HOMEMADE TORTILLAS and Black Bean Burritos

I love the freshly made tortillas at Cafe Rio, so I set out to make my own. I learned that they are super easy and just as or even better than Cafe Rio's. Note though they are easy to make it does take time. I recommend making with a friend. One rolls and one bakes the tortillas.

This picture makes me so happy. Hot sauce, tomatoes, and homemade bean burritos. 

Ingredients

• 3 cups all purpose flour, plus a little extra for rolling the tortillas
• 1/3 cup oil
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 cup very warm water

Instructions

Step 1: Combine flour, salt, and baking powder large mixing bowl with a dough hook till combined.

Step 2: Add the oil and water and mix till well combined and continue to mix for another minute.

Step 3: Stop and scrape edges. When mixtures comes together and forms ball decrease the mixing speed to low. Then mix until smooth.

Step 4: Transfer to well floured surface and divided into 8 balls for 12-14 inch tortillas or 16 balls for 6-8 inch tortillas.

Step 5: Flatten each ball with the palm of your hands and let rest for 15 min covered.

Step 6: Heat large flat pan to med-high. Roll each flatten ball into a very then circle using a bit of flour to keep the dough from sticking to the surface and the rolling pin.

Step 7: Transfer the thin tortilla to the hot pan. After 30-45 seconds, when brown splotches show underneath, flip it over. cook another 30 -45 seconds more, until other side is browned.  Do not overcook or the tortilla will become crisp.  Remove and wrap in a cloth napkin.  Repeat procedure with remaining tortillas and stack them on top of each other.Note, cook time is PER tortilla and is approximate.  Go by the way it looks more than you go by time.

See the bubbles. That means it is time to flip.

Husband made me this one and said, "I love you."

Feed to baby

Refried Black beans

Ingredients

• 2 cans of cooked black beans
• 3-4 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 onion, optional
• 1-4 tablespoons Fat, amount depends on if using onion
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2-4 teaspoons of taco seasoning
• water, if needed
• For fun (or rather health I have added shredded carrots or other vegetables) husband not a fan.

Instructions

Heat the fat in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until tender, about 3 minutes. Stir in the garlic and taco seasoning and cook for 1 minute more. Stir in the beans cook beans on a low simmer for 10-15 minutes. Mash the beans coarsely with potato masher, adding more water to moisten, if needed. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Whipped Vanilla Bean Cream Cheese Frosting or Filling

Loving this recipe!!! Which I adapted from HERE. I use it for filling for cakes (it is lighter than the regular cream cheese frosting which I use on the outside of cake) and to top my Best Ever Whole Wheat Cinnamon Roll Recipe. 




The Recipe 
16 oz cream cheese, room temperature
2 to 4 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 teaspoons of vanilla bean paste
1 cup heavy cream, cold. higher the fat content, the better 

The Directions 
Step 1: Beat the cheese, sugar, vanilla and vanilla bean paste until smooth and fluffy.

Step 2: In a separate bowl, beat the heavy cream to nearly stiff peaks.

Step 3: Then add the whipped cream into the cheese mixture and quickly and briefly beat to combine. Do not over beat.

Chocolate cake with the whipped filling. I think I added a bit too much for me. 

Many Names of Jesus Christ - Homemade Christmas Ornaments

This year is the first year that we are having Christmas with just a my husband, baby, and I. The expense in living on the east coast has made it so we can't go to home to oregon this year (where our hearts are). We are excited to start our own family traditions.

The main thing that we like to focus on this Christmas Season and all Christmas seasons is The Ultimate Gift! Not the movie (though it is a good one) but that of our Savior, Jesus Christ and the great blessing of his birth. Here are some links that express my love for Jesus Christ.

#sharethegift The largest Nativity music video My brother Jacob Schwarz was the director for this video. His Youtube site is this.

#heisthegift

Our house will be decorated with things that remind of our Savior, even our Christmas tree.

When I was visiting family in oregon the month of November my mother had a Christmas Ornament project for us and weekly we would discuss the names of Christ and their meaning.

Here is the project.

Step 1: Cut thin pieces of wood to the size that you wish and drill two small holes in two of the corners.

