Flour Tortillas

My friend Kim posted this link to a flour tortilla recipe. I've been wanting to try making my own flour tortillas for a while. We eat at least 4 dozen flour tortillas a week, probably more.

3 cups unbleached flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
4-6 Tbsp. vegetable shortening or lard
about 1 1/4 cups warm water

Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl.

Add vegetable shortening or lard. Or use a combination of half lard, half shortening.
Use a fork or a pastry cutter to cut in the shortening or just do it the old fashioned way and use your hands.

Next add warm water a little at a time until your dough is soft and not sticky. You do not need very hot water.

Knead the dough for a few minutes.

Now you will pull off pieces of dough to form about 12 small dough balls. Let them
rest for at least 10 minutes, longer if you like.
Now you can roll out the dough It is a good idea to dust each ball with a little flour just before you roll them out. roll up, center and roll down. It is good to lift the dough and turn it. Again, rolling pin in the center and roll. Roll them out fairly thin.
Lay your tortilla on the hot pan. It takes just a few seconds to cook. Flip to the other side. When they are done it should have lots of nice brown speckles. Place them in a towel. They are ready to be served!

Sweet & Sour Greenbeans

This is a family recipe. I think it may be Pennsylvania Dutch.

Ingredients
4 cans French Cut Green Beans
1/2 lb bacon cooked and crumbled
1/4 cup Sugar
1/2 cup white or apple cider vinegar


cook 4 cans french cut green beans in the juice from the cans, add 1/2 lb crumbled cooked bacon, add 1 T bacon grease, sugar and vinegar....increase sugar or vinegar to taste to create sweet and sour flavor. Refrigerate in serving dish until just before dinner, reheat in microwave.

This will feed 15 to 20 people, it can be halved or doubled depending on how many servings are needed.

Cornbread Stuffing with Sausage, Apples & Cranberries

I have always LOVED cornbread stuffing, but until recently I didn't know how to make it. I've tried several recipes, but this year decided to develop one of my own.

Ingredients

1 package fresh cranberries (rinsed & chopped)
2 apples, peeled, cored, and diced (I used one Gala & 1 Granny Smith)
1 cup cider
1 8X8 pan of cornbread, cooled & crumbled
1 pound pork breakfast sausage
1 stick butter
3 cups water

Directions

1. Soak cranberries & apples in cider for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
   
2. Cook sausage in a skillet, stirring frequently and crumbling the meat with a spoon, until it is well browned and no longer pink. Add sausage to the stuffing bowl and stir everything together. Add apples, cranberries with their liquid. Mix thoroughly. In a small saucepan, melt stick of butter. Add 3 cups water and stir. Pour this liquid into the stuffing mixture and combine thoroughly.
3. Store in the refrigerator for up to two days before cooking, or freeze up to a month in advance. I don't like to stuff my turkey. I bake the stuffing at 350, in a covered casserole dish, for 40 minutes. If you like your stuffing browned, cook it uncovered.

Doctored Macaroni & Cheese

We eat a LOT of Kraft macaroni & cheese....well, the kids do, Hubby won't touch it. Recently Morgan & I have been experimenting with adding things to make it more like baked macaroni & cheese. Today, we added extra cheddar cheese, then put it in a baking dish added Italian bread crumbs & baked it to a golden brown. It is FABULOUS....even better than the baked mac & cheese we were trying to imitate. It's so good we are considering adding it to our Thanksgiving menu.

2 boxes Kraft Mac & Cheese prepared according to package directions.
Stir in 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
Add enough milk to make creamy (1/4 to 1/2 cup depending on how creamy you want it)
pour into baking dish
sprinkle with bread crumbs (Progresso Italian bread crumbs are DELICIOUS)

Bake at 400 approximately 15 minutes or until golden brown & bubbly.