As a born and raised Californian girl with a born and raised Californian fiance, our household really can't live without Mexican food. Not to mention that I have traveled a lot in central and south america where beans and rice and tortillas are main food groups. I love burritos, beans, fish tacos, enchiladas, quesadillas, and salsa! So you can imagine my dismay when I started paying close attention to food ingredients lists and realized that my beloved whole wheat tortillas from the store had high fructose corn syrup and partially hydrogenated oil in them. Not just my brand but all the store bought brands had these nasty ingredients in addition to preservatives and other things I can't pronounce!
A quick note on hydrogenated fats or as they are more commonly called "trans-fats". Food companies are legally allowed to list on their products that they are "trans-fat free" or have "0 trans-fat" if they have less than 0.5 grams of trans-fat per serving. If you eat several servings or several products a day that supposedly have "0 trans fat" you are getting quite a bit of this very unhealthy fat. Really trans fat, which has been found to be far worse for your arteries than saturated fat, has no place in a healthy diet. So how can you know if your product has trans-fat in it? Don't trust the claims on the package, instead look at the ingredient list on the product and look for anything that says "hydrogenated". This indicates that the product does have trans-fat in it and should be avoided!
So anyway back to tortillas. What was a mexican food loving girl to do without tortillas? I decided to not let the food companies decide what I can eat with their limited selection of equally unhealthy products but instead I would make my own! Tortillas are actually very simple to make and take few ingredients. In fact, with practice homemade corn tortillas take almost the same amount of time as opening the store-bought package of tortillas and heating them up! Plus you can make a batch for the week, keep them in a sealed plastic bag in the refrigerator and heat them up when you are ready to use them.
Below are two recipes, one for corn tortillas and one for whole wheat tortillas because I am also a whole grains girl! These are so fun to make with kids too....get your kids involved in the cooking and shopping, and I promise they will be more likely to eat their meals and try new foods!
Corn Tortillas
(recipe also on the back of the Masa Flour bag)
Makes 8 small tortillas
Ingredients:
1 cup Masa Flour ( I buy Maseca brand flour at Winco found by the packaged tortillas)
2/3 cups Water
1/8 tsp salt
Parchment paper
random chemicals and preservatives (oh, wait! these are homemade so you can leave those out!)
Combine all ingredients and mix for about 2 minutes to form soft dough (add more water if dough seems too dry or more flour if seems too wet).
Divide dough into 8 equal sized balls.
Place one ball in between two pieces of parchment paper (plastic wrap would also work) and roll with rolling pin (or wine bottle) until you have a circle about 5 - 6 inches across. Carefully peel off paper.
Preheat ungreased griddle or skillet on medium-high heat. Once skillet is hot, cook each tortilla for about 50 seconds (until tortilla is slightly browned and crispy on one side) and then turn over to cook for another 50 seconds. Cover tortillas with a cloth napkin to keep soft and warm until serving.
To store tortillas: keep tortillas in a sealed plastic bag in refrigerator for up to a week. When ready to use them, re-heat each tortillas in a skillet on medium-high heat for about 15 seconds on each side.
Whole Wheat Tortillas
(recipe from www.naturallyknockedup.
Makes 8 burrito size tortillas, 16 taco sized tortillas
Ingredients
2 cups of whole wheat flour (spelt flour also works!)
1 teaspoons salt
1/4 cup oil
3/4 cup boiling water
1 Tbsp whey, kefir, or plain yogurt
random chemicals and preservatives (oh, wait! these are homemade so you can leave those out!)
Mix the flours and salt together and then mix with your hands (kids love this step!) in the oil and whey/kefir/yogurt. Mix and rub together until it kinda looks like oatmeal.
Make a well in the center and pour the boiling water in. Stir together until dough forms and is neither sticky or crumbly. Then roll into golf ball sized balls. For burritos, make them a bit bigger, for smaller tacos make just a tad smaller. Let sit, covered, for at least an hour or up to 8 hours.
Then we start rolling! Place one ball in between two pieces of parchment paper (plastic wrap would also work) and roll over with rolling pin (or wine bottle) until you have a circle about 5 - 6 inches across (for tacos) or bigger for burritos. Carefully peel off paper. (by the way – get your non stick pan started on a fairly high heat for about 5 minutes before you throw one on)
Plop each tortillas on a hot naked pan (no grease!) for about 10 seconds until you see it just start to bubble around the edges.
Flip over and let set for about 30 seconds. (Sometimes they puff up and I’ll either just leave ‘em or hold them down with a spatula, either way they turn out fine)
Flip over to the first side and cook for another 30 seconds. After doing a couple you’ll begin to see exactly how high your stovetop should be set. You want them to cook quick, but not burn.
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