Powdered Cream of Whatever Soup

The chicken and dumplings and cornbread dressing meal I made on Tuesday called for several cans of "cream of ___" soup.  At a dollar or more a can, that can make for an expensive meal.  I searched the Internet and found several references to a powdered cream of whatever soup that you can have on hand to use in recipes calling for a "cream of ___ soup".  Here is the recipe:

Powdered Cream of Whatever Soup
2 cups powdered milk
3/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 cup powdered chicken bouillon
1 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp basil
1/2 tsp thyme
1/4 tsp pepper

To cook, use 1/3 cup powder and 1 1/4 cup water.  Bring to a boil, stirring often to prevent burning, until thickened.  Add celery or mushroom (powder, dried, or fresh) for cream of celery or mushroom.  This recipe replaces approx. 7 cans of cream of whatever soup.

Homemade Yogurt

I mentioned earlier that I use my Excalibur dehydrator to make homemade yogurt.  I found the video with instructions at the Excalibur video page.  I made some yesterday using milk reconstituted from powdered milk out of my long-term food storage.  It was very simple.  I used 4 cups of reconsituted milk, and added 1/2 cup additional milk powder.  I heated it in the microwave for approx. 6 minutes and then allowed it to cool to 120 degrees.  I then added 1 heaping tablespoon of store-bought yogurt as my starter.  I mixed it all well and put it into two clean pint mason jars.  I put it in the dehydrator at 115 degrees and left it in there overnight.  It was done this morning when I got up.  I will now use this as my starter for the next batch.  I also will freeze some of the yogurt in ice-cube trays to use as future starter.

Here is a picture of my finished yogurt: