Ingredients You Don't Like to Admit Using

- Beef Boullion. So many nice uses. Especially like to add a sprinkling to sauteed onions and mushrooms that I serve to accompany steak. (Reduced with white wine.)

Typically it's either made from scratch or straight from the freezer in our house, not much in between, but I do have a secret: Accent, a.k.a. MSG! There is nothing better to give a pasta salad that hit of umami without getting a broth flavor. I also stick it in "Chinese" chicken salad dressing. In both these cases a pinch is plenty.

I'm not very good at baking, so I buy pie crusts and cake mixes.