I've thought about using one of those bread maching mixes but haven't yet...I'll have to look for this one and give it a try. I let the machine do the work and bake in the oven. As far as mixes go.....I like the Jiffy Corn Muffin mix and I always have a box of brownie mix in the cabinet. Love Ann's, Sherry's, and Marilyn's recipes but sometimes the box mix works just fine and they are really pretty good. Great when the kids want to make something on the fly. I'll say the same for cake mixes too. The one I've yet to duplicate with homemade is the Vanilla White Cake from a box. I just love it...the same goes for the white wedding cake that is served at most weddings I've been too. If you have a good recipe for that, please share it with me! I'm not sure if Bisquick is considered a mix or not??? It is a staple in my pantry supplies. Hey, if it is a baked item...sweet to boot... I'm there!! David

"You, Grainlady, may actually create a new recipe out of your head, but, don't you think it may already exist somewhere?" Yes and no..... As the old saying goes, "there is no new thing under the sun" but...... If you study food science and food history, you'll find baker's ratios have been well established throughout the ages, and they have evolved as new foods, methods, and machinery were developed, and that's what I use to develop recipes. Bread made before hard winter wheat was developed, as well as methods for milling it (in the mid 1870's), was made with soft wheat and was entirely different, and the method for making it was completely different. Naturally-leavened breads are made differently than breads made with baker's yeast, which was developed during WWII and revolutionized bread making, but it's all "bread" made with common ingredients and some common ratios. There have been well established "rules" for making bread, then in 1945 out came a booklet entitled "Bake the No-Knead Way" Ann Pillsbury's Amazing Discovery, and you could save up to 1/2 your baking time. Next came "Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day", with another revolutionizing method. But you still get "bread". Those were methods and recipes they developed. There is a proportion we maintain between ingredients for most baked goods and they are well established and easily found and followed. Biscuit recipes are fairly standard, but there are all kinds of recipes for biscuits because a few ingredients have been altered, and new add-ins make them "new and improved", but it's still a biscuit. We know that there are ingredients that are tenderizers (fat and sugar) and ingredients that are structure builders (flour and eggs). A standard plain cake has, by measure, 1/3 as much fat as sugar; 2/3 as much milk as sugar; and about three times as much flour as liquid. The ratio worked for my grandmother who used a coffee or tea cup to measure the ingredients without a real recipe, or my mother who used a pint canning jar with a sketchy recipe handed down from her mother, or me with my fancy stainless steel measuring cups and exact measurements, but still using a similar ratio of ingredients that make a cake. But take Red Velvet Cake as an example. It's essentially a chocolate cake with a bottle of red food coloring added to it, whether that was by accident or intentionally. It's a cake using a common ratio of ingredients - with a new twist. Up until then there were plenty of chocolate cake recipes, but only one Red Velvet Cake - and now you will find many adaptations of it - and "Red Velvet" is turning up in all kinds of baked goods, not just cake. When you alter ingredients significantly from "normal standards", such as in the 37 Calorie Brownies, you have to find ways to use alternatives to meet your recipe goals. Sarah Phillips of "Baking 9-1-1" fame (great book and web site) made 100 versions of a low-fat white cake before she was happy with it. That's a cake recipe she developed - she didn't invent "cake". More science... When fat and sugar are reduced for the sake of calories, you will compromise the tenderness. Buttermilk and fat-free yogurt make good low-fat substitutes in recipes that aid tenderness and richness without fat. If you use chemical no-calorie, sugar-free substitutes or stevia, you've sacrificed tenderness and browning. The recipe for 37 Calorie Brownies is what it is....according to the person who developed it. Although it had little in common with brownies, other than the name, anyone who makes the recipe will probably find ways to alter the original recipe unless they like it just like it is. I made a low-carb version of Coconut Pecan Filling/Frosting (a recipe I developed) to top the recipe to make it "better" than just the plain recipe. I wasn't concerned with the number of calories, but I liked that it was wheat-free. In order to alter the 37 Calorie Brownie recipe to be more like traditional brownies, study what makes a brownie a brownie. Do you want it fudgy or cakey? What kind of mouth-feel, because this recipe is smooth and creamy and nothing like cake. Differences in cocoa powder and chocolate in a brownie recipe might be interesting (something America's Test Kitchen has explored, I'm sure). What would happen if you refrigerated the batter before baking it? Added nut flour (such as almond flour) or coconut flour to make it more cake-like? This is how you develop a recipe, and when it's finished, it has little in common with the original, if you make enough changes. Several years ago I developed cookie recipes for a local sorghum mill. The cookies and recipes were featured at a "Taste of Kansas Tour" at the mill. They are recipes I created myself, but they were based on common baker's formulas and common baking science. For convenience, I first developed a base recipe that would make nearly any kind or flavor of a cookie, then I altered it with add-ins and substitutes. If you find a Nutella White Sorghum Flour Cookie Recipe, it's probably mine. I've shared it on this message board many times. I've developed a multi-grain baking mix called "Good-For-You Baking Mix" and recipes to use it in, but I'm not the first person to come up with the idea - even Betty Crocker didn't develop Bisquick originally - a cook on a train developed it so he had a short-cut mixture with which to make biscuits quickly - as needed. I developed a multi-grain pancake mix one Christmas to add to food baskets at church, and we call it "Christmas Pancake Mix"- not the first, but the one using ingredients common in my pantry, like Morning Moo's Whey-Based Milk Substitute and grains I mill myself. My original recipe for a low-carb granola dubbed "Nutola" because there are more nuts than grain, and low-glycemic sweeteners, isn't the first granola recipe, just my version of one I developed. I've developed recipes 18-years ago using agave nectar (when it was nearly impossible to find), and even won $500 in a low-glycemic recipe contest using 2 of those recipe. At the time, my agave nectar sweetened recipes were the only ones I'd ever seen, but I used honey as a guideline for the recipes I developed. -Grainlady

