White Flour Tortillas

I am posting this especially for Sonshine but I know others may enjoy a new tortilla recipe as well. I got this from a cook booklet my dd got me for X~mas. I was a little annoyed they didn't give any amount for the water. SO I experimented. This is a picture from the first batch.

The first batch I made with 1 cup of hot water and the tortillas were very good and then I tried 3/4 a cup for the next batch and the tortillas came out even lighter looking, the dough was more doughy and less sticky. The tortillas tasted great and dh taste tested both and liked the ones with less water better, so that is what I would recommend as well. Plus the dough was much easier to work with the 2nd batch. I used all purpose flour on these tortillas. Next time I will try half white and half wheat.

This picture is from the 2nd batch. Notice it is lighter looking than the first batch?

From the booklet, A Taste of Mexico

Makes 12

3 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbs oil
hot water(to make dough smooth)

Combine dry ingredients; add oil. Begin adding enough hot water to make a smooth dough. Knead about 1 minute; let rest. Divide dough into small balls. Roll each ball into thin circle. Cook on a hot, dry griddle, each side about 30 seconds until bubbly. Turn and cook until done, about 1 minute.

See what I mean? Add water til the dough is smooth. Grrrr.....lol A tsp? a T? 5 cups? lol Good thing I know a teensy bit about dough. 1 cup sounded good, and worked but 3/4 cup was better. I will also add here that all flour is different and as some of you know it may need to be adjusted if you are using whole wheat. I used my cast iron skillet for these.


Do you have any awesome tortilla recipes to share with us?

Kitchen Tip Tuesdays

Here is my tip for Tuesday. Add hummus to your tuna or salmon as a nice healthy alternative to mayonnaise. I rarely ever use mayonnaise. I stick with mustard most of the time, well except when I am at In and Out Burger, then I pile on the thousand island dressing. haha But mustard doesn't taste good on tuna.

The hummus I buy is from Costco. It is Sabra hummus with roasted pine nuts. The ingredients are chick peas(garbanzo beans), water, tahini(sesame), soybean and/or canola oil, garlic, salt, pine nuts and a few other things to season it and keep it fresh. I hope someday to make this myself and use olive oil instead of soybean oil. But the point is it makes a nice spread and you get the benefit of eating one of the worlds healthiest foods. Don't believe me? Go here and check out why chickpeas are so good for you. Garbanzo beans (chickpeas)

Chickpeas can help lower your cholesterol level, lower your risk of a heart attack and even help stabilize your blood sugar. This makes a nice dip for crackers too. I took 4 T of hummus, 1/2 cup of canned salmon, a few tomatoes and a few pieces of chopped up onion and mixed it all together. Add some whole wheat crackers and Voila! A nice healthy snack.
Have you ever had hummus before? Have you ever made your own?

Check out Tammy's Recipes for more tips!

Home Made Flour Tortillas

I used my cast iron sklillet. I really like this thing and am looking forward to making corn bread in it. That is the tortilla dough in the pan.

I just used white flour this time. Next time I will use half/half. A few weeks ago I was making chicken tacos for lunch for the kids and we ran out of chicken and my eldest ds wanted more. I thought about taking some cheese and corn tortillas and making a generic quesidilla for him but I thought, no I want to make him something really yummy. I stopped what ever else I was doing in the kitchen and made up fresh flour tortillas.

I even used a new recipe from a cook booklet my eldest dd had gotten me for x~mas. They turned out so good I made more up for dinner. I didn't use any wheat this time but played with the water variations. I hate that when recipes tell you just to add whatever. Grrr... The first time I think I added 1 cup and they were fine but the second time I added 3/4 of a cup and I think they were perfect.

I haven't made tortillas in probably 6 months. I alternated between using my corn tortilla press and rolling them out with my middle dd's mini rolling pin. I may just make some again today. Do you make your own tortillas?

Monster Muffins & Swapmeet Cookbooks

Well since I decided to build up my cook book collection I decided a good place to hit would be the swap meet. I found 3 more of the dessert cups I had bought 8 of before at the dollar store. You know the ones I put chocolate puddingin? He wanted .50 cents each but I got them 3/$1.00. I also found 3 cook books. $2.00 each and I paid 3/$5.00

One is Cooking Light, 1st printing in 1997. Then I got Jenny Craig's No Diet Required, 1st printing in 1997. Those two looked pretty good and had the cal counts which is what I like. I like trying new recipes but sometimes I get annoyed wondering how many cals are in everything and don't want to sit there and figure it all out too.

