Friday, July 11, 2014

One Basic Dough Recipe

This recipe is the one I use for Pizza dough, Hot Pockets and Pita Bread.

Dough V1
1 packet Yeast
1 cup Warm Water (above room temp but not too hot to stick a finger into)
1 tsp Molasses
1 tsp Sugar
1 Tbsp Oil
2.5 cups Flour + more for kneading
Spray Oil

Put yeast packet into mixer bowl. Add molasses, sugar and warm water. Stir it in three circles with a spoon. Walk away for 5 minutes.

If you see brownish foamy stuff in your bowl when you come back, it's ON! This is the yeast "proofing", which means that your yeast is doing as it should. If the yeast does NOT get foamy, your water was too hot or too cold.

Dump the flour into your mixing bowl on top of the yeasty foam. This is where you choose which flours you want to use or if you want to throw a bit of herbs into the dough to make it prettier and add some flavor.  Mix on low until combined while drizzling the oil into your dough.

***Mixers have a special attachment for making dough. It's called a dough hook. It makes things easier, but if you don't have one it's ok. Your bread won't be mad at you.

Scrape your dough onto a floured work surface. Make sure to have enough flour to cover the entire area you expect to use but not too much as it will dry out your dough. Knead the dough with the heels of your hands until it has become smooth and springy. This is another finesse area. Too much kneading will wreck your dough. Push the dough away from you with firm but not Hulk pressure, then flip it on the board, turning the dough 90 degrees. Do it again. And again. And some more. Until your dough has become a springy ball of happy. 

Place your dough ball in a bowl that is at least 3 times the size of your dough ball. Spray oil to coat the bowl first, then spray your dough as well. Cover with a moist paper towel and let it rise for about 45 minutes. The dough should double in size.

Once the dough has risen, it's time to make what you want with it.

Lesson 3 - Staples, Stuff and Spices

Grocery staples are to cooking what primary colored paints are to art. Even if you don't have precisely what you need, you can still pull something together if you know what the components are.

Staples are the things that live in your cupboard and you are rarely - if ever - without. You can make almost anything with the right mixture of staples. Most of the items in this list are common. You can add or take away depending on what you cook and how you cook. Try to keep from pulling too much from the list, however. 

Common Staples List:
Milk
Eggs
Salt
Sugar
Black Pepper
Parmesan Cheese
Flour
Oil
Shortening
10 favorite spices or seasonings (this is a big deal, we'll hit it later)
Vinegar
Rice
Yeast
Molasses
Soy Sauce
Baking Soda
Baking Powder
Butter or Margarine
Corn Starch
Corn Meal
Vanilla Extract
Bread Crumbs

Go look in your kitchen cabinets. If your parents cook, you will find at least 80% of these items in your cupboard.


Got yeast, flour, salt, sugar and water? You can make pitas, pizza dough, flatbread, bread, rolls...
No yeast? Just flour, salt and water? You can make gravy, batter, pasta or noodles for soup.

As you collect recipes and find the ones that work best for your family, you will start to notice patterns in the items you use. I have my own list of personal staples. It's a little beefy, but I've pulled miracles having these things jammed in the cupboard.

Tricksy Kitchen Hobbit Staples:

Flours : Whole wheat, maseca (corn flour), white wheat, semolina, white
White flour is my base flour but I mix it with other flours depending on the recipe. Semolina is for pizza dough or pasta dough. Maseca goes into my corn meal to make cornbread. I try to mix 2/3 white to 1/3 wheat flour in my doughs. Due to gluten content, you can't add too much whole wheat flour without it impacting the finished product.
Consomme or Bullion Cubes :  Chicken, Beef and Ham
If I'm going to use salt, it might as well have a flavor. When I make rice to go with chicken, I use a chicken bullion cube rather than adding table salt to it.  Making ham gravy or beans and rice? Goya Ham Bullion packets are the bomb!
Oil : Spray Oil, Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Sesame Oil, Peanut Oil and Canola
Canola is for baking with premade mixes or anything that is going to be cooked at a high temperature. Sesame is used when making Hummus or anything Asian. Olive oil goes with Italian foods, Salads or anything  where you want your oil to have a flavor. Peanut oil is for deep frying. Trust me, it's amazing.
Cream of Something Soup: Mushroom, Celery, Asparagus
A can of any one of these soups can help create a hearty gravy, keep baked meat moist or add goodness to a rice dish.
Salad Dressing : Italian, Caesar, Ranch, Ken's Sweet Vidalia Onion
Italian and Caesar are super quick marinades to add flavor and increase tenderness in meat. Ranch and Ken's are sauces that I use in many of my recipes. They aren't just for salads. :)
Herbed Tomato Paste:
I prefer the herbed version to the regular tomato paste. I use it as pizza sauce or to tenderize pork.
Vinegar : White vinegar, balsamic vinegar, malt vinegar
White is used when I need a basic acidy vinegar. If I want a deeper flavor from my acid, I use balsamic. My family prefers malt vinegar to ketchup on fish and fries.
Lemon Juice
Another basic acid.

