Create-A-Recipe

What is a
CREATE-A-RECIPE?

I have a confession to make. I don't like to use recipes. I love to read them, but when it comes to actually cooking, I think they are a nuisance. I feel like it takes me twice as long to prepare a dish because I am constantly stopping to double check my recipe. I make silly cooking errors because I'm not thinking about my cooking, merely following a recipe.

There are probably millions of written recipes in existence. There are thousands of websites filled with delicious recipes to cook. What makes this site unique? Yes, it has yummy recipes, but most are not like any others. They aren't just recipes, but formulas for different types of foods. Using just one of these formulas, you can create numerous different delicious dishes. Even better, you can utilize what ingredients you have on hand instead of needing to make a trip to the store.

I was introduced to the concept of a "create-a-recipe" in the "Tightwad Gazette" by Amy Dacyczyn. In her book, she shared a basic recipe for muffins that could utilize leftovers and whatever you have on hand to make any type of muffins that you would like. The basic ingredients are simple and what most of us keep on hand in our pantries. After making this recipe a couple of times, I pretty much had the recipe memorized. I could create wholesome, homemade muffins for my family in 30 minutes. That is from starting time to removing them from the oven! I was excited, so I began using this concept for other types of food, too.

Each type of create-a-recipe was developed by studying many tried and true recipes of the same type to find a basic ratio of ingredients that are consistent in all of them. Have you ever noticed that most baked goods such as cookies, muffins, cakes, quickbreads, and biscuits contain the same basic ingredients? If they are all made out of the same stuff, why do they come out different? It's the ratios of ingredients that change - the various quantities. In some cases, some basic ingredients are eliminated completely.

Each create-a-recipe will give you the basic ratio of ingredients for a type of dish. Some seasonings and add-in ideas have been listed. Use your own tastebuds and judgment in this area. These are what give a recipe it's uniqueness and make it your own. That is the purpose of recipes like these. They are the framework or skeleton and you use your creativity to make them a finished product.

Fear Factor:
Generally, when we follow a recipe closely, it is because we are trying to exactly re-create a dish we have had before or because we fear making a mistake in our cooking and the dish being a flop. We carefully and precisely measure and do not think about why we are using the quantities we are using and how it will affect our final product. If I add a bit more flour to the cookie batter, how will my cookies end up being different? I am asking you to let go of your cooking fears and free yourself to experiment a bit in the kitchen. The create-a-recipes have a bit of play. They do not have precise amounts listed for every ingredient. (Even where there are, there is still room for a bit of play in the quantities. <g>) These recipes are not designed to re-create an existing dish, but for you to be able to create something new that is your own! These recipes should be experimented with. I will say that I would wait until you have mastered these recipes before preparing them for company you are trying to impress. Throughout your experimentation, you may have a few dishes that aren't quite what you were going for. Even if you are loosely following these recipes, they won't be horrible and your family will still enjoy them, though. I'm sure your family will love sampling all of your experimental batches of cookies and cakes and muffins.
What harm can come from making several batches of cookies until you get a feel for creating them? Include your children in this process, too; they are naturally creative cooks.

Let go of your fear of failure in the kitchen and have fun!

Create-A-Casserole

MAIN INGREDIENT (Cubed or shredded cooked meat or chopped, cooked vegetable):
1 cup

SECOND INGREDIENT (Cooked vegetable, mushrooms, chopped hard cooked eggs):
1 cup

STARCHY INGREDIENT (Sliced potatoes, cooked noodles, pasta or rice):
1-2 cups

BINDER INGREDIENT (Cream sauce, sour cream, can of condensed soup, gravy):
1 ½ cups

GOODIE INGREDIENT (Pimento, olives, almonds, water chestnuts, etc.)
¼ cup

SEASONING IDEAS(Salt. Pepper, garlic, herbs or whatever you like.)

TOPPING: (Cheese, bread crumbs, crushed potato chips or corn flakes)
½ - 1 cup

Making the casserole:
Thoroughly mix all ingredients except topping. If mixture seems dry, add ½ cup of milk or stock. Place in buttered casserole dish and spread topping evenly over top. Bake 30-45 minutes in a preheated 350-degree oven.

