Flour Tortilla Recipe Coming/Mom's Enchiladas

Good news! 

Of course, I need to measure and photograph, but it's coming. 

*bounces*

So, today?

Mom's Enchiladas.

My stepmother, Terrie, was an amazing cook and I loved her enchiladas (which really aren't enchiladas, but more like a burrito casserole, but she called them enchiladas, so we do too.

The recipe is super simple (and, Daddy, forgive me, I made some tweaks, which I'll note)

1/2 cut up onion

1 lb hamburger

1 can fat free refritos (she just used her own, but I didn't have any homemade here...)

cumino, garlic salt, chili powder, salt

gf flour tortillas

cheddar cheese

1 can of Wolf Brand Chili (I omit this, I admit it. It's too much grease for me and makes me queasy. Forgive me, Terrie.)

sour cream and salsa to top

So, you cook up your onion in a wee bit of olive oil, then you brown your meat. I use the super-di-duper low fat meat, so I don't have to drain. If you've got just a wee bit of grease, you're cool. If you've got more than that? Pour it off. Season your meat. No, there are no measurement. You have a mouth. Tasting is the fun part of being the one that's cooking (well, that and that you can con someone else into doing dishes...)

Now, tump in your beans. If you're using homemade, use 2-3 ladles. Cold is fine.

Stir until everything it hot and gooey.

mmmmm

Now, take your tortillas and plop a nice fat spoonful in the middle and roll them up, putting them seam side down in a casserole dish. (Now, two things -- 1. Terrie put cheese inside the tortilla here. I don't need it or the extra fat, so I don't. 2. if your casserole dish sticks, grease it. I have the Rachael Ray ones and those babies are magical. Nothing sticks. I have used them for 2 years and am stupid for them.)

Now, if you're Terrie you'd put the can of Wolf Brand Chili over the top. I like to use the remaining hamburger bean goo. You could also use enchilada sauce, if you wanted to, or chile con queso. Maybe a can of tomatillo sauce (although I don't like green sauce with hamburger). 

Then, cheese that baby!

:D

Cook it in a 350 oven until it's hot and bubbly and the cheese is melty and wonderful.

Then I like to top with a dollop of sour cream and some salsa.

Sourdough Starter

So, I decided to start making my own bread again. It's an on-again off-again thing with me. I love the smell and taste of fresh bread and I love the cost (versus $8 a loaf pre-made), but you have to, especially with sourdough. Still, it's the holidays and I love baking and I loved my old sourdough recipe.

So, how did I do it?

First I started it. 1 cup of water, 1 cup of rice flour, 2 1/2 t. of yeast and stir before covering with a tea towel. If you don't like using the yeast, you can wild start with a couple of purple cabbage leaves and a few strips of apple peel, but I didn't have any cabbage. :P

Stir every 12 hours or so for 3 days, then you feed her.

1/2 c water and 1/2 c rice flour.

If you're going to use your starter, feed it at least 4 hours before cooking. 

That's it. Feed it daily. If you cook with it, you don't have to discard. If you don't cook, discard as much as you feed. :D

Simple simple. :D

Today, I used my starter to make sandwich bread, using the recipe from Gluten-Free on a Shoestring (which, if you don't have it? Totally worth the money).

Helote tacos and homemade margaritas!

Simple, quick, vegetarian and gf.

Corn tacos are a breeze to make and cost next to nothing. They had corn on the cob on sale at my  grocery store for a dime an ear, so I bought two. I cut the kernels off while half of the onion that was left over from tuna salad was cooking in a little olive oil on the stove. I added the corn, heated up the corn tortillas (I keep them in the freezer because we only ever use 4 at a time and they come in packs of 20.) When the corn was cooked, I added a 1/4 c. of cojita cheese (you can use any cheese, really. I like cojita because it keeps its shape a little), some garlic powder and a healthy dose of cayenne and a pinch of salt.

Lorna likes hers with avocado. I like mine with tomatoes. :D

The margarita? A jigger of good sipping tequila, a jigger of cointreau, a jigger of lime juice. Ice, shake, pour.

YUM!

Lemon Pound Cake

Here's my quick, weekday, not diet friendly lemon poundcake.

1 vanilla gf cake mix (I like Pamela's)

4 eggs

12 T. cold butter, cut into chunks

1/3 c. water

2 t. oil of lemon (or 2 T. lemon juice)

Zest of one lemon

Put your ingredients in a mixing bowl and whir on low for 30 seconds (the butter will still be lumpy, but the cake mix should be all moist). Bake in a loaf pan at 350 for 60-65 minutes.

I like to glaze mine with a mixture of powdered sugar, lemon juice and rum, but that's just me. :D

 

Banana Almond Muffins

These are my go-to muffins. Easy, quick, tasty, not to sweet, and I love the texture.

1 1/4 heaping c almond flour

2 T arrowroot powder

1/4 t. baking soda

1/4 t. salt

1/4 c. agave nectar

1 mashed banana

1/4 c. almond butter

2 eggs

Preheat your oven to 350. Mix your dry ingredients in one bowl, mix your wet in another bowl. Add wet to dry and stir. ;-) Grease your muffin tins and fill evenly. Bake for 20 minutes.

Makes 12 muffins.

Peanut Butter Cookies of Joy!

So, I love peanut butter cookies.

Love them.

I have tested a dozen recipes, played and poked, cooked and tested and I finally figured it out.

My peanut butter cookies.

:D

Maybe they're not going to be your favorites, but they taste like my mom's, so I'm going with it.

Ingredients:

1 c. peanut butter

1 c. sugar

1 egg

1/2 t. baking soda

1/4 t. salt

1/4 c. chopped peanuts (optional)

Plop everything in a bowl. Stir. Bake in 2T scoops on parchment paper at 350 for 25 minutes. Makes 15.

Ta.

Da.

Also? Yay!

Texas Sheet Cake

So, I wanted to make Texas Sheet Cake. So, I pulled out my old recipe and got to playing. This version was very very dense and fudgy -- I'm going to add my suggestions for a lighter, cakier cake in parentheses, just in case you want to try them out. Also, I'm going to experiment with putting the recipe first, then the photos. That way you can just print page one.

Ingredients:

2 c. AP gf flour

2 t. Xantham gum (I would add 1 more teaspoon for cakey-cake)

2 c. sugar

1 t. baking soda

(1/2 t. baking powder for cakey-cake)

1/4 t. salt

1 c butter

1/3 c. cocoa

1 c. water

2 eggs

1/2 c. buttermilk (or sour milk or 1 T. vinegar and soy/almond/coconut milk to make 1/2 c)

1 1/2 t. vanilla

For frosting:

1/4 c. butter

3 T cocoa

3 T. buttermilk

2 1/4 c. sifted powdered sugar

1/2 t. vanilla

1/2 c. pecans

Directions:

Spray a 9x13 pan. Get your oven going to 350.

Mix your flour, xantham gum, sugar, baking soda (and powder), and salt in a big bowl.

Mix your butter, cocoa, and a cup of water in a saucepan. Stir constantly over medium heat and bring it to a boil. Remove from heat. Mix your wet into your dry with a mixer. Add eggs, buttermilk and vanilla and beat for a minute.

Pour your batter into your pan and cook for 40-50 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Make your frosting: mix your butter, cocoa and buttermilk in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Remove from heat  and beat in powdered sugar and vanilla until smooth. Add your pecans.

Pour your hot frosting over the warm cake. :D :D