Spices
Fresh is better than dried, in spices. Most of us use thr dried stuff rather than fiddle with the care and upkeep of an herb garden. If you have a green thumb and a little bit of time, go ahead and grow what you use. I like mixed spices. One at a time can be handy, but why open 4 bottles when you can shake out of 1? 

Five Spice : This is an Asian spice that I use in Dim Sum. It can be mixed with honey to make some super amazing chicken wings or pork ribs.
Adobo con Pimiento: This is a Spanish garlic salt with pepper. 
Badia Completa Sazon : Another Spanish spice with dried veg bits in it. It has a green top.
Smoked Paprika
Italian Spice Blend
Chili Powder
Garlic Powder
Onion Powder
Seasoning Salt : This is the stuff in the red shaker bottle.
Cumin : a flavor intensifier herb often found in Spanish dishes.

Wednesday, July 9, 2014

Lesson 2 : Food Storage

 This section is about what most people find in their kitchens and the proper nomenclature for most of it. Yes, you may be aware and know half of the things you're about to read. It's cool. Keep reading, you may find things that are new to you. 

A pantry is an area separate from the kitchen or a closet where dry good are stored. Some houses no longer have a "pantry", utilizing kitchen cabinets instead.
The freezer is for frozen things.
The refrigerator is to keep things cool. 

Simple, no?

Care and Happiness of your Refrigerator:

Hot & Cold
It is not advisable to put cans in the fridge - other than soda cans.  Putting hot food in the fridge makes the motor to work overtime and can cause your fridge to have a shorter life span than it would normally. This is a big thing to have to fix or replace. It costs big money. If you can, let your items reach near room temp before putting them in the fridge. 

Beware of cross contamination. 
When meat items defrost in the fridge, there are times they will leak. Having chicken blood drip into your salad greens is bad. Always, when you put something in the fridge to defrost, make sure to place it in a pan or bowl to catch any accidental spillage. An ounce of prevention beats being upset or sick later.

Things will dry out
In the same way that your lips get chapped in the winter from the cold, so will your food items. If you put something uncovered in the fridge for more than an hour, it will start to dry out. Keep your food items wrapped, sealed or covered to get the most life (and least waste) from them.  

Those drawers
It is common to have drawers in the bottom of your fridge. They usually have words written on them telling if the drawer is for vegetables or meat. Scientist designed this, don't try and reinvent the wheel. Put your long term veg in the veg drawer and your meat or cheese in the meat drawer. Being mildly closed in as they are creates a slightly different environment that works better for the long term storage of these items. In the door of the fridge is a little flappy door storage thingie, usually found on the top shelf. This is for stick butter. Personally, it's where I stash all my little packets from takeaway meals... soy sauce, duck sauce, hot mustard, ranch dipping sauce. You get the idea. I rarely keep stick butter, but when I do - that's the spot it lives in.

When to chuck stuff
Vegetables will wilt when they have reached the end of their life span. When you notice one of a certain item has gone bad, it is time to check the whole lot. One spoiled potato will stink up your fridge like nobody's business. Mushy tomatoes or  peaches are not fun to deal with. Worst case scenario, you'll have to wash out the entire inside of the fridge ahead of schedule. Take the extra 5 minutes now rather than hating life later. Meat will change color as it rots. If it smells wrong, toss it. It's not worth the whole family getting sick over. 

Read labels or google it
If you are not sure how long something will live in the fridge once it has been opened, read the packaging. If the information is NOT there, google it. I am certain that a kajillion other people have had the same question. If you're a touch OCD (nothing wrong with that) keep a sharpie nearby and write the toss date on the item if you can. 

