Saturday 29 September 2007

Powdered milk and other gems...

Why is it some weeks just fly by and I feel like I am chasing my tail? The past week has been like this and now school holidays have started here it will probably just snowball for a while.
I did manage to shop and menu plan so here it is (I didn't quite manage two weeks as I wasn't feeling creative enough for more than that).

1. Spaghetti Bolognaise
2. Roast Pork & Veggies (in my new-to-me webber kettle bbq)
3. chicken schnitzel & potato bake (family favourite)
4. chicken wraps and salad
5. salmon, prawns and chips
6. homemade hamburgers
7. roast beef (in the slow cooker)
8. fried rice
9. Moroccan chicken with cous cous
10. rissoles and veggies

I have been making the tortilla recipe from A Vision Splendid to use as our home made wraps. Go on you know you want to try them. They are so easy! I find it make 6 good size wraps, which don't fall apart as you are trying to eat them! Plus they are very frugal to make. My short cut tip is: I make up some powdered milk with hot water, measure what I need and refrigerate the rest - this way I don't have to heat the milk to make them.
Powdered milk is something I have been making up regularly. I tend to use it mostly in cooking, although I have been trying to get my son to drink it as well since he seems to have several glasses of milk a day. It is so much cheaper than fresh milk and if you are only using it in cooking you won't notice the difference in taste.
Here are some hints about using powdered milk.
Did you know you could make your own low-fat milk?
Just mix together regular milk with skim milk powder and water. Mixing equal parts of each will give a milk with 2% fat.
If you are using powdered milk in recipes this might help as well -
2 tablespoons powder and 1 cup of water = 1 cup milk
1 cup powder and 1 litre of water = 1 litre of milk
Thought I might finish off with a fast & frugal recipe - using powdered milk - haven't tried this yet but will report back in a few days when I have.

Fast Fruit and Nut Slice
DOUGH
1 cup SR flour
1 cup wholemeal SR flour
1/4 cup skim milk powder
2 tbsp vegetable oil
3/4 - 1 cup water

Gradually add oil and water to dry ingredients and mix to a soft dough. Spread the dough into a lightly greased lamington tray.

TOPPING
1 cup raisins
1 cup sultanas
1/2 cup crushed nuts
grated rind and juice of 1 orange

Combine topping ingredients and spread over dough. Bake in oven at 200c for about 20 minutes. Cut into 24 pieces. Serve while still warm.
Enjoy!
Take care of you.

5 comments:

A Vision Splendid said...

Lisa, that's a great tip with the powdered milk in the wraps. I will be adding that to my method for sure.
We have now moved completely to powdered milk- somthing I thought we would NEVER do. I have moved my boys to drinking more and more water so that really only leaves cooking and tea/coffee. The savings are tremendous!.

Lis said...

I know! It's amazing that for the small sum of $4.93 I can make 12.5 litres of milk...that is like less than 40 cents for a litre of milk! I am slowly weaning my family off the fresh stuff.

Lib said...

Thanks for the powdered milk hint.I started using it again this wk. thanks for reminding me.:o)
Blessins',
Lib

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the tortilla recipe. I have wanted one for ages as I hate buying the imported ones in the supermaket and my kids love wraps.

shandora said...

I always wondered about the cup sizes; do you actually pour the powdered milk (or other things) in a cup? And how do you do that with butter, of example?


Dis you ever try a hay box? (I don't have a slow cooker, but I guess it would be the same thing, without the electricity?)