What's your "secret" ingredient?

What is your secret ingredient in your _______ recipe?

OK now, I can see everyone rushing to post their "brownie" recipes... [IMG]Hippy.gif[

I'm "thinking" about posting the ingredient in my spaghetti sauce. Any guesses???

If I told you, it wouldn't be a secret any longer. LOL. I use butter flavoring often, hoping to get the butter taste without the fat. I have used Creamora in cream based stuff when all the milk I had was skim. I often add a teaspoon of vanilla to any baking mixes. Applesauce or beets will replace the fat in baked stuff. Beets are for the chocolate stuff.

Those are really good suggestions, Esther. Canned pumpkin can be used to replace oil in baking too. This is also best in chocolate recipes too. Weight Watchers use pumpkin a lot because the fiber and low fat reduces points. They mix a can of pumpkin and a brownie mix for brownies. You can't taste the pumpkin.

The greyhound adoption groups also suggest putting a little pumpkin in the dog's food to help with loose stools if needed. A lot of the dogs get this problem adjusting to a new home or food. Start with just a tablespoom or two for a large dog. It actually works for the opposite problem also because of the high fiber content.

I think the spagetti sauce would work just fine over cauliflower. It is a stronger flavor. What about zuchinnin or summer squash. Or what about that spagetti squash?

Does anyone of you ever see that show "Cook yourself thin". They take 3 recipes and teach a person how to cut down the fat and sugar. There are a couple of cookbooks out from them.

fishlipsmcgee wrote:What is your secret ingredient in your _______ recipe?

OK now, I can see everyone rushing to post their "brownie" recipes... [IMG]Hippy.gif[

I'm "thinking" about posting the ingredient in my spaghetti sauce. Any guesses???

Believe it or not, I use a little cinnamon in my spaghetti sauce.
And I use almond extract in my cakes.


All this talk of food is making me hungry! Oh, wait! It's lunch time. Maybe that's why I'm hungry.

Oh, Rosebud... First guess and you win the prize! Yup, I put a little cinnamon in my spaghetti sauce also. My grandmother always did. I thought this thread would go a little longer than this.

Anyone else have a recipe with a secret ingredient?

What does the cinnamon do, and how much do you use?

Bartender wrote:What does the cinnamon do, and how much do you use?

Bartender, when you add cinnamon to a dish like spaghetti sauce, it doesn't taste like cinnamon. It just adds a little something that makes you say, "Mmmm, what is that?". How much depends on how much you are making. I don't know how to make a "little" sauce! LOL
I probably make about a gallon and I add about a tablespoon of cinnamon. When making stuff like spaghetti sauce, I don't usually measure anything. If I have sauce left over, I just bag it and freeze it for the next time.

I make a big pot of sauce and freeze it too. I don't think I end up with a gallon. I use about a teaspoon of cinnamon. I once worked with a lady who would put cloves in her sauce.

My Dutch mother in law always put nutmeg in white sauce and put it over cauliflower. I wasn't too keen on it. I like cheese sauce on cauliflower.

fishlipsmcgee wrote:I make a big pot of sauce and freeze it too. I don't think I end up with a gallon. I use about a teaspoon of cinnamon. I once worked with a lady who would put cloves in her sauce.

Cloves, huh. Hmmmm, I'll have to try that! I'm always up for trying new things.

Esther wrote:My Dutch mother in law always put nutmeg in white sauce and put it over cauliflower. I wasn't too keen on it. I like cheese sauce on cauliflower.

Me too, Esther! I love cauliflower with cheese sauce!

HMM, reminds me. I went to a home "food" party a while back and bought a package of broccolli soup. I think I'll go fix it for lunch. That is if we have enough thawed milk..... DH put two gallons of milk and a gallon of Tradewinds Iced Tea out in the garage to save space in the fridge. Uhhuh, it's all frozen now.

We do the same to save fridge space and then suddenly realize that its below freezing in the garage.