Scheduling!
We do our major shop for groceries once a month. I find that towards the end of the month, I have less in my fridge than at the start. That's the best time to clean that sucker out. It's a tedious and thankless job that is not noticed unless it is not done. Suck it up, buttercup. It's gotta be done. It will also give you a better idea of which staples need to be bought and what you still have after the last wipe out and dry down. I check the expiration dates on all my bottles and jars at this time as well. It's as good a time as any. 

Freezer Fun

Frost and defrost
Most freezers are frostless nowadays. If you DO find frost in your freezer, it is likely due to a leak in the seal that goes around the door , somebody left it open for too long or the weight of the stuff in your freezer popped the door open slightly. Refer to the manual for the best way to defrost your freezer. Manuals are easy to find online. It's not a bad idea to have a favorites list that has the manuals for any big ticket item that costs more than $200 and any complicated electronics gear. It's ok. Google won't bite your fingers.

Vents
In the top back of your freezer are little vents. This is where the super cold air comes from to freeze your stuff. If you block this vent, the air will not be able to circulate to all your frozen items and they will not keep as long as they should. This could also cause a problem with the motor that runs the fan that pushes the air into your refrigerator. Ka-ching. Having the motor work overtime costs money in power consumption. A broken motor costs money in having it fixed - while all your food rots or you spend half a day sherpa-ing it over to a friend's house trying to save your groceries- or having to replace the whole dang refrigerator - which can cost a thousand or more dollars (depending on where you shop). 

OCD joy
It is important to know how long items will live in your freezer. Here is a handy link that spells it out for you: Frozen Food Advice I break down my meats as they come in the door. What this means is I freeze meat in meal portions, rather than singles. I do have some singles in there, but it is mostly by full meal portions. 30 seconds with a sharpie on my ziplock freezer bag will tell me when I bought it - which will let me calculate when it will go bad. Not everything you put in the freezer will need to be bagged and tagged. If it does, take the few seconds to write a note. It will save you one day, I promise. Also, it is a good idea to write what the meat is on the bag. I know you're thinking that you can tell the difference between pork chops and chicken legs, why bother. Mhmm. Let em get frozen like a brick and crusted in ice - it's not so easy anymore. 30 seconds at the start to save 5 minutes of staring and feeling the bag and staring some more later.

Freezer burn
When an items is improperly wrapped, you will find freezer burn. This is when the cold has sucked all the water out of the meat and dried it out. It is not a good thing. I have had the bone on a beef roast cut through the thin cling film and let in air = freezer burnt beef roast. If an item comes from the store in a heavy duty plastic wrap, I try to leave it there. If it comes in sad, thin, cheap cling film, I repackage it. Items wrapped in foil are more susceptible to freezer burn than those stored in freezer bags. There are times foil wrapping is unavoidable. Keep an eye on those items and use them somewhat soon. Freezer ziplock bags are thicker and generally have a heavier zipper than regular plastic bags. They are designed for the harsh climate of the freezer. Trust science, folks.

Pantry Tips

Weevils
Florida is crazy with the bugs. It doesn't take much to have them everywhere. I personally have found weevils in my corn meal down here. If you freeze your flours for a day or two, it will kill anything living in them. 

Upkeep
Check your expiration dates at least twice a year. Or you could just make the habit of looking when you pull it out of the cabinet. Whichever works for you, as long as you check your stuff.

Spices
Most spices will keep for a year in the cabinet. At that point, they have dried and lost most of their goodness. Toss em and start over. 

Thursday, June 26, 2014

Reading Recipes

Below is a simple recipe for Carrot, Apple & Raisin salad. Read through it and I'll explain what you're seeing.

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Carrot, Apple and Raisin Salad

Easy, yummy & great on sandwiches as well.

4 c Grated Carrots
2 c Grated Apple
1 c Raisins
2/3 c Mayonnaise
1.5 Tbsp Apricot Jelly

Peel and core apples. Grate apples and carrots. Mix with wet ingredients. Add raisins and stir until combined. Chill before serving.

Makes 12 servings.

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"c" always means Cup in a recipe. A cup is 8oz.
"T" or "Tbsp" means tablespoon.
"t" or "tsp" means teaspoon.

