RECIPE: Whole Wheat & Quinoa Flour Tortillas EASY EASY!!

I have been scouring the web for recipes as of late, especially seeing as I feel that I have lost track of my healthy eating plan. :( It's not hard to get off track, when there are so many unhealthy temptations, but the important thing is that I am cognizant of the fact that it has been happening.

Anyway, I wanted to make something with the Quinoa flour that I have had in my cupboard for months. I tried the recipe that I found on the bobsredmill.com website, but they didn't turn out at ALL! They were nothing but a goopy mess, that I had to scrape off my pan! :( BOO!

So, I decided to experiment. I used 1 cup of whole wheat flour, and 1 cup of quinoa flour. BOOM! They tasted fantastic!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here is the recipe:

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup Quinoa Flour
2 tbs of oil, preferably coconut oil, or olive oil. I used Extra Virgin Olive Oil for this one.
3/4 cup of water
pinch of salt

Be super careful to add the water slowly. Add about half the water, and mix it around, and if it's too dry, add another tablespoon at a time until you have enough. You might even need more water than this called for. I kind of eyeballed the water until the dough was the right consistency. It kind of has to be a bit dry, so that when you press on it with your fist, none of the mixture sticks to your hand. I wish I had remembered to take pictures!!

If you add a little too much water, you can always sprinkle in some more flour. SLOWLY.
Now, once you are done with the mixing, this step is VERY important. Cover the ball of dough with plastic wrap, and put it in the fridge for about 15-45 minutes. If you forget it longer, that's ok, but it needs at LEAST 15 minutes. I used to skip this step, and I was sorry for it. It somehow lets the gluten develop, or something.

Anyway, once your time is up, preheat the cast iron skillet to medium-high. My stove has numbers from 0-9, and I chose 7. I like the number 7. I hate the number 6, because I do honestly have mild OCD, and the numbers 6, 13, 36 freak me out. There is another one, but I can't even bring myself to write that one down. LOL. Anyway, you don't need ANYTHING at all in the pan. That's the beauty of a seasoned cast iron pan, it doesn't need anything to make awesome tortillas, but heat.

So, while your pan is preheating, you need to press & or roll out the dough. What I did, I used my little cast iron tortilla press. I divided my mixture into 4 balls, because I wanted large tortillas. Once I had the little balls rolled, I put one ball at a time into my tortilla press. (It was like $10 on ebay.) Then, because the press didn't get it thin enough, I sprinkled flour on the countertop, and put the tortilla there, then started rolling it out thinner with the rolling pin. This way makes them a bit uneven at the edges, but I'm not entering any contests, right? LOL.

About the tortilla press, and the rolling pin being used together. Yes, you can use one or the other, or even a glass, but I find that using the two makes it a much simpler and more enjoyable process. Using the rolling pin alone would take so much longer than the press, and using the press alone, never gets the tortillas thin enough, and also not big enough, because the press I bought was for 6 inch tortillas.

I roll them out as thin as they will go, and then I slap it into the pan. About 1 minute on the first side, then 45 seconds on the second. Make sure that you're watching it though, it may need slightly more, or slightly less. Once the second side is done, I flip it back to the first side for about 10-15 seconds. If it starts making bubbles throughout, you know you've done this correctly.

Now, you are ready to put whatever in or on them, and way to go, you've got fresh homemade delicious, and nutritious tortillas! YAY! I'm going to try Masa Harina next, if I can find it around here. It was at No Frills once, but they stopped carrying it. :( I will include pictures and or video the next time I make them! :)

Gardening Update: Bell Peppers & Tomatoes

Hi guys!

I wanted to post, because I'm so pleased, and proud of my green peppers. Yes, I have more pepper plants than the last time I posted. Why? I went to the local garden shop, and it had a two for one sale, because of course it's late in the season. I plant my stuff in containers anyway, and some of the pepper plants were not only blossomed, but already had some peppers starting. So, I bought the 4 that I liked the most, and came home, replanted them, and then waited. Of course I added organic soil, and organic fertilizer. I also added a little of the tomato food, and calcium nitrate that I had bought for the tomatoes, which of course are NOT organic, (I will know better for next year), anyway, I read that Bell peppers, (Maybe all peppers, I don't know), and tomatoes, among a few other plants, are members of the nightshade family, and they can grow under the same conditions, and the same fertilizers work well for them. I'm by no means an expert, but it is certainly working so far. Even the bell pepper plant that I bought at Wal-Mart has begun to put off teeny tiny peppers. I think they would have been doing better, had I fertilized the little bugger properly when I began.


I am learning by trial and error, plus watching lots of youtube videos, and reading other peoples blogs, and what not. Anyway, here are some pictures of my green pepper plants, taken today. Woot!! Look at those little buggers!!

If you want to use ANY of my pictures on this post, or on another post, you may, but please link back here, that is my ONLY condition, say where you got them. I digitally watermark them anyway, but I do want you to give me credit. I need all the help getting traffic here that I can get. :)

Isn't this one nearly perfect??

This is my prettiest looking guy so far. :D I'm sure it will taste the same anyway. LOL This is the same guy as the one above, from a different angle.

Aww, look at this little guy trying to be all grown up! Woot! You can see his little sister to the right, in the background.

The little sister with her own time to shine in the spotlight!

Should I be worried about those spots that I have circled?