Melissa Norris, the originator of the “Pioneering Today” podcast and academy, shared some poignant thoughts and helpful information in one of her latest emails. She talks about how all along she thought she was cooking from scratch, until she had a wake-up call when reviewing with her MD some crucial test results:

“I thought I was cooking from scratch, after all, I'd turn the oven on and dirty up some bowls. It wasn't until I had my esophagus and stomach biopsied for cancer, and the specialist flat out telling me I needed to make changes to my food or next time the result likely wouldn't be benign, that I started really looking at the foods I was buying and eating.”

That was a few years ago and since then she’s made lots of major changes in how she shops, preps her food, and eats. She’s healthy and strong and now shares what she’s learned with folks with willing hearts and listening ears.

Overall, her dietary approach is eating whole foods 80% of the time, with wiggle room for those times when store-bought or a box mix is the best answer to a crazy day. She says she realizes she’s in a dangerous spot when she becomes too dogmatic about something, especially in regards to food. A good approach, wouldn’t you say?

But routinely she uses her grandmother and great-grandmother's recipes and makes meal planning and healthy food a top priority. Like some of our Cook’n readers, Melissa lives miles from any large towns and grocery stores, so like you, she’s learned to stock her pantry with the basics. And she also has learned (and this is really important) how to use easy baking substitutions when she doesn’t have a certain ingredient on hand.

With that point in mind, I thought I’d pass on a few of her 12 baking substitutions everyone should know. (And when you have a minute, check out her truly helpful site, www.melissaknorris.com).

BUTTERMILK SUBSTITUTION: One cup of milk and add one tablespoon apple cider vinegar or one tablespoon lemon juice. Let it sit for about five, 10 minutes, and it will curdle. Then just go ahead and use it in your recipe.

Another buttermilk substitution uses a cup of yogurt, sour cream, or kefir. Make sure that it’s unsweetened and not flavored and sweetened.

CAKE FLOUR: Grab your 1 cup measuring cup and add in 2 tablespoons of corn starch. (I only use non-GMO organic corn starch). Top off the cup with your all-purpose flour.

SELF-RISING FLOUR: 1 cup of all-purpose flour + 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder + 1/4 teaspoon salt. Mix it all together and it will equal one cup of self-rising flour.

CORN SYRUP: A quick note first: Melissa (and most of us) are anti-GMO anything. And high fructose corn syrup is a genetically modified product because most commercial corn grown in the United States is genetically modified. It’s then severely processed in order for it to become high fructose. Corn syrup that you’re buying for home-baking is generally not high fructose corn syrup, but it’s still made with GMO corn. If you have a brand of organic and non-GMO verified corn syrup that you like to use, by all means, keep using that.

But if you don’t have a favorite, and you are using a recipe that calls for some, try these ideas: Honey or maple syrup, you’ll use the same amount as the recipe calls for. OR, go the water and sugar route. Just mix one cup of water and a 1/4 cup of sugar. Heat the water up a little bit so that the sugar fully dissolves into it. Cook it down to a thick syrupy consistency and use that as your replacement.

BROWN SUGAR: You can’t just substitute white sugar for brown in a recipe. Brown is made with molasses, which adds a certain moisture balance to what you’re making. So when you run out of brown sugar (or if what you have is hard as a brick), here’s what you do:

Blend together 1 cup regular sugar and 1½ tablespoon molasses for light brown sugar or 1 cup sugar and 2 ½ tablespoons molasses for golden brown sugar. Work the molasses into the sugar with the back of a large soup spoon. It takes a few minutes, but it’s easy to do, and very satisfying. This results in a very moist and perfect product!

POWDERED SUGAR: Take regular sugar, whatever you need for the recipe, and grind it up until it’s fine and powder. A coffee grinder, high powered blender, or food processor all work. And that’s it.

I’ll close with Melissa’s substitution for HEAVY CREAM: This is a superb substitute for when you run out of the real deal. Blend together 3/4 cup milk (preferably whole) and 1/4 cup melted butter.

Now if you’re wondering if you can actually make whipped cream from this substitution, here’s Melissa’s response to that question: “Yes you can whip it. Put the heavy cream in your mixer with the whip attachment and whip until soft peaks form; add a little bit of sugar towards the end for sweetened whipped cream.”

(I’m putting her in my will for the whipped cream substitution!)