How many carrots in a cup of grated carrot? Google it, grasshopper. (It's 1/2c per medium carrot)
Anything you don't know or want to know more about? We live in an amazing time where you can access all sorts of information on the internet. This is a powerful tool, use it! With caution, because there are wells of poor information out there - don't look at just one source, cross check your information through a few different websites.  

This recipe makes 12 servings. For our house, that's a whole lot. I'd have to give some away to keep it from being wasted. Looking at the recipe, it is simple to divide it in half. The only slightly tricky ingredient is the Apricot Jelly. 1.5 Tbsp = almost 5 tsp. Half of 5 = 2.5. Rather than scooping out 5 1/2 teaspoons into my mix, I'd be lazy and use 1 Tbsp and not fill it all the way up. 1 Tbsp = 3 tsp. (Knowing your weights and measures will allow you to take liberties with a recipe without wrecking it's composition.)

Certain fruit and vegetables oxidize (turn brown/black) very quickly - this process can be sped up if you use metal to cut them with. Carrots and Apples will start to change color within about 30 minutes or so. Some cooks add a splash of lemon or lime juice to these items because the citric acid stops/slows the oxidation process.  I would mix my mayo and jelly first in a lidded bowl, grate the carrots and mix them into my sauce and toss that back into the fridge then peel, core & grate the apples. Once the apples are grated, into the bowl they go and mix. Then add the raisins, stir again and stuff that bowl back into the fridge while I clean my tools. 

Mayonnaise contains eggs. This means that it is not something that can sit unrefrigerated on a hot day. It must be kept cold. 

Creativity is a bonus when it comes to cooking. Feel free to switch the regular raisins for golden raisins or even dried cranberry bits. Try it with a tart Granny Smith apple, rather than a Red apple. I've used Pineapple Apricot jelly instead of just plain Apricot.  Yes, you will try things that don't work. It's ok. Go back to the original recipe and maybe try something else.

Go on and give the recipe a try. Show it to Mom first and see if she's into it. Post a comment to let me know if you liked the recipe and what you'd change to make it your own.



Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Lesson 1 - Important Things to Know

In this lesson we are going to cover basic information about serving sizes, meal planning and cost analysis.

Serving sizes are important to consider when thinking about a healthier lifestyle. Americans trend towards gigantic serving sizes. In a vegetable dish, this may not be such a bad thing, but for anything else, it's a really good way to go up a pants size if you're not paying attention.

Protein can be found in meats, cheeses and beans. The standard serving size for protein is 4 ounces. 

Grain is bread, pasta and rice. These are carbohydrates. They fuel the body with energy. Fruits and vegetables can contain carbohydrates. Here we are focusing on the grains, however. Again, I'll say the standard size for grain is 4 ounces. Whole grains are better for you than processed.

Fruit and Vegetables contain nutrients and vitamins that your body needs to stay healthy. A standard serving size is 8 ounces.

Anything that has a 4oz serving size, try not to go too far past that per serving. Anything that has an 8 oz serving size, feel free to increase the serving weight as desired.

Sugar, Fats and Salt are the special secret bad things that make stuff taste sooooo good. Sadly, they are terrible for you. Most of us have been trained to crave these flavors. They are in anything you buy from a standard fast food restaurant and in a box or can. Again, too much is bad but a little bit can make quite a flavor difference.

All of this information is basic 'rule of thumb' information - how to roll through your kitchen or grocery and do the math quickly in your head. Don't feel that this nutritional portion or serving info is the be-all-end-all. The Internet is full of people who can explain it way better and in more detail than me. Certain people need different amounts due to lifestyle or specific health reasons. For example, athletes need more proteins and carbs to fuel and build their muscles. Pregnant women have specific health requirements as well. For most of us, this is about as simply as it can be explained.

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Calculations:

Not everybody eats meat, but for those who do it's important to understand the fat content in the cuts of meat. Fat is what keeps the meat moist and tender, but as it cooks, fat leaves the meat and this changes it's weight. This is something that needs to be taken into consideration when purchasing. The fat in meat is also called marbling.

When figuring out how much meat/protein you need for a dish, you need to take into consideration how fatty the meat is, are there bones in it and how many people will be eating. This can be modified if you have small children you are cooking for - who eat less - or need to make an extra to pack for lunch the next day. I always make an extra serving for the pot. (It's a tradition in our family.)

If there are no bones and little fat the math is simple: (the amount of people eating X 4oz) + 4oz = how much meat you need to cook or protein needed for your dish.

