recipe Archives - Simply Me DIY

May 14, 2020May 14, 2020

Homemade Tortillas

Have you ever made homemade tortillas?

Cooked homemade tortillas — Homemade tortillas

I use tortillas in place of bread most of the time. I use them for everything from peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to mini pizzas.

My husband is still a bread kind of guy and that’s okay. But that’s sorta what pushed me to try making my own homemade tortillas.

I’ve got to confess that I’ve tried making these several times in the past and never could get it figured out. So I’d go back to buying them.

But the packages are so big, it’d take a month of Sundays to eat them all.

So I decided to try again. I looked over several recipes, tried a few and finally put together a simple recipe that works for me.

These homemade tortillas are not only easy to make, but you can change them up a little. It’s real easy to add any herbs or spices to make them taste exactly how you want them to.

Balls of tortilla dough — I call these “Tortilla seeds”

You could add rosemary, basil, garlic powder, or onion powder (Onion powder is really good). Or you might want to add dried spinach, kale or nettle for just a little extra nutritional value. Experiment a little and add whatever might strike your fancy.

This recipe makes 8 at a time which will get me through about a week or two.

There’s only 4 ingredients so these homemade tortillas are really easy to make.

And they stay soft, which is I found amazing after trying to make them before. It’s not the same soft as the store bought, but they’ll roll for a burrito.

Homemade Tortilla Recipe

Tortilla Ingredients

2 Cups of flour
1 tsp salt
3 TBL shortening
3/4 cup of hot water (about 100 deg F.)
1 tsp of your preferred herb or spice (optional)

Mixing Instructions

Mix flour and salt until well blended. If you’re going to add any herbs or spices, now is the time to do it and combine it well.
Next add the shortening and cut it into the flour mixture until it is completely mixed together. I use a pastry cutter but you could use a fork or a couple of butter knives to cut in the shortening.
Then add the hot water and mix completely. Use your hand and just keep mixing to incorporate all the flour until you have a soft dough. If the dough is sticky, sprinkle it with flour and knead it until it becomes soft. It should come off your fingers easily when it’s ready.
Now separate into 8 even balls. I’ll cut the whole thing into 2 pieces and keep dividing each piece into 2 more pieces until I have 8. Then roll them between your palms to make balls.
Press your dough balls out flat, one at a time. You can use a rolling pin to roll them out, a pie pan to squish them or a tortilla press. For more on that, see below.
Heat a skillet to med/low heat. Once the skillet is heated add your flat tortilla shell and let it cook for 30 seconds. Then flip and cook the other side for 30 seconds. Then flip one more time and cook for another 30 seconds. During this last 30 seconds your shell should blow up like a balloon.
Once I remove it from the frying pan, I lay them out on a cooling rack to cool. If you’re going to use them right away, you may want to wrap them in a tea towel to keep them warm.

Pressing your homemade tortillas.

My cast iron tortilla press. Be sure to use something between the dough and the press, or you’ll have a mess.

I bought a cast iron tortilla press with a Christmas gift certificate about 10 years ago and until this year I had never used it. It always sounded liked a great idea, but I just never got around to it.

Now I love it and it’s a regular in my kitchen.

I found out that you need to use something to press your dough between or it sticks. Yep, I did that.

I found out that a gallon sized baggie with the zipper and the sides cut off works great. The raw tortilla comes off the plastic easily and all in one piece.

Or you can use a rolling pin. Flour your rolling surface and your rolling pin and you should be good to go.

Or you can use a pie pan and just squish it flat. I haven’t tried that yet, but I’ve read about people using this method. I’d probably use the baggie on this one too. Save a mess.

They don’t have to be perfectly round to still taste good.

Frying your homemade tortilla shells.

The term “fry” is a little misleading. I use a cast iron skillet to fry up my shells but I don’t use any oil. My guess would be you wouldn’t need oil in a non-stick skillet either, but I’ve never used one of those.

You’ll want to let the skillet get to temperature before you start otherwise that 30 second count won’t work right. Then try to lay the tortilla as flat on the pan as you can. Somehow I always have a wrinkle in it, but that’s okay.