Step 2: Print the names of Christ (list found here) on a variety of decorative paper and cut to the size of wood. We discovered that thinner paper was easier to work with in the end. 

Step 3: Pour elmers glue in bowl and get a sponge brush and paint a thin coat of glue on one side of the wood. Thin quickly add the cut out of Christ's names.

 Step 4: Allow to dry for a day or two.

 Step 5: After dried get a fine grade sand paper sheet and proceed to the edges of the ornament. There was overlap of the paper in the wood. Some pieces we found that cut off with scissors first then sanding was easier.

 Step 6 : Antiquing time with slightly dampened paper towel or dish towel. Pat on the pad and rub on wherever you want a bit of antique look. Some I patted on the paper, some I did darker, just take some artist license here.

 Step 7: Once finished antiquing get some thin gauged wire cut to desired length. Here I did three different methods or attaching the wire. Some of the paper was too thick to push the wire through so I just applied glue to the ends and stuck in the holes and allowed to dry for a day. The two other methods I pushed the wire through the paper and either twisted in a circle to prevent it going back through or I wrapped the wire around itself on top.

Done I love the look of these ornaments and also that with a 15 month old around constantly taking them off the tree I am not worried about them breaking.

Homemade Peppermint (Mint Chip or Candy Cane) Ice Cream - With No Machine

As requested here is my Candy Cane Ice Cream recipe. Be sure to also check out my Rocky Road Chocolate Ice Cream recipe. 

The base for this recipe is vanilla recipe from this site. So you can get creative with it and add whatever flavor you want. I have made both Mint Chip Ice Cream and Candy Cane Ice Cream

Peppermint Ice Cream Recipe

·       1 cup Whole Milk

·       A pinch of salt

·       3/4 cup Sugar or Honey (the honey adds a bit for flavor and even creamier texture)

·       2 ½ cups heavy cream

·       5 large egg yolks

·       10 drop Peppermint Essential Oil

·       2 PEPPERMINT Tea bags or Fresh Peppermint leaves (optional)

·       For MINT CHIP add either chocolate chips or melted chocolate

·       For CANDY CANE add 10-12 crushed candy canes

·       For richer custard, you can add up to 3 more egg yolks. For less-rich custard, substitute half-and-half for the heavy cream, realizing that the final texture won’t be as rich or as smooth as if using cream.

Step 1: Heat the milk, salt, and sugar (or honey) in a saucepan.

Step 2: (OPTIONAL) Add the tea bags or peppermint leaves to the milk. Cover, remove from heat, and infuse for one hour.

Step 3: Pour cream into a freezer safe bowl and set a strainer over the top.

Step 4: In a separate bowl, stir together the egg yolks. Re warm the milk and remove tea bags or leafs then gradually pour some of the milk into the yolks, whisking constantly as you pour. Scrape the warmed yolks and milk back into the saucepan.

Step 5: Cook over low heat, stirring constantly and scraping the bottom with a heat-resistant spatula, until the custard thickens enough to coat the spatula or temperature reads 170 F on a candy or instant read thermometer.

Step 6: Strain the custard into the heavy cream. Stir and add the peppermint oil, then refrigerate to chill thoroughly. Preferably overnight.

Step 7: Freeze the custard in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions. From here you have two options to use an ice cream machine or to not. I do not have a machine yet, so the first option you have is without the machine.

Step 8 (option 1): Remove mixture from the refrigerator and stir with a rubber spatula. Transfer the mixture to a deep freezer-safe bowl or container and place in the freezer for 45 minutes. As it starts to freezer near the edges, remove from the freezer and stir vigorously with a fork or whisk, being sure to break up any frozen sections. Return it to the freezer. Continue to check every 30 minutes, stirring vigorously as it’s freezing. When it starts to thicken either add candy canes or chocolate (the candy canes will turn the ice cream red). It is estimated that it will take 2-3 hours for the ice cream to sufficiently frozen and ready.

Crush the candy canes with a little help.

When it starts to thicken add the candy canes.

Step 8 (option 2): Then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions. At some point add the candy canes or chocolate (If the cold mixture is too thick to pour into your machine, whisk it vigorously to thin it out.)