Make It Yourself: "Cream of..." Soups

OK, I started the "Make It Yourself" series and promised to be back and life got in the way and I was delayed. Sorry about that!

Anyway, I'm back and hoping to have at least one "Make It Yourself" suggestion for you each week. Today, instead of Wrinkle Release Spray, like I promised last time, I'm going to talk about making your own "Cream of..." soups. We'll get back to the Wrinkle Release Spray next time...I promise!

A trip to the doctor has prompted me to look for healthier alternatives to some of the things I've been using. I need to cut down on sodium and one of the biggest culprits in my diet is canned soups. They have thousands of milligrams of sodium in every can and some of my recipes use 2 or 3 cans of soup.

I went on a quest this morning and found a recipe at SparkPeople.com for a mix you can keep on hand to use for just about any "Cream of..." soup. Check it out:

Ingredients

2 cups powdered nonfat milk 3/4 cup cornstarch 1/4 cup(or less) instant vegetable bullion 2 Tbsp. dried onion flakes 1 tsp. basil leaves 1 tsp. thyme leaves 1/2 tsp. pepper

Directions

Combine all ingredients, mixing well. Store in an airtight container until ready to use. To substitute for one can of condensed soup:

Combine 1/3 cup of dry mix with 1 1/4 cups of cold water in saucepan. Cook and stir until thickened. Add to casserole as you would the canned product.

Makes equivalent of 9 cans of soup.

Variations:

Mushroom Soup: Add 1/2 cup finely chopped mushrooms
Celery Soup: Add 1/2 cup minced celery
Potato Soup: Add 1 cup diced potatoes, cooked
Vegetable Soup: Add 3/4 cup mixed vegetables, cooked
Broccoli Soup: Add 1 cup chopped broccoli, cooked
Asparagus Soup: Add 1 cup chopped asparagus, cooked

I haven't tried it yet but I'm going to mix some up this weekend and I'll let you know how it works out.

Make It Yourself: No Tangle Spray

One of our forum members recently posted wondering how to make No Tangle Spray at home. I searched and found an answer online and posted it and that inspired me to look for other things I could make myself. What I found is that there are many things you can make at home that I never even considered.

I'll be sharing some of what I've found here with you over the next few weeks in an effort to help us all offset the rising cost of gas and groceries. Today, we'll start with that No Tangle Spray that inspired my quest.

If you've got little girls with long hair, Johnson's No More Tangles or Suave Detangler is a must-have. But the stuff is $3 a bottle or more these days. I looked around and found a recipe to make it at home:

• Take a small spray bottle (reuse your old Detangler bottle if you have one)
• Add 1 part of your favorite brand of hair conditioner to 3 parts water
• Shake well (before each use)
• Spritz in on hair and comb through
  

And there you have it! Who knew it could be so easy? And since you can use any brand or fragrance of hair conditioner, you can customize the scent to your liking.

Next time: Wrinkle Release Spray