Tortilla in a skillet — The first 30 seconds.

Then let it cook for 30 seconds. After this first 30 seconds it won’t look like it’s cooked enough, but that’s okay, turn it anyway.

Cooking tortilla — The second 30 seconds.

Cook it for another 30 seconds. Now it’ll start looking like what you’d expect a homemade tortilla to look like.

Then turn it and cook it for the last 30 seconds. During this last 30 seconds it should start to puff up. It’ll look like a blown up balloon. It’s my opinion that that’s what helps make them more soft.

After I cook them I lay them out on a cooling rack to allow them to cool so they won’t condensate in the fridge. I store them in a baggie in the fridge with a paper towel, to soak up any moisture that might be in there. This keeps them from getting soggy.

But if you wanted to use them right away, you’d probably want to wrap them in a tea towel to help keep them warm.

So there you have it, homemade tortillas anyone can make.

Do you have a homemade tortilla recipe you love and would like to share? I’d really love to hear it.

And if you give this recipe a try, let me know how it turns out. I’d love to know what extras you may have added and how you liked it.

Until next time.

Health, Wealth & Blessings ~ Tracey

April 23, 2019April 5, 2021

Making Dandelion Jelly

I love making dandelion jelly. Besides the fact that it tastes great, people just look at you funny when you tell them you got some dandelion jelly made this weekend.

It makes a bright yellow jelly that’s almost as bright and yellow as the actual flower and has a slight honey taste.

It’s really good and really easy to make. Here’s how.

Ingredients

About 3 cups of dandelion flowers
6 Tablespoons of pectin
6 Cups of sugar
3 Tablespoons of lemon juice

Instructions

You’ll want to pick flowers that are fully open, at least I did. I picked about 3 cups or so.

I didn’t really measure, I just filled the bowl I had.

I’ve seen recipes that say you need to pull the petals out of the green bottoms and only use the petals because the green parts can taste bitter.

I’ve never separated the flowers when I made it and I’ve never had an issue with bitter. But to each his own, I suppose. So you can do try which ever way you want. I would guess you would need more flowers if you’re going to pull the petals.

Side note: Did you know each “petal” is actually it’s own flower? Cool hu?

Once you’ve picked the flowers, you’ll want to wash them well, of course. Tiny little bugs get down into those petals and sometimes, they don’t come out easily. I use the sprayer on my faucet and it usually works pretty well.

After thoroughly washing your flowers, put them in a sauce pan and cover with about 3-4 cups of water. Bring your water to a rolling boil and let it boil well for about 10-15 min.

Straining dandelion flowers — Straining your flowers. I’ve used a strainer and a coffee filter to ensure no floaties.

Then strain your flowers from the water. Make sure to squish all that liquid out of the flowers. Then you can compost the flowers. You’ll notice the water that’s left isn’t that pretty yellow color. That worried me the first time I made this recipe. Don’t worry, it’ll look better later.

Let the water cool back to room temperature. I’m not real sure why this is, but I’ve seen it in more than one recipe and I just haven’t tried it another way yet. It’s always been convenient to let it sit while I got something else done so it’s not been an issue.

Dandelion juice in a cooking pot. — 4 cups of dandelion juice.

In the end you’ll want 4 cups of liquid. If you didn’t get 4 cups from the boil, you can add some kind of apple juice or just add more water to make 4 cups.

Add your liquid back into a sauce pan or a stock pot and add your sugar, pectin and lemon juice.

Dandelion juice, sugar and pectin in the cooking pot. — Melting the sugar and coming to a boil.

Heat this up slowly to melt the sugar and once you get to a boil, boil for 2 minutes while stirring constantly so it doesn’t scorch or burn.

Foam from the cooked jelly. — This is the foam I removed from the top of my jelly before I put it in jars.

After this boil, there may be some foam that forms on the jelly. If so, just spoon it off into a bowl. You don’t want that in your jelly jars.

Filling jelly jars with dandelion jelly. — Filling my jars and getting ready to can them.

Now it’s done. Pour it into your jelly jars.

And now you’ll notice the pretty yellow color. I told you it would look pretty later.

