they save money. Often it's hard to see the money you do save and often it's not all that much for example one recipe I'll be sharing is a biscuit recipe. These days you can buy a pack of home brand Arrowroot for around $1 so making your own may seem pointless however you can't buy a pack of family assorted for $1 but with one batch of biscuit dough you can create as many different tastes as you like.
Another positive point for home made is you can choose what goes in to what you and your family eat. Trying to cut down on sugar? Replace the cup of sugar with honey or apple sauce.
First up today I give you an easy as pie Pizza dough. I spent a lot of time just before Christmas looking for a great pizza dough and to be honest they all basically have the same stuff in them so I picked this one from moneysavingmom.com because they said it can be freezed, Yay! One mess to clean up, three meals prepared.
The recipe reads as though it only makes two pizza bases but from reading the comments I've learned that the author made thick crust pizza. We are a thin crust family so I got three bases from this recipe.
It was a really tasty pizza base, nothing fancy just good yummy pizza.
Next up is something a little different. Chicken Enchilada Pasta from navywifecook.com. This was delicious and surprisingly not all that hot/spicy as the ingredients would lead you to believe. However I did leave out a few things and had to make a change here or there due to us Aussies not having such a large selection of Mexican sauces at our disposal. I still followed the basic recipe and what I made had everyone going back for seconds.
Here are my changes:
*I used garlic powder instead of crushed garlic cloves.
*The red pepper was left out for two reasons: 1. The husband and I couldn't figure out if it was a bell pepper/capsicum or red chilli that we were meant to use and 2. I don't do HOT food so in the hope of keeping this meal edible by me it was emitted.
*The can of diced green chillies was left out as our grocery store didn't have any.
*The two cans of green chilli enchilada sauce and 2/3 cup of red enchilada sauce was replaced by two cans of red Enchilada sauce as once again it was all that was available.
The rest of the recipe was followed and it made a ton like the original author says. There was enough for very large portions for dinner for three adults plus seconds for two and then enough for lunch for two days so it could do lunches for a week, or be a quick meal to re heat and eat on nights when you don't have much time. It seriously is worth the effort, I was pleasantly surprised at how tasty this meal was.
The first of my biscuit recipes is for Maple cookies from A Spoonful of Sugar. This is when the name brand maple syrup comes in handy.
These are sweet but not sickly. Perfect for when you want something sweet but different. I managed four batches so they are right in saying it serves 48. If you do 12 cookies a batch. If you're like me and like big cookies then you may get less per batch.
My second biscuit recipe is your basic sugar cookie recipe. What I love about sugar cookies is that you can add anything you like to put your own twist on it. Feel like choc chip cookies, add chocolate Chips. Want something a little more healthy swap the choc chips for sultanas or even cherries. Add some orange essence and cocoa for Jaffa flavoured cookies. Honestly the options are as endless as your baking imagination.
The linked recipe from Experience Sardinia is made even more brilliant because it can be frozen. I've read a lot of sugar cookie recipes and they usually say it can be kept refrigerated for three to four days. Which is great if you'll need more than one batch of cookies a week. I prefer to have the dough ready when I feel like cookies so being able to freeze a few batches ready to be pulled at a moments notice is great.
What's your favourite big batch recipe? Share it in the comments I'd love to add more to my recipe book.
Skye
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