Yummy combinations:

Tuna noodle: Tuna, peas, noodles, and mushrooms, and topping of choice.

Lasagna: Hamburger, cottage cheese, broken lasagna noodles, spaghetti sauce, mushrooms, mozzarella cheese.

Cheesy potatoes: Diced ham, cheddar cheese, thin sliced potatoes, cream sauce, onions, bread crumbs.

Chicken tetrazzini: Chicken, mushrooms, pasta, condensed soup, pimento, Parmesan cheese.

Create-A-Quiche

CRUST:
Standard pie crust
Rice crust
No crust (Add 1 cup flour or baking mix to egg and milk mixture) and use cooking spray on pie pan.

EGGS:
3 or 4
2 or 3 for crustless quiche

CHEESE:
1-2 cups grated hard cheese
2 T. - ½ cup Parmesan or Romano

MILK:
1-2 cups
May substitute all or part for half & half, heavy cream or evaporated milk.
May substitute part for sour cream, plain yogurt, or cottage cheese.

FILLING (Any combination of cooked meats and vegetables):
1-2 cups

SEASONING:
Up to 1 tsp. Salt
¼ tsp. Pepper
Dash of Nutmeg
½ tsp. Dry mustard or 1 tsp. Prepared mustard

Making the quiche:
Beat eggs milk and seasonings together.
Spread filling ingredients in crust.
Top this with grated cheese.
Cover with egg mixture.
Bake for 10 minutes @425 then 45 minutes @350.
Quiche is done when golden brown, puffed and knife inserted 1" from edge comes out clean.

Yummy quiche combinations:
Chicken and broccoli
Bacon and onion
Ham and onion
Chicken, sour cream, mushroom.

Create-A-Muffin

FLOUR/GRAIN:
2 ¼ cups
May use any type of flour (white, unbleached, wheat)
May substitute another grain for 1 cup of flour. Grains may include oatmeal, crushed corn flakes, corn meal, etc.

MILK (LIQUID) :
1 cup
May use any type of liquid although I normally use milk. Alternatives are half and half, heavy cream, buttermilk, fruit juice.

FAT (Butter, shortening, or oil):
¼ cup

EGGS:
1

SUGAR (White, brown, honey-reduce quantity):
¼ - ¾ cup

LEAVENING (Baking Powder or baking soda-especially if using buttermilk):
2 tsp.

SALT:
1 tsp.

SPICES/SEASONINGS: Optional seasonings. Pick ones that blend with your add-ins. Quantities are just suggestions. Add more or less to suit your taste.

Sweet muffins:
1-2 tsp. Cinnamon
¼ tsp. Nutmeg
1-2 tsp. Vanilla extract
Any spice or extract you like!

Non-sweet muffins:
¼ tsp. Nutmeg
½ tsp. Garlic powder
1 tsp. Herbs (basil, oregano, thyme, etc.)

ADD-INS: These are what give your muffins their character and a lot of flavor. You can safely add up to 1 ½ cups of add-ins total. I would hesitate to add more, but less is fine.

Sweet muffins:
Berries: blueberries, chopped strawberries, crushed raspberries
Diced apples
Mashed banana
Any fruit puree
Raisons
Dried fruit (chopped if large)
Chopped nuts
Maraschino cherries (chopped or halved)
Candied fruit
Chocolate chips (or any other kind of chip)
Mini marshmallows
Cooked cereal (leftover)
Yogurt (reduce liquid)
Cream cheese

Non-sweet muffins:
Shredded cheese
Chopped or diced meat (leftovers)
Chopped cooked vegetables (leftovers)
Cooked cereal (leftover)
Chopped onions

TOPPINGS (Optional):
Sweet muffins:
Crumb topping
Cinnamon and sugar
Granulated sugar
Crushed corn flakes
Nuts
Single maraschino cherry

Non-sweet muffins:
Shredded cheese
Parsley flakes
Crushed potato chips

Making muffins:
Mix all of the ingredients together and pour into muffin tins. Muffins may be made with or without muffin papers. If opting not to use them, thoroughly spray muffin pans with cooking spray.

