Homemade Flour Tortillas

I had no idea how good homemade tortillas were, until I made them the other day. The ones you buy at the store are okay, but homemade ones are heartier, thicker, and full of flavor. Plus, they're fresh! This is a super easy and fast recipe to make tortillas. Plus, they're not just for breakfast burritos, but you can eat them with bean burritos, tacos, fajitas, quesadillas, etc.  From now on, I'm going to save money and just make a large batch of tortillas (to save for the week) on Sundays when I make my homemade bread.

Flour Tortillas
2 cups flour  $.16 
1 tsp. baking powder  $.17
1/2 tsp. salt
5 Tbsp. shortening or butter  $.57- $2.00 (depending on ingredient used)
3/4 cups hot water

In a large bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Soften butter, add to bowl, and cut the butter until the butter is in pea size pieces. Add hot water to mixture and stir with a wood spoon until dough begins to form. Knead for 5-10 minutes on floured surface. Let dough sit for 10 minutes.
 Preheat frying pan to medium, add a small amount of oil (1 Tbsp. or so, so that it doesn't stick). Cut dough into 8 pieces, roll out into a thin circle. Place tortillas, one at a time, into the hot pan and cook each side about 30 seconds, or until it is bubbly with light brown spots. Remove from pan, and enjoy!

Estimated Total Cost: $.90- $2.33
Servings: 8 tortillas
Cost Per Serving: $.11- $.29



This dinner took about 25 minutes to make, from start to finish. But seriously, they were some of the best breakfast burritos I have ever had. You have to try these recipes!

Wheat Bread

Can you just smell it now? The best thing ever is smell bread baking in the oven. Then, eating the warm, soft bread with butter, jam, or honey. My mom has always been good at making bread. There's nothing like homemade bread to eat with stew, soup, or chili. This recipe is my mothers, but tweaked a tiny bit, to what I call perfection.
Being a newlywed and a college student means that you don't have much money. So, with a tight budget, every other Sunday I make loaves of wheat bread to last us for 2 weeks. Homemade bread is SO much cheaper than spending $3 or $4 on just one loaf. Plus, it is healthier and tastes a million times better! It's worth spending the time to make homemade bread. So go ahead and try this recipe!

Wheat Bread
1 cup warm water
2 Tbsp. yeast  $.30
1 cup warm milk   $.19
1/4 cup sugar   $.02
1/2 cup oil  $.24
1 Tbsp. salt   $.03
4 cups wheat flour   $.96
2+ cups white flour  $.16

This recipe makes two loaves.
Dissolve yeast in warm water. Let sit 5 minutes (this lets you see if the yeast is active and alive. It's not fun when you kill the yeast and waste lots of ingredients before realizing it. The yeast should start to dissolve and bubble). Heat milk, add to water and yeast. Add sugar. Let it sit 2 minutes longer to double check the yeast (I'm all about making sure the yeast is good). Add oil and salt. Stir ingredients. Add wheat flour and mix well. Add 2 cups white flour and mix well until it makes a soft dough. Knead until the dough is soft (not sticky) and elastic (you should be able to push on the dough, not have any come off on your fingers and have the dough bounce back). If you have a stand mixer with a dough hook, just have it knead it for anywhere from 5 to 10 minutes. The more you knead, the softer and more tender your bread will be. Let dough rise until it doubles (about 45 min). Form 2 loaves, grease loaf pans, place in pans, and let it rise until it's 1" above the loaf pan.

Bake at 350⁰F for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the crust is brown and makes a "hollow" sound when thumped. Cool out of pans on rack.

Ideas: If you don't have 2 loaf pans, just grease a cookie sheet and make the loaves on there and let it rise about 30 minutes. This bread makes really good french toast, sandwiches, or is just good to eat alone.
Total Estimated Cost: $1.90
Servings: 2 loaves
Cost Per Serving:  $.95

Can you  imagine?! Less than $2 for two loaves of bread?! And it's SO good! You can't get bread that good anywhere for that cheap! You can only get the nasty white bread that feels like eating air for about $1. Trust me, save yourselves some money and give yourself something good. You can't go wrong with homemade bread.

Fresh Salsa

I love summertime! Why? Because there are so many fresh fruits and vegetables in season, and for cheap! I loved growing up and having our own garden. We would make fresh salsa at least once a week, if not more. It's So good, So fresh, and you don't feel guilty about eating a lot of it. And trust me, once you start, you can't stop!

So go ahead, test out what will be your new addiction!

Fresh Salsa

6-8 Roma Tomatoes, diced  $1.70

1 medium onion, chopped  $.50

2 jalapeño peppers, diced  $.18

1 green bell pepper  $.79

cilantro  $.99 for a bushel

salt

pepper

lime juice   $.10

Rinse all the produce. Combine chopped tomatioes, onions, and peppers in a medium sized bowl. Add cilantro to your taste (I add about a quarter size bunch, but only chop up the leaves. I'm not a fan of the stem). Add salt, pepper, and lime juice to your taste.

Ideas: You can use your produce bag to cover your hands when cutting the jalapeño peppers. This way, if you don't have any gloves, you still avoid pepper burn. Also, the more seeds you leave in the pepper, the spicier the salsa will be. If you don't like spicy salsa, try Anaheim peppers. It gives it a mild kick, but is also sweet at the same time. Try adding corn, chopped mango, black beans, or avocado to this recipe

Total estimated cost: $4.25
servings: I would say at least 6. But, Treyton and I pretend it's only 4. We LOVE to pile on the salsa on top of the enchiladas. After all was said and done, we still have a small container of salsa left.
Cost per serving: $.71



Trust me, these recipes are perfect for summer time, are super easy to make, and beyond delicious! Plus, for less than $4.00, you get 5 enchiladas and a huge pile of fresh salsa! Try getting that much food at a restaurant for that cheap and that tastes that good!

Apple Crisp

Apple Crisp = fall time!! I love the fall. Autumn is my favorite time of year. Cool air, colorful leaves, fresh apples, cinnamon and spice, hay bails, fall decor, and FOOD! Apple crisp is perfect for your fall time sugar craving. You get the sweetness from the soft apples with a slight crunch from the oatmeal crisp topping.
Plus, Treyton (my husband) loves fruit! If he ever craves anything sweet, it always has something to do with fruit. And even more so, a crisp or cobbler. So, I surprised him a little bit ago with his favorite dinner and apple crisp. Couldn't have had a happier husband. So, married ladies, if you want to make your man happy (or make his day), bake him this sweet treat.

Apple Crisp

1 can apple pie filling  $.2.49

Crisp topping:

1 1/2 cups oats  $.30
1 cup flour  $.08
2/3 cups brown sugar  $.17
1 tsp. cinnamon  $.01
3/4 cup butter, softened  $1,08

Spread apple filling in greased 9x9 baking dish. Mix remaining ingredients and sprinkle over filling. Bake at 375°F for 35 minutes.

Total Estimated Cost: $4.13
Servings: 6
Cost Per Serving: $.69

My wife did her homework for her technology class. She's the best. :)

My Love of Cake

I have always loved baking, but more than anything, I have loved decorating cakes. Whether it is cupcakes, birthday cakes, wedding cakes, or any other kind of cake for a special occasion, I always try to find an excuse to decorate a cake.

There is a sense of pleasure I get when creating different cake and icing flavors, designing the look of a cake, and carrying out the  process. I have taught myself how to decorate cakes. Growing up I loved to use my mom's big pastry bags to decorate cookies, make my own birