Back in the day, I used to go shopping across the American Border a few times a year. By that I don't mean shopping for clothing or stuff like that I mean Grocery shopping.  I have always loved to Grocery shop and I especially loved Grocery shopping in America. 

They had many things that we did not have available to us in Canada. Things like dry Italian Salad Dressing Mix and Dry Ranch Seasoning Mix. Those were things I like to use, not so much for salads, etc, but in other things.

Although to be sure I did make salad dressings with them from time to time. I especially loved the Italian one. You could make it lower fat if you wanted to. I have been dieting and trying to eat low fat for years not that it has done me any good. 

There is no such thing here in the UK, those mises. You can get them from America supply shops from time to time, but they are usually out of stock and if you do find them, they cost an arm and a leg.

The mix itself without the buttermilk powder is relatively easy to compose.  It is a pure mix of dried herbs and spices. 

Onion powder and garlic powder. Make sure you don't use salts.  You want the pure powders.  I didn't have any onion powder, so I just blitzed onion flakes in a spice grinder to turn it into powder.

 There is also some dried parsley, dried dillweed, dried chives and yes, onion flakes.  Double the onion blast! There is also ground black pepper and fine sea salt. 

It goes together in a snap. You can add the buttermilk powder, or not as you wish.  I chose to add it. If you add the powder you can keep it for a month in the refrigerator or even longer in the freezer.

 I have never had a dry America Turkey.  We used to bring the children with us and we would bring back at least four turkeys. (Bringing back 7 would be selfish!)

But we did bring back four.  That would give us one for Christmas, one for Thanksgiving, one for Easter and one for whenever.  Yes, we loved turkey. I still do.

 And I have to say I love this dressing mix.  It is so quick and easy to make and it is delicious. I can see me using it for all sorts. 

Of course the first thing I had to do was to make a salad with it.  I didn't have a lot of salad ingredients in the house, bar lettuce and tomatoes.

But the good thing is, if you know what you are doing, you can make a salad out of just about anything.  I had some courgette/zucchini and I chopped that up.

Then I added some green beans, boccoli, corn, peas and red onion. It was tres yummy.  Tres yummy indeed!

 

This content (written and photography) is the sole property of The English Kitchen. Any reposting or misuse is not permitted. If you are reading this elsewhere, please know that it is stolen content and you may report it to me at: mariealicejoan at aol dot com 

Thanks so much for visiting. Do come again!! 

 Follow my blog with Bloglovin 

These Quick Drop Danish are fabulously delicious breakfast buns that I have made over and over through the years.  I think that the recipe originally came from Bisquick, but I have adapted it to use my own homemade baking mix and it works beautifully that way.  (Recipe for both the buns and the mix below)

I have always made my own convenience mixes for things . . . .  biscuit/scone mix, cookie mix, muffin mix, etc.  One of my favourite convenience mixes to have to hand is my Brownie Mix.  It comes  in very handy and so easy to make and to store.  It does make a lot, but you can always cut the recipe in half to make less.  Today I used it to make these delicious Easter Basket Brownies!

Usually on Sundays I try to put something into the crockpot for dinner before I leave for church.  We are always so starving by the time we get home, which usually isn't until about 2 PM!  If I haven't been really organized and used the crockpot, we end up eating things we shouldn't because lets face it . . .  by that time we don't care what goes into our mouths.  We just want to fill that gap!   Not to self . . .  perhaps carry an apple in your church bag . . .



Sister Johansen who is another Senior Missionary here in the UK, said she really wanted to make this Crockpot Chicken and Stuffing recipe that she found on Pinterest, but wasn't sure if she actually could because they don't do boxed stuffing mix here.  Well  . . .  they do, but it's not like any stuffing mix we are used to in North America.  Over here in the UK, it is like cracker crumbs . . .  I think it's called crumbled rusk.  Anyways, like Sister Johansen, I didn't think it would work in this recipe.



And so I promised Sister Johansen that I would find a way to make it work.  And guess what???  I did!  I created my own stuffing mix.  (You will find the recipe below.)  And you know . . .  it has to be better than anything storebought with artificial ingredients and additives.  Well, that's my theory anyways!

 

It worked really well!  Really, REALLY well.   This was delicious and so simple to put together.  All I had to do was add some potatoes and vegetables.   Boiled baby potatoes and some steamed veg were just the trick.  The leftovers the next day were even tastier.




Place your chicken in the bottom of your crock pot.   Pour the chicken broth over all and then lay a slice of cheese over top of each.  Whisk together both of the soups and the milk.  Pour this over top ov the cheese and chicken.   Top with the stuffing mix.  Cover and cook on low for 6 to 8 hours, or high for 4 hours.   Serve with your choice of side dishes.  I recommend steamed baby potatoes and broccoli.



To make stuffing:  combine 1 tsp instant chicken boullion stock powder, along with 6 ounces of boiling water.  Melt 6 TBS of butter in a skillet and saute one medium onion (peel and chop) with 4 stalks of celery (chopped) until softened.  Toss together with the chicken stock and 7 cups of the stuffing  mix.    Use to stuff a chicken or turkey prior to roasting, or bakd in a lightly buttered casserole for half an hour at 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4.  You can also use it to stuff pork chops.