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

Sewing Thursday!!!

Alright,
so I found this awesome tutorial for a hat that you make out of a t-shirt, so before we went on our camping trip I made one for me and one for my daughter. They are super easy! I made my daughter's hat in 30 minutes! My husband was super impressed especially since it didn't require buying any other materials (he always likes that) so I was going to do all the photos and steps but really the original tutorial is great so just check out the link below. I wore mine to my YW activity last week and they thought I had bought it somewhere so we will have to do this project with them some time. Happy Sewing!!!


Awesome T-shirt hat!!!

Craft Wednesday!

Larks in Flight

I came up with this idea a couple weeks ago. I was thinking of those necklaces where moms put little beads or things that represent each one of their kids so I thought, "What about a set of birds with the mom in front?" So here it is.

We'll go through the steps so you can make your own.

Start off with some clay. I bought this at Michaels. Look for when they have it on sale for 1.25 or less.

I used one brick. Now you have to condition it because it is a little hard when you first open it. 

So  I like to squish mine into a ball and knead it for about 5 minutes.

Next you need to roll it flat. Be sure to do this on a smooth surface, you can even put it on parchment paper so you don't get any residue. I rolled mine to about 1/4 inch.

Then you need to come up with the design for your bird. I freehanded it and tried to decide on one I liked, then I looked them up on the computer so I would get the right ratio in size between the wings and the head. Then I colored it in so I could see what it would look like dark.

I place my drawing on top of my clay and outlined my bird so I wold make an imprint on the clay.

After I make the imprint then I'll cut it out.

I cut mine at an angle kind of reminding me of the angle of an airplane wing.

I used a bone folder to add details in mine and I ran my finger along the edges to round them and smooth them a little bit. You can use a pencil or any other tool to add details that you want.

I used some thin wire and measured for an oval that wasn't bigger than my bird and with a little extra so I could tie it.

I twisted the wire together to make a loop then I tucked the end flat and trimmed it off with my wire cutters.

Sorry about the fuzziness, my lighting was really low. So I pinched the wire in the middle so it formed two loops and then I used the pointy end of a pencil to round out those two loops otherwise they were kind of squished.

 

Then I put a small piece of clay over the center and Gently smoothed it into the rest of the clay. You want to make sure that it is blended in well so it doesn't pop off later.

I then repeated this with two more birds, but I made each bird a little smaller .

For the necklace, I used black glass beads.

I used a white floss for the string and a screw clasp. I threaded my clasp then I close the thread with a crimping bead by squishing it with my pliers.

I used mostly the seed size beads but added in a larger bead every inch. I realized that I didn't take a picture of when I added on the birds. I went through one loop then circled back through that loop so it catches on itself  then I went across to the other loop and did that again. I put seed beads in between the birds.

And there you have it. I'm going to try this with some other shapes that interest me, if you make one send me a picture so I can add them on. Thanks and have a great Craft Wednesday.

Tuesday Photo Day!

Alright People!!! Are You Ready?!!!
I am super excited about photo day because I know there are tons of great photographers out there and I am part of that group.

So here is my little help for the day on how to make your photo look a little more awesome.
1. Take your photo in the shade but what really makes it awesome is if you have light bouncing onto that person. I know your like What? Light Bouncing? Yes my dear friends, light bouncing. The best place for a photo is in a shadow but across from a wall that light is hitting. Heres an example.

See that really bright wall in the back ground? We are going to use that wall. So.... notice my cute super white baby is in the shade which makes her skin tone cooler? Alright, now we'll move her.

BOOM BABY!!! See that nice warmth coming in on the right? So she is in shadow but there is good exposure and warmth from the light Bouncing off the building next door. I get awesome lighting in my kitchen in the morning because light hits the wall in my back yard and bounces into my kitchen.

2. Now that you have a photo that you like heres a way to add to it and make it look just a bit better. I use photoshop cs2 I think you can probably do the same think with photoshop elements.
a. Open your photo.
b. Go up to the top menu labeled layers select duplicate layer.
c. Go to Filters
d. Select Gaussian blur and set it to 14 pixels
e. You now have a very blurred layer. On your layer box go to the lighting tab and select soft light.
f. And BOOM!!! it will give a softness to everything and punch up your colors. If you want to have more details in an area then you can use the eraser and erase those areas.

Example. Compare this photo to the one above it, same lighting, same area, but I did those steps in photoshop and now it is AWESOME!


Alright, couple more tips..

Zoom in on people, nobody really needs your person to be 5% of the photo, they should really be at least 50% of the photo because that's what people really want to see. It also gets rid of all the noise in the background that makes a photo too busy.

Examine your lighting, really try to find a natural light area instead of a flash.

Take LOTS of PHOTOS. If you are shooting digital then go crazy with it, you can delete the bad ones later and it will give you great practice at what looks good and works for you.

Alright, have a happy photo day, send me some of your favorite photos and I'll feature them on one of my photo days. Next week we will be discussing macro photography.

Gardening Monday-Tomatoes!!!!

Tomatoes can be grown pretty much anywhere.
They are a versatile plant and who doesn't love fresh tomatoes? (actually I know a couple people but I won't mention names) Have you tasted a fresh, just picked from the vine, warm in the sun tomato? They are Amazing! I was never a big tomato fan until I grew my own and then I was converted to the tomato Lovers of America!

This year I was all ambitious and I grew tomato plants from seeds. It's really not that hard but you have to start early. Next year I'll start in January so they will be ready for spring.

I used heirloom tomatoes from Trader Joes. I bought a small variety pack and saved some after I ate most of them :) then I squished out the seeds onto paper towels, labeled them with a description and stuck them in envelopes. Now you can't do that with any tomato because many tomatoes are hybrids and they won't reproduce. You have to get Heirloom Tomatoes.


