The Homemade Pantry: 101 Foods You Can Stop Buying and Start Making pt3

Rating: Buy it. Soon.

The test

BAKING TIMES MAY VARY!  We just wanted to get that out there first thing so as not to forget it.  We haven't gotten to the bigger projects in the book yet, but if the smaller ones we tried are any indication, they will turn out great, provided you pay close attention to them the first time.  Here are the things we tried:

Instant Oatmeal

This small, seemingly insignificant recipe made the book worth it for us.  Before this, breakfast, or even lunch or dinner oatmeal was lost to us.  We buy rolled oats for granola and cookies already but never have the desire to cook them as a meal, and despite eating many, many a packet as a child, we hate packaged instant oatmeal.  We never knew it was this easy to have customizable instant oatmeal sitting in our pantry or fridge ready to go.  We put dried blueberry's in ours, its delicious.

Pancakes/Waffles

We know pancakes aren't very complicated.  We also know that we only ever eat them at a restaurant, because to us, they're kind of a hassle.  The genius in this recipe isn't that they are amazing pancakes, though they are wonderfully fluffy and delicious.  Its that it shows you that they don't have to be a pain in the neck to put together.  Plus, the same mix of dry ingredients can be used for both pancakes and waffles with only minor changes to the wet ingredients.  Well done book, well done.

Nutty Granola Bar (aka Car Snack 3)

There are 3 "car snacks" in the book.  The idea being that these are things you can have on hand to feed a hungry mouth, including your own, while on the move.  They all have quite a few ingredients but come together quite quickly and without much fuss.  Watch the baking times though.  Every thing we baked was done in about 1/2 the recommended time.  Everything turned out fine, and our oven may be hotter than yours, just check the progress periodically to make sure. Car Snack 3 is a delicious chocolaty and nutty granola bar.  Its seasoned and flavored perfectly as written, something you don't see very often.

The wrap up

We highly recommend this book.  It has something to teach almost anybody and it certainly gets you more involved in the food you eat or feed your family.  Definitely buy it, or better yet, buy it for someone care about.

Next time we'll be bringing you an oldie but a goody, one to keep an eye open for at the garage sale.