Tortillas!!

I have always had a deep love for Latin culture, especially being from California and growing up with Mexican food. I remember my best friend's Mexican grandma always making homemade stuff and not store bought. To me it was amazing that someone actually made tortillas and didn't buy them. Her food was never even descent, it was always incredible and I loved eating at her house. Dee or otherwise known as "Ma" to me was a woman I admired.
So today, I decided I would make tacos with homemade tortillas!!!
I was so amazed on how easy they were to make. Although how incredible disgusting as well. Although I still ate them so not that disgusting I guess. haha
The ingredients call for lard or shortening. I'm not sure what the difference is but it looks like cellulite in a can to me. Gross! But I took one for the team and buried my hands right in it. And it was definitely well worth it.
 You need: 1/2 cup shortening, 3.5 cups flour, 1 teaspoon  baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1 cup water.

First mix all the dry ingredients. Then add the shortening and start to mix with a fork until it makes a small crumb like texture.

 

Then add the hot water and continue to mix with the fork until it is firm enough to take out and work with on the counter. Knead for about 2-4 minutes. It should be sticky and elastic. It shouldn't be hard to work but not to easy either. It should look glossy and not floury. I make up words, sorry. Benji, my helper is trying to show a good ball of dough but I'm not sure it shows the texture good enough.

When I first read this recipe it said that I should get 20 tortillas and I thought that was crazy because I could probably get about 5 cookies(but I like to make my cookies big so later when I say I only ate 2 cookies I don't have to lie nor feel bad). haha But anyway, These bad boys have to be so thin. I don't have a tortilla maker where it smashes it for you, I just used a good ole rolling pin. However the first 3 to 4 tortillas came out too thick and too crunchy. It was right around the 5th tortilla that I figured out how thin they really had to be, and how quick you had to cook them. They literally need about 30 seconds on the first side and about 15 to 20 seconds on the other. If you cook them any longer than that you won't be able to fold them into tacos later. So really quick and really thin is they key here. They aren't like pancakes where you flip them when you can tell they are cooking from the other side. These will look raw on the upside but flip it anyway, its that quick!

 

As you can see they turned out not perfectly round but I like my tacos more rectangle so that can fill it and then fold it hotdog way, without missing out on so much content and filling myself with tortilla, especially if its made out of lard!

 

 

so here they are! As you can see my food critic loved them!!

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

My favorite food to make is anything in the oven. I am pretty lazy and love to sit and satisfy my sweet tooth, so to leave something in the oven with a timer on is right up my alley. Not main meals but breads and cookies to share at tea time are my specialty. So I thought my first recipe would be my simple and popular Chocolate Chip Banana Bread.

So lets start off with the Ingredients. Most recipes are enough to make 20-24 muffins or two loaves. I like to make just one, two always sounds like a lot. You can always double to recipe if you'd like.

You'll need:
1/3 cup of melted butter (but not hot)
1  Egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. baking soda
1/3 cup of white sugar
1/3 cup of packed brown sugar
pinch of salt
1 1/2 cups of flour
3 overripe bananas, smashed
1/2 cup of chocolate chips

All I do is mix all the wet ingredients first, including the bananas. (Make sure you don't add the egg to hot butter, you'll cook the egg.) Then add all the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients little by little, stirring until well mixed. Once its all mixed I add the chocolate chips last. Put it in a 350 degree oven for 45-50 minutes. When the loaf is dry in the middle (test it with a toothpick) its ready. Voila!!!

Cinnamon Rollsssssssssssssss

I love sweet stuff, you'll be able to figure that out real quick. I remember that the best mornings were the ones that someone in my house cooked breakfast. I thought that back then cinnamon rolls were breakfast, I would die for that to be true today. Although I also loved when my dad made pancakes, over-easy eggs just the way I like them, hashbrowns, bacon, or sausage. I guess I've just always loved breakfast. Still today breakfast is never missed and always enjoyed! Even if now it means cinnamon rolls have to be replaced by fruit and oatmeal.
Well, I decided since there are no cinnamon rolls in Argentina that I would make them from scratch for the first time. They turned out incredible. I didn't know if its because I hadn't had one in forever or because I was starving, but thanks to everyone who I shared them with scarfing down two dozen, I knew that it wasn't just me. Success!
I am sure I will be making them more often!

Step 1

mix together, the flour, yeast, and salt. Then on the side in a separate bowl mix together the butter, milk, and hot water. At first it should look like this, really watery, but that's only  because we will add anywhere from 2-3.5 more cups of flour.

Once you have your watery dough, add in one egg. Once your egg is mixed, add in 1.5 more cups of flour. Or as much as you need for it to be sticky. Start with one cup and add gradually until it's sticky and looks like this.

Now its time to rest and let it rise for about 20 minutes. I waited a half hour and lost track of time while I was outside with Benji and everyone else, but no big deal, as long as you wait at least 20 and it has doubled its size, and looks like this.

pretty airy so poke it! put it on the counter top with some flour, just enough in order to knead it a little bit. I only knead for about 4-5 minutes. I feel like anymore time is ridiculous. But I'm no baker.

After you have kneaded it a little, roll it out into the best rectangle you can pull off. Mine looks like this. ..

You can see that it doesn't have to be perfect. Because what you do next is spread the filling mixture all over it! Get as close to the borders as you can because when you cut the rolls you want all of them to have a good amount of filling mixture. Like this..

or more if you want... and you'll want!!

Now start rolling, I've already started.

Once its all rolled, start cutting. I can't tell you how thick you should cut them but they are going to triple in size in the oven, so just take a guess having your pan size in mind.

 

Then stick them in the oven on 350 for 10-15 minutes. Or until they look like this!

 

 

As you can see, I have already poured on the glaze. I did that right when they got out of the oven. mmm they're hot and ready to eat!

DELICIOUS!!

 

p.s. this is torture doing the blog the day after. I want one nowwwww and there are no more.

Took the leftovers to Benjis preschool and let the kids have at it. The teacher told me they were a success but the only one who didn't eat... My kid!

 

Hope you enjoyed :)