Example: Trimmed chicken breast dish for 5 people. 5 x  ounces per = 20 oz plus 4 oz for the pot = 24 ounces. One pound = 16 oz. 1.5 pounds of meat are needed.

I'm lazy, so I try to round my numbers as often as I can. If the same dish involved chicken AND cheese, consider 1oz of cheese per serving. You would subtract 6 oz from the meat total. (1 oz per person and 1 for the pot) That gives you 1lb 2oz of meat. You can choose to do 1.25lbs of meat or use 1# of meat and add a touch of extra cheese. 

Balance, grasshopper, it's all about balance. 

If your meat is marbled or has a small bone you have to take that into account for your serving weights. It doesn't matter if you will be serving it with a bone or not, the bone still weighs something.

Don't be afraid to inspect your meat. Is there a slab of fat that can be trimmed off? That weight will need to be subtracted and you're going to have to guess at it's weight. With time, you'll be able to eyeball a fat slab to the ounce. How? After you cut of off, weigh that sucker. You'll eventually get a data range to create an average from. Take notes or keep the information in your head, whichever is most effective for you. 

Depending on how marbled the meat is, that's how I decide how high to bump up my weights. marbled pork butt with a bone = 6oz per serving. Marbled chuck roast without a bone = 5oz per serving. From there, it's off to the math.

Example: Pork Butt with Bone for 6 people plus one leftover lunch = 7 X 6oz = 42 oz plus 6oz for the pot = 48oz. Which equals 3 pounds of meat. (48 divided by 16)

Poultry is it's own thing. Whole poultry or breast with bone is calculated at 45% bone, while thighs and legs are calculated at 50% bone. The fat on this is generally pretty negligible. Again, I'm lazy, so I calculate them both at 50%, which means that for 4oz of meat, you'd need 8oz of bone-in poultry.

Example: Whole chicken for 5 people plus lunch  = 6 x 8oz =  48oz plus 8oz for the pot = 56oz = 3.5lbs of chicken.

Now let's get tricky with it...

Example: Whole chicken for 5 people plus lunch plus a 2/3 serving for 5 people plus lunch to be used the next day = 6 x 8oz + 6 x 5oz + 8oz for the pot. *(The add to pot extra serving only ever counts once, no matter how many days you're using the meat for.) **(2/3 of 8 =  5.33 rounded to 5) = 48 + 30 + 8 = 86oz = 5.38lbs which can round up to 5.5 pounds or down to 5.25 pounds.

Why is this important?

Knowing the weights that you need will allow you to plan ahead. Honestly, it's all about money and time. If you know what you need ahead of time, you can shop more effectively, plan meals smoothly and not have too much or too little - wasted food is bad! Remember the adage: Everything costs you time, effort or money. You can usually get away with two of the three, but very rarely just one.

Meal planning:

Meal planning is where you choose what you are thinking about cooking for the month. Draw out a simple calendar and write in what you want to cook  for each meal. In our house, only the weekends need notes about breakfast, we have standard breakfast stuff for through the week. Lunch and Dinner are daily considerations. I usually plan leftovers for one lunch and fresh made for two lunches every day during the week. Each meal has it's own requirements for ingredients and all ingredients need to be accounted for. Ever tried to make brownies without eggs or oil because you're out of that ingredient? It's not a happy thing. Kitchens should be happy. It takes effort and planning to run one in a cost effective and low stress manner. 

Example: I bought a pound of carrots. I'm using them in the crock pot pork roast, they also go into the dim sum next week and the salad on Saturday. I'll need 2 pounds of carrots if I'll be making carrot raisin salad on Monday as well. 

If I know I have a busy Tuesday coming, I'll want to cook something on Monday that I can utilize on Tuesday to make a fast supper or a dinner that can be handled without me. If I'm going out to have fun on Friday night, I want to spend time on my hair and makeup - not in the kitchen. Time to grab something out of the freezer or utilize my leftovers. 

What happens when you run out of what you need? It costs you time, effort and maybe even money. Pffft. Not this rabbit, man. 

Don't worry about switching a meal plan in the middle of the month. It's NOT written in stone. It may impact some of your other meal plans, but now that you know ahead of time you can manage any issues. 

Meal planning is like a logic puzzle. The goal is to have the least amount of waste possible. Throwing out rotten this or that is a loss in the game. Having to pick up more ingredients more than once a week is a loss in the game. (Kitchen staples not included in that calculation!)

