I popped by my sister's blog the other day & saw a glorious sight. Well, just about any time I pop by is a glorious sight. I love seeing what my little niece, Taylor is up to and what they are doing. Katelyn always has good activity ideas. She's the director of 4-H for their county in Montana. Last week, the teen chapter made some a-mazing treats.
Maybe I'm over-exaggerating, but anytime you combine:
1} kids 2} an activity and 3} food
the results aren't always favorable. The treat either ends up taking way too much effort for both parties (mom or kids) or it's really fun but really messy, etc. You get the picture. But this treat, oh, this treat seems to be the trifecta of perfection.
Seriously attractive Thanksgiving treats and super easy. She said they're just chocolate cupcakes & sugar cookies. The turkey cupcakes just need:
- candy corn - ginger cookie (pre-packaged, of course) - twizzler string (for the wattle. though if that can't be found, I think red fruit roll-up would work)
And the corn starts as a sugar cookie. Then you just put frosting on and add:
- Reese's pieces - green or yellow fruit roll-up
This looks so simple! I can even make time for chocolate cupcakes & sugar cookies. And my kids do know how to make both on their own! Double score! We're having a family with 2 kids and two Marines from the Naval Base over for Thanksgiving. This will keep them all busy whilst turkey preparations take place in the kitchen. Thanks, Katelyn for letting me steal this wonderful idea!
Well, we do! I made tortillas from scratch. It sounds a lot more intimidating & time consuming than it really is. My kids inhale just about anything as long as it is masquerading on a tortilla. Tortillas are expensive here. But the kids just can't stop eating tortillas. I had to find a solution! I knew my mother-in-law had some good 'from scratch' recipes. In her ward (church congregation), she is the reigning guru on food storage. But what good is a basement full of wheat, beans and dried goods if you don't know what to do with it? That's when she started making monthly handouts of recipes for your food storage. Which basically equates to making things from scratch. The handout that began it all was, "Got Milk?" and it had guidelines on keeping powered milk, how long it's good for, how to store it & how to use it. The series blossomed from there and encompasses a wide variety of foods & recipes. I was visiting her ward once and the handout du jour was 'Got Tortillas?'. Oooh, homemade something! I like the end result, but am I willing to put in the effort needed? Well, I never got around to making them before we moved. Once we got here and found the price of tortillas hard to swallow (haha), I emailed my mother-in-law for the recipes. I have made them twice, so far, and can tell they will become a common item in my fridge again.
TORTILLA RECIPE
Ingredients
• 5 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons shortening
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups boiling water
Directions
1. Mix together the flour, baking powder, and salt in large bowl. Cut in shortening to resemble cornmeal. Add water slowly, mixing with your hands to make a soft dough. You may not need all the water.
2. Knead a few minutes on floured surface until smooth and elastic. Lubricate top with oil, put back in bowl and let rest, covered for 10 minutes. {Don't over-knead! I did that the first time & rolling out those suckers was hard!}
3. Divide into small balls the size of golf balls and proceed to roll out into size and thickness you prefer. I just pinched off balls one at a time, you don't need to make them all before you start cooking.
Rolled out dough, ready for the skillet
4. Cook on top of stove over medium heat using a cast iron grill or heavy skillet until top is slightly bubbly then turning on opposite side for a minute or two. (I used a regular old fry pan, worked just fine)
See? Bubbles! It's the simple pleasures, really.
5. Keep stacked and warm inside a clean dish towel. And I kept flattened, skillet ready dough in between two moist paper towels, to keep them from drying out while they waited their turn on the skillet.
They are very firm when they first come off the skillet.
But they soften up.
The tortillas are a bit thicker than store bought, but they taste even better! Seriously, from measuring the flour to heaping on taco meat & cheese, it took me an hour. And I made 15 tortillas, which lasts about one & a half meals for my crew. I noticed corn meal at the grocery store the other day & I think I might try my hand at some corn tortillas! I feel empowered! Who knows, maybe I'll even start making cookies?
One recipe I saw described how they should be a bit crackly & shiny! Yipee, just like store-bought!
I made a 'fancy one', just for the pictures. Fancy meaning I rolled out a tortilla & cut it out with a bowl, thus eliminating those rough, uneven edges. I ordered a tortilla press from Amazon a few days ago. That will make the process go so much faster! (and it was really cheap, just $16)
Corn tortillas boneless, skinless chicken breasts (sliced & uncooked) 1 bottle (10 oz.) green taco sauce 1/4 C. dried minced onion (or minced fresh onion, green onion for less liquid) 1 can (10 3/4 oz.) cream of mushroom soup, condensed 1 can (4 oz.) diced greed chilies, with liquid cumin 2 cups grated cheese salt & pepper, to taste.