Bisquick (or the lower-priced store brand version), or a homemade baking mix for even more $aving$, can be used for pancakes, muffins, waffles, Impossible Pie recipes, biscuits, pizza crust, cakes, cookies, quick breads, etc. A more versatile choice than "pancake mix". The link below is for the base recipe plus recipes using it. If you don't have enough ingredients to make a large batch: Bisquick Substitute By-the-cup: 1 c. flour 1-1/2 t. baking powder 1/2 t. salt 1 T. fat ------------------------------ If it's pancakes you want... Light-as-a-feather Hot Cakes 1 egg, slightly beaten 3/4 to 1 c. milk 2 T. melted shortening, butter, margarine or cooking oil 1 c. flour 1/2 t. salt 2 T. baking powder 2 T. sugar Combine egg, milk and oil. Add dry ingredients; mix until smooth. Freeze any extra pancakes. --------------------------------------------------------- Although oatmeal is a great low-costing breakfast food, not everyone likes it. These recipes may improve plain old oatmeal. PEANUT BUTTER GRANOLA great as a snack or breakfast cereal Melt together: 2 T. butter 1/3 c. peanut butter 1/3 c. honey Add: 1/2 t. vanilla 1/4 t. salt Mix in: 3 c. oatmeal Spread on a baking sheet. Bake 325-degrees for 10-15 minutes, until lightly browned. ----------------------------------------- If you have leftover COOKED oatmeal, try this scone recipe. I often make 1/2 a recipe. They freeze well. COOKED OATMEAL SCONES source: http://www.food.com/recipe/cooked-oatmeal-scones-46876 2 tablespoons butter 2 tablespoons honey 1 cup cooked oatmeal 2/3 cup milk 1 3/4 cups whole wheat flour ( or a bit more) 4 teaspoons baking powder 1/2 teaspoon salt Melt the butter and honey together, and mix them into the cool, cooked oatmeal. Mix in the milk, half at a time. Mix the flour, baking powder, and salt. You may wish to adjust the salt depending on how much was used in cooking the oatmeal- I am assuming not very much, if any. Mix the flour into the oatmeal. If the mixture seems too moist, add a little more flour. (This will depend on how moist your cooked oatmeal was. When enough flour has been stirred in, the dough will form a rough ball.) Roll out to 1" thick and cut in wedges, or scoop it out with an ice cream scoop and flatten it to 1" with dampened hands. Bake on a greased and floured sheet at 350�F for 15 to 20 minutes. --------------------------------- There are lots of recipes for oatmeal pancakes, or oatmeal banana pancakes, which would be a nutritional improvement over regular pancakes. I make oatmeal/sprouted lentil waffles - no flour, no eggs, no leavening. They are a complete protein since they are a mix of grain and legumes. -Grainlady Here is a link that might be useful: Ready-Quick Mix

Barb & pink_warm_mama_1 - I've used a number of them over the years and the one I use most frequently now is for "Magic Mix" (originally developed by the Utah State Extension Service), using the cornstarch option so I can make it gluten-free, and I use coconut oil instead of butter so it keeps well at room temperature (if you use butter, make sure you refrigerate or freeze the mix). Here is a link that should be helpful: http://everydayfoodstorage.net/about-food-storage/magic-mix This link includes the how-to (and do use an electric mixer to blend the mixture - it works really well) and base recipe, plus a number of recipes to use it in (just click on the highlighted options (condensed cream of chicken soup, condensed cream of mushroom soup, condensed cream of celery soup, etc. In the book "I Can't Believe It's Food Storage" there are also recipes for using this base mix for Gravy, Fudgsicles, Pudding, Pesto Alfredo Sauce, Cream of Chicken-Mushroom-Broccoli-Celery and Tomato Soup. If you need any of those recipes, I'd be happy to post them. Base recipe: 2-1/3 c. dry powdered milk 1 c. all-purpose flour OR 1/2 c. cornstarch (which is what I use for a gluten-free version) 1 c. (2 sticks) butter (I use 1 c. coconut oil) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Another link from Utah State: Soup and Sauce (SOS) Mix http://extension.usu.edu/files/publications/publication/FN_Cooking&Baking_2011-02pr.pdf