Place in an oven preheated to 400 degrees and bake for 20 minutes for standard sized muffins.

If not using muffin papers, allow muffins to cool 10 minutes before removing from pans.

If using muffin papers, remove muffins from pan as soon as your fingers can stand to touch them <g> so they will cool faster. Allow them to cool for at least 20 minutes or the muffins will stick to the papers (and you will end up losing a lot of your muffin).

Muffin Tips:
The key to great muffins (beyond the ingredients) is in the mixing. If batter is beat too much, the resulting muffin will have tunnel like air pockets in it and have a cone-head shape. If batter is not beaten enough, obviously, there will be pockets of dry ingredients (Yuck!). I usually mix muffin batter by hand and my goal is to get it thoroughly mixed through in 25 stokes. It may help to mix wet and dry ingredients separately first. Then mix together in 25 or fewer strokes. A mixer can be used with care not to over mix.

Most muffin recipes tell you never to fill tins more than 2/3 full of batter. This is a good plan to follow. I especially like the toasty tops of muffins so I ignore this rule and fill my tins nearly full. When they bake, they overflow a bit and there is more muffin top. This is just a personal preference. It is not as neat and tidy, though. Make your muffins any way YOU like.

Heart shaped muffins can be made with a standard muffin pan. Use muffin papers and fill tins about half full with batter. Then place a glass marble between the side of the muffin tin and the muffin paper. This will make the indentation that is the top of the heart. Then fill tins to 2/3 full and bake. This is an instance that I do not overfill tins because the heart shape will not show.

Yummy muffins:
Apple cinnamon: add in 2 diced apples and season with cinnamon

Oatmeal raison: substitute 1 cup on old-fashioned oats for flour and add-in raisons.

Chocolate covered cherry: Use maraschino cherry juice for part of liquid and add in chopped maraschino cherries and chocolate chips. Top with a cherry.

Cheesy herb: Reduce sweetener, season with herbs and garlic powder, add in 1 - 1 ½ cup shredded cheddar cheese.

Pumpkin: Add in pumpkin puree, reduce liquid, add in raisins and season with pumpkin pie spice.

Create-A-Cookie

FLOUR:
2 - 3 cups

FAT (Butter, shortening, oil or combination):
1 cup

EGGS:
2

SUGAR (white, brown or combination):
1 ½ - 2 cups

LEAVENING (Baking soda, baking powder or combination):
2 tsp.

SALT:
1 tsp.

SEASONINGS:
2 tsp. Flavored extract (commonly vanilla)

ADD-INS:
(Up to 3 cups max.)
Chocolate (or any other flavor) chips
Chopped nuts
Raisons
M & M's
Coconut
1 package vanilla pudding mix
1 cup banana
Extra egg yolk
2 tsp. Hot water (should give a crispy edge with a chewy middle)
2 tsp. Cream of tartar
3 oz. Cream cheese
1 T. orange zest
1 ½ tsp. Instant coffee granules
1 cup pumpkin puree
½ cup cocoa powder (add in with flour for a chocolate cookie base)
Substitute 1 cup (8 oz.) peanut butter for ½ cup butter
Substitute sour cream for ½ cup butter
Substitute old-fashioned oats for 1 cup flour
1 tsp. Cinnamon - For snickerdoodles, form into balls and roll in cinnamon/sugar mixture before baking

Making cookies:
Mix wet ingredients (including wet add-ins). Mix dry ingredients separately (including dry add-ins that are not chunky). Add dry ingredients to wet ones a little bit at a time (1/2 - 1 cup) mixing thoroughly. Then mix in chunky add-ins. Drop onto cookie sheet or roll into balls and bake 8-12 minutes (depending on size) in a pre heated 350-degree oven.