The next one I am really having fun with. The Bed and Breakfast cookbook. It has about 318 recipes from all 50 states, copyright was in 1991. What I love about this book is it is not just recipes, it has pictures of some of the tables at these fine establishments and has pictures and sketches of some of the houses. It also has a brief summary about these homes. These recipes are a collection of the best of their recipes basically. It is really awesome. I wouldn't mind finding a more updated one as well.

The banana bread I made over x~mas which was excellent was a recipe someone got from a bed and breakfast. Now normally breakfast is not my scene. I usually have some almonds and either a yogurt with fruit or kefir with fruit. Even before I was so food conscious I would rather have a grilled cheese for breakfast or leftovers from dinner. I do like english muffins and obviously toast. When I was little I ate cereal but now a days most of the time it is fruit and yogurt/kefir. I'd rather save more of my cals for lunch and dinner.

But once a week we try to have a big family breakfast on Saturday. This generally happens twice a month. Joey used to work for a few years at a Restaurant called The Friendly and he was the breakfast cook. So usually I prep everything and do turkey sausage and toast and he makes up the most awesome omelettes ever.

When the kids are at not in school they usually eat cereal. When they go to school they eat breakfast there. I make Joe a lunch to take to work and one for my eldest dd and lately my eldest ds wants to take one in addition to what he already eats at school. I let him since he always runs to the lean side. Pile it in while you can son. He is 13.5 so eat up and grow tall. A few times a week I go in and make my eldest dd eggs and toast since she thinks it isn't cool to eat breakfast at school. Other times she eats cereal. Now my eldest ds wants to eat before he goes to school and he is skinny and growing so I do it. I actually like feeding him. I know that sounds funny and I feed all the kids and enjoy cooking but I mean as in I will drag myself out of bed to go cook breakfast for that boy before it is even light out. lol

In years past he has always been the one to eat like a bird so whenever I get a chance to feed him and/or feed him more I do. Make sense? Do any of you have kids like that? lol

Read about how I stopped what I was doing the other day just to make him flour tortillas.

Joey on days he works doesn't even like having anything in the a.m. while he is drinking his coffee. So I try to send snacks for his 9:00 break and of course his lunch for noon. He is having 3 bb muffins today with butter. So even though I don't like breakfast much, it would be nice to try some new recipes and experiment on Saturday mornings. I made the kids some buttermilk pancakes from the cook book on Sunday and I also made some banana muffins. I added a few chocolate chips in as well. I ate one pancake. It was pretty good. Joey said the muffins were really good, nice and tender.

There are quite a few recipes in here I want to try. While flipping thru the book Joey seen a recipe for the exact cinnamon rolls they used to make at the Friendly, made the exact same way. I think I am going to surprise him with those today. I had written down a cinnamon roll recipe from the Pioneer woman about 2 months ago but hadn't tried it yet. Well I am off to do some baking.

So many recipes, so little time. Are you baking any new recipes this week?

5 lb Nachos!

We all went to a birthday party yesterday. Well all of us except my eldest dd. She wanted to stay home. She missed out on some awesome nachos!

These Nachos were soooo good!! Nacho cheese chips, cheese sauce, ground beef, beans, tomato, green onion, cilantro, lettuce, olives and sour cream. I told my friend that Joe and I would just split a plate. (She was making the other plates smaller and she was like no, have your own plate.) I was like no it's okay. I'd rather split a plate cause I had already hit the ruffles chips and onion dip. SO she went and made us this HUMONGOUS plate to share!! lol It doesn't look that big in the picture but that plate is FULL of food and heaping high. lol It was great though!!

Maybe these wonderful nachos are why the kids are smiling so nice? Or maybe it was the cake and ice cream. White cake from the store, 3 different kinds of ice cream, okay so it was neopolitan but still! and a chocolate sheet cake I was asked to bring with me. MMMM.....

The adults loved the chocolate cake and said it was delicious!

Well of course it is great! It is Texas Sheet Cake! If you want to try this awesome recipe that everyone I have met who tastes it loves, here it is:
Texas Sheet Cake It was so good I was even asked to bring it with me to the birthday party!

A Blueberry Muffin for breakfast

If you have never had a hot fresh blueberry muffin made from scratch in your own kitchen you just have to do this some day. Melt a little bit of butter on top and it is pure heaven. If you need a recipe then here is
Magnolia Bakery Blueberry Muffins a really good one. Enjoy!

I ordered some more books today

My middle dd is enjoying the "kid" cookbook I got her for x~mas so much I thought I would buy her another one.