Growing
The more sun you give your tomatoes, the better they will do. My tomatoes only get sun in the afternoon so they don't produce tomatoes until July. My friend's tomatoes get sun all day so she gets tomatoes in June.
All you do is plant them in some good dirt, whether in a pot, a planter, upside down, or in the ground it doesn't matter, water, and fertilize once a month. I recommend you put a tomato cage around them so your plant doesn't fall over when it gets big.

One thing. Keep an eye out for green horn caterpillars. They come from white moths, so if you see a white moth in your garden shoo it away. Also if you see white stuff on the stem of your plant, rub it off, that is the moth eggs. Those caterpillars will strip a branch bare in a day. If you find one, just pull him off and throw him in your neighbor's yard :) that's what I do. Because if you just stick them somewhere else they will find their way back.

If you think you have a caterpillar here are a couple things to find the little bugger.

1. check underneath the branches. They are tricky, they eat from the bottom so you don't see them from the top.

2. Spray water on the plant, the little guys will start wiggling around like crazy.

3. When you find one, be sure to get a good grip on them, if it is a big one he'll almost scare you in how hard he holds onto that branch.

Have fun growing your tomatoes, try a couple different varieties. Here in Las Vegas the yellow pear and the cherry tomatoes do wonderfully and I like them because they produce a lot and you can just pop them in your mouth for a snack.

Have you tried planting tomatoes? Did you have any problems? I'd love to hear from everybody so drop me a note. Thanks!! and happy Gardening.

Grateful Sunday

Sometimes I'm just stunned at how lucky we are. I can go to church, read books, if I'm angry at the government I can say stuff about it. There are so many people in the world who can't do that. So here is a little list of the top 10 I'm happy with at the moment.

10. Mountain Dew: I'm not a big soda drinker but my Dad was always a fan of this stuff and every once and a while I love to have one because it makes me think of him, and racing through mountains on a dirt bike yelling DO THE DEW!!!

9. Trader Joe Power Berries: These are new and are awesome! They are a mix of of berry juices coated in dark chocolate and are my little pick me up for the day. Any moment is better with a power berry.

8. Tomato plants: They are like magic. You put this little plant in the dirt and it just grows and grows and suddenly you have little tomatoes!! They also smell really good, kind of peppery.

7. Organized people: I'm not one of those people so I'm extremely grateful for them because they make the world run and they come up with organizing things to help my unorganized brain.

6. My house: I don't have a very big house but I've been in it 5 years now and it's an expression of me which is nice because when I first moved in it was a total guy's place and now it is a nice combination of me and my husband, although getting rid of all his ugly man furniture still bugs him. heh heh

5. Hammocks: I was never a big fan of hammocks until I visited Panama and slept in one and now we have two in our back yard and on a beautiful spring afternoon it feels so nice to relax in one and get some vitamin D.

4. Mountian Dew and Power Berries at the same time: Need I say more?

3. Church: I'm a member of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and although it can be alot of work it helps to bring hope and love to my life which I think everyone needs more of.

2. My Daughter: She just turned a year and is such an amazement to me. She is extremely smart and happy, she makes me laugh all day and she teaches me patience which I definitely need more of.

1. My husband: I am such an off person sometimes and he puts up with it and loves me in spite of it, he is also super cute. :)

Alright, I think that is a pretty good list for today. I could add photos but I don't really feel like it. Tune in tomorrow for my gardening tips and come back every day because I will have some awesome things for this week.

A Beginning

Alright so I'm starting this new blog. Lately I've felt kind of cramped in a little box. I go about my day doing all my regular day things and I feel so empty and quiet. Warren made the comment that our little girl is such a show off and a happy leader and he wonders where she got that from. I couldn't help but think that I used to be like that and then I got older and I squished that down because it so often led to dissapointment and frustration and I was never the best at anything so I never felt like I should really be leading. Now I'm a middle me. I have all these urgings to express myself creatively and yet I have all this guilt about not using my time wisely. If it takes me all day to finish a project and now the house is a mess, I don't feel that excited because when Warren walks in and sees the dirty house it doesn't really justify the project. But oh well, that is what I will do and this will be that collection.

If anyone knows me, I'm not an organized person. I have to force myself to be organized. I am very right brained so things get done but they get done in their own time. I love to do projects but I needed some kind of organization otherwise nothing ever gets done so here is what I decided.

Monday Gardening Day- I'll give tips and photos of my garden and what you can plant in the harsh desert that will give you some love back.


Tuesday Photo Day- I am a photo addict and I did photography in college and so I will share my photos and what I do to get that special moment


Wednesday Craft Day- I kept it general because craft includes so many things from beads to clay to sticking a bunch of crap to something....


Thursday Sewing and Yarn- I love to sew and I've taken up crocheting again so here will be simple projects that anybody can do.


Friday Cook Day-I've always loved to cook. We had the same kind of stuff every week and I get stuck in that rut quite often and then I'll make something magical and I feel the food love all over again.


Saturday Kid Fun Day-As an art teacher I've done all kinds of art projects and I love the magic that kids have with creating something so here you will get projects you can do with your kids so they can experience that love of creativity that everyone gets at some point.


Sunday Reflection and Gratitude Day- I think the world would be much better if we were all grateful a little more for what we've been blessed with, it also helps with everything you do in realizing that you are special and lucky to have everything that you have.


Alright, heres to a new beginning, I hope people will enjoy this journey and share the love with others. Oh and I just tried Oreo's mint fudge cookies, they taste just like girl scout cookies, I am lovin' it.