Money-Saving Recipes

There are plenty of recipes for items that are more expensive to make than to buy pre-made. The trick is finding the ones that are cheaper to make at home. Pancake syrup is one of them. Pizza sauce and dough is another. Here are a few money-saving recipes our family enjoys:

Maple Syrup
Combine in saucepan:

• 1 ¾ cup white sugar
• ¼ cup brown sugar
• 1 cup water

Bring to boil, cover, and cook 1 minute. Cool slightly. Add:

• ½ teaspoon vanilla
• ½ teaspoon maple flavoring

Cover saucepan for a few minutes as syrup cooks to melt down crystals

Store in the refrigerator.

I made this today and was surprised how easy and better tasting it was compared to the cheap store-brand syrup. I was able to whip it up while my pancakes were cooking and have it ready in a jiffy! (note: if you don't normally keep maple flavoring on hand in your pantry, I highly suggest you start. It is a relatively inexpensive ingredient that can add lots of flavor and zing to many recipes like this one.)

Pizza Dough- No Rise, No Yeast

• 2 C Flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 2/3 C water
• 1/4 C + 2 TBSP olive Oil
• Optional- Garlic Powder, Italian Seasoning, etc to taste

Pre heat to 425

Combine everything except for the 2 TBSP olive Oil (You can stop at this point and wrap the crust and freeze for later use)

Stretch to pizza pan, brush on the 2 TBSP olive oil (you may need more or less depending on how thick/thin you made your crust)

Bake about 5 min or so just to get a good crust going. Take out and top with your pizza toppings and continue baking from there for another 15 minutes.

This is a great recipe to have on hand for those quick, last-minute pizza nights. I'm just about full-term with this pregnancy, and don't always remember to get my dough started an hour and a half beforehand, so this was perfect! It makes a biscuit-like crust and would be perfect for calzones or pizza pockets too! I did not add the extra seasonings since we have so many in our homemade sauce as it is.

Pizza Sauce

• 1 6oz. can tomato paste
• 1.5 cups water
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• salt to taste
• ground black pepper to taste
• 1/2 Tb. dried oregano
• 1/2 Tb. dried basil
• 1/2 ts. dried rosemary

Mix together water, paste and oil. Add seasonings, and mix well. Let stand 2-24 hours to let flavors blend. Store in refrigerator up to 3 weeks.

This sauce blows the stuff from the store out of the water, and it is so simple and easy to make! It really adds that pizzeria taste to homemade pizza, and after using this sauce I now truly prefer homemade pizza over many delivery types. This batch makes enough for around 3 pizzas for us. It will thicken and intensify in flavor after being stored in the fridge.