Homemade Tortillas And A Care Package

Move over Santa Maria....eat your heart out Old El Paso my homemade tortillas taste better then your tortillas, hands down! As with most things, homemade versions usually taste a heck of a lot better then store bought. I know this is true of tortillas because I´ve eaten at restaurants in Texas which served homemade tortillas and tastes like that stick in your mind...trust me. I´ve only tried to make tortillas one other time and the recipe was not as good as this one. I have Tasty Kitchen to thank for this lovely recipe which you can find HERE. Now here´s the story...I made this dough last night...but after my wild party weekend last weekend I just have not been able to bounce back and I´ve had things going on almost every night this week...so I was so tired after I made the dough and then Sarah started talking about how she almost got some sushi on her way home that day and I looked at her and I said, "would you get us some sushi if I loaned you my car and my wallet?" to which she answered "YES!" And so that evening we ate sushi and put the dough in the fridge!


After work today I took the dough out and it looked a little funky...wasn´t quite sure if I would be able to use it or not but Tasty Kitchen had said she had left the dough in the fridge overnight so I figured I could still use it. So I cut the dough into pieces and began rolling them out super thin...

The next step is to heat up a frying pan. I used no oil, nothing...just warmed the pan up at the highest heat but we learned quickly to turn it down to a medium heat as these started to burn rather quickly. They do not take any time before they are bubbling, you flip them over so they are heated on both sides and you get nice brown spots on them which give them a very authentic homemade look! Keep them under a dish towel while you are heating up the rest. We found this was a two man job as they heated so quickly I didn´t have time to roll out the next one because I had to watch the one in the pan. So Sarah helped me. She flipped them in the pan and I rolled them out! Teamwork is a glorious concept! 

We filled our tortillas with ground chicken, fresh veggies, salsa, and light sour cream. A delicious and filling dinner. These tortillas filled you up so quickly! 

Around Easter several people were talking about marshmallow peeps, one of my favourite childhood Easter candies. I haven´t written my Dad and asked for a care package in a long time but I decided I needed to write and ask if he would be willing to send me a few items. I told him I would happily pay if he would send me these things. Well, then time went by and I forgot all about having asked him for some goodies until we got a message from the postal service that we had a package waiting for us. I went down to the store to get the package and the guy brought out this BIG package from the back room. I couldn´t wait until I got home to open and have a peek...I was on my way to dog training and then to see Thomas´s first soccer game so I had to wait until I got home to have a proper look but once home we were able to put all the goodies out on the table....

While the marshmallow peeps and reeses were my favourites here I have to say the flavored coffee creamers are the best thing with this package because I can have that every day!!! :-) I want to send a huge thanks to my Dad and my Stepmom for sending us so much! As anyone who has sent a package overseas knows..this was very expensive not only to buy the goodies inside but to send and I was not allowed to send them money to pay for any of this. So from the bottom of my heart and the bottom of my candy-a-holic children´s stomachs...THANK YOU SO MUCH Dad and Donna!! 


The weekend is coming up and tacos are a favourite weekend dinner so why not say, Adios to Santa Maria and Old El Paso this weekend and give these tortillas a try? I promise you won´t regret it! 


So what plans do you have for the weekend?


Until next time my friends....

Give Us This Day.....Our Daily Bread...

At work, we were given carrots from one of the local farmers who is a parent to one of the kids. Really lovely gesture. So I decided I want to bake something yummy with the carrots and decided I would make some rolls the kids could eat instead of regular bread for lunch. 

I didn´t use a recipe (surprise surprise) but I´m going to tell you what I did as I kinda went off previous rolls I´ve made and just added some carrots! I started with 1 kilo of whole grain flour. The flour here in Norway is called Grovbakst. It´s basically rye flour together with regular flour. Then I used about 250 grams of barley flour. (Byggmel in Norwegian) About 250 grams of quick cooking oats (Havregryn) 7-8 tablespoons of rapseed oil (or olive oil) depending on what you feel like. I used 2 tsps of sea salt, 1 liter of warm water and 50 grams of fresh yeast. Finally I grated 3 carrots into the bowl...didn´t measure but used about 3-4 carrots depending on the size. Mix all of this well in a mixing machine. Add regular flour until you get a workable dough. Let rise for about 30-40 minutes. Take out and roll into a long hot dog shape and cut off equal size pieces, roll these first into round shapes then roll them into chunky little hot dog shapes. Place on a baking sheet with baking paper and let them rise again about 30 minutes. Brush them with a mixture of egg, salt, and water and sprinkle a little barley flour over the tops. You could get really fancy smancy and mix a little oats with the barley and toss that over the tops but I decided to keep things simple...that´s me...simple....hahahaha...