Create-A-Cake

FLOUR (white or cake):
2 ½ - 3 cups

FAT (butter, shortening, oil):
1 cup

EGGS:
4

SUGAR:
2 cups

LEAVENING (baking powder and/or baking soda):
4 tsp.

MILK (LIQUID):
1 cup
May use milk or buttermilk

SEASONING IDEAS:
Cinnamon
1-3 tsp. Flavored extract
Orange or lemon zest
1 T. lemon juice
Flavored liqueur

ADD-INS:
½ cup cocoa powder
2 T. Sprinkles (using multi-colored "jimmies" will give you a "Funfetti" type of cake.
Sour cream
Cream cheese
Chopped nuts
Grated carrot
Chopped pineapple
Grated apple
Applesauce (can be used to replace part of FAT)
Raisons
Chocolate chips
Crushed fresh berries
Mashed banana

Making the cake:
Combine all of the ingredients and mix. Do not overbeat. Place into greased pans. Bake in a pre-heated 350-degree oven. The baking time will vary depending on the size of your pan or pans. A large bundt pan will take 35-45 minutes, a 9" x 13" pan 30-35 minutes, two 8" round pans 30-35 minutes, two 9" round pans 25-30 minutes, and cupcakes 18-23 minutes. Cool cake 10 minutes in pan before removing. Cool completely before frosting.

Create-A-Frosting

FAT (Butter or shortening or combination of both. I prefer to use all butter, but if you need a pure white frosting use white shortening):
1 cup

CONFECTIONER'S SUGAR:
4 cups

MILK (LIQUID):
2 T.

FLAVORINGS:
1 - 2 tsp. Any flavored extract (Almond is my personal favorite)
¼ - 1 cup Cocoa powder (Makes a very yummy fudge flavored icing)
1 pkg. Cream cheese
Lemon or orange zest

Making Frosting:
Cream butter or shortening in mixer. Add sugar ½ cup at a time and mix completely through. Mix in flavorings. Check consistency of icing before adding milk. It may not be needed if you added wet flavorings. You may desire to add more to make frosting more spreadable. Do not add too much if you are planning to use frosting to decorate with using an icing bag and tips. You will want your icing to hold its shape.

Coloring frosting:
Frosting can be colored with food coloring or coloring pastes (Found a cake decorating supply store). You will achieve the best results and the widest range of color with the coloring pastes. They are more expensive but will last much longer because you need to use much less. Add small amount of color in and mix well to judge color. Keep adding color in SMALL increments until desired color is achieved.

Create-A-Biscuit

FLOUR:
2 cups

FAT (Use butter and/or shortening):
1/3 cup

SUGAR:
1 T.

LEAVENING (baking powder or baking soda if using buttermilk):
1 T.

MILK (LIQUID) (Milk, half and half, cream, buttermilk):
1 cup

SALT:
1 tsp.

ADD-INS:
Grated cheese
Garlic
Herbs
Powdered ranch flavored dressing mix

Making biscuits:
Combine dry ingredients. Use a fork or pastry blender to cut in butter or shortening until mixture has a grainy texture. Make a hole in center and add milk. Stir this until dough pulls away from side of bowl. Turn out onto a floured counter and knead a little. For best results (if you have the time) wrap dough in greased aluminum foil and refrigerate for 1 hour. This gives the leavening time to work and your biscuits will rise a little higher. Roll biscuits out to desired thickness. ½" thick for standard biscuits or up to 1" thick for "Grand" style biscuits. Cut out biscuits with a biscuit cutter or a drinking glass. Large simple shaped cookie cutters may be used also. Place biscuits on an ungreased baking sheet or stone. Bake in a pre-heated 425 degree oven for 13-15 minutes.

Tips:
Biscuits may be used for strawberry shortcake. Before baking, brush the tops with milk and sprinkle with granulated sugar.

Dough may be used for crescent rolls. Roll out dough thin (less than ¼") cut into long triangles and roll up like crescent rolls.

Use this dough like you would use pre-made refrigerated biscuit dough or crescent rolls.