Easy Recipe Ingredient Substitutions

Self Rising Flour
Self rising flour is easy to create at home, just mix one cup of all purpose flour with 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda, 1/4 teaspoon of salt and 1 teaspoon of baking powder.

Milk
A lot of dishes call for milk. If you find you are out of milk or short on the amount necessary to complete a specific recipe, make sure you keep a supply of evaporated milk on hand. Evaporated milk or reconstituted milk can be stored for a long time and once combined with water and many times a drop of butter, can easily taste as fresh and delicious as regular milk.

Baking Powder
If you do not have baking powder on hand, use baking soda and a drop of buttermilk. For a tablespoon of double acting baking powder, substitute 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda and a 1/2 cup of buttermilk.

Buttermilk
Ran out of buttermilk? You can simply whip up your own. You can substitute 1 cup of buttermilk with 1 cup whole milk and a tablespoon of vinegar. You can also substitute 1 cup of buttermilk with 2/3 cup of plain yogurt and 1/3 cup whole milk.

Garlic
Need garlic, but don't have any? Substitute garlic powder instead. About 1 clove of garlic equals 1/8 of a teaspoon of garlic powder.

Substituting Sugar
If you are short on sugar on hand or would like to exchange it due to health concerns, here are some tricks to replace sugar:

Sugar can be substituted with maple syrup, corn syrup, brown sugar, honey, Stevia, and molasses. However, some recipes will require sugar or a granular sweetener in place of syrup due to baking and texture requirements.

If you are striving to decrease your intake of sugar due to health concerns, consider the many sweeteners, sometimes called sugar alternatives on the market. These sweeteners include, Sweet and Low, Splenda, Equal, and plant derived Stevia.

Honey
You can easily substitute honey with sugar and water. 1 cup of honey is equal to about 1 and 1/4 cup of sugar and a 1/4 cup of water.