Jar Mixes

Gifts in a Jar Recipes

Gifts in a Jar are one of the most versatile homemade gifts that you make. Many are easy and inexpensive to prepare, yet they look attractive and suit a useful purpose for the recipient -whether it’s providing a tried and true recipe for hot chocolate, a new taste experience with spiced tea, or providing all the base ingredients for many different kinds of soups.

My daughter and I were the guinea pigs for the new jar mix recipes listed above, as well as our favourite of the new ones, Gourmet Cheese Soup. This looks great layered in a jar (at left) or in the bowl (at right), and is definitely good enough to serve for company. We enjoyed this plain – just empty the mix into a bowl, stir in boiling water and wait five minutes! – but we also liked the Broccoli Cheese variation.

Here’s a general recipe for Pasta Soup Mix in a Jar:

Add 1 tablespoon parsley flakes, 1 tsp. pepper, 1/3 cup dried minced onion and 2 tsp chicken boullion granules to a 1 quart (4 cup jar) in the order given. Fill the jar with speciality pasta – tri-color wagon wheels or spirals, or alphabet letters, for instance. To Serve: Combine 7 cups of water and approximately 2 cups of diced or crushed tomatoes in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil and add pasta soup mix. Add 1/2 cup more water if soup evaporates too much while cooking. Simmer on medium high, about 15 minutes, or until pasta is tender.