Hidden Valley® Ranch Salad Dressing & Seasoning Mix Clone

A couple of weeks ago, I was chosen to be a contestant in the Hidden Valley® Recipe Challenge.  I wanted the Hidden Valley® dry mix to use for one of my potential entries.  We live in a small urban area with two grocery stores (No Frills, Sobey's) and a Wal-mart.  I checked all three stores without any luck finding dried salad dressing mix.  I know at one time these were quite popular.  The salad decanters with markings as to how much oil and vinegar to add were sold right beside them.  None of the stores carry them any more.  In order to make this dish I really needed the dry mix so I sent out an SOS to my family and friends then set about finding a dry mix ranch mix online.  A friend came to the rescue with a packet of Hidden Valley® Salad Dressing & Seasoning Mix but before using it I noticed a tear in the package so decided against it.  It definitely came from the US as there was no mandatory French labeling as required on Canadian products.  I compared the ingredients on that package to that of the recipe I had found then created my own recipe.  Clone recipes are born out of necessity either to save money or because the original is not available in your area.

The recipe I found online had paprika and  fresh ground pepper but closely inspecting the original packet showed no signs of either.  The recipe I found had no buttermilk in it even though the original packet listed buttermilk as a main ingredient.  Based on that, I set about getting creative.  MSG was listed on the original packet but I didn't use that in my clone recipe.  The dry clone version tastes (finger tip test) very much like the original packet mix.  The clone recipe makes a bit more than the original packet so adjust the dressing as required for consistency.

Hidden Valley® Ranch Salad Dressing & Seasoning Mix Clone
source: Garden Gnome

2 tsp sea salt
2 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp onion powder
2 tsp organic sugar
1½ tsp parsley flakes
2 tbsp buttermilk powder
½ tsp citric acid
¼ tsp xanthum gum

Dressing:  Combine 1 c milk and 1 cup mayonnaise in a blender.  With the blender running, slowly pour in ½ c of the clone mix.  This is necessary for the xanthum gum to thicken the dressing.  Blend on high until well mixed and thickened.  Keeps 3 to 4 weeks in refrigerator.

Dip:  Combine ½ c of the clone mix with 2 c of sour cream.  Mix well.  Refrigerate for one hour to allow flavours to blend.

Homemade Taco Seasoning

The love of good food runs deep in our family.  All of our kids including those marrying into the family a very accomplished home cooks with the same philosophy of cooking from scratch.  They are now teaching their love of food to the grandchildren who love to help in the kitchen.  Two of them have taken culinary courses in knife handling and one would dearly love to give up her current career in favour of becoming a chef.  She even took a part time position in a higher end restaurant that also does catering during the summer just for the experience. 

Cooking from scratch is not always about saving money.  That's just a pleasant bonus.  Cooking from scratch is about controlling the quality of the ingredients to get the best flavour possible while avoiding the unnecessary food additives.  The spice aisles are filled with a multitude of seasoning blends including taco seasoning.  The problem with many commercially prepared seasoning blends is they contain MSG, anti-caking agents, as well as other additives some artificial.  The best policy is to make your own seasoning blends tailored to your tastes.

Tone's taco seasoning doen't contain MSG but it does have flour, sugars, disodium inosinate (flavour enhancer), salts, and silicon dioxide (anti-caking agent).  A 23 oz containers costs about $4 at Sam's Club, considerably less expensive than the envelope packets at the grocery store.  Our daughter shared her recipe for taco seasoning that avoids the use of any additives.  I doubled the recipe.  Compared to Tone's the homemade taco seasoning is richly coloured with an amazing flavour.  I definitely will not be buying taco seasoning again!  Of note, you can easily make your own garlic, onion and cayenne powders by dehydrating then powdering much the same way I make tomato powder. 

I love tacos and taco salad!  Flavour is always the key so I tinker with the ingredients to get just the right blend.  This taco salad was made with extra lean ground beef seasoned with the homemade taco seasoning.  It was topped with homemade salsa (hot), organic hydroponically grown and still living Boston lettuce, black olives, organic locally grown tomatoes, onions, sour cream and a blend of shredded cheeses.  The salad was delicious with the meat seasoned to perfection!

Of note is the Boston lettuce, an herbicide/pesticide free product of Canada.  It comes in a plastic clam shell container with the roots still attached.  I watered it when I was unpacking the groceries.  It cost $1.97 for the head of lettuce which is comparable to other heads of lettuce at the moment.  The difference is it will stay fresh and green, continuing to flourish as long as it is watered.  Some fresh herbs come with the roots attached as well.  You can pot them up and with a little TLC you can enjoy fresh clippings year round from that one purchase.  Now this is the way to buy produce!   

Betty Crocker Gluten Free Cake Mix

Gluten is a protein found in wheat, rye and barley.   About 1% of the general population suffer from celiac disease.  Gluten damages the small intestines impairing it's ability to absorb nutrients.  As a result a lot of foods that are wheat based should be avoided including breads and other bakery products, many cereals both dry and hot as well snacks containing gluten.  The recommended treatment is a gluten-free diet.  However, about 15% of the general population while not having celiac disease have a gluten sensitivity.  In recent years some have noticed an improvement in their child's autism by following a gluten free diet.  There are only two reliable studies connecting autism to gluten and one of them found no correlation between autism and gluten but both studies involved a small study sample.  At any rate, a gluten-free diet is a must for some and desired by others.  One of the biggest problems faced by those wanting or needing this special diet was the lack of convenience products.  In smaller communities even finding the gluten-free raw ingredients can be a problem.

I am interested in gluten-free products for entertaining purposes.  This past year, a wonderful friend who cannot have gluten joined our monthly parties.  Not only does he have a gluten sensitivity requiring a gluten-free diet, he also has multiple food allergies.  As someone who is lactose intolerant as well having both food sensitivities and allergies, I try to be very cognizant and accommodating of these types of problems when entertaining.   General Mills has introduced two gluten-free cake mixes.  I was ecstatic! 

I had a box of Betty Crocker gluten-free devil's food chocolate and golden cake mix to try.  It is very important for me to do a test run of any product or recipe before serving it too my guests.  I decided to make the gluten-free golden cake mix into cupcakes.

The ingredients in the gluten-free cake mix are:  rice flour, sugar, potato starch, baking soda, xanthan gum, salt, sodium acid pyrophosphate and monocalcium phosphate.  The product may contain soy ingredients.  Ingredients needed to complete the batter are 2/3 c of water, 1/2 c butter, 2 tsp vanilla extract and 3 eggs.  The batter was quite easy to make, similar to any other cake mix.  I used my KitchenAid stand mixer then baked in a silicone muffin tin for 20 minutes at 350ºF.

I did not put any icing on the cupcakes, the reason being I wanted to be able a assess the cupcakes with respect to flavour and texture without icing distracting the taste test.  Oh my gosh, these were really good!  They would make excellent mini cupcakes.  I think a butter cream  or chocolate icing would be quite lovely.  Life Made Delicious has a few more easy recipes using this cake mix but essentially use it just the way you would any cake mix.

Fundraiser Beans

Years ago when I was knee high to a grass hopper school fundraisers meant selling almond chocolate bars.  That's the only kind offered which was a shame given some folks don't like nuts in their chocolate bars.  We our kids were in school the fundraiser was also selling chocolate bars and chocolate covered almonds.  At that time we lived in an urban area with if I remember correctly nine elementary schools and one secondary school.  That meant we got hit quite often with kids selling chocolate bars.  How can you say no to such a worthy cause.  The real problem is and especially in these trying economic times and quickly rising food costs many simply to not want to spend their food dollars on chocolate covered almonds or chocolate bars.  The schools have recognized this problem and are now looking at other food items that people are more interested in buying.

Our oldest grandchild is in pre-kindergarten.  Their school fundraiser this year were packets of The Bean Ladies dry bean one pot meal mixes.  They specialize in non-genetically modified Ontario grown products.  In terms of a fundraiser, each package was $5.50 so higher in cost than bulk purchased beans but 50¢ cheaper than buying the same from their online store.  However, $2 from the sale of each package went to the school so really the bean packet cost $3.50 with a $2 donation to a good cause.

I bought the chuckwagon chili (5-7 servings), homestyle hearty bean soup (8-10 servings), lickety-split pea soup (4-6 servings)and Mom's sausage bean casserole (6-8 servings).  Each package has the recipe on the front.  All of the packets have some type of meat (eg. sausage, pork hocks, ground beef) ranging from ½ to 1½ lb as an additional ingredient along with a couple of standard pantry items.  A couple of the mixes have a seasoning packet included.  Even when factoring in the higher cost of the bean mix and the additional ingredients, the result is still on the frugal side.  I will discuss the total costs for each mix as I make them.  I made the Mom's sausage bean casserole on yesterday so watch for the discussion on that this coming Friday.

