Casey Kellar - Quick Fix Healthy Mix: 225 Healthy and Affordable Mix Recipes to Stock Your Kitchen

PREFACE

Saving money and living well appears to be on everyones mind. It seems that every week the price of gas, groceries, gifts, cleaning products and other necessary items are spiraling out of control.

Well take the opportunity to show you how a little planning, a little time, and a lot of fun can help you to take control of your wallet, your pantry, and your time by making your own simple, homemade and wholesome items right at home. There is no need to waste time and money on expensive brand-name items, store mark-ups, ecologically unfriendly over-packaged and over-processed, preservative-packed foods when you can make your own natural, high-quality, ready-to-go products at home for a fraction of the cost. You can decrease your spending and your carbon footprint at the same time!

Preparing healthy and natural products at home is a great stress reliever and can be a wonderful way to get your spouse, children and friends to learn and appreciate natural, homemade products while learning or reinforcing their basic knowledge of cooking, baking, measuring, planning, time management and budgeting. Its also a great group activity for Scout troops, nursing homes, class projects, church or library bazaars, bake sales, etc. At home or as a group, youll enjoy preparing the different mixes. You can package them in decorative tins, bottles or mason jars with homemade labels or tags and present a gift that is healthy, heartfelt and homemade.

DEDICATION

We dedicate this book to all the health conscious, natural-loving and make-it-yourself people of the world and to our family and circle of friends that just keeps on growing.

Introduction

W hat if you could eat like royalty on a budget? Would you use the extra money to pay off your bills, take a vacation, buy a new car or help a friend or cause in need?

Before writing this book, my daughter and coauthor, Nicole, and I both looked for books on quick mixes, organic mixes, and books on all-natural, easy and fast pre-made foods. To our surprise, we could only find bits and pieces in various cookbooks. How to make barbecue sauce in one book, how to make an herb mix in another and other specialty cookbooks on baking, general cooking, etc. We could not find one book on the market that contained everything we were looking for low-cost, healthy, practical and useful everyday basic recipes to stock our kitchens. The lack of a similar published book on this topic inspired us to share our knowledge and passion.

You pay a big price for processed food by way of your pocketbook and your health! When we surveyed the prices young families and retirees have to pay (outrageous) for prepackaged mixes and pantry supplies, we resolved to show you not only how easy it is to make homemade mixes and save a bundle, but also how to make them healthier.

With all the great recipes, tips and money-saving facts in this book, youll learn how to stock up on staple mixes to make great-tasting healthy food items, including: seasonings, salad dressing mixes, pasta mixes, cooking sauces, ketchup, yogurt, butter, cheese, granola, rice mixes, pudding mixes, cake mixes, marshmallows, gelatin-type mixes and so much more.

It takes just a small amount of time to make these healthy mixes that will last for several weeks or months, so lets get started! Then, when youre ready to use your homemade mix, you can make your meal in a jiffy.

Make the change to a sustainable lifestyle using expert advice and know-how garnered from our Simple Living books. Well provide you with the knowledge to develop long-term self-sufficiency through traditional skills, energy-efficient technology and eco-friendly environmental applications with step-by-step instructions that will save you time and money.

CHAPTER 1
Lets Get Started

Create Memories

S ome of Nicoles and my fondest memories are of afternoons in the kitchen together turning tomatoes from the garden into batches of homemade salsa, baking fresh bread using grandmothers recipe, making spice and soup mixes and preparing herbal remedy mixes to share with friends. Nicole recalls putting the mixes in jars or bags and making fun homemade labels to put in holiday gift baskets for friends and family.

These memories are dear to each of us for different reasons. For me (Casey), these times allowed me to relax, unwind and bond with Nicole while at the same time teach her how to mix, bake, measure, calculate, follow instructions, recycle and reuse packaging to be resourceful.

Nicole remembers the fun of hanging out with mom in the kitchen, dressing up in an apron, stirring bowls and licking spoons, all of which were very important big girl activities. The best part was always getting the first bite of whatever we created, and Nicole telling her father and brother, I made it myself!

It wasnt until Nicole grew up and had a family of her own that she realized those afternoons in the garden and the kitchen with mom were not only fun, warm family moments, but also important, priceless lessons about life. Passed down from generation to generation, Nicole learned how to eat natural and healthy food, to be resourceful and creative, to turn seemingly mundane daily tasks, like throwing a quick dinner together after a long hard day at work, into fun interactive, family bonding time and learning opportunities.

We hope you will pick up this spirit of family sharing, spending time together and teaching to create your own family traditions and memories. For your children and grandchildren the memories will be priceless....

We are excited to share our information, so read on and start to take control of your grocery budget using simple ingredients and healthy alternatives.

Shopping For Raw Goods

Before you go to the store, make a list of the items you need. Using this book, look up the recipe ingredients you need to make the items on your list and jot them down. Now, the purchased ingredients will serve multiple purposes some for making your bulk mixes and some to use and store for later use.

When you have leftover ingredients, simply glance through this book and see what else you can make using those ingredients. Many of the ingredients have a long shelf life, so just store them in your pantry until you use them again. Ingredients with shorter shelf lives should be used to make up another food recipe (example: leftover tomatoes from making ketchup can be used to make salsa or be served that same day with pasta and marinara sauce).

TIP:
Make sure you plan your grocery