I was asked by a fellow reader on where to begin in the transition from boxes to kitchen. My answer is to start small and work your way up! Have little goals in mind and eventually you will find how easy it is taking it step by step and it will be old habit by the time you are done converting!
I am not exactly sure where my journey started or if it was with one particular food. As I've sat here thinking about it the first food was probably store bought cookies! To me those are probably the easiest to make and I always seem to have the ingredients on hand and a great place for kids to help. All kids LOVE cookies. There are so many recipes out there to try, but this was about Christmas time so I was making a lot of homemade goodies.
The bread department was another place I stopped buying in. I received a bread maker for my birthday from my mom and immediately started using it.(She even got me a bag of bread flour to go with it, isn't she thoughtful). You can also easily use a stand mixer to mix your dough. If you have either of these it is easy to whip up some homemade dough that is very versatile in its use. Of course, you can always use the mixing pads God gave you, they are quite helpful! Pizza tends to be our go to meal because the ingredients are always handy.
Another place you could start is by looking at what you eat the most of. I loved the packets of rice/sauce and noodles in sauce, but I knew those were deadly in the sodium category. So I slowly stopped buying them. I do sure miss my parmesan noodles or the broccoli cheese rice, but I know there are homemade recipes for both and they taste 10 times better.
Other areas to start: frozen pizza, frozen meals( aka-Lean Cuisine, Stouffer's, etc), Hamburger Helper, canned soup, muffins, pre-seasoned meats, salad dressing, etc.
I do still have a couple of things I buy at the store : cereal, goldfish/crackers, pasta sauce, to name a few. I have seen some recipes for crackers, graham crackers, english muffins, bagels, and pretzels. They are on my list of items to try and I can't wait to try them. They will be judged by A and Q and if they like it chances are you will too!
You will see come Monday that I have a couple of things that will have...gasp...processed food in them! Why you ask? Well as I was going through my pantry and fridge I discovered a few stragglers so I've decided to just use them up. Sure using processed foods won't kill me for one or two meals. Believe me everything you buy in the store can be made at home!
So if you have started this journey, what was the first thing you eliminated? If you haven't started yet, what is the first item you will start with? I look forward to hearing your answers!
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Mix together brown sugar and butter until creamy. Add in vanilla and egg and mix. Sift together flour, soda, powder and mix in salt. Slowly add flour mixture to butter mix. Mix until incorporated. Fold in oatmeal and chocolate chips. Place on cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 mins until browned.
Mix together the dry ingredients. Add in oil and stir. Mix food coloring and water together. Pour dry ingredients into a saucepan and slowly add in water while stirring. Turn on the heat and stir until it starts to dry. This should take about 2 mins. Once it clumps remove it from the heat, dump onto cutting board(or table), let cool slightly, and knead it a bit. Let cool and until ready to use. Store in airtight container. ***This is NOT edible.
Combine water, yeast, and sugar. Let stand for 10 mins until creamy. Meanwhile combine flour and salt and stir. After 10 mins mix oil with yeast mixture. Place mix into your stand mixer fitted with your dough hook and set to low. Slowly add in the flour until dough pulls away from the side of the bowl. Turn speed up to medium and let dough mix until it is smooth and elastic. Cover with plastic wrap sprayed with cooking spray and damp towel. Let rise for 1 hr or until doubled.
Brush with egg white and top with your choice of topping. Place in oven at 375 for 20-25 mins until golden brown.