Seafood Breader Mix (Foodie Find)

We eat a lot of local fish (bass, perch and pickerel) as well as non-local fish (cod, haddock).  My husband is always picking up fish coating to try in addition to our homemade fish coating.  As a result we have been able to tweak our homemade fish coating to give a couple of different results.  We have also discovered a lot of nice fish coating mixes in the process.

One of our foodie finds from Bravo in Florida was Dixie Lily Seafood Breader Mix.  This coating can be used dry as a breading or mixed with water to form a batter for fish, seafood, and vegetables.  The 24 oz bag cost $3.19 which is rather inexpensive as fish coating goes although it is still more expensive than homemade fish coating.

The main ingredients in any fish coating is flour, yellow corn meal or yellow corn flour, and seasonings.  Other ingredients such as powdered eggs, corn starch, baking soda, sugar and preservatives may also be added.  Fish coating really is a mix that can be made at home with simple then tweaked to get the desired results.  You can even make up a couple of different versions.  It will keep nicely in the pantry.

Cod is one of our favourite fish usually enjoyed deep or pan fried.  This is such a nice thick yet tender and flakey fish.  When we have cod in a restaurant we usually order it English style (beer battered) or broiled with orange sauce.  We tried the seafood breader mix on pan fried  Atlantic cod loins.  I served the fish with fresh cut French fries. 

The mix performed nicely giving a gorgeous golden coating without being too heavy or overpowering.  It was light yet tasty.  This would be a nice mix to create a clone recipe for.  I had best get doing a bit of tinkering in the kitchen!

Making Your Own Mixes and Recipe Clones

Over the past couple of months I have posted how to make various mixes including homemade stove top stuffing, rice-a-roni clone, shake & bake clone, and poultry seasoning.  I will be sharing several more make your own mix and recipe clones over the upcoming months.  In general homemade mixes:

• give you a convenient, ready to use product for your pantry shelves
• will cost a fraction of the cost of store bought mixes

It is important to realize that your homemade mixes will likely differ in flavour from store bought simply because you are using different ingredients.  An important consideration in flavour is high fructose corn syrup is often added sauces, soups and those types of things so if you don't add corn syrup your recipe clones won't taste exactly the same as store bought.  Many dried mixes contain sugar something I found rather surprising.  If you eliminate the sugar when making a homemade mix it will differ in flavour as well.  For the most part, homemade mixes will taste superior to store bought but it is important to understand that they won't taste exactly the same.  When it comes to seasoning blends (taco seasoning, chili seasoning, poultry seasoning) there can be a wide variation from one manufacturer to another so if you like a particular manufacturer for a certain seasoning blend then adjust your homemade version to taste more like it.  Again like any recipe the recipe for a homemade mix or recipe clone is the starting point.  Tweak as desired.

Rice-a-Roni Clone Mix

Food manufactures have so convinced us that home cooking is not possible without a ready-made mix that many of us actually believe that myth. They aren't telling us this because they care about us, they tell us this because they are trying to sell their product. However what they don't tell you is you can make your own homemade convenience mixes for a fraction of the cost, with very little effort that will save you a bit of time on those days you don't want to take the time to measure out ingredients. Once again I looked at another popular convenience product on the grocery shelf and decided to make a homemade version. It has been years since I have purchased Rice-a-Roni® so armed with my digital camera I took pictures of the box and ingredients during one of the few times I am in a grocery store. Then I did an online search for clone recipes and came up with my own version.

Ingredients

The main ingredients in Rice-a-Roni® are vermicilli, rice, bouillon and parsley so that's what I started with. When I start creating a recipe I start with the end in mind. I wanted a quick, convenient product for my pantry shelves that would pair nicely with my chicken or turkey stock yet mimic the store bought version. I used Arborio rice which is a short grain rice with a bit more starch that will give my homemade version a creamy texture. A regular long grain white rice would work as well. The other ingredients were dried parsley and Aurora instant bouillon mix in chicken flavour. I don't use bouillon on a regular basis because of the high salt content so in my clone version of Rice-a-Roni® I used half the amount of other clone recipes.

Originally I was going to make the mix in 500 ml jars as pictured but decided to use 250 ml jars instead. Additional ingredients used for 2 of the jars were paprica, chili powder, dried sweet peppers, dried minced onion, sugar and garlic/onion seasoning. This type of mix can easily be adjusted to any flavour you want while keeping the rice to pasta ratio at 2 parts rice, 1 part pasta.

