When you are in the kitchen and you are in the middle of making something and find yourself out of one of the ingredients, the list below will help you find a substitution and allow you to go right ahead and bake what ever your little heart is craving. I found this on her web site and thought it most worthy of sharing with you. Print it out and tape it inside one of your kitchen cabinets so it is handy when you need it. Don’t ever open the cabinet where all my spices are. You will find a whole magazine taped to the inside door.  Measurements, pound cake recipes that I use almost weekend, and yes, you would think that I should have them memorized by now, but I am old, memory is fading and I do everything in a hurry, so I don’t trust myself to remember amounts of oil/water or whether it is Baking powder or soda.  The only cookie recipe that I can make without even glancing at the written word is chocolate chip cookies, which I have made more times than I care to admit. Of course, once you look at my backside, you might have a pretty good idea how many times I have made them.

Buttermilk

Add 1 teaspoon distilled white vinegar to 1 cup fresh milk; let sour for 5 minutes.

Cake Flour
Substitute 1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour for 2 cups cake flour.

Corn Meal Mix
Having trouble finding corn meal mix in your grocery store? You can make your own by combining 1 cup corn meal, 1 cup all-purpose flour, ½ teaspoon salt and 4 teaspoons baking powder. You can store it in a tightly covered container for up to 6 months.

Corn Syrup
1 cup of sugar dissolved in ½ cup water equals 1 ½ cups corn syrup.

House Seasoning
1 cup salt, ¼ cup black pepper, and ¼ cup garlic powder.

Lemon Juice
½ teaspoon of vinegar can be substituted for each teaspoon of lemon juice.

Liquids
Instead of the water your recipe calls for, try juices, bouillon, or water you’ve cooked vegetables in. Instead of milk, try buttermilk, yogurt or sour cream. It can add a whole new flavor and improve nutrition.

Self-Rising Flour
To make your own self-rising flour, add 1 ½ teaspoons of baking powder and ½ teaspoon of salt to each cup of all-purpose flour.

Sour Cream
Use 1 cup of plain yogurt, OR 1 cup cottage cheese blended until smooth with 1 tablespoon lemon juice and 1/3 cup buttermilk for each cup of sour cream

Sweetened Condensed Milk
Mix 6 cups whole milk with 4 ½ cups sugar, 1 stick of butter, and 1 vanilla bean (or 1 tablespoon vanilla). Cook over medium heat, reducing liquid, for 1 hour. Stir occasionally. Cool. Yields 4 ½ cups. This can be stored and covered in the refrigerator for several weeks. Cut recipe in half for immediate use.

As most of you know, I am in Phoenix, caring for grandkids while Jodi and Eric just brought Noah Michael into the world last Thursday. While Noah is just the most precious little blessing, this has been a huge reminder that I am not 40 anymore. Caring for a 2 yr old and a 10 yr old, much less a 33 yr old and a 39 year old, has also proven to be very…well, proven to be most tiring. Fun, but tiring.

As I am cooking away, which I love to do, I sometimes look around and see laying on the floor a pair of little underwear laying there because Caleb (the 2 yr old, not the 39 yr old) has run to the potty, but just takes off the underwear as soon as he realizes he needs to go. I have washed exactly 137 tommy tippy cups in 5 days, emptied trash cans every other hour (from the non-stop soiled diapers from the newborn and the 2 yr old.) Before Randy came to help me over the weekend, I was leaving the hospital the day Noah was born when Caleb decided he wouldn’t get out of the elevator, so here I am with a armful of balloons, 2 stuffed doggies, my purse, bag of extra clothes and “treats” for Caleb all the while trying to drag Caleb out of the elevator. People waiting to get on the elevator just stand there watching me to see how I am going to manage this. Jaden is already out and the doors begin to close when Caleb proceeds to scream, saying “no, I don’t want to go, I want my dad” and me, trying to sound so sweet and trying to bribe him out of the elevator, so the people wouldn’t think I was a child molester or kidnapper. Jaden finally grabbed one arm and me the other and we proceed to drag him out with him sitting on his bottom, screaming all the way.

The next day, Randy has arrived and we decided we need to go to Walmart to buy a few things when, Randy decides to leave Caleb and I at the check out counter while he goes and looks for a pair of sunglasses. I get all the groceries on the belt to check out and Caleb immediately yells, “”Nana, I have to go potty, NOW”…well, I cannot leave all my groceries on the belt, don’t have the energy to start back over and with no Randy in sight, I begin to plead and bribe Caleb if he can wait I will buy him any candy he wants. Finally Randy shows up and I throw Caleb at him and yell, take him potty now. Randy runs with Caleb to the bathroom, only to return him to me in a minute, saying that the men’s restroom is closed for cleaning, so I take him and run to the ladies bathroom……We get to the “minivan”, yes, we said, minivan, (for those of you who know Randy, you know this is quite a trick getting him to drive a minivan while we have the grandkids), and Randy says that the glasses he just bought are already scratched so he is going to go back in and exchange them. I try to catch Caleb to put him in the car seat when he decides that he thinks it is fun running around the inside of the van. So, I proceed to climb in and head to the back of the 3 seat van to retreive this precious little darling. Now if you can imagine a little old lady trying to catch a 2 yr old inside a mini van while he is climbing over all the seats trying to get away from you, you get the picture.

We got home, finally and Jaden announces that he is hungry. I couldn’t do it. I just couldn’t cook anything. Besides dealing with over 100 degree weather and the 2 year old, I talked Randy into going to get us Taco Bell. I don’t think I have to tell you that we have doubled up on our viatamins since being here and am sleeping extremely well every night.  With Jodi and Eric and the new little Noah home now, it has been such a sweet time of seeing my daugher be a new mother once again. We actually had about 4 hours, just she, Noah and I, one afternoon at the hospital while Eric and Randy took the other two boys. What a sweet memory. Yes, it is worth all the dirty dishes, dirty diapers and dirty chothes, to see your kids become parents again. Not only does it bring back many sweet memories, but in the process of these two weeks, we will be taking home some new memories that we will cherish for years to come. Thank you Jodi and Eric for this new little blessing and thank you Lord for your protection and the gift of Noah. He has already won our hearts.