Tortillas

Buying groceries here is absolutely overwhelming. We do get some extra pay to make up for the cost of living, but there is no way to make up for all of it. Everything costs 25% or even more than we paid in Ks. For instance-cattle panel in Ks NOT on sale was approximately 18$ for a 16 foot panel. Here- 69$ on sale. 74$ is normal. That is a pretty big jump! I paid 2.38 for a large package of tortillas from Sam's club in Ks. 24 tortillas per package. Here, we pay 5$ for a package of 10. That is unmanageable! This is true for almost all food items. They are sometimes more than twice the cost, and our pay difference does not come near making up for that. We can definitely afford to eat, but if we can do it for cheaper and better for us, we might as well!

I have tried to make homemade food whenever possible for years, in Ks I would sometimes buy bread if I were tired or busy. A loaf of high quality wheat bread here is 7$. That is not happenin' so Nathalie and I keep up with bread making. I was tired of the tortilla cost, especially because we eat tortillas on average 2-3 times a wk for lunch or dinner. We eat a lot of Mexican dishes. I had heard tale that tortilla making was difficult, and that you needed a press to make them thin. Other people said no, you just need lard. Still others said coconut oil. I have no press, and I am out of lard. So these were made with some flour, salt, Crisco and baking powder. Everything I read said rolling them out thin enough was tough but I gave it a try!

They cook in about 20 seconds per side, I used my big cast iron skillet. This made tortillas big enough for burritos, and I can do smaller for tacos or enchiladas. I had no trouble at all rolling them thin, they were just as thin as store bought and MUCH better! They were more fresh, not at all chewy (I had heard this also), very thin and soft. We put them in a large ziplock bag and put them in the fridge. We ate them for probably 6 days before they were gone. Today I am making more of them, probably twice as much. I made enough dough to make 12 but I ended up rolling it so thin it made 16.

One of the sites that I read said do not try to roll out a 2nd while the first cooks until you are used to this. I understand that for sure, I burned one trying this. By the time I was finished though, I could almost roll one while the other cooked. I will get faster. The first one I rolled out was not cooperative, kept wanting to pop back. I assume this was the gluten not ready to stretch so I let the dough rest about 10 min and then it rolled out with no pop back. Sites also said that if you use any type of thin oil, like cooking oil, they are like rubber and will just pop back and never roll out. I wouldnt have used soft oil, but it is good information. I want to try some coconut oil, I think doing half coconut or Crisco and half lard would make an even more tender tortilla. Lard is said to make the best tortillas. It was a good new experience and I saved about 4.50$ in the event. Today I am making angel hair pasta, probably some other type of pasta (I have a pasta maker) more tortillas and some scones as Frank has to go in early all week and needs breakfast. Oh and I am making bread, almond milk and probably dinner early so that I am not running late for once. Last night Frank made dinner with me at 7 pm and it was pancakes, eggs and sausage. Good quick dinner, but I need to plan ahead better and I won be rushing at the last minute.