HOMEMADE TORTILLAS

Have you ever looked at the list of ingredients on a package of tortillas in the store?  Its a long list of words I can't pronounce.  I decided very spur of the moment yesterday try out making some on my own.  After a bit of research I found one I liked that used only 4 ingredients(and I could pronounce all of them). 

white whole wheat flour
salt
butter
water

Can't get much simpler than that!  Here's what I did:

1. Mix together 2 cups flour and 1t.salt

2.Cut in 1/4 cup of slightly softened butter (you do not need a fancy pastry cutter for this.  I took 2 butter knifes and held them together and cut the butter in) til it starts to look crumbly

3.Then add you add 1/2 cup water.  Mix and toss with a fork, then kneed for a couple of minutes.  Then u take it and put it in the fridge for at least 4 hrs. 

4. Take dough out of the fridge and let it come to room temperature.  Make around 8-10 balls depending on how big you want them.  Flour a surface and roll the balls out until they are as flat as you can get them.  I rolled out then flipped over and rolled some more.  Heat a ungreased griddle to 400degrees and place tortillas on it for about 20 seconds until they start to brown and bubble on that side then flip them over until the other side it browned.  

It's that easy!  Eat right away or store in fridge or freezer!   I only made this one batch yesterday, but next time I think I'll double or triple the batch.  My family LOVED them.  I also figure them to be a lot cheaper than the good whole wheat ones you would buy in the store.

Here is the stack I made,, mine were not perfectly round,, but really,, who cares?

And here's one with some goodies in it.

My three year old helped me roll out the little balls and had a great time. She said it was like playing with play dough.  I made these with the intention of making enchiladas but Emma and I just had to taste one before we rolled them all up and covered them with sauce.   Yummy!

Rhubarb Crisp

Yesterday afternoon I made my first trip to the farmers market!  There wasn't a whole lot of booths due to it being a weekday but they said Saturday morning there will be lots more.  I bought some fresh rhubarb and came home and made rhubarb crisp for the first time. It was very yummy and my family gobbled up every last bite!  Here is the recipe that I got it from, I used the second one down called Crumbly Topped Rhubarb and I made just a few substitutions.

Ingredients:


3 c Young Rhubarb; Unpeeled And Diced

1 T Unbleached White Whole Wheat Flour

1/2 c Organic Sugar

1 t Cinnamon

1/8 t Sea Salt

1 T ;Water

6 T Butter
6 T Unbleached White Whole Wheat Flour

1/2 c Organic Brown Sugar; Firmly Packed

1/2 c Rolled Oats;
Preheat the oven to 350 Degrees F. In a 9x13 baking dish, combine the first 6 ingredients (this made a very thin desert, next time I might try a 9x9 pan). Cream the butter with the flour and brown sugar, then stir in the oats. Sprinkle over the rhubarb. Bake in  oven, 350 Degrees F., for 40 minutes or until the rhubarb is tender and the top is brown.


Like I said, it was great!  I might play around with it next time and try and replace the sugar with honey or maple syrup for a more natural sweetener.  

I'm going back Saturday and hoping to buy some free range farm fresh eggs and some local meat.  The people that were there last night were quite expensive and I know of another lady that is supposed to have her meat a little cheaper. I'm hoping she will be there Saturday.  I also bought a bar of homemade natural soap which is delightful!  

Liquid laundry soap

Someone had asked for the recipe I used to make my laundry soap so it it goes:

Homemade Laundry Soap

1/3 bar Fels Naptha soap

1 cup washing soda

1 cup borax powder

You will also need a small bucket, about 2 gallons

Grate the soap and put it in a saucee pan.  Add 6 cups of water and heat until the soap dissolves.  Add the washing soda and the borax and stir until dissolved.  Remove from heat.  Pour 4 cups hot water into the bucket.  Now add your soap mixture and stir.  Now add 1 gallon plus  6 cups of water and stir.  Let the soap sit for 24 hours and it will gel.  Used 1/2 cup per load. 

I am really enjoying this liquid soap. I also add a scoop of Sun (generic oxyclean from the Dollar Store) to each load.  I feel it gives it a extra boost and our water is a little hard so I think this helps.  I am on my second batch now and plan on continuing to use it.   Another helpful tip I have is to pour the soap into a old detergent bottle for easy pouring!

Play dough fun

It's such a beautiful day outside.  The littles are all napping now but I think when they wake we will get outside and enjoy this weather before it disappears!  This morning they wanted to play with play dough.  We have a big tote full of play dough toys and they always have fun playing with it.  Well I went to get it out and.....oh no.....the store bought dough had dried up, someone forgot to put the lid on,,imagine that.  :)   But have no fear,  SUPER MOM is here (haha,,,yeah right).  I told the kids we could just mix up a batch all on our own.  I've did this before and honestly I like it better than the store bought.  I think it last longer and you can make as much as you want and choose the colors.  Here's a pic of the finished product.  This is only about half, they were playing with the rest already. 

