Making sweetened, condensed milk

I was making a half-batch of 7-layer Dream Bars, on Saturday afternoon. One of the ingredients is sweetened, condensed milk. I have never bought that stuff. It just seems oddly expensive for what it is, a cup and a half of milk, cooked with a little sugar, with some butter added. In the store, this concoction sells for $1.50 to $2.00. I just can't bring myself to spend that much for about 50 cents of ingredients. (Your costs may differ from mine.)

When I've needed this product for baking recipes, I've always made my own. There are two common methods for making sweetened condensed milk. One uses powdered milk, and the other (which I make) uses liquid milk. Neither method is complicated. The powdered milk method takes minutes to make. The liquid milk method takes a little over an hour of intermittent attention.

Among the merits of making your own sweetened, condensed milk is the ability to make this with any type of milk, including soy or almond, and just the amount that a recipe may need.

7-layer Dream Bars are yummy, but rich and not super cheap, so I usually just make a half-batch. In addition, making my own SCM, for a half-batch bars, is super handy. Buying a can would give me twice as much as I need.

I wanted to pass on this recipe during the holiday baking season. So, here it is.

Homemade sweetened, condensed milk

1  1/2 cup of whole milk
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a small, heavy-bottomed saucepan, stir together milk and sugar. Bring to a simmer over MED. Reduce heat to low and very gently simmer for about 1 to 1  1/2 hours, or until it has reduced by half. Stir every 5-10 minutes, to prevent scorching.

After 1 hour, begin measuring, every 10 minutes. Pour the milk/sugar into the measuring cup that was used to measure the milk at the beginning of this recipe. When the concoction has reduced to just over 1 cup, stir in the butter and vanilla.

If the milk and sugar are over-reduced by measurement, add water to the correct level. The final amount should be about 1  1/4 cups of liquid.

Allow to cool before using in recipes.

That's it. Nothing special. Any leftovers can be stored in the fridge for a couple of weeks.

Cheap & Cheerful Suppers for the week following Thanksgiving

Friday

• leftovers from Thanksgiving, set out for all to help themselves

Saturday

• leftovers, again, from Thanksgiving dinner

Sunday

Today was the day that I simmered most of the turkey carcass. I froze the roasted legs, separately, for making soup, sometime next month.

• turkey, vegetable and noodle soup
• crackers
• the last of the pies

Monday

• leftover turkey soup, extended with another carrot, sliced, and half a baked potato, cubed
• pumpkin bread with cream cheese

Tuesday
Perfect storm re tonight's dinner. I found mushrooms on markdown today. I have some thawed eggs in the fridge that need using. I baked 2 large acorn squash yesterday, and can quickly mash them, then reheat in the microwave. Dinner should be a quick one to throw together.

• mushroom, cheddar frittata
• brown rice
• baked acorn squash

Wednesday

An easy dinner is in the plans for tonight. I've had a busy few days, and I just need easy.

• bean, rice, cheese and olive burritos
• leftover baked squash
• leftover canned green beans

Thursday

Only 2 will be home for dinner tonight. My daughter has her directing debut this evening, and I want to be there to support her in this. So, I'll meet up with the other daughter and we'll use a coupon to get a free sandwich to share for our dinner. I told the daughter, who's directing a one-act play tonight, that I'd bring something for her to eat in the car on the long drive home. That just leaves my husband and son for whom to make dinner. I've got leftovers from last night. I think that will work great.

• bean, rice, cheese and olive burritos
• leftover pumpkin soup that I made early in the week for lunches

Fred Meyer carries one of their store-brand flour tortillas for 99 cents/1-lb package (10 tortillas). On Senior Discount Tuesdays, I get these tortillas for 89 cents a package. The catch is they are often out of these tortillas by the time I get there. So, when I find any, I buy whatever they have. I bought 3 packages this past week. 

These make burritos assembly so easy. I can make bean, rice, cheese and olive burritos, for under 30 cents, each. (1 tortilla at 9 cents, 3 tablespoons cheese at 9 cents, 1/2 cup of homemade refried beans at 6 or 7 cents, 1 tablespoon of rice at 1 cent, 1 tablespoon of sliced olives at about 2 cents = 27-28 cents.) 

That's only $1.50 for the main dish (1 each, and I make some larger, some smaller, depending on who is eating them), on a busy night, for the family. If I add a can of corn and carrot sticks, my total cost for the meal is right around $2. That's pretty good for a quick and easy dinner.

How about you? What was on your menu this past week? Do you have any favorite ways that you use leftovers from Thanksgiving? or do you do, as my family did this last week, and just serve them, as is?

Is anyone planning to do something to celebrate the holiday season, this weekend? I'm going to an Advent musical production at our church, on Sunday evening. On Saturday, I will get out the holiday decorations, with the help of my kids. If the weather is good, I have one lone, tree-shaped shrub by the kitchen door, on which I wish to put lights. I made birdseed ornaments, yesterday afternoon. They need to dry, still. Once they are dried thoroughly,  I'll hang them on this shrub, with red and white twine. I have this look in my mind, of how I want this to look. White lights, birdseed ornaments, red and white twine, and red ribbons. I believe that I have everything that I need, here, already.

Have a great weekend, everyone!