New Junior Cookbook (Better Homes & Gardens Test Kitchen) (Spiral-bound)

She even had her own little grocery list when we went to the store the other night. lol I really think it is great that she is developing a love of cooking and baking so early in life.

When I was young I liked baking cookies and bread with my mom but that was it. I remember even when I was older she would want me to come in and show me how to do something but I could care less.

Now that I am in my 30's I have really taken a liking to it. I know I got that bug from my mom even if it didn't kick in til later. My eldest dd is the same way. Once in a while she will want to make something but usually not. She usually drags her feet about it. SO I was very happy my 9 1/2 y/o is really taking an interest in it. The other book we got her came with an apron, the book and mini utensils, kid size.

SO while I was looking up a book for her I figured since I love cooking and baking so much I need to seriously build up my supply of great cookbooks. I absolutely love baking bread and really want to get into making artisan loaves. SO there are a few I have in mind but for now I am going to start by ordering, "Bread", by Eric Treuille.
The reviews looked really good and I have seen it talked about elsewhere. There are many others I want to get eventually as well but I figured one book at a time might be best.

There are quite a few artisan type bread recipes online that I want to try as well.

I am also very interested in OAMC/freezer cooking. If you haven't noticed. haha SO after looking at a few books, I narrowed it down to 1, well 2. But I got tired of scanning thru all the reviews. haha. The one I ordered is "Don't Panic - Dinners in the Freezer: Great-Tasting Meals You Can Make Ahead". That beat out two other books. There is one more I want to get but I will wait til I feel like reading more about it. It is the "30 day Gourmet".

I can't wait til they get here. Oh and it has also come to my attention that I need a pizza peel and a stone. That was agonizing looking thru all that today too. I could of easily spent $200.00 today at Amazon but I told myself to just get the few books, look around and see what all is out there and then make a decision when I am not so frazzled.

They have so many nifty things for bakers on there. The pizza stone is supposed to significantly improve your pizza and your artisan bread. Now I remember why I didn't get the stone yet. They are all sold out! lol I also want the chicago baking pans but am a little miffed I missed the big sale in Novenmber. Basically the loaf pans(commercial quality) are normally about $15.00. But back in November they went on sale for $5.95! And they qualified for the buy 3 get 1 free deal as well.

When I looked today they were $10.00 each and I was rationalizing getting them. That would be $30.00 for 4. I checked the usual outlets around here, Target, W.M., Bed Bath and Beyond, etc. The last was the only place that had them and for $15.00 each, even with a coupon off of one that would be $12.00 and then I would have to wait each month to get another one. lol

Yeah that is me I will seriously contemplate spending $100.00 on baking ware but pay a little extra per pan I will not. lol So I added it up, $48.00 near home vs. $30.00 online. I was all set to buy too when I realized they do NOT qualify for free shipping! And it looks as if they want to charge $6.00 per pan to ship!! SO that $30.00 just became $54.00! So then we are looking at spending $6.00 more than near my house! (Even though it would take 4 months or so to get them all waiting for that 20% off coupon in the mail.)

And do not even get started on how much I will spend in gas making those 4 trips. Probably $6.00 x4. lol But we always go out that way anyways, you know how it is. Anyhow you can see why my head was splitting. haha

I decided to call it quits for the day and look at that stuff later when I am up for the mental challenge. Oh not to mention I need a pizza peel as well and I seen one for $10.00 and one for $30.00 and one for $17.00 and.....The $10.00 seems cool but I heard people complaining. Yeah, that it broke.

Then there is the matter of the buy 3 get one free deal. So as I was contemplating the $30.00 pizza stone I began to wonder if we needed two? And if we did I seen a cool digital scale for $30.00 and that is $90.00 and since I am already there I get something for $30.00 for free!!!! But what?? What should I pick?

But once I started adding this all up in my head and seeing myself spending almost $150.00 - $200.00 on Amazon today I stopped myself. I said I don't need 2 stones and I don't need a scale. Thank goodness. I told myself to wait and look and see what other stores around here have to offer but I really do think I am going to get that stone from amazon.

SO now back to basics. Stone, peel, dough cutter, wooden cutting board.....as the list grows again. *sigh*

We did find a nice big wooden cutting board that I am going to use for my dough at Walmart tonight. $15.00 and no shipping fees! lol We also found a dough cutter at Smart N Final tonight for $6.00.

P.s. As of tonight those stupid $10.00 loaf pans are now $16.00 for each one! Maybe if I just watch them they will fall back to $6.00 again. ;)

So what kind of books are you reading?