Flour Torillas - How to's and What to's

FLOUR TORTILLAS

Recipe

Makes 8 8-inch tortillas, maybe takes 1 to 1-1/2 hours from start to finish, including resting time (for you and the dough).

2 cups AP flour (AP = all purpose)(or anything else you have ground - i.e. rice, wheat, beans, etc)
1/4 cup shortening
2/3 cup warm water
1 tsp salt

Cut shortening into flour. Dissolve salt in warm water, then add gradually to flour mixture. Mix until dough begins to form. Turn onto floured surface and knead about 3 minutes. Divide ball into 8 smaller balls. Cover balls with plastic wrap and rest at least 30 minutes (mine ended up resting for 2 hours). Heat cast iron pan over medium/medium high heat. Preheat over on low (~200 degrees). On floured surface, roll out ball until about 8 inch in diameter. Grill in dry pan, 30 seconds on each side. I flipped mine a couple of times until done. I held tortillas in warm oven between towel and pizza stone (or whatever you have) while cooking the rest.

Now that you know how to make them - what to do with them?

• Breakfast Burritos with cheese, sausage, hash browns and scrambled eggs. When my kids were in high school I would make these and freeze them. They'd grab one, put it in the microwave and then off to school.
• Chicken Divan Enchiladas with creamy sauce; sour cream and cream cheese.
• Cut tortillas into small triangles, bake, and use a chips for nachos.
• Beef Burritos with all of the fixings.
• Spread cheese on top of one, top it with another tortilla, then top with favorite pizza toppers.
• Pork Asada Tacos using Shirley J Park Seasoning, cabbage, and lime.
• Cherry Empanadas: fill with cherry pie filling, deep fry, and sprinkle with cinnamon/sugar. (Use with a myriad of fillings such as apple pie filling, Nutella, cream, etc.)
• Sloppy Joe Tortillas - not the same as freshly baked buns, but good nonetheless.
• Chicken and Pork Chimichangas - roll up with meat, cheese, and black beans. Deep fry about  minutes.
• Low Fat Turkey Appetizers - spread low fat cream cheese, diced green chilies, a teaspoon salsa, fiely diced black olives, salt and pepper to taste, turkey lunch meat. Roll up tightly and cut into bite sized wedges. Great for game day munchies!
• Cut into fine strips, season, then bake and top with your favorite taco or tortilla soup.
• Banana Tortilla: Spread with peanut butter, drizzle honey, then roll up with a banana. So decadent!
• Cinnamon Crispies: cut into fourths, fry til crisp, sprinkle cinnamon/sugar & eat warm!
• Mexican Lasagna: Instead of using noodles, use the tortilla shells. Make sauce as usual except add a pinch of taco seasoning. Assemble in layers the same way, bake, When done, top with fresh diced tomatoes, black olives, shredded lettuce, dollops of sour cream.
• Peach Cobbler: Use any traditional cobbler recipe, except instead of the dumpling dough,top peaches with criss-cross strips of tortillas. Sprinkle with cinnamon/sugar and place 6 pats of butter. Bake as you normally would.
• My favorite - Nati's Quesadilla. I grew up in a little (at the time) community of Ocean Beach in San Diego. Our favorite restaurant, to this day, is Nati's. They fry their tortillas and then sprinkle cheese on top and let it melt. Greasie and wonderful. (Now, why did I move to Utah?)
• And since we're talking "frying," fry (or bake) one up for your taco salad.

I hope you try some of these new and fun ideas. Get some variety in your life! ~Karin