Here's the recipe that I use.  There are lots of different ones out on the Internet but I like this one and it make just the right amount for us. 

Homemade Play dough:

2cups flour

1/2 cup salt

2 Tablespoons Cream of Tarter

2 cups hot water

2 Tablespoons veggie oil

food coloring of your choice

I dump the dry ingredients into a pot then add the wet ingredients, minus the food coloring.  Turn on heat to medium high and stir, stir, stir,,,,,until it starts getting clumpy and separating from the sides of the pot.  Your arm will feel like its gonna fall off.    Then I put on some thick cleaning gloves(cause its very hot) and kneed it like you were making some bread.  Then you can separate it into as many sections as you'd like and add the food coloring to it,,and kneed and kneed some more. 

That's it. Not to hard accept for feeling your arms gonna fall off. :)  My kiddos love playing with it and when I make a fresh batch it can keep them entertained for at least an hour!

Yesterday evening I was able to get out with some friends for dinner.  Just us ladies with no kiddos!  It was so nice and relaxing to eat our food and chat without having to worry about kids fighting or trying to get outta there seats!  I had a great time.  I think it's fun to get together with other moms and share kids stories and pick their brains on what works for them for this thing or that.  It was a great evening and my family managed just fine without me here at home.  Everyone was bathed and in there jammies when I got home waiting for me to tuck them in!  The kitchen was cleaned up, thanks to Jess, all homework was done.  I had left a list for them just in case Ben forgot to remind them what needed to be done.  I was very proud of them all!





Carmel Apple Pork Chops

This is what I made for dinner last night, Carmel Apple Porkchops,
They were super yummy and the whole family devoured them! I doubled the recipe so there would be enough.
I also made sour cream apple bars yesterday and here as soon as the kids lay down for a nap I'm gonna get to peeling and coring and cutting some apples to make applesauce in the crock pot!
I've been going through my cookbooks looking for apple recipes,,I'm thinking apple bread, apple muffins,, I really wanna try to make apple dumplings. I've found a few different recipes but was wondering if anyone has a tried and true one they would like to share with me.? Or any of your favorite apple recipes that you would like to share would be great!

Homemade Laundry Detergent

For anyone that wants to save money, have clean clothes,, and have a little fun (I think its fun,,maybe I'm weird :)) here is the recipe that I used homemade laundry soap!

Powdered laundry detergent
*1 cup Borax
*1 cup Washing Soda(not baking soda)
*1 bar Fels Napa soap
*1/2 cup oxi-clean(I used generic)

You have to grate up the bar soap into as little pieces as possible. I cut it up into chunks then ran it through my off brand magic bullet(I couldn't put it all in there at once,, do a couple rounds). You can just use the smallest holes on a grater or if you have a food processor that would be even better, but I don't have one. Then you just mix everything all together really well. I stored this in a recycled quart sized yogurt container(make sure you label it). You use 1-2Tablespoons per load(since my water is kinda hard I use 2T. I know that seems like a really small amount but trust me its all you need. Upon reading others adventures in using their homemade soap I read that some people have trouble with the soap dissolving but that's normally just if you don't get your bar soap grated well enough, but just to be safe I run a little hot water first and swish it around with the soap then turn it to warm. Then add your clothes and let it be. This soap does not suds up! That was hard for me to grasp at first, but I guess the manufactures just add ingredients to it to make it suds so we think its working. You don't need the suds,, it still cleans just fine. The other thing you will have to get used to is there wont be any perfumed smell on your clothes like were used to,, just clean fresh clothes. I thought it would bother me but it doesn't, especially knowing that this is not going to irritate my kids sensitive skin.

So there you have it. I am very happy with this so far. If you look around online you will find recipes for liquid det., but it makes a ton and you have to store it in a 5gal. bucket and I didn't want to mess with that. There are some variations to the recipe, but so far this one is easy and working for me! A lot of people have the cost breakdown for this too,,, its super cheap comaired to store bought!

Menu plan and brekfast burritos

This morning hubby and I put together some brekfast burritos! We used sausage, potatoes, onion, eggs, and cheese! Yummy! Total we had 20, the family ate 5 and we had 15 to put in the freezer. With Ben going back to work tomorrow morning this can be an easy option for him if he wants some brekfast to grab and go. Just get one out and pop it in the microwave! Here is how our little assembly line looked this morning.

And as far as our menu plan for the week, Here ya go!

