Tuesday Dinner

For dinner tonight we will be having flour tortillas, carnitas, refried beans, and all the taco toppings that are normally included (sour cream, cheese, spinach, salsa, peppers, corn...etc.). I never knew how easy it was to make tortillas until today. It is also a lot of fun!

Flour Tortillas
(makes 12 - 24 depending on the size and thinnest you make them)
* I fourthed the recipe and made 5.

* 4 cups flour
* 2 tsp. NaCl (Salt)
* 2 tsp. baking powder
* 2 T. lard, shortening, butter... etc. (I used butter flavored shortening because that is all I have)
* 1-1/2 cup warm or hot H2O (water)

1. Mix dry ingredients together.

2. Cut in the shortening. I use a pastry cutter, but the recipe said it could be done by hand as well. I enjoy using a pastry cutter. It is rewarding to me.

3. Mix in the first cup of water and mix around (I use my right hand so I don't get my rings dirty). Add the last 1/2 cup bit by bit as you need it. I found that I didn't need the full amount of water. Knead it a little bit until it is smooth and elasticity.

4. The recipe said to divide it into the 24 balls, but I pulled a piece off for the first one just to play around and see how large I wanted the balls to be. I ended up making them a little larger then what the recipe called for. If I made the full batch I would probably make about 16 or 18 out of it. That would make you about the larger size of flour tortillas. After I figured out the size I wanted I divided them into balls of equal size.

5. Roll them out until they are really thin, on a floured surface. I have a nifty little piece of Teflon or something that I use to keep the flour from spreading all over the counter. I don't like to clean up flour and this makes clean up a bit easier. I wish it were twice the size; I usually end up rolling off the edge.

6. Place them into a hot skillet (that you have already heated up). There is no need for grease or anything in the pan. I had my stove setting on 8 or 9 to warm it up and then I decreased that down to 6 or 7 because they started to burn. They should heat about 30 - 60 seconds on each side or until they have a few of those little brown circles on them. If you cook them too much they will become crispy and unable to be folded (or that is what I read on the comment section of the recipe).

7. Enjoy. You can sort of see the first one that I made under the second one. It was a little bit larger until I ate it. I thought it was a bit too large. This would be the size of the tortilla if you made 16 balls out of the dough. The second one came out a good size. It was about the size of what you would get if you made 20 balls out of the dough.

If my refried beans turn out well, I will post the recipe of them tomorrow. I found a slow cooker recipe for them. I love refried beans! They smell wonderful, but still have five hours to cook.