DIY Onion Soup Mix

This week I am bringing you a couple DIY seasoning mixes. I know you all love your msg and your additives. But sometimes it's nice to know what your getting and it is even nicer to know that you don't have to run out of these things. You can do it yourself.

So let's start with that useful onion soup mix.

My favorite use for the Lipton onion soup mix is to mix it in with my hamburger meat when I am making burgers. I love having this DIY mix on hand for just that.

But it is also tasty as an additive to your swedish meatball recipe or in a crockpot roast.

So give this a try. Keep in mind that in order to do DIY mixes there are some basic food storage needs
I invested in a #10 can of dehydrated margarine and I am finding all kinds of uses for it. This recipe calls for dehydrated margarine. I found some at Wal-Mart but it is available at most food storage stores online.

Onion Soup Mix (From the Mix-A-Meal cookbook)
combine
 2/3 Cup dehydrated chopped onions
1/2 Cup beef bullion
1/2 Cup dehydrated margarine/butter
2 TB cornstarch
2 Tsp onion powder
2 tsp parsley flakes

Mix well and store in a quart jar. Use in any dry onion soup recipe.

Nutella Swirl Cheesecake Tarts

I am having a week long "just for the love of it fest." HUGH? I know you are all are wondering, what is such a fest? All week I will post recipes that I have either made simply for the love of kids, husbands,friends. i.e. tomorrow I will post a quickie baked beans recipe. I only make baked beans because two people in my family think they are the best side dish ever, and I really love those two people. The best part, I am only including my easy pantry friendly recipes. I will be whipping up some other goodies like calamari but they don't all fit the theme of this blog.

I will also post a few treat ideas to love em with food, including my eight-year-old's Easy Bake valentine creation. But today I am posting a little recipe that is just for the love of Nutella. I love Nutella, my kids love Nutella, we are Nutella freaks in this house.

I was disappointed that I missed the Nutella day on Saturday. But as soon as I found out there was a worldwide Nutella day, I ran to the kitchen and whipped up this little pretty, "just for the love of it"

Nutella Swirl Cheesecake Tarts

12 mini graham cracker tarts (they come in packages of 6) (make your own if you must)

1 package of white or yellow cake mix (I used yellow)

8 oz. cream cheese, softened

1/2 Cup sour cream

1/4 Cup sugar

2 eggs

12 tsp of Nutella (removed from the can)

Hot fudge

Directions:

Combine cake mix cream cheese, sour cream, eggs, and 1/4 cup of sugar. Beat on medium speed for 3 minutes. Fill each individual graham cracker tart with batter. Fill to the top. Lightly cut 1 tsp of Nutella into batter and lightly swirl and cut through batter.

Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes. Let cool 10 minutes. Top with warmed hot fudge sauce.

"Jiffy" Lemon Cream Cheese Squares

Featured Food Storage/Pantry Item: Jiffy Cake Mix

Do you stock up on Jiffy cake mixes and muffin mixes for that "just in case" moment. Occasionally, I give in and buy them when they are one sale for a ridiculously low price. I also buy them because the lemon cake mix works for my daughter's E-Z Bake Oven. Just a little tip. It is much cheaper than the E-Z bake packs. Anyway, I have seen people stock up on these during case lot sales and so today, in honor of all you Jiffy mix people ( I know you are out there) I am going to give you a sweet little treat straight from the back of the Jiffy Lemon Cake mix box.

I often try out recipes that can be found on the boxes and bags of my food and I do believe this is a keeper. I couldn't seem to stop eating them, despite the fact that I need to lose a lot of weight before I show up to a week long vacation in Costa Rica in my bathing suit. Of course, I have a weakness for all things lemon, cream cheese and sugary.

Crust:

1 pkg Jiffy Lemon Cake mix

1 egg

3 Tb margarine or butter softened

Filling

4 oz cream cheese, softened

1 egg

1/4 Cup sugar

a small dash of vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Mix crust ingredients until moist. Batter will be stiff. Reserve 1/2 cup of crust mixture.

Press the rest of the crust into bottom of an ungreased 8" pan. I accidentally greased the pan and it was kind of difficult to press out the crust. Flour your hands or the back of a spoon to press out crust.

Bake crust for six minutes and remove from oven

Blend filling ingredients until creamy and pour over crust.

Drop the reserved crust mixture, by Tablespoon over the cheese layer. Bake for 25 minutes or until crust starts to get golden.