Cooking Friday!!

Alright it is Tortillas and Burrito Time!!!


I know you all are so excited. On wednesday I taught this class with the help of my bud Krystal and all the ladies really enjoyed these recipes so I thought I'd share them with the World!
It will also make you feel really awesome making your own whole wheat burritos.
Sooooooo Lets get on with it!!!

Whole Wheat Tortillas!

Ingredients

1 cup all-purpose flour

4 cups whole wheat bread flour

1/2 cup shortening

2 tsp baking powder

                2 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups boiling water

all-purpose flour for rolling

Directions

1.In a large bowl, stir together 1 cup all-purpose flour, the whole wheat flour, and salt. Rub in the shortening by hand until the mixture is the texture of oatmeal. Make a well in the center, and pour in the boiling water. Mix with a fork until all of the water is evenly incorporated. Sprinkle with a bit of additional flour, and knead until the dough does not stick to your fingers. The dough should be smooth.

2.Make balls the size of golf balls, about 2 ounces each. Place them on a tray, and cover with a damp cloth. Let stand for at least 1 hour, or up to 8 hours.

3.Heat a griddle or large frying pan over high heat. On a lightly floured surface,gently press on the ball of dough to make it into a circle then roll out a tortilla to your preferred thinness. 

Cook one at a time. Place on the griddle for 10 seconds, as soon as you see a bubble on the top, flip the tortilla over.

 Let it cook for about 30 seconds, then flip and cook the other side for another 30 seconds. Roll out the next tortilla while you wait for that one to cook. Repeat until all of the balls have been cooked. Tortillas can be refrigerated or frozen. 

Place directly into a plastic bag to keep tortillas soft. Can be reheated on a griddle or in the microwave.

Makes about 18 tortillas.

Tips and Tricks

I used wheat flour that I ground myself in my cuisinart coffee grinder, I think it comes out a little thicker than regular wheat flour so my tortillas come out thicker, more like a tostada, but still very tasty.

I use my hands to mix up my ingredients, except when you add the boiling water!!! Use two forks to mix in the water.

While I am mixing the water with the dough I heat up a little more water because it tends to need like 1/2 C more water than the recipe calls for.

You can add more white flour instead of wheat flour and they will come out softer.

If you want to make a big batch of tortillas make two regular size batches, the big batch is a pain to work with. 

Find the original recipe here http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Mexican-Whole-Wheat-Flour-Tortillas/Detail.aspx along with a bunch of great reviews and tips.

Alright, now that you have your awesome Tortillas! You need an equally awesome mix to go in the tortillas, Hence my........

Totally Awesome Bean and Chicken Burrito Mix!!! a little long I know, you can just call it Burrito mix if you want.

2 cups black beans 

Place the beans in your crock pot and cover with water plus an additional 2 inches, let them soak over night. Or there is the quick cook method, place beans in a pot, cover with water, bring to a boil, cover, remove from heat and let sit for one hour.

As soon as you get up the next day.

Drain beans

Add 1 tbs. dried onions

and cover again with water along with an extra 2 inches of water. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours.

Beans should be bite-tender. Drain almost all of the water, leave about a cup. Turn your slow cooker to high. Add 1/2 cup barbecue sauce.

 You need to add a little lemon juice, about 2 Tbs. or if you don't have any lemon juice, or if it isn't "Food storage material" sprinkle in a 1/2 tsp of lemonade or limeade powder.

Add 1 Tbs. of dried cilantro or 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro.

Stir this together in crockpot and cook for no more than 1 hour. It is ok for this to just simmer together for a bit, taste it and see if you need to add more barbecue sauce or a little garlic powder or anything. 

About 30 minutes before you are ready to eat you make the rice. I do 1 cup rice brown it in the pan with a little butter, add 2 cups chicken broth, a sprinkle of dried onions, and a couple Tbs. of chopped tomato (can be from a can, could even be some ketchup) Bring to a boil. Cover and turn down to low to simmer for 20 minutes.

Open a can of chicken and drain. Add to beans and stir to break up the chunks. Add a little seasoning to your beans. I like to sprinkle in some cumin, garlic powder, paprika,  and chili powder.

When the rice is finished cooking you just stir it into your beans and Voila! You have an awesome burrito mix. Serve it with some sour cream, cheese, guacamole, etc...

Sidenote: I concocted this recipe for my food storage class. So you use dried beans and canned chicken. I have two other recipes that are similar to this but one is with canned beans still in the slow cooker, the other is with canned beans but you just cook everything in a saute pan and it takes about 20 minutes. 

Alternative Burrito Mix:

Place two chicken breasts in slowcooker along with drained 1 can black beans and 1 can kidney beans, add 1/2 cup salsa, 1/3 c barbecue sauce, and a couple tablespoons of lemon juice. Cook 6-8 hours on low. When done just stir to break up the chicken, add spanish rice from previous recipe. Finished!

Alternative Burrito mix that takes 20 minutes:

Place 1 can drained black beans and 1 can drained kidney beans in large saute pan, add 1/2 C salsa, 1/3 C barbecue sauce, and a couple tablespoons of lemon juice. Cook for 5-10 minutes on medium heat until thickened. Drain 1 can chicken breast and add to mix, stir and cook another 5 minutes. Taste. I like to sprinkle in some cumin, garlic powder, paprika, and onion powder but that is optional. You can make the spanish rice at the same time and add it in at the end or you can just heat up one of those Uncle Ben's Spanish rice packets and add that in. And Finished!

I've served these recipes to tons of people and everybody raves about them, they are super easy and healthy and cheap. So instead of paying 6 bucks a person for a burrito at a restaurant just make your own and it heats up great for lunches the next day.

Aw heck, have to add one last recipe because it is so amazingly easy and tasty.

Black Bean and Corn Salsa

Drain a can of black beans, dump in small pot along with 1/3 C barbecue sauce and 2 Tbs lemon or lime juice. Cook for 10 minutes.

Turn off and let it cool a little.

Drain one can corn, place in cereal size bowl. 

Chop half a red onion, add to corn

Add 1/3 C salsa

Add about 3/4 of the beans, or you can add them all its up to you.

Add a little more lemon or lime juice

Add some chopped cilantro and

Bam!! You have awesome Salsa