Well, 2 pies later (let's call them "rent", haha) and a shower has landed me here in front of the computer typing a blog. Really, I need to be working on Jas's Christmas present. He's not here so now is the perfect opportunity to finish it. Speaking of presents for one another. Jason and I agreed on a $10 limit this year (funny how lots of traveling and living abroad depletes the bank account). We weren't going to exchange presents at all but that just sounded so...sad. It's our first Christmas as a Mr. and Mrs. and so SOME sort of exchange...no matter how small needed to occur! :) So, Ross Dress for Less was my BFF this Christmas season and I will try to post a picture of the finished product once Jason opens it up!
So, as I said, I made two pies. A peach and an apple. Believe it or not I really wanted to keep baking. I might have if I could have thought of what else TO bake. But I couldn't. I think I have TOO many Christmas treats in my head...I just couldn't pick one (and I didn't want to go to the store to get missing ingredients). Oh well. So, the pies are in the freezer (unbaked but assembled). It's a bit of an experiment. Basically, I volunteered to help make a couple of pies. I volunteered though before realizing that Jason and I go to my parents on Wed. So, bringing a pie on Christmas Day that was baked two days ahead didn't sound so yummy. I thought, hey, why not freeze them? I looked it up, found out it was do-able and popped those pups in the freezer. So, I'm thinking if it works than it will be a GREAT way to get ahead on Thanksgiving and Christmas in the future! And that folks is my 2 cents on $10 Christmas budgets and frozen pies!
Ooh, guess what...I now make homemade flour tortillas and they are awesome. Basically, I love burritos. While in Chile though it was one, hard to come by tortillas and two, when you did...they were expensive! So, I searched out a recipe and good old AllRecipes.com helped me out with this one. These things are EASY too. Granted...I use shortening (well I used lard in Chile since they didn't have shortening). So, if you are not a fan of that this may not be the recipe for you. I wasn't into the idea until I checked the ingredient label of the tortillas I buy from the store...partially hydrogenated oil. So, if I'm going to eat it I'd rather at least have less preservatives (though I'm sure you could use butter if you want...heard though that they are harder to make thin but probably still super yummy) Also...I want to try it with whole wheat flour too...hmmm.
Homemade Flour Tortillas
4 cups of all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tbl. lard (or margarine, butter, shortening)
1 1/2 c. water
1.Whisk the flour, salt, and baking powder together in a mixing bowl. Mix the lard (or whatever you substitute the lard with) into your bowl of dry ingredients with your fingers until the flour resembles cornmeal. Add the water and mix with a wooden spoon until the dough comes together; place on a lightly floured surface and kneed a few times until smooth and elastic. Divide the dough into 24 equal pieces and roll each piece into a ball.
2.Preheat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Use a well floured rolling pin to roll a dough ball into a thin, round tortilla. Place into the hot skillet, and cook until golden and bubbly; flip and continue cooking until golden on the other side. Place the cooked tortillas in a tortilla warmer; continue rolling out and cooking remaining dough.
**Here are some of my own notes regarding this recipe though. First, 24 balls create VERY small tortillas. I thought that dividing it into 12 parts was better. It's also a bit hard to get them perfectly round. I found that if you flattened the dough balls with the palm of your hand...as flat as you can make it and THEN roll it out...it came out rounder. I also didn't have a tortilla warmer...or a rolling pin in Chile. haha. I used the a plate in the oven on the lowest heat as my "tortilla warmer" and a drinking glass as my "rolling pin". Worked just as well! :)
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