Rice-a-Roni Clone Mix

I made the Rica-a-Roni clone mix directly in the jars. The first two jars are plain chicken flavoured. The middle jar is chicken flavoured with onion flakes added. The third jar has additional seasonings to make a Spanish rice mix. A funnel is useful for adding ingredients. The end result was 4 - 250 ml jars of Rice-a-Roni clone mix coming in at a cost per jar of 12¢. Each jar will serve 4. It took me less than 10 minutes to put the jars together so this is an easy to make, low cost clone recipe that anyone can make.

Method: Pour ½ cup rice and ¼ cup vermicilli into each jar. Add ½ tsp dried parsley flakes and 1 tbsp bouillon to each jar. If you will be using water rather than stock to cook your mix then increase the bouillon to 2 tbsp. If you are leaving your mix plain, place lids on the jars, vacuum seal then store in your pantry.

Optional additions:

• Add 1 tsp dried onion flakes.
• Add ¼ tsp paprica, ½ tsp chili powder, 1 tsp dried sweet peppers, 1 tsp dried onions, 1 tsp granulated sugar, 1 tsp garlic/onion spice blend, 1 tsp tomato powder

To use:

• Melt 2 tbsp butter in fry pan. Pour in the contents of 1 jar. Mix well. Let brown slightly. Stir in 2¼ c stock (or water). Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low. Cover and simmer 15 minutes.
  

Homemade Stovetop Stuffing

I am very much a scratch cooking most of the time. One thing that has always been a concern is coming across a recipe I want to try that calls for a convenience packaged food that in most cases I would never purchase. The bottom line is two fold. First I don't like using convenience packaged food that tends to be heavily laden in excess salt, sugar, artificial flavour and colour as well as preservatives. Second, I want to make a recipe with foods I have on hand rather than make a mad dash to the grocery store. One ingredient that I've come across in some recipes is StoveTop® stuffing.

Bread Prep

I decided to make a clone recipe of StoveTop® stuffing. After all it could not be that difficult since the ingredients are quite simple. I honestly don't know how much a box StoveTop® stuffing is going for so I'm going to guess $1.50 per box. Here I made pretty much the same amount as 3 boxes for about $1 or 33¢ each but that was because I was working with store bought rolls rather than homemade bread. Had I used homemade bread the cost would be more in the range of 10¢ per jar of stuffing.

Method: I cut the dinner rolls into cubes then baked at 180ºC/350ºF until golden brown. Then I let the cubes cool.

Ingredients

Aside of the left over dinner rolls I used sea salt, fresh cracked pepper, dried onion flakes and homemade poultry seasoning. This combination is directly related to the way I make stuffing in poultry. Additional ingredients are dried parsley and instant bouillon mix. I used a tsp of parsley per jar but no instant bouillon to keep the sodium level low and since I want to use homemade stock when making the stuffing I didn't want an actual meat flavour being added. This will allow me to make any flavour of stuffing I want. This is also a great way to use up homemade bread that is just on the stale side.

Homemade Stovetop Stuffing

This will be a nice homemade pantry product! Now I can make a couple of those recipes I want to try using the convenience of my homemade version! It should substitute nicely. The homemade stovetop stuffing is quite easy to make. After the toasted bread is cooled I filled 3 - 1 L canning jars with the bread. I added a sprinkling of sea salt, couple of twists of fresh ground pepper, 1 tsp dried parsley, 1 tbsp poultry seasoning and 1 tbsp dried minced onions. Then I vacuum sealed the jars and wrote the instructions on the lid. When I want to use a jar I will add 1 tbsp butter and 1½ cup stock of choice.

Homemade Shake & Bake Chicken

Anytime we have a traditional or family favourite especially those from the days of being a young bride, I look for ways to improve it while still keeping the favour and feeling of the dish. Our fancy Sunday dinner when I was a young bride was Shake & Bake® chicken, mashed potatoes and niblet corn. I've talked about this before on this blog. This meal is still considered comfort food even though I have made a few changes. Quite often I serve this meal with baked potatoes because the oven is already on so making baked potatoes saves energy. The biggest change made was making my own coating mix for a fraction of the cost of store bought!

The Mix & Storing

Shake & Bake® is a simple, ready to use coating mix that comes with two packets of the mix and 2 plastic bags. When it first came out in the original flavour for chicken it immediately became quite popular. The concept was very simple - pour the mix into one of the bags, add the chicken pieces then shake to coat and bake the coated chicken.

