A Recipe and a Rant

Have you ever looked at the ingredient list for most packaged tortillas?
If not, stop everything and go open your refrigerator and pull out your tortillas and look.
It is stunning, and shocking.
The list is huge with teeny tiny print.
There must be 25 ingredients (or more), most of which I cannot pronounce, let alone know what they are.
This is for sure, they can not be good for you.
They are chuck full of preservatives.
One of my friends on facebook posted that she pulled a tortilla out of the refrigerator that was over a month past its expiration date and ate it.
She said it tasted fine.
That is not a good thing.
Real food should rot if not eaten within the specified shelf life.
How scary that it can still taste good after so long.
What artificial thing do they have to put in them to make them do that?
What's worse is thinking about what that artificial thing is doing to our insides.
I don't even want to think about it.
Actually, I do think about it, a lot.
Good news!
I've come up with a solution.
Home made tortillas!
They have just 4 simple ingredients.
They are fresh, they are soft, they are warm and chewy.
Try them once and you'll never go back, ever!

Easy Tortillas

Ingredients:
1 C Water
1 t Salt
1/4 C olive oil
3 C whole wheat or whole spelt flour

Directions:
Place all ingredients in mixer and knead on medium for 3-4 minutes or until dough is soft and elastic. Let dough rest for 30-45 minutes. Divide dough into 12 equal portions. Roll out on floured surface until really thin, rotating often to loosen from work area and to make them round. Preheat skillet to medium high and cook for about 30-45 seconds on each side, or until bubbles form and become browned. Place hot tortillas on a plate and cover with a clean towel to keep soft and warm until ready to serve.

Helpful Hints:

• The dough should be about the consistency of a firm bread dough. If it's sticky, add more flour before the kneading process begins. If it seems too dry, add a bit more water.
  
• If you are using spelt flour you will need to add 1/2-1 cup more flour. Check the dough for stickiness before kneading.
• You will need to find the "sweet spot" on your stove. Mine is 2 notched down from high. If the burner is too hot, they will burn. If it's not hot enough they will take too long and become dry and brittle. We are going for soft and chewy.
• Roll the tortillas as you go. Don't roll them all out at once and then cook them. Ask me how I know. I place one in the pan and roll the next while it's cooking. You have to work fast and ignore the rest of the house during this process. If they children need help, ignore them. Hate to say it, but if you turn for 1 second you'll burn the one in the pan. Then the next one will not be ready to go into the pan in time and the pan will get too hot and it will take 4 more tortillas to get it just right again. Trust me, just ignore the children! They'll be fine for 15 minutes!
• Don't leave out the oil or they make crunchy cracker things, unless you want crunchy cracker things!
• I have not found out how to make mine perfectly round. Some people are perfectionists like that, but I'm not. And you know what? My kids eat them anyway and love them!
  
• Store left overs (if you have any) in a plastic air tight baggie in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. After that point they go bad and mold. They are real food, so eat them quickly! Your body will thank you.
  

This recipe rules! We use them for burritos, soft tacos, enchiladas, fajitas, green chili, veggie wraps, and pretty much anything you can find to stuff in a tortilla.
My kids even devour them plain, they won't do that with packaged tortillas!
As an added bonus, these babies are super cheap to make. We're talking less than 50 cents for the whole batch. Compare that to grocery store prices!
Try them, I promise you'll love them!