THIS is a link to a one week meal planning sample. 

Things to look for or consider:
1. How often do you see ingredients repeat? 
 Ingredients that repeat allow you to buy perishables (food that goes rotten more quickly) and use them before they go bad or to buy larger quantities of an ingredient in order to get a better price.

2. How often do you notice a protein being recycled the following day? 
This allows for time trading. The time you don't spend cooking something can be used to cook something else that is more intricate or to save time in that day's cooking to be used somewhere else. It also allows you to buy larger quantities to get a better price per pound.

3. Are there patterns due to the day of the week? 
Sunday dinners are, in my house, traditionally the days that are for serious sit down dinners OR a day where the whole family cooks together. Saturday lunches are most often leftovers of Friday night's dinner.I'd rather be having fun than stuck in the kitchen. I try to keep my Saturday lunches portable. Grab and go, it's beach time. Saturday night dinners are served later in our house than any other day of the week. I try to have that dinner as something that can be made in parts if I have to. Bread can be rising while protein is cooking and I'm gathering clothes that need to go into the washer.
Multi tasking is your friend.

4. Can changes be made if you must? 
Always!! There are days that can be traded with little impact. When I trade the dinner, I need to look at the lunch for the next day to make sure I have what I need for that as well.

Example: Wednesday night I want to go to a game event and play Munchkin. I didn't find out about it until Sunday night. My plan called for chicken breast as nuggets on Tuesday and sliced in a pita on Thursday. I'd switch my Thursday and Wednesday meals (if possible). Cook the chicken breast for the pita while I'm cooking the nuggets on Tuesday and make the pita dough up in pre-prep before bed. Pre-prep is where you get your things ready for cooking ahead of time. That leaves me with minor cooking and assembly on Wednesday. Everybody's happy!

5. Plan for the unexpected but possible. I try to keep at least one dinner in the freezer that can be whipped out at a moment's notice. There are a hundred simple little things that can wreck your time in a day. Having something stashed away can be beyond helpful. I like dim sum as my backup plan. Steam them straight outta the freezer and *boom* you've got quick dinner.

Cost Analysis:

Most households work within the parameters of a budget. Money is allotted for bills, supplies, food, etc. The less you spend in one area, the more you have to save or to use in another area.

Meal Planning allows you to know how much money you will need for food for the month. Is it 100% accurate? Nope, but it does come close if you're savvy. It's also usually less expensive and better for you to cook something at home rather than buy it already cooked. (and it tastes better, too!)

Example: 
Dim Sum at a local restaurant = $4.95/8 
Made at home? Let's do the math. 
1# ground pork = $3.00
2 cups flour = Flour is 4.5 cups per pound. A bag of white is $2 for 5#. 5x4.5=22.5 cups.
Divide that by price = 22.5/200 = 11.25 cents per cup. 
This means 2 cups of flour = 22.5 cents per recipe.
Ginger knuckle = 50 cents
OJ Concentrate = 2 tbsp in recipe. OJ Concentrate costs $2.00 for 12 oz. We use 2oz per recipe. 12/2 = 6. 6oz/2.00 = 33.3 cents per recipe.
Carrots  = 3 medium which is close to 1/5 of a pound. Carrots sell at $1 per pound, which equals 20 cents per recipe.
Scallions = 3 stalks which is 1/4 of a packet. Scallions sell at $1.00 per packet, which equals 25 cents per recipe.
Five Spice costs $4.95 per bottle. I'd guess at 25 cents per recipe.
The shortening and cornstarch are minimal, so I'd do 20 cents between them.
Soy sauce is $5.00 per bottle, but there is no set amount to be used, that's all up to personal preference. Around here, we go through about 1/4 bottle per recipe. This equals $1.25 per recipe.

recap:
Pork = $3.00
Flour = $.23
Ginger = $.50
OJ = $.34
Carrots = $.20
Scallions = $.25
Five Spice = $.25
Shortening = $.10
Cornstarch = $.10
Soy Sauce = $1.25
Total recipe cost = $ 6.22
Servings per recipe = 8
Cost per serving = $.78
Difference between store bought and homemade is around $4 per serving.

Yeah. Seriously. That's a big deal. And you can be certain of the ingredients because you bought them yourself.