Sunday, November 30, 2008

Chicken Fajitas with Homemade Tortillas

I've had Fajitas on the menu for the past week. The only problem was, the little mouths in this house ate all my tortillas without me realizing it. So I searched the Internet (what did we ever do before Internet?) and found some recipes for flour tortillas. They all required shortening- which I have none of. Then I came across this one that uses only 2 teaspoons of oil, instead. Everbody loved them! We decided we might never buy tortillas again. They are a little puffy- that is how Texas tortillas are.

Texas Flour Tortillas
(adapted from The Border Cookbook by Cheryl Alters Jamison and Bill Jamison)

Ingredients:
2 cups of all-purpose flour (can make them whole wheat by substituting one cup of whole-wheat flour for white flour)
1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder
1 teaspoon of salt
2 teaspoons of vegetable oil
3/4 cups of warm milk

Method:
Mix together the flour, baking powder, salt and oil. Slowly add the warm milk. Stir until a loose, sticky ball is formed. Knead for two minutes on a floured surface. Dough should be firm and soft. Place dough in a bowl and cover with a damp cloth or plastic wrap for 20 minutes. After the dough has rested, break off eight sections, roll them into balls in your hands, place on a plate (make sure they aren’t touching) and then cover balls with damp cloth or plastic wrap for 10 minutes. (It’s very important to let the dough rest, otherwise it will be like elastic and won’t roll out to a proper thickness and shape.) After dough has rested, one at a time place a dough ball on a floured surface, pat it out into a four-inch circle, and then roll with a rolling pin from the center until it’s thin and about eight inches in diameter. (If you roll out pie crusts you’ll have no problem with this.) Don’t over work the dough, or it’ll be stiff. Keep rolled-out tortillas covered until ready to cook. In a dry iron skillet or comal heated on high, cook the tortilla about thirty seconds on each side. It should start to puff a bit when it’s done. Keep cooked tortillas covered wrapped in a napkin until ready to eat.Can be reheated in a dry iron skillet, over your gas-burner flame or in the oven wrapped in foil. While you probably won’t have any leftovers, you can store in the fridge tightly wrapped in foil or plastic for a day or so. Makes eight tortillas.

I sliced onions and green bell peppers and sauteed them 'til they were transparent. Then I cooked my sliced chicken breast and added Lawry's Fajita Mix. Put the veggies back in with the meat and sautee them all together. Serve on tortillas with sour cream and guacamole. YUM-O!!

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Pulled Pork

We are on a pork kick at my house, if you couldn't tell...
When I dream about Texas Roadhouse's pulled pork dinner, I know I have to find a good recipe.
This one came from Good Things Utah, when they had Rib City on..
It is sooo yummy!

1 small 2lb-4lb pork butt "bone in", or pork collar, or roast bone in or no bone
1 bottle Liquid Smoke
1 blend of Vegetable blend spices (Season Salt,Celery Salt,Pepper, Salt, Montreal BBQ Spices,Garlic powder mixed together)
1 bottle Rib City Sweet BBQ sauce ( I used Bull's Eye, Hickory smoke)
Spread all spices on Pork Roast or Butt forming almost a crust, or thick layer.
T
ear off 2 big pieces of foil to cover roast.
Pour 1/2 bottle liquid smoke into foil with roast. Wrap the 1st sheet then wrap it again with the 2nd sheet so the juices cannot escape when cooking.
Place in a shallow pan or cooking tray. Slow cook on convection bake or regular oven at 375 for 4 hours and then 275 for 4 more hours.
Unwrap and pull bone (if any). Take a fork and make sure that the meat separates easily. Leave cooking juice and put in bowl and pull with forks or gloved hands.
Add BBQ sauce.

This one was a real winner... no one could stop eating it. It was so tender, the foil was the only thing keeping it together.