Cafe Rio Style Flour Tortillas

Ingredients:

3 C Flour
1 1/2 Tsp Salt
2 Tsp Baking powder
3/4 C Shortening
3/4 - 1 C Very hot water

Directions:

In a large mixing bowl, mix the flour, salt, and baking powder together. Cut in the shortening with your fingers or pastry cutter until the flour is crumbly. Add the water and mix until the dough comes together (add more water if needed). Place on a lightly floured surface and knead for a few minutes until smooth and elastic. Place in bowl, cover with a slightly damp dishtowel and let sit for an hour. Divide the dough into 5-6 equal pieces and roll each piece into a ball (if you are making soft taco sized tortillas, divide it into 10-12 pieces).

Preheat a large skillet or pan to medium-high heat. Use a well-floured rolling pin to roll a dough ball into a thin, round tortilla. Place into the hot skillet, and cook until bubbly, golden, and no appearance of doughy-ness, about 1 minute (be careful not to overcook); flip and continue cooking until golden on the other side. Place the cooked tortilla in a tortilla warmer or on a large plate, covering with a slightly damp towel. Repeat with remaining dough.

* Recipe adapted from http://www.favfamilyrecipes.com/2010/04/homemade-flour-tortillas.html?m=1

Homemade Italian Tomato Sauce

This is a time-consuming but great way to use all those tomatoes from the garden!

First, you're going to need quite a few tomatoes. It takes A LOT of tomatoes to turn into very much sauce. I would estimate that you need about 5-7 tomatoes (depending on their size) per person you're going to serve.

Ingredients:

25 Fresh tomatoes
2 Fresh garlic cloves
Your favorite italian seasoning, to taste (I like Sam's Club's Spicy Spaghetti Seasoning)

Directions:

Put a large pot of water on to boil. Fill a second large pot with ice cubes and water. Wash tomatoes and then place as many as will fit into the boiling water. Wait for 45-60 seconds and then transfer them to the ice water. After about 20-30 seconds in the ice water remove the tomatoes and peel the skins off. The skins should come off VERY easily. Repeat until all tomatoes have been skinned.

Next, cut the tomatoes into quarters. Remove seeds, rough parts, and any bruises. Squeeze the excess water out of the tomatoes and place into a colander to drain. Once drained then dice all of the tomatoes.

Place diced tomatoes into a pot, cover, and start cooking them low and slow. They will break down and turn into a sauce after a few hours. Once it's looking more like a sauce add the garlic and seasoning. Keep cooking until at desired consistency! If the sauce is too watery then take the lid off and let some of the water evaporate.

Serves 4

* Adapted from http://www.pickyourown.org/canning_tomatosauce.htm

Parmesan Chicken Tenders

Ingredients:

3-4 Boneless, skinless chicken breasts (3 if large, 4 if medium)
1 Tsp. Paprika
1 Tsp. Salt
1/2 Tsp. Black pepper
1 Egg, beaten
1 T Butter (I use salted)
1 C All-Purpose flour
2 T Olive Oil
1/2 C Finely grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:

Trim any fat off chicken breasts and cut into 3-4 strips each. Place wax paper under and over the chicken and pound to tenderize. Be careful not to go overboard or the meat will tear.

In a pie pan combine paprika, salt, pepper, flour, and Parmesan. Place the egg in a shallow bowl. Dip a chicken strip in the egg and coat on both sides. Let the egg run off a little until it stops dripping. Place the chicken into the flour mixture and coat thoroughly. Gently shake off excess coating and set aside. Do this to each chicken strip.

In a medium frying pan melt butter. Once butter is melted add the olive oil. Heat to medium or medium-high and once the oil is hot carefully place as many chicken strips as you can comfortably fit in the pan without touching. Keep an eye on the heat. You want it to fry hot and fast but not so hot it will burn. Turn chicken over when it's a nice golden brown on the first side.

When those are done you could place the first batch in a baking dish in the oven at 175 or 200 degrees to keep warm while you finish the others. Repeat with all the chicken strips.

If you're concerned that the chicken might not be done, cut into the biggest piece at its thickest point and make sure the juices are coming out clear. Enjoy!

Serves 4-5 depending on serving size and breast size.

* My own recipe

Mexican Seasoning

I like to make burritos, tacos, and fajitas and I've always just bought the little seasoning packets at the store each time I needed one but last time I bought one I couldn't believe how expensive they've gotten! I just can't handle the idea of paying so much for something I could do for probably much cheaper myself.