Jarred jelly ready to be canned. — I canned 3 pints and put the rest in the fridge.

At this point you can add it to the fridge, give it away or can it. If you don’t can it, you’ll want to refrigerate it and share with others, cause this recipe makes about 4 pints. That’s a pretty big batch of jelly for me anyway. I’m the only one in the house that eats jelly.

The pretty color of dandelion jelly. — Look at the beautiful color.

I water bath canned most of this jelly, and put the rest in the fridge to use. I’ll give some away and have some sweet golden goodness for later too.

For canning I water bathed them for 15 minutes.

I’ve talked before about how great dandelions are here. I hope you’ll learn to love them as much as I do.

Let me know if you’ve ever made dandelion jelly, and if so, how it turned out. Did you like it? Did you separate the petals or did you just use the whole flower? I’d love to hear.

Until next time – Health, Wealth & Blessings ~ Tracey

April 16, 2019August 7, 2019

Making Homemade Chicken Broth

Did you know you could use all the stuff you don’t eat from your roasted chicken to make some awesome homemade chicken broth?

Jars of broth. — Homemade chicken broth.

When you make some kind of a chicken dish and you have all those left over chicken parts that you generally don’t eat, don’t throw them away. There’s a lot of goodness left in them parts.

Besides chicken parts, chicken broth really doesn’t take much of anything to make except time and a few vegetables. Throw everything in the crockpot and let it sit on low for a few days and you’re done.

Step by Step Homemade Chicken Broth

I actually bought a roasted chicken at the store because I just didn’t have time to cook supper after work.. But if it’s one of your own or one from a neighbor it’s even better.

Scraps from a roasted chicken. — Chicken parts and pieces.

After making as many meals from your whole chicken you can get, pull out the crockpot and dump everything that’s left, bones, skin and everything else. into it.

Add Your Veggies

This time I used some celery heads I had in the veggie crisper of the fridge. I eat celery a lot and in the summer I’ll cut those celery heads off and add them to a salad. But I haven’t eaten much salad over the winter months.

Cut veggies for the broth. — The veggies I used. Remember you can use whatever you like. I forgot to put a clove or 2 of garlic in this batch.

I had saved from the last few batches of celery I had bought knowing I’d make some kind of broth soon.

Tip: If you wrap your celery or just the celery heads in foil, they’ll last longer.

I also had some baby carrots and a few onion scraps. The onion ends just weren’t enough onion for me, so I decided to add another small onion too. Be sure to add in any herbs you may want too. I added a few peppercorns and just a touch of salt.

Veggies wrapped in cheese cloth for the broth. — A bundle of veggies.

I bundled all those veggies up in a cheese cloth, tied them with some cotton string and dropped them into the pot as well.

Add Water

Cover everything with water. Put your lid on and turn your crockpot to low.

Crock pot of chicken stuff and veggie packet. — Add enough water to cover all your stuff.

Now we wait. I let it simmer on low for about 48 hours, give or take, I didn’t watch the time that closely.

Strain Your Broth

I suppose there are several ways to do this. I used a ladle and poured into a fine mesh strainer. Whatever works easiest for you is perfect.

Dipping out the broth. — Scooping it out of the crock pot.

Straining the broth. — I use a fine mesh strainer when putting it in the jars.

I strained it all into mason jars, let it cool and put one of those jars in the fridge and the rest in the freezer for later use. This broth can be canned in a pressure canner too. How you preserve it is entirely up to you.

What's left from a whole chicken. — There’s not a lot left over to throw away when you’re finished.

There’s really not much left after you’re done. This recipe is so easy I hope you’ll give it a try. The good thing about this is you can use the veggies you love the most to create the broth that is perfect for you and your family.

Finished Homemade Chicken Broth

I’m sure if you look you can find an exact recipe for this broth. But the reason I enjoy making it is because it’s so versatile and I can make it different if and when I want.

Do you make your own broth? What kinds have you made and what did you add?

It’d be great to compare recipes and get new ideas, so I hope you’ll share. Let me know in the comments what you use when you make chicken broth. I’d love to hear.

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Until next time – Health, Wealth & Blessings ~ Tracey