These were so good and everyone went on about how moist they were which isn´t thanks to me but the carrots and oats which help to hold moisture in the bread...of course I had to make these at home today and so for breakfast I whipped up a batch. Nothing like homemade bread/rolls to start you off on the right foot for the day. If only it was easier for more people to whip up something like this for breakfast but I understand not everyone has time or interest but for we lucky people who do have time and an interest there isn´t anything better. 

This photo says, Welcome to the table...and if you were here visiting, I´d serve you some carrot rolls and say welcome!

Have a great day everyone...until next time my friends!! 

PicMonkey Creations

I am so excited about something I found on the internet that I have to share it with you. Maybe you all know about this..but I just found it, so I´m sharing...cause it´s SO COOL! Say it with me people, PicMonkey! I´ve always wanted to add textures and such to my photos but never knew how. I´m not as talented as many of you I visit...I do the best I can with my little picasa photo program but there just wasn´t that many gadgets so I could make really neat photos like a lot of you...
Ok, so I was sitting here this morning, minding my own business, playing around with my photos and I clicked on something on Picasa called piknick but that no longer exists so there were some suggestions of other places to try and I clicked my way into the PicMonkey world and have been having a blast all morning long. (I really have tons of other things to do this morning but I am like a kid in a candy factory right now...ever get like that???) Have a look at all these neat things I´ve made with my some of my photos this morning...(click photos to see them better)

I´ve had this photo of bread from Italy which was so plain and I just really couldn´t "fix" it enough to make it worth while to share...even though it was a beautiful memory of yummy bread made in beautiful Italy...it was just a very plain picture. With PicMonkey I was able to make it something beautiful besides just a beautiful memory...ya just gotta love that...

Can you tell I´ve been having fun? Ok, this might not be so impressive for the majority of you because you´re all very talented photographers and can do this stuff in your sleep...me, on the other, needed a simple program like PicMonkey to make these little miracles happen...and when I accomplish something I never thought I could...well...I take off a little...so bear with me will ya?

Alright guys...I´ll stop here...I honestly didn´t have time to create anymore photo "masterpieces" right now. I´m heading to a friend´s place 3 hours from here to help her celebrate her birthday. A little nervous as I only know a couple ladies who will be there and well...let´s just say yours truly isn´t exactly what we´d call a party animal...anyone care to place a bet as to whether I´m still awake by midnight or not? Well, regardless how late I end up staying up, I´m grateful for being invited. It´s nice to be thought well enough of, that they actually want you at their party...that doesn´t happen all the time ;-) hahaha...Tomorrow I´ll be stopping by some friends to visit their puppies on my way home. No, I´m not getting one..but they are the grandkids of my first Leonberger..so I´m just being the best great grandma I can be and sticking in to say hi! ;-) Probably be some puppy photos next time...if I get some good ones...and if not maybe I´ll "create" great photos through PicMonkey! For those of you who feel as handicapped as I do when it comes to creating masterpieces with your photos, check it out, you won´t be sorry! Have a lovely weekend my friends, thanks for stopping by as always it means a lot to me that you take time to visit my little corner of cyberspace! 

Until next time my friends......

Forest Trolls

Come and join Jenny and Cookie on their romp through the fields and into the woods...I like to call them forest trolls but you can call them whatever you like..they love attention so much they come no matter what you call them....

Find the Havanais in the field..

We decided to walk from the field and into the woods. As we got to the woods I started tossing out treats and saying "Search" or Søk in Norwegian...for the dogs to look for the treats..they enjoyed that game a lot....

Right now the forest floor is covered with these beautiful blue flowers. In Norway they are called blåveis. I googled their English name and came up with several, Hepatica, Kidneywort, Liverwort, Liverleaf, Liverflower, American Liverwort, Rundelobe Hepatica. Whatever you want to call them...they are so lovely....

Once we got out of the woods and started heading up to the house again we found a bunch of sticks...that were begging to be thrown...and my little forest trolls were begging to run after those sticks....

When we got back home it was time for lunch for we humans...and nothing is better then homemade whole grain rolls. I used about 1 kilo of whole grain flour, about 200 grams of oats, 1 deciliter of rye flour, 8 tbsp rapseed oil, 1 liter warm water and 50 grams of fresh yeast. Bake at 200C (400F) for about 20 minutes or until golden...yum yum....

I´ve got a busy weekend ahead but should be fun. Hope you´ll have a wonderful weekend as well!
Until next time my friends....