I found this recipe which works for burritos, tacos, or fajitas and tried it today and it was good. Thought I'd share in case anyone else wants to make their own and doesn't already have a recipe!

Mexican Seasoning

Recipe for single batch (good for 1- 1 1/2 lbs. of meat or vegetables):

1 T Chili powder
1/4 tsp. Garlic powder
1/4 tsp. Onion powder
1/4 tsp. Crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 tsp. Oregano flakes
1/2 tsp. Paprika
1 1/2 tsp. Cumin
1 tsp. Salt
1/2 tsp. Black pepper

Mix with 3/4 cup water for 1- 1 1/2 lb. of meat or vegetables.

Recipe for large batch (to keep some ready for next time):

1/2 C Chili powder
2 tsp. Garlic powder
2 tsp. Onion powder
2 tsp. Crushed red pepper flakes
2 tsp. Oregano flakes
4 tsp. Paprika
1/4 C Cumin
8 tsp. Salt
4 tsp. Black Pepper

Use 3 T of mix with 3/4 C water for 1- 1 1/2 lb. of meat or vegetables. Store in an airtight container.

* From unknown Internet recipe

Chicken Parmesan

I made this up a few days ago and it turned out really good.

Ingredients:

2 large chicken breasts (8 oz each)
Italian bread crumbs
4 half ounce slices of fresh parmesan cheese
1 T Olive oil
Pasta sauce (I used Prego mushroom flavor spaghetti sauce)
1 Can diced tomatoes (drained)
Spicy Spaghetti Seasoning (I buy this at Sam's Club but your own seasoning would work fine)
Wheat pasta noodles

Directions:

Chicken:

Cut each chicken breast in half so that you have two thinner pieces of chicken. Place a piece of plastic wrap on top of the first piece of chicken and use a mallet to pound the chicken into a larger, flatter piece. Repeat for all pieces.

Pour Italian bread crumbs onto a plate and place piece of chicken in them. It might help if the chicken is a little moist so the bread crumbs stick. Cover one side of the chicken with the crumbs.

Slice thin pieces of Parmesan cheese and cover one half of the top side of the piece of chicken with cheese. Fold the other half over trapping the cheese inside. Repeat for all pieces of chicken.

In a large frying pan heat some olive oil on medium heat. Once the oil is hot place the chicken in the pan and quickly fry both sides. Once all chicken has been fried, reduce heat and cover the pan so that the inside of the chicken can cook.

Sauce:

Pour pasta sauce into a pot. Add canned diced tomatoes and seasoning. Heat up and then simmer.

After the chicken is fully cooked (you can cut into one and check if you're not sure), serve wheat pasta, cover with sauce, and place chicken on top.

Note: Also very good over rice!

This makes 4 servings.

* My own recipe

Garlic, Sour Cream, & Chive Mashed Potatoes

I love mashed potatoes and was trying to come up with a light alternative and this is what happened:

Ingredients:

4 medium potatoes
3 cloves garlic
1 tsp salt (I use sea salt)
1 T butter (I use regular butter with salt)
1/4 C sour cream (I use regular)
1 T freeze-dried chives
1/2 tsp white pepper
2 tsp olive oil

Directions:

Clean and peel potatoes and cut into quarters. Peel garlic cloves and cut off stumpy end. Boil potatoes and cloves in water (enough to cover them) with olive oil until a fork easily pierces potatoes. Drain but reserve 1 C of the liquid.

Mash potatoes and garlic together (by hand works best). Continue mashing while adding sour cream, butter, and reserved liquid until at desired consistency. Add salt, pepper, and chives.

* My own recipe

Whole Wheat Pizza Crust

I didn't make up this recipe but it makes an easy and delicious whole wheat pizza crust!

Ingredients:

1 or 2 c. white flour (enough to make a stiff dough)
2 c. whole wheat flour
1 pkg. or 1 tbsp. active dry yeast
3/4 tsp. salt
1 c. warm water
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 tsp. honey

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425°F before baking. Pour flour into a large mixing bowl. Add yeast and salt. Mix well. Add water, oil and honey; mix well.

Knead dough for 6 minutes on a lightly floured surface, adding sufficient flour to make a stiff dough. Dough may be slightly sticky. Oil your hands with olive oil to keep from sticking while kneading.

Cover with a moist cloth and place in a warm spot for 30 minutes to rise. Punch down and press into a greased 14 inch pizza pan or a 10 inch pan for a thicker crust.

Spread sauce and other ingredients on pizza crust. Bake in a preheated 425°F for 15 to 20 minutes or until crust is golden brown and cheese is melted.

* From unknown internet recipe