This is someone else's recipe. But I did it all different. I'm going to tell you how I did it. This is all in a crock pot. You just layer things in. I even used one of those crock pot bags, and I didn't have to wash the crock pot afterwards. Hey, easy. I don't have a number of tortillas to use or amount of chicken, it depends on the size of your crock pot and how many people you are making it for.
Since I used a bag, I didn't lube the crock pot, you may want to spray on some non-stick spray. That's what her recipe recommended.
1. Put down a layer of tortillas. My crock pot fit 2 with the middles overlapping. 2. Then put in the raw, sliced chicken breast and then salt & pepper & cumin to taste. 3. I combined the taco sauce, onions, cr. of mushroom soup and the chilies with their liquid in a separate bowl. Then just pour on a reasonable layer. 4. Sprinkle on the cheese. 5. Repeat until you fill your crock pot.
The Layers: Tortilla Chicken & dry seasonings Sauces cheese
Turn your crock pot on HI for 30 minutes then low heat for 3 hours. I messed up and forgot about it and left it on HI for an hour and then I turned it down low for an hour & a half and then I was worried that the raw chicken wasn't going to be cooked, so I turned it back on HI for the last 45 minutes. I would recommend HI for the first hour, then low for the last 2 1/2 hours. They are really, so good. The cumin wasn't in the other gal's recipe, but it's an ingredient that I can't omit from my enchiladas. So add and tweak all the flavors for your family. They inhaled it, we had leftovers for only one night. I served it with a salad and Mexican rice. I have a great recipe for that too, but I'll save that for another day.
Ok, this is it. My 100th post. I've been putting it off, wanting this to be a real "something" and the problem is . . . I think I have too many ideas! It would be easy if this blog were food themed; I'd pick my top 100 recipes. Or if I only did crafts, pictures, movies, book reviews or underwater basket weaving. I thought about all of my interests, there are waaaay too many (thank you ADD) and I can list my #1 from each category for this past year. (except for the basket weaving)
#1 Recipe: It's so hard to pick just one. Do I go fancy or simple? Dinner or dessert? Here it is. I picked something simple and sweet. (is there any other combination?) And DO strain the curd, it makes a world of difference. Oh, and it takes about 15 minutes MAX. I dolloped this on a Nilla wafer, sprinkled a tiny bit of the zest on top and it looked seriously professional. Like I really knew what I was doing!
Lemon Curd <-- it's a linky to the original recipe
Ingredients 2 Tbsp finely minced lemon zest (about 2 medium lemons) 2 large egg yolks, lightly beaten 3 large whole eggs, lightly beaten 1 stick/4 oz/8 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted 3/4 cup granulated sugar (about 6 oz) 1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (about 2-3 medium lemons)
Method 1. Whisk all ingredients together in a medium stainless steel saucepan.
2. Place the saucepan on the stove and turn on heat to medium (or medium-low if you are more timid). Stir constantly with a whisk until it starts to thicken a little. Make sure you are standing by your stove the entire time. Trust me, this is not the time to take breaks to watch tv or check on your laundry.
3. Once it starts to thicken, switch to a large flat-bottom spatula and stir frequently, making sure to scrape the bottom of pan so that the curd thickens evenly without burning the bottom.
4. Continue to stir and cook until very thick (about 6-10 minutes, if you're cooking on medium heat). It's pretty quick if you do it this way though you need to be vigilant for that time. It took me 8 minutes tops on medium heat.
5. Strain the curd (yes, you must do this if you want a really smooth and pretty lemon curd) into a bowl.
6. Cover with plastic wrap right on the surface of the curd (to prevent a skin from forming) and chill.
Favorite posts about the kids: Eliza - - This is a wonderful poem she wrote. Mairyn - - She made a lovely comment insinuating that I am a 3 armed alien. Grant - - One of my favorite Grant-isms. Jacqueline - - This is a video of her saying her name. #1 Craft: I made quite a few of these dolls. I found the pattern in this random "Easy-to-make Early American Folk Dolls" book I got at a gift shop in SLC. They are so simple. I'll do a future post about the process next time I make one.
#1 Picture: Again, the dilemma proves daunting. Nature, people, things, etc. Don't worry, you'll get more in the future. This picture is of a column in Aswan, Egypt at the Philae Temple that I took in February 2008.
#1 Movie: Oh geez, picking a favorite movie. Well, since we don't have current shows here, we don't really watch that much T.V. or cinema. My favorite find this past year was the series Lost. Seriously. I. Love. It. Period. And it's so much better watching it on DVD than live, that way we can just move right on to the next episode to see if Locke really is going to die. But start from the very beginning or you're lost right along with them. Ha, I kill me.
#1 Book: As I said before, picking a favorite something would be like choosing a favorite child (although there are days when one shines above the rest! ;-) This book shines above the rest in recent memory. It's called "The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls. Great book, read the wiki page. 'nuff said.
**This has been a 100th post by Lydia and I approve this message**