Sunday: brekfast burritos

dinner at mom's

Weekday meals:

*roast with potatoes and carrots

* bean chili mac ( we never got around to having this last week)

*crockpot roast chicken with potatoes and corn

*cheesy chicken enchiladas

*spagetti and garlic bread

Saturday-pull out some breakfast burritos,,, be in Ft.wayne by 11am for Gary's dentist

*lunch in Ft. Wayne

*free for all if anyone wants dinner :)

Sweet-sour chicken

Shannon asked for my recipe for sweet and sour chicken yesterday, but this was our first time trying it so I wanted to see how it tasted before telling you about it. I got the recipe from "The Basics and More Cookbook".

Sweet-sour chicken:
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 chopped green pepper
3/4 cup pineapple juice
3/4 cup ketchup
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 T. vinegar
2 tsp. soy sauce
1/2 tsp. garlic salt
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
15oz. can pineapple chunks, drained
3 lb. chicken , cut up

I cooked it in the slow cooker. I put the chicken, then onions then poured the sauce over it, then the pineapple and green peppers. Cook on low for 8 hrs.


*This tasted very good!! I will defiantly make it again, but next time I will use boneless chicken because it was a pain to mess with the bones. We served it over rice and it was very yummy!

Rabbit

Well I made rabbit last night for the first time ever. I really wish there was another word for the meat. You know like deer is called venison,, but I don't know of another for rabbit... anyways I put it in the crock pot yesterday morning with two cans of roasted garlic cream of mushroom soup and some seasonings, and just cooked it on low all day til about 5:30pm. Believe it or not if I didn't know what I was eating I would have just thought I was having chicken,,, no kidding,,, I know everyone kids and says all weird meat taste like chicken but this really did. Everyone liked it accept for Jess, but Ireally think its just cause she knew what she was eating. So we had some leftover and I picked all the meat off the bone and today for lunch I threw it in a pot with BBQ sauce and simmered that for a little bit.... YUMMO....... JUST LIKE CHICKEN BBQ... It was so good,,,, I gave the 3 year old that I babysit some and she asked what it was before she took a bite,, I just told her it was BBQ.....she tasted it and said Yuuummmmm taste like chicken,,,, and she gobbled it all down! So next time I will probably boil it, remove it from bone and throw it in the crock with BBQ sauce. My hillbilly ancestors would be proud!

chicken noodle soup

Tonight I made homemade chicken noodle soup for my sickies...and myself. It was soooo good!
First I put 2 split chicken breast(bone in)( I got these on sale for 98cents a pound a while back) into a big pot of water to boil, along with some chopped up leftover carrots(from the party yesterday), an onion, some chopped garlic, salt, pepper, poultry seasoning, and a couple of bay leaves. I let that boil until the chicken looked done then removed the chicken onto a cutting board. And this is where I used this tool for the first time and fell in love with it.

It came with a knife set that I got for Christmas,, its not kitchen shears, I think its called poultry shears or something like that,, anyways it made removing the chicken from the bone so easy! I didn't even have to burn my fingers!

After I removed the chicken from the bone I put the meat back into the pot and I let that simmer a while longer and then I tasted the broth and it wasn't strong enough for me so I added this stuff that I got from Sam's club called chicken base.. it comes in a jar, its kinda like chicken bouillon cubes, but its not a powder, its kinda jelly,,, I'm probably the only one in the world that didn't know about this. Anyways it is way cheaper than chicken stock already made. Then i added some home style noodles, also something I had gotten from Sam's, so I have a big bag of them... they are the yummiest noodles in my opinion. I let them cook then we ate. All the sickies kept it down, so they must be on the road to recovery. I let Emma have some to she LOVED it! As did I. And the coolest thing is I just kinda made the recipe up as I went along. It was very good and something we will defiantly be having again,,, whether we are sick or not! :) For some more kitchen tips, visit tammysrecipies.com

Apple jack cookies

Tonight instead of hot chocolate I decided to make some cookies with the kids. Gary had brang home a recipe from school a week or so ago called apple jack cookies, I had never heard of them and it seemed fairly simple so we gave it a shot!

They really did turn out good. and we had fun making them! Soon we will have to try our hands at some Christmas cookies. I have some cookie cutters that I have never used. One year I tried to make sugar cookies but they turned out bland and not yummy. Anyone have a good sugar cookie recipe?

Hamburger Zucchini over Rice

Someone asked for this recipe. I got this recipe from my friend Stephanie and changed it a little bit to suite my families taste buds. Its very good and easy!!


Hamburger Zucchini over Rice
Ingredients:
1 lb. hamburger
minced garlic to taste
1 med. onion
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp. oregano
1 can tomatoes or 4 fresh tomatoes (peeled and chopped)
3 small zucchini-sliced

Brown hamburger, garlic and onions. Add remaining ingredients. Simmer for 20 minutes. Serve over rice and season with soy sauce.

With the soy sauce this reminds me of like a stir fry!! It also calls for Lima beans but I haven't had them when I make the dish, so we have never tried them in it.