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Saturday, January 30, 2010

Tortillas-From Scratch

One our family's favorites is taco night. It is funny in a way because growing up, I liked tacos, but didn't have to have them a lot.

When I was pregnant with Miss Lorelei, many many things changed in my eating habits. This was one of them. I craved tacos a lot. I got mad (we're talking almost crying) because Taco Bell got rid of the Grande Soft Taco. I loved this thing, it was a taco with an extra tortilla. Between the two tortillas was nacho cheese. And it was cheap-Dollar menu cheap. I walked in one day and it was gone. Since than, Taco Bell just isn't what it was for me.

Anyhow, so we find ourselves having tacos sometimes as frequently as once a week. Now tortillas are fairly cheap, until you start going through them like we were. Let me tell you, tacos once a week, plus I came to like to experiment making wraps in the last few months...we've been averaging buying 5 "bags" of flour tortillas a month, minimum!

Tonight, was taco night. Some of you may know the blog Under $1000 Per Month. I know some of you chastise it, and may think poorly of her for how she does things, but she's at least got a start at some good frugality. She also stands by her beliefs. Anyhow, she makes her own tortillas.

Independently, one day, my husband began to comment on making our own tortillas. Really, it's him that comes up with most of the from scratch ideas.

I grew up using flour tortillas, so when I found a recipe in Betty Crocker's cookbook (you know the one, it's the one EVERY mother seems to own.) I was excited and started mixing ingredients. I was going to make a tortilla! My husband came over to help and makes the comment-without even realizing anything- "Oh, we're making corn tortillas?"

Oops. Yeah, you'd think cornmeal being an ingredient, I would have figured it out. Nope. It snuck past me. We tried anyhow.

Made one, it wouldn't flip. Scraped it into the garbage.

Andrew fried a second after spraying our pan with Pam. Tried it. Blech! Not my style!

So I remembered Emily had a post. I checked it out, and used her recipe for a starter.

I whipped up

1/4 cup shortening
1/2 cup water
2 cups flour
and 3/4 tsp of salt.

The flour sucked up the water, but still left a lot of flaky. Being that I would want a dough to make a ball out of, than to roll out, this didn't seem right. So I kept adding water until it worked. I'm honestly not sure how much water I added. If I had to guess though, I'd say maybe 1/4-1/2 cup more.

I than continued on in the directions and divided the dough, rolled them out, than threw them on a plate. Andrew fried them. Side one: Fry until it first starts bubbling. Flip, fry about thirty seconds than done.

It was easy.

Would I make this recipe again? I probably will. Honestly, they don't taste like store bought, but they aren't bad. We would like to try a few more recipes, and see if we can possibly get healthier and closer to store bought.

But really? The cost came out near $0.50 for a dozen or so tortillas.

And I am a believer that every penny counts. If this were the recipe we'd start using, I would say we would save a minimum of $5 per month, or $60 per year. Not bad!

Mission Statement

Hello, there!

My name is Aimee. I have a wonderful husband and a 16 month old daughter. We live off of very modest means on a normal basis. I am a stay at home mom out of necessity (though I love it dearly). My husband was working in the manufacturing business, making printed circuit boards-until he got laid off. We are currently living off of a very meager unemployment until we get back on our feet.

The purpose of this blog is that even before we got knocked down financially, we have a ton of fun in the kitchen. How so? We try making foods from scratch wherever possible. Last year, I had a meager vegetable garden due to obtaining our house late in the growing season. This year, we're hoping for a much larger production from my gardening ventures.

This blog is about our adventures in finding ways to live off of less money at every turn. We welcome comments with suggestions, when stated politely. I hope to post often with tips, or just how we live.

Follow us as we learn our way in this life!