Making Store Bought Food Look Homemade

Are you one of those people who would love to impress others with your astounding cooking and baking talents . . . but just don't have time to make your own food? Or maybe you are just hopeless in the kitchen, but would rather no one knew. This article will show you how to make store bought food look like you spent hours in the kitchen slaving over a hot stove.

Basic Tips:

Always take the items out of their original package. This may sound obvious, but even pies can be carefully removed from their aluminium tins and set into proper baking dishes.

Rearrange takeout. If takeout comes neatly arranged on a dish, make sure you "slop" it up a bit. That means getting rid of the cute lemon slice and the parsley sprig and moving everything to individual china plates where you can arrange it, but in a more household manner.

Buy store bought, top it yourself. Often the topping is what clues someone in that a baked item is store bought. Buy plain cupcakes and cakes and then ice them yourself. You can use canned frosting, if you prefer, but water it down a little with some milk so it looks less perfect. Add a sprinkle of colored sugar and you're good to go.

Breads can be bought unsliced and cut into slices at home to make them look more authentic. If you want your own garlic bread, buy a tub of garlic butter and a loaf of French bread. Simply cut ¾ of the way through the loaf (diagonal cuts look better) and shove in a few dabs of butter. Then bake in the oven for three or four minutes at 350º or until the butter melts. Presto, almost instant "homemade" garlic bread.

Instant foods, like oatmeal and mashed potatoes can taste pretty drab if you simply mix them up according to instructions, but add a few extra ingredients and you've got yourself a homemade treat. For example, instant potatoes can be made homey by reconstituting them with a weak chicken broth (one bouillon cube in twice the amount of water) and adding a dash of fresh, minced parsley. The oatmeal can be turned into a homemade delight by adding fresh, chopped apples and a dash of cinnamon or raisins and a splash of vanilla extract.

It's really not difficult to create fast, delicious meals that look homemade. Whether you are doing takeout or using a mix, you can create yummy dishes that anyone would swear were made from scratch . . . just add a little extra something!