The Best Flour Tortillas

 

These tortillas are worth making at home. Far superior to anything you can find at the supermarket, and ingredients you can feel good about!! The kind of tortilla that is so soft and gently fragrant you could bury your face in it! Or at least eat it plain with maybe just a swipe of butter right out of the pan! I make a big batch whenever we are going to have burritos, and then freeze the rest for future burritos, dipping in hummus, or falafel wraps! To defrost just grab how many you need out of the freezer and either let them thaw on the counter if you have the time, or pop in the oven or microwave to soften. These tortillas are incredibly simple and the dough would be really fun to make with kids! The recipe can easily be halved or doubled!

//Flour Tortillas//

yields 12-16

 *vegan*

//Ingredients//

2 cups white whole wheat flour

2 cups all purpose flour

2 tsp. baking powder

2 tsp salt

2 Tbsp refined coconut oil 

1 1/2 cups water (more or less if your dough is dry or wet)

//Method//

Combine all dry ingredients in a bowl together and mix with a fork to incorporate. Rub in the coconut oil using your fingers (or you can "cut" it in using your fork.)

Slowly add the water until your dough comes together. Knead for a minute or two to incorporate everything, you should have a nice soft dough.

At this point I use a bench scraper or knife to cut the dough into even chunks. I cut them as big as my skillet, giving me about 16 tortillas. Roll them into balls and then let them rest for about 20 minutes under a layer of plastic wrap.

Heat a skillet over medium heat. I use cast iron, but any skillet will work fine. Do not add any oil or fat, these cook in a dry skillet. 

Using a little flour roll a tortilla out as thin as you can get it (they will puff slightly in the pan.) Cook the tortilla on the hot skillet until you see bubbles forming all over the top. Flip, and let cook for about 30-60 seconds more. Adjust heat if your spots are getting dark too fast, or if it is taking more than a minute per side to cook. 

I usually roll out the next tortilla while the first is cooking, just remember to keep an eye on it! As they cook I stack them on a plate and cover them with a clean kitchen towel. By the time you are done cooking them all, you will have a lovely stack of warm, soft tortillas!  

On My Needles: Onward, Climb, and The Baby's Blanket

Sunrising over our backyard

It is currently -7F here in our little part of Michigan, and that doesn't include the -30F windchill. The only proper thing to do is to surround myself in yarn, tea and maybe turn the oven on for some baking later.  I actually really love winter. But the winters you can participate in. Not so much the days where they warn you to not go outside for more than 5 minutes and your heating bill sky rockets to almost $300. Full of ice storms and wind sheers, power outages and dangerous roads. This kind of winter I would like to hit the fast forward button on. Thankfully though, I knit. And knitting really does make winter worth it. The cold air continues to push my motivation button, and I wish there were more hours in these short days.

So on my needles, keeping me busy as I am trapped inside...

Baby Girl Mowry's Blanket

The baby blanket is almost finished! I had to order more yarn because of the custimizations I made to the pattern, and those last 3 skeins arrived this afternoon! All of my notes can be found on Ravelry, but I will also do a post here with finished instructions for my alterations. I can't wait to finish it and have it all washed and cozy for her arrival in just 6 weeks! We attended our first birthing class last night and really enjoyed it. We are so happy we found a class that really seems to touch on everything that is important to us.  The excitement builds everyday as we get closer to meeting her!

Onward

After finishing the Spate mitts from Journey, I couldn't wait to get more of their projects on my needles. First off, I cast on for Onward. This pattern by Shannon Cook is simple, yet so satisfying and interesting. The shawl works up fairly big and in the book they have pictures of the model wearing it wrapped around her. So cozy! I thought it would double nicely has a nursing cover, and so I got to move it up higher on my priority-to-knit list.

Climb

This is the pattern I first really fell in love with from Journey. Jane Richmond  produced an incredibly simple pattern with such perfect accents (and color choices), that pretty much everyone on Ravelry has followed the pattern exactly, including the yarn choices! Simplicity makes these socks timeless and perfect.

And just for fun...I did turn on the oven! So I could make a batch of these granola bars from Isa Does It. They are vegan, gluten free and refined sugar free.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Bars

Recipe from Isa Does It

//Ingredients// makes 8 bars

1/2 cup natural peanut butter

1/3 cup maple syrup

1/3 cup brown rice syrup

1 Tbsp. canola oil

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1/2 tsp. salt

2 cups rolled oats

1 cup crisp rice cereal (aka Rice Krispies)

1/2 cup roasted peanuts

1/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips

//Method//
Preheat oven to 350F. Prep an 8-inch square pan with parchment and cooking spray.
In a medium size bowl, stir together peanut butter & syrups until smooth. Add in the oil, vanilla and salt and stir again. Mix in the oats and cereal. She suggest using your hands to knead it all together but I found my sturdy spatula worked just fine! Work in the peanuts and chocolate chips.
Pour mixture into your prepared pan and use wet hands to firmly pat the bars into the pan in an even layer. Bake for 22-25 minutes. Let cool completely before depanning and cuttting. Can be stored by wrapping the bars individually in plastic wrap.

Meals in jars...you know- Smoothies

Our favorite green smoothie is a slightly adjusted Glowing Green Smoothie from Kimberly Snyder. Both my husband and I would have a quart jar of green hued beauty every morning...until I got pregnant. Enter: english muffins with PB&J for me and Honey Nut Cheerios with almond milk for him. Thankfully now that we are well into my third trimester I am actually craving healthier foods again (such as my yogurt bowl!) and we have welcomed our green tradition back to our daily routine with open arms! 

//An Almost Glowing Green Smoothie//

makes enough for 2

1 cup water
1 head romaine lettuce
4 stalks celery
2 huge handfuls of baby spinach (or kale)
1 pear
2 bananas
juice of a lemon

//method//
I like to prep all my ingredients at once, so then I can just feed handfuls of goodness to my blender without having to stop to wash or chop anything. I layer all of the ingredients (except the liquids) in a bowl in the opposite of the order listed (so that the lettuce is at the top, and therefore the first item to be added to my blender, and the bananas are at the bottom of the bowl and the last thing I will add to the blender besides the lemon juice. I wash and chop everything into pieces that are manageable for my blender.
Add the water to the blender and then at medium speed begin adding in all of the other ingredients in the order listed. I finish with the lemon juice and then turn the blender to high for 30-60 seconds just to really get everything nice and smooth.

**I do use a Vitamix and am of the opinion that a super high powered blender is really ideal for a green smoothie-if I wanted to chew it, I'd eat a salad ;)**

Now when I need something a little more approachable, with a little more staying power, this is my other favorite smoothie.

//Blueberry Chia Smoothie//

serves 1

1 cup of almond milk
1 cup blueberries
1 tsp chia seeds
1 banana (frozen is nice, but not necessary)
1 Tbsp almond butter (or any nut butter of your choosing)
splash of vanilla extract

//method//
Blend and drink!