The last time I looked and it has been quite some time ago Shake & Bake® was $2.49 for about 2 cups of mix or $1.25 per cup. The Bulk Barn sells a chicken coating for $1.49 per lb or 37¢ per cup. But if you make your own using homemade bread crumbs the cost per cup is 7¢ per cup. Not only is homemade chicken coating cheaper you can easily adjust the sodium and do a bit of tweaking to get exactly what you what. You are also eliminating any artificial flavourants, colourants and preservatives. The best part is whipping up a batch of this coating mix takes less than 10 minutes on a slow day! This coating mix is every bit as good if not better than store bought!

I use my KitchenAid® stand mixer to mix the ingredients thoroughly (1). This recipe makes 9 cups but for most uses only 1 - 1½ of the coating mix is needed so I vacuum seal in a 1.5 L mason jar (2) using my FoodSaver. This will keep the coating mix fresh until needed. The rest is put into a 1 L (quart) mason jar (3) for immediate use. About 1/3 of this jar was used for dinner but that could have been cut back just a little. I don't measure just pour a bit into a Ziploc® container then add as much chicken that will comfortably fit. Then I shake to coat well and remove the coated chicken to a waiting Silpat® lined baking sheet (4). I repeat this if needed adding a bit more coating mix if necessary.

Homemade Shake & Bake Chicken Coating
source:  Garden Gnome

4 c dry bread crumbs
4 c unbleached flour
2 tbsp sea salt
2 tbsp organic cane sugar*
2 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp onion powder
2 tsp dried parsley
3 tbsp paprika
1 tbsp poultry seasoning
1 tsp pepper
¼ c vegetable oil

Place all the ingredients except the oil into the bowl of a KitchenAid® stand mixer. Set to setting 1. Stir 1 minute. With the mixer still on setting 1 drizzle the oil into the mixture. Allow to mix well. Pour into jars for storing and vacuum seal.

Yield: 9 cups

*I have not tried this recipe using a sugar substitute but it should work fine although the substitute may not cause the same degree of caramelization.

Chicken Dinner

I use the coating mix just as you would store bought coating mix except I use a re-usable container to coat the coating in place of a disposable plastic bag. Anytime you an eliminate something disposable in the kitchen you save money and you lower your carbon footprint. Once the chicken is coated, I bake at 375ºF for 40 minutes or until juices run clear.
This mix is ideal for chicken (bone in or boneless) or you can use it for chicken fried steak.

Pictured is our updated shake & bake chicken using the homemade coating mix and served with baked potatoes instead of mashed for Wednesday's dinner. Occasionally I still serve this dish with mashed potatoes for old time sake. One thing that hasn't changed is the niblet corn although that is no longer store bought either. My husband gave the meal another thumbs up while enjoying this family favourite from our early married days.

Frugal Kitchens 101 - Mixes

The results of the last poll were rather surprising. Of the 61 voters 67% used no mixes while 31% used 1 - 3 mixes per week. Only 1% used more than 6 mixes per week. So you really need to give yourselves a well deserved pat on the back! Congratulations on not using a lot of commercially prepared mixes.

The average commecial cake mix contains about 30¢ of ingredients and you still have to add oil, water and eggs. The bake time is the same as homemade so essentially you are paying three times or more as much as what you could put together yourself. The same thing can be said for muffin mixes, any baking mixes, hamburger stretcher mixes, pasta/rice mixes, salad mixes and basically any mix you can find in your grocery store. You seriously do not need to buy a mix to make a vinegarette or salad dressing or a dip. Virtually any mix can easily be made at home with ingredients you already have on hand and homemade is always cheaper especially when it comes to mixes.

What you are buying is the convenience of mixes combined with the packaging. Eliminate the packaging and make your own mixes. In areas where packaging is not recyclable you prevent the packaging from going to a landfill as well. That way you have the convenience of a mix without the packaging so you are reducing your carbon footprint while you are saving money. At the same time you are putting homemade convenience products in your pantry for use when you don't feel like doing a lot of measuring. If you take 20 minutes on a Saturday and make up say 10 jars of a white cake mix, look at how much you will be saving and you are getting a healthier product with less salt, sugar and preservatives!

There are a lot of online resources for making your own mixes. Click here for a recent Google search then explore some of these mixes. There's everything from cookies to cakes to pasta and so much more. Make up one or two jars of whatever strikes your fancy, try it out then if you like it make several jars. Most homemade mixes will keep 1 - 2 years in your pantry providing it is cool and dark.