Turned out the Cheddar broccoli package called for water but I used half milk and added some mixed vegetable stuff I get from Gordon Foods, and bacon bits + more cheddar cheese. Hey if you ever shop at Gordon Foods, try a package of frozen Flav-R-Pac Grande Classics Nantucket Blend. It has Broccoli, carrots, yellow carrots, sugar peas, red peppers, and cranberries. I have used it in stir fry or just plain cooked and we really like it.

rosebud wrote:

fishlipsmcgee wrote:I make a big pot of sauce and freeze it too. I don't think I end up with a gallon. I use about a teaspoon of cinnamon. I once worked with a lady who would put cloves in her sauce.

Cloves, huh. Hmmmm, I'll have to try that! I'm always up for trying new things.

I'd go easy on the cloves, Rosebud. Use less than you do the cinnamon.

I use horseradish in many things as a secret ingredient.

Meatloaf, pot roast, beef stew, veggie beef soup, split pea soup, "Aunt Ruth's Carrots"

Once cooked, you don't taste horseradish, but it just adds that little something extra.

Is "Aunt Ruth's Carrots" a secret....cause I love carrots and especially cooked ones so any new recipe would excite me.

Lari wrote:I use horseradish in many things as a secret ingredient.

Meatloaf, pot roast, beef stew, veggie beef soup, split pea soup, "Aunt Ruth's Carrots"

Once cooked, you don't taste horseradish, but it just adds that little something extra.

I'll have to try putting horesradish in more things. I usually just use it for Bloody Mary's :drunken:

fishlipsmcgee wrote:

I'll have to try putting horesradish in more things. I usually just use it for Bloody Mary's :drunken:

Hmmmmm perhaps I'll try it in a bloody mary. I usually make them with vegetable juice, worstershire sauce a little hot sauce and celery salt. Oh, and the vodka of course.

Lari wrote:

fishlipsmcgee wrote:

I'll have to try putting horesradish in more things. I usually just use it for Bloody Mary's :drunken:

Hmmmmm perhaps I'll try it in a bloody mary. I usually make them with vegetable juice, worstershire sauce a little hot sauce and celery salt. Oh, and the vodka of course.

I make mine the same way you do with the addition of horseradish (to taste) and a sueeze of lime. :[IMG]2thumbs01

I made spaghetti for dinner tonight. This time I measured. I usually just pour the spices in my hand and then dump it in the pot. I put the cinnamon in my hand like I usually do and then measured it to see how much I was using. It turned out to be only a couple of teaspoons instead of a tablespoon. Maybe I'll try measuring more often!

Rosebud, Why did you decide to use cinnamon in your sauce? Did you hear about someone using it or did you just decide to try it one day? Just wondering, since it's not a traditional ingredient.

fishlipsmcgee wrote:Rosebud, Why did you decide to use cinnamon in your sauce? Did you hear about someone using it or did you just decide to try it one day? Just wondering, since it's not a traditional ingredient.

I have an Italian friend who told me about it. She didn't tell me how much to use though. She said just add a little till you like the way it tastes. I just figured that must be the way the Italians make it.

I don't think all Italians do. I don't know anyone else who does. I think it depends on the region, you are from. for instance a northern sauce near Switzerland & Austria is quite different than a sauce from southern Italy. In the north they eat a lot more meat & dairy because of the terrain there and they have a lot of livestock. I think the countries in the region influence the food also. When I lived in Reno I went to a Swiss restaurant in the foothills going up to Lake Tahoe. I was so surprised that most of the food was in a tomato sauce. I don't know what I was expecting as I really didn't know what Swiss cuisine was.

My grandmother was Scilian and she's the one that used cinnamon. I don't know if her family did or if she avoided putting sugar in her sauce because my grandfather was diabetic.

Some make their sauce SO sweet. At least to my liking. I worked with a fellow who is 100% Italian. He brought in a big pan of pasta one time for a Christmas potluck. Oh my gosh it was so sweet, even sweeter that the jarred sauces in the supermarket. They used honey instead of sugar. I could really taste the honey in it so they must have used an awful lot.

I'm making pasta tonight for dinner too...but from my stash in the freezer.