Homemade Wheat Flour Tortillas

Tortillas are a staple in my weekly meal rotation, mostly corn tortillas, but some flour thrown in to mix things up. I use them mostly for the much loved Mexican recipes I have up my sleeve because...
I LOVE MEXICAN FOOD 
However, these things can add really fast at $2-3 a package of 4-6. What-the?!asdfg! 
So to help aid my never ceasing desire for tacos, and my wallet I made my own! SO EASY! 

Traditional Tortillas are made with lard....yup...lard. Gross! To sub for lard....yup...lard... most people use some sort of shortening...(Crisco..what is it really?) but of course definitely not an option for this foodie...so next is oil! You can use any oil really: vegetable oil, canola oil, sunflower oil....I chose olive oil because its an awesome healthy fat!  Worked wonderful!

Make em' Eat Em' then make some Tacos!

Ingredients: 

• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 T olive oil
• 1/2 cup warm tap water 

Directions: 

Stir flour, salt, and baking powder together in a bowl.
Add in oil and stir until well combined. (I used my hands)
Add in 1 tbs of tap water at a time until dough is malleable enough to make a ball easily. (you may need to add more water 1 tbs at a time to gather it with ease)

Flour a large surface and knead dough 15-20 times

 Divide the dough into 10 equal parts (you can adjust according to the size of tortilla you desire). Cover bowl with towel and let rest for 15 min. (I made some easy granola while waiting!)

Pick up one dough ball and start gently kneading it into a flat disk shape with your fingers.  You do this in a circular motion gently pulling the dough to its edges.

On a floured surface place your disk shaped dough and roll out until the size you desire.

Cook dough in an ungreased pan/skillet on Medium-High until dough "dries" and has small brown spots. (20-30 sec each side)

Spots!

Cover with a warm towel to keep warm if serving immediately, but I froze mine...










well....

two became tacos!

ENJOY!!!!

Black Bean Burgers (Spicy!)

oh my goodness these black been burgers are wonderful and soooooooooooooooooooooooo EASY to make! 

Make Em' and Feel Good Eatin' Them! 

Oh but be careful, they come with spicy edge!

Adapted from skinnytaste.com

Ingredients:

1 can black beans, no sodium added.

3 cherry tomatoes

2 tbs spicy/chunky salsa 

(should have some spicy pepper, onion, etc.)

1 tbs sriracha

3 garlic cloves, peeled

1 tbs ground flaxseed + 3tbs water

1 tbs cumin

¼ tsp salt

¼ tsp pepper

½ cup old fashioned oats

  

Directions:

Mix flaxseed and water and set aside to gummy-fy while making rest of mix 

Rinse and pat dry black beans. Smash with a fork in a bowl. 

In either a food processor or single cup blender, blend garlic cloves, tomatoes, salsa, and sriracha. 

Then add cumin, salt, pepper, flaxseed mix, and oats. Quick blend. Mixture should be chunky.

Add blender mix to smashed black beans and combine with a spatula.

Equally pat out 4 patties and place on a plate covered with wax paper. (this took a bit of back and forth hand toss to make it flat)

Freeze for at least 2 hours or until ready to cook.
 (Freezing helps with the cooking! Nothing is as bad as a gooey patty)

*I just froze them as shown in picture. I encourage you to add another piece of wax paper on top and press lightly to make them flat on both sides.

Cook Frozen patties on lightly oiled pan for  5-7 min each side.

  Enjoy!!!!

 

Two Tomato Pasta with Mozzarella, Basil & Pine Nuts

Want a healthy, light, fresh pasta for dinner? TRY THIS!

Recipe curtousy of theitaliandishblog.com
Ingredients

• 10 ounces of grape tomatoes
• 2 large garlic cloves, minced or grated
• 6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided
• salt & pepper
• 1/3 cup pine nuts
• 10 ounces spaghetti
• 14 ounces very small tomatoes (about 8 to 10), cut into chunks
• 8 ounces mozzarella, cubed
• about 10 basil leaves, julienned

Instructions:

For the slow roasted tomatoes: 
 Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.
Line a baking sheet with foil.  Slice grape tomatoes in half and place on baking sheet with the garlic and 2 tablespoons olive oil.  Season with some salt and pepper.  Toss well. Bake for about two hours or until the tomatoes are reduced down and have lost a lot of their moisture. (WARNING: this will make your house smell like sweet tomato heaven and when they're done you're going to have to control yourself from eating them all)

Toast the pine nuts:
Place pine nuts in a small skillet.  Cook over medium high heat just for a few minutes, until lightly toasted. 

Make the Pasta:
Bring a large pot of well salted water to a boil.  Cook the pasta just until al dente. Remove with tongs and place in a large serving bowl (don't drain- you want a little pasta water still on the pasta so it doesn't stick).

Putting it together:
Add the slow roasted tomatoes, the toasted pine nuts, the fresh tomatoes, the mozzarella, 4 tablespoons olive oil and the basil leaves.  Season generously with salt and pepper and toss well. 

*p.s. you can also make this as a side dish for a dinner party and impress all your friends :)

ENJOY!!!!

Nutrition Information

339 cals * 31 carbs * 21g Fat  * 10g Protein * 3g sugar * 4g Fiber

Single Serving Apple Crisp

Have a microwave?

Have 60 sec?

Want an EASY dessert?

Make this!  

Ingredients:

• 1 small apple

• 2 tbs brown sugar

• 2 tbs oats

• 1  tbs flour

• 1/4 tsp. cinnamon

• 1 tbs butter (I used apple sauce!)  

