OK....fess up!!!

[deelady]

What is YOUR semi-homemade dish?

What is a semi-homemade dish that you make that always gets rave reviews and requests but no one knows its Semi-homemade??

Mine I would say is my.....ssshhh don't tell anyone.....my spinach dip! Make the recipe off the Knorrs pkg!! But I add a dash of seasoning salt.
People die over this stuff and I just sit there and smile thinking....if only you knew!!

 

[luvs]

my chili. canned legumes & stuff, instead of dried legumes & fresh 'tomaters.

 

[babetoo]

my chili using brick chili. makes a very deep flavored dish. i do the beans from scratch and add onions put in ground beef. so it is very much semi-home made.

 

[GrillingFool]

I add a package of McCormick Thick and Zesty spaghetti sauce seasonings to
my spag sauce. shhhhhhh

 

[miniman]

I often used jarred tomato sauce for lasagna and bolognese.

 

[deelady]

I'm so glad I'm not the only one!! lol

These are great keep em comin!!

 

[GhettoRacingKid]

I dont like to look at them as semi homemade for 2 reasons.

#1 I dont like the term

#2 Either way you are putting in an effort. Somepeople cant make there own tomato sauce and jar it.

Its not like buying a premade pie and then heating it and calling t your own. There are some "short cuts" that everyone takes.

but ill admit to the following:

I use:

Canned beans
Jarred tomato sauce - I make my own with fresh but only during the summer
canned tomatos
dip mix for dip

Things I do "from scratch" that I give myself credit for

Make my own stocks (chicken and beef)
Sauces
Grow my own herbs
Have a nice garden
make my own dog treats when I can (they eat them too fast)

 

[TanyaK]

I often use canned tomatoes for sauces, soups and stews and sometimes soup powders.

 

[texasgirl]

I used canned things all the time in my stuff. As GRK said, just because it isn't jarred or grown by you, does not make it less homemade. Is bread not homemade if you didn't make the yeast or flour, no. If it didn't come premade by someone else, you added all ingredients from raw to cooked, it's homemade to me.

 

[Constance]

I use more convenience foods than I used to because I'm not physically able to do the things I used to.

As for my most acclaimed "semi-homemade" dish, spaghetti is one. I've found that if I simmer a good jarred sauce with half/half ground chuck and Italian sausage, it takes on a great flavor that everyone brags on...even my friend who says she'd never eat jarred sauce. (shhhh....don't tell her!)

Another popular one is my sausage and noodles, which uses cream of mushroom soup, bulk pork sausage, noodles, canned mushrooms, pimentoes and good ole' Velveeta Cheese.

My husband has also found a good brand pre-breaded solid codfish filets, about 1" thick, that only need to be heated in the oven for fish sandwiches.

 

[deelady]

Texasgirl and GRK I meant when you make things like cookies using cake mixes, or for example I make a baked mac and cheese using Kraft mac & cheese but add several ingredients then call it my Mex Mac & Cheese.....its partially your creation but using alot of help from store prepped ingredients.

 

[SizzlininIN]

My salsa.....everyone loves it! I use canned tomatoes. When I first started developing this recipe tomato season wasn't in so I had no alternative and I've just stuck with it. People think there are fresh tomatoes in it though.

 

[B'sgirl]

When I cook manicotti, I use commercially bottled sauce instead of making my own. But I make the rest by myself, I swear!

 

[GhettoRacingKid]

cookies using cake mixes? I would never. lol

I get it but at what point is it considered semi home made.

If i buy sliced mushrooms at the supermarket ebcuase Im getting more for my money since they are on sale is my dish now semi home made becuase i didnt slice them?

 

[deelady]

No I don't think that is considered semi...that is just pre prepped.....I guess semi home made is when it is majorily a store's product but you just put your own personal twist to it.

 

[GhettoRacingKid]

my nieghbor calls it jazzing it up.

she does that alot fo jarred sauce.

B'sgirl, you make your own ricotta and mutz? lol j/k

 

[texasgirl]

Texasgirl and GRK I meant when you make things like cookies using cake mixes, or for example I make a baked mac and cheese using Kraft mac & cheese but add several ingredients then call it my Mex Mac & Cheese.....its partially your creation but using alot of help from store prepped ingredients.

oh, I know what you meant, just headed off what I knew would come along

I make the cookies from boxed cake mix, lol

 

[BigDog]

My interpretation of Semi-Homemade would be . . . . . . actually is suddenly being reconsidered. I was going to say using things like Campbell's cream of ________ soup, but then I realized IMHO that is a legit ingredient. So, in light of that, I would think things like prepackaged stuffing, bread crumbs, or boxed items like Rice A Roni as part of the meal or dish would make it semi-home made. Things commonly and readily made from scratch yet instead pre-prepared items are used. It would seem to be based largely on one's culinary ability; people have different levels of skill/ability/education. I know how but never have made my own stock/broth, so my using canned or boxed is IMHO "semi". That said, someone not knowing how to make stock/broth ought to use canned or boxed and it not be considered "semi". I realize that is a very simplistic metaphor (or is it analogy, I can't remember!).

 

[Jeff G.]

My sauces for spaghetti, lasagna etc all start with canned sauce. I work with it from there.

 

[deelady]

Works for me!


LOL Big Dog I just read your signature for the first time.....pretty good!