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GOURMET NEWS NOVEMBER 2014 www.gourmetnews.com SEASONING & SPICES 1 4 BY LORRIE BAUMANN For many home bakers today, "made from scratch" means using a mix that is conven- ient, economical and includes the same quality ingredients they would use them- selves if they just had the time, energy and a real urge to buy flour in bulk. This is ac- cording to Donna Cook, owner of Rabbit Creek Products, which makes an extensive line of "scratch baking for today" baking mixes. "In the old days, you measured out your flour and your sugar. Now it's become con- venient, and when peo- ple ask if that's homemade, you can say, 'Yes, it's home- made.'" she says. "Most people do not have all these ingredients on hand, so you'd have to buy five pounds of flour and five pounds of sugar to make some- thing, when maybe all you need is a half a cup. So using a mix instead is economical and con- venient." "This saves so much time, and it's easier just to buy a mix, hurry up and have the cookies or the cake done, and you're ready to go," Cook continues. "This is still considered a homemade product." Part of the time-saving convenience comes from a quicker clean-up: using the mixes saves utensils – there's no flour sifter name came from a taste-tester's reaction to a dip that gets its heat from jalapeño and a dose of cayenne. For the foodies who are following the lo- cavore, clean-eating or farm to table move- ments or who are just trying to find more creative ways to incorporate more fresh fruits and vegetables into a healthier diet, Rabbit Creek Products offers Farm Fresh Creations, a mix that calls for the addition of fresh vegetables and another that requires fresh fruit. The home cook just sautés four cups of fresh vegetables from the farmers market or the backyard garden, adds the Rabbit Creek topping and bakes it. "There's also a fruit one that lets people pop out a dessert from their farmers market fruit. As long as you have four cups of fruit, you can use anything you want," Cook says. "It's a great use for leftovers. If you have four cups of anything, you can use it. Once I had an apple I had to use, and I had some blackberries and some strawberries. You sauté those and then add the topping, bake it, and flip it upside down, so it's like an upside down dessert. If it's warm, it's wonderful with ice cream on top." For further information and a look at other offerings from Rabbit Creek Products, visit www.rabbitcreekgourmet.com. GN or separate mixing bowls for wet and dry ingredients to wash. "Basically, you have a spoon and a bowl, maybe a measuring cup for the butter to clean up," Cook says. "They're delicious, and they're convenient and easy. Beer Bread takes one can of beer, and the Mudd Brownie takes butter and eggs, and most people have those in their refrigerator." The holiday season is home baking sea- son too, and Rabbit Creek has a whole range of products to bring to the feast, in- cluding Brownie for the Reindeer Mix, with chocolate, peanut butter and white chips; Santa's "Naughty" Brownie Mix; Jolly Old Saint Nick's Cinnamon Apple Quick Bread mix and Merry Moose Holiday Cinnamon Pull Apart Quick Bread, among other treats to take to a party, add to a holiday gift basket or con- tribute to the family celebration. There is even a mix for Peppermint Hot Chocolate to offer the carolers when they come a'wassailing. For home cooks who are more likely to have wine in the rack than beer in the refrigerator, Rabbit Creek Products offers a whole line of mixes that call for the addition of wine to make treats like Raspberry with Caber- net Wine Brownies, Drunken Cherry Wine Brownies and Red Red Wine Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting. For every- body's favorite character at a New Year's Eve party, there is even The Intoxicated Nut Brownie. "Since we're from Kansas, we have a whole Land of Oz category of mixes for breads and brownies," Cook adds. These products all represent Rabbit Creek's creative twist on classic recipes, and it is Cook's keen attention to current food trends that sparks the company's innova- tion. "Once I have in my mind what I want to do, then product development happens very quickly. If I've been out to a restaurant and had something that made me say, 'Oh, this is great,' then I'll take those flavors and put them into a bread," she says. Right now, foodies are embracing coffee flavors. "We're seeing coffee with choco- late, coffee dribbled on things, coffee-in- fused meat rubs," said Cook. Very hot peppers and pepper sauces, in- cluding sriracha, are trending as well, and Rabbit Creek's recent addition to its line of dip mixes is called "Damn!! That's Hot!! Vegetable Dip Mix." As Cook tells it, the For Today's Home Cooks, "Cooking from Scratch" Often Starts from a Mix Zemas Madhouse Foods Makes Baking Easy and Healthful for the Entire Family The exquisite mixes from Zemas Mad- house Foods are non-GMO, gluten-free and free of the top eight aller- gens. In addition, the company uses only the most nutritious ingredients to provide a healthy and substantive alter- native to traditional baking. To those who like to satisfy their urge to bake, but want to eat clean, pure and healthy, Zemas provides the best op- tion with its line of seven dis- tinct baking mixes, all of which contain the best in an- cient grains, such as teff flour, millet and quinoa flakes, to name a few. Created by Jill Motew, a mom of five children, four of whom have eating sensitivities, Zemas is the only bak- ing mix company to be certi- fied vegan, kosher, gluten-free, allergy-friendly and non-GMO. Zemas mixes are also safe for diabetics with the company's use of unrefined, low-glycemic palm sugar. Zemas has seven different flavored mixes, including Cocoa Teff Pancake and Waffle Mix, Peruvian Sweet Potato Pancake and Waffle Mix, Rosemary-Millet Focaccia and Pizza Crust and Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix, to name a few. For more information, visit www.zemasfoods.com. Country Gourmet Home Makes It Easy to Prepare Grandma's Comfort Cooking We all have that favorite comforting meal that brings back memories of a taste that only Grandma could create. The team at Country Gourmet Home is working to bring fami- lies back to the table, providing them with those comforting recipes. Country Gourmet Home offers over 500 made-by-hand gour- met food products. The company offers a full line of gourmet good- ies, including dip mixes, soups, side dishes, meal mixes, desserts and fresh fudge. The mixes are inspired by time honored family traditions. They are easy to prepare and require only one or two ingredients to make. Country Gourmet Home prod- ucts are cer- tain to tickle your cus- tomers' taste buds. For more in- formation on Country Gour- met Home and the company's mixes and other specialty food products, call 877.769.8669, or visit the company online at www.country gourmetmixes.com.

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