 

Directions:
 Dice apple into small pieces and place in a small bowl. Mix 1 tbs of brown sugar and 1/2 tbs flour and 1/8 of cinnamon with apples. 
Mix oats, 1/8 cinnamon, butter (or apple sauce), rest of flour and brown sugar in another small bowl. Place apple mixture in a small baking dish and top with oat mixture.
Place in microwave for 60 sec. (all microwaves are different so adjust accordingly) 

*Note: I split this mixture between two small ramekins so I could share with my husband...but feel free to eat it all, no judgment here. 

 
Top with a dollop of vanilla ice cream. 

Enjoy!!!! 

you could trying baking it too: @325 5-10 min!

  

Sweet and Sour Chicken and Fried Rice

WINNER!!!! 

Yup, it won the "husband said it was his favorite dish" Award

Success. 

Make it, Bake it, and Enjoy. 

 Recipe adapted from of life-as-a-lofthouse.blogspot.com

Ingredients for Sweet and Sour Chicken:

Coating:

• 3-4 boneless chicken breasts
• salt + pepper
• 1/4-1/2 cornstarch
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1/4 cup canola oil

Sauce:

•   1 1/2 cup sugar
•   8 tbs ketchup
• 1/2 apple vinegar & 1/2 cup distilled white vinegar 

you can use 1/2 white vinegar but the apple vinegar made it have a phenomenal taste

•   2 tbs soy sauce
•   2 tsp garlic salt  
• 1 can of chunk pineapple 

 Directions: 
 
Preheat oven to 325
Wash and pat dry chicken then cut into cubes. 
Salt and Pepper as desired.
Prep one small bowl of corn starch and another small bowl of whisked eggs

Dip the cubed chicken first into the corn starch, THEN into the eggs (yes, you didn't read it wrong)

Place onto a plate (obviously mine almost over flowed)

Heat large Skillet with oil on Medium heat and then quick fry till chicken egg mixture is cooked on the outside but the chicken is not cooked through. Remember to mix it around while frying. (The smaller cubes the have the less time to fry because the chicken will cook through faster so be careful)

Place cooked chicken into a 9x13 pan

Whisk all ingredients for sweet and sour sauce in a small bowl and pour over chicken.

Bake for 15 min then flip/stir chicken. Repeat 3 more times for a total of an hour. (I turned my heat up to 350 for the last two 15 min intervals, but all ovens vary so adjust accordingly.)

Sauce with thicken and caramelize as it bakes. Trust me.

Ingredients for Fried Rice:

• 3 cups cooked  rice (day old or leftover rice works best! I used brown rice and made it the night before and refrigerated it)
• 3 tbs sesame oil (I used olive oil)
• 1 cup frozen peas and carrots (thawed)
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 2 tsp minced garlic
• 2 eggs, slightly beaten
• 1/4 cup soy sauce

In a large skillet or wok heat oil over Medium-High heat. Add Peas/Carrots, Onions, and garlic and stir fry until tender.

Move Mix to one side of the skillet and add in semi-whisked eggs. Stir fry until scrambled. (its okay if some peas and carrots get in those eggs)

Turn heat to Medium-Low and  stir in Rice and soy sauce. Mix until thoroughly warmed.

Serve with chicken on top of rice or off to the side. 

ENJOY!!!!

Lemon Zucchini Loaf

It all started with a zucchini. It came into my possession one Saturday morning while roaming the vendor aisles of the farmers market. I thought to myself, "Hey, its zucchini season and I've seen a LOT of Pinterest posts that use the stuff so why don't I buy one large one and make something fantastic". 

Well the sad part of the story is I couldn't make up my mind. There were TOO MANY options such as: Zucchini chips, zucchini bites, normal delicious zucchini bread or muffins...the list is endless. Unfortunately,  my inability to decide led to the ends of the large zucchini to go mushy. :( So when it came down to it I had about 1 cup's worth of grated zucchini and we all know the main ingredient in zucchini bread (besides the flour) is the zucchini (I mean, it named after it!) 
So that was out, so were the bites, and the chips would have only been about a handful. So I looked for other options....and thus I found this recipe! It called for ONE CUP of GRATED ZUCCHINI. 
I know, I know, the stars were aligned in my favor. 
So now I am going to share it with you!

Lemon Zucchini Loaf with Lemon Glaze
 slightly adapted from nancycreative.com

Ingredients: 
Makes one 9×5″ loaf

• 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 1/4 cup plain greek yogurt
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup buttermilk (I didn't have butter milk, but I did THIS and it turned our just fine!)
• Juice of 1 lemon (or 2 Tablespoons lemon juice)
• Zest of 1 lemon (Since I used lemon juice I didn't do this. Turned out lemon-y enough for me!)
• 1 cup grated zucchini (you don’t need to peel the zucchini before grating it) 

 Lemon Glaze

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 2 tbs lemon juice

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Non-stick a 9x5" pan with whatever you'd like; set aside.
In a large bowl mix flour, baking powder, and salt.
In a smaller bowl mix eggs, sugar, yogurt and oil. Then mix in butter milk, and lemon juice until well combined. 
Slowly mix in wet ingredients into dry and stir till well combined. 
Gently fold in zucchini, but don't over mix.

Pour batter evenly into pan and bake for 45 min or until toothpick comes out clean.

Take out of pan and place on a cooling rack. Now make the glaze.

whisk powdered sugar and lemon juice in a small bowl. 

Once loaf has cooled to touch pour over loaf. let sit or refrigerate for best "hardening" results. 

Slice, Serve, and ENJOY!!!!