Gift Idea: Friendship Soup & Beer Bread Mix

We have an annual gift exchange with a large group of friends and I tend to give a similar gift to everyone involved, just to make things easy. This year, it was all about a food theme. Each person received a custom cookbook (a photobook with recipes I collected from everyone over the summer and pictures from over the years), a handmade fabric snack bag, homemade dog treats, a jar of Friendship Soup Mix and a bag of Beer Bread Mix.

The Friendship Soup and Beer Bread mixes were so much fun to make! And they look all fancy with our custom labels and tags attached, don't you think? If you decide to make these yourself, just shoot me an e-mail and I'll be happy to send you a pdf file of custom labels/tags.

Here are the instructions for making them:

Beer Bread Mix (from "Gifts In a Jar Recipes & Ideas" on http://www.imafrugalgirl.com/)

1 1/2 cups all purpose unbleached flour
2/3 cup yellow corn meal
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 Tbsp brown sugar
2/3 cup parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
4 tsp dried minced onion

Layer brown sugar, corn meal, parmesan, red pepper, onion, and flour combined with baking powder, baking soda and salt in a pretty jar. Include a bottle of beer and the following directions:

Beer Bread: Place contents of jar in a medium mixing bowl. Stir in 12 ounces of beer, just until combined. Pour into a greased 8 x 4 x 2 inch loaf pan and bake at 375 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cover with foil during last 10 minutes to prevent overbrowning. Cool in pan 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack. Serve warm with soup. Also tastes great toasted with butter!

NOTE: I actually put the mix into small plastic bags, sealed them, and placed them in brown paper bags as shown in the photo above. Worked great!

 Friendship Soup Mix (from http://www.allrecipes.com/)

1/2 cup dry split peas
1/3 cup beef bouillon granules
1/4 cup pearl barley
1/2 cup dry lentils
1/4 cup dried onion flakes
2 teaspoons dried Italian seasoning
1/2 cup uncooked long grain white rice
2 bay leaves
1/2 cup uncooked small pasta (like macaroni or alphabet pasta)

NOTE: The following instructions call for a 1 1/2 pint jar, which is difficult to find (the Classico pasta sauce jars are the perfect size). I used quart jars and stuffed a little extra plastic wrap in the top to keep everything from moving around; it worked perfectly!

In a 1 1/2 pint jar, layer the split peas, bouillon, barley, lentils, onion flakes, Italian seasoning, rice, and bay leaves. Wrap the pasta in plastic wrap, and place in the jar. Seal tightly.

Attach a label to the jar with the following instructions: Friendship Soup ADDITIONAL INGREDIENTS: 1 pound ground beef, black pepper to taste, garlic powder to taste, 1 (28 ounce) can diced tomatoes - undrained, 1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste, and 3 quarts water. TO PREPARE SOUP: Remove pasta from top of jar, and set aside. In a large pot over medium heat, brown beef with pepper and garlic; drain excess fat. Add diced tomatoes, tomato paste, water, and soup mix. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low. Cover, and simmer for 45 minutes. Stir in the pasta, cover, and simmer 15 to 20 minutes, or until the pasta, peas, lentils and barley are tender.