Country Mushroom Rice Mix (Sidekicks Copycat Recipe)

I had some leftover dried mushrooms from my oven drying spree so I decided to try out a new side dish. I decided to do a Lipton's Sidekicks copycat and came up with...

Country Mushroom Rice Mix

2 tablespoons powered milk
1 tablespoon corn starch
1 tablespoon dried mushrooms (more if you like)
1 teaspoon nutritional yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon parsley
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
pinch pepper



What else you'll need

2 1/4 cups water
1 cup uncooked rice
2 tablespoons butter

Combine mix with cold water and add in rice and butter.



Simmer in a saucepan on medium heat until rice is tender.



I served this with honey garlic salmon and steamed broccoli and it was very good! The rice was creamy and full of flavor.

Fattoush Salad Dressing Mix

In recent months I became addicted to the miracle that is fattoush salad. Fattoush is a delicious Lebanese salad topped with crunchy pita chips and the chicken that goes into a Shawarma. It's so sour and crunchy and healthy to boot! But it's expensive. At $12 a pop the Lebanese take out place on the corner was seeing WAY too much of my money. Eventually I sweet talked a couple of the workers into the secrets of their dressing and was able to nail a replica in the Mix It Up Kitchen.

Fattoush salad dressing mix

2 teaspoons ground sumac
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon mint
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon pepper



Sumac is a dark red powder that gives it the sour taste and is absolutely essential. It can be found at any middle eastern grocery store, and recently Bulk Barn started carrying it as well.

What else you'll need

1/2 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup olive oil



Combine mix with juice and oil and shake well. You'll need to chill it in the fridge for a while because at first all of the dry ingredients will float to the top until they are well soaked.

A good fattoush salad is made with romaine, cucumbers, tomato, onions, peppers and various other vegetables. Toss the salad in the dressing and mix it well.



This salad is famous for the crunchy pita chips inside it and the perfect way to use up stale pitas. Pita bread seems to go stale about an hour after you buy it. Simply dry it out in the oven and then crumble and toss with olive oil.



The salad makes a great side dish, but it's even better as a complete meal topped with grilled chicken marinaded in my shawarma mix or my regular grilled chicken marinade.



This dressing was an exact match to the take out place on the corner! Which means I'm going to be saving a lot of money in the future.

Lulu's sweet zinger salmon rub

These days the rage is all about getting more omega 3 in your diet. They put it in nearly everything- butter, eggs, breads, crackers, pizzas, chips, wraps... The problem is that the cheapest way for companies to do this is using flax, and somewhere along the way I developed a flax allergy.

Lucky for me I can still eat the food with the highest levels of omega 3- fish! Salmon especially has more omega 3 than any other food out there and it's delicious as well. I usually make a maple garlic salmon but I recently ran out of pure maple syrup and wanted to try something new with what we had. So...

Lulu's sweet zinger salmon rub

2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon mustard powder
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon dried garlic flakes
1/4 (or more) teaspoon hot pepper flakes (1/4 for mild, as much as you want for hot!)
1/4 teaspoon salt



Mix the spices well, breaking up any brown sugar clumps.



Sprinkle or rub the mix onto the salmon portions before cooking.



Bake at 350 until fish flakes easily with a fork. I served ours with an assortment of local vegetables roasted in olive oil and the meal was incredible!

Gluten free fish and chip batter mix

After sweets, the thing my husband misses most now that he's eating gluten free is battered foods, especially... fish and chips!

Gluten free fish and chip batter mix (coats 8 pieces of fish)

3/4 cup rice flour
1/2 cup corn starch
1/2 cup corn flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon paprika



What else you'll need

1 cup water
1 tablespoon vinegar

Combine mix with water and vinegar and stir, then place in the fridge to chill for up to 1/2 hour. I like to shake my dry ingredients in a jar to mix them evenly.





Dip pieces of fish in batter to coat evenly, then fry in oil on medium to medium high heat, flipping to cook both sides.





Once fish is golden brown on both sides, place on a paper towel to drain excess oil.



I served ours with lemon wedges and homemade sweet potato fries.



It didn't taste exactly like 'real' fish and chips, but it was very good. The batter tasted somewhat like Fritos because of the corn components, which was very yummy! I'll be making Frito fish again very soon!

Guest posting gluten free brownie mix at Kids in Kanata

I'm guest posting today over at Kids in Kanata with my recipe for gluten free brownie mix



Kids in Kanata is a great resource for parents in the Ottawa area, as well as for parents in general. They include lots of great information on local events, as well as general parenting information and topics. I would advise anyone with little ones to check it out.

Funfetti Cake Mix

My almost 4 year old daughter is obsessed with sprinkles. I mean what little girl isn't? They make everything seem more fun! I saw a box of 'funfetti' cake mix at the store and realized I wanted to try my own!

Funfetti cake mix (single use)

2 1/4 cups flour
1 1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup powdered milk
1/4 cup sprinkles
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt



I put mine in a large jar so I could stir it by shaking and get the sprinkles evenly distributed. But also this makes a nice gift in a jar.

What else you'll need

1 cup water
2 eggs
1/2 cup oil
1 teaspoon vanilla

I would suggest blending the wet ingredients well before adding in the dry mix. I didn't do this, which caused me to overmix, which cause the sprinkles to bleed into the batter and make it look a bit grey.



Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit until they begin to brown a bit (times will vary based on size. I almost always do cupcakes)





You can frost these, but I don't like to because it pretty much triples the amount of sugar going into my child and she is young enough to think unfrosted cake is good enough. She was just excited about the sprinkles. They don't call it FUN-fetti for nothing!

Lulu's magic grilled chicken marinade mix

It's been HOT lately. Too hot to use the stove top or oven for sure, too hot to eat warm meals. When the weather is like this all I want for dinner is grilled chicken sliced on top of a big arsed salad with crunchy cool cucumbers and Italian dressing.

I always pondered why the grilled chicken at restaurants tasted SO much better than the stuff I made at home. I realized it must be the marinade, so I fiddled around and finally hit perfection.

Lulu's magic grilled chicken marinade mix

1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon oregano



What else you'll need

1/4 cup oil
1/4 cup vinegar
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken

Combine mix with oil and vinegar and add raw chicken. Some people marinade in bags but I use a glass bowl because it's less wasteful. I let mine sit for about 2 hours in the fridge to really get the flavors in it.



Throw the chicken on the BBQ and grill to perfection!!



Slice into the thickest part to make sure there is no pink left.



Enjoy it on salad, in a wrap, on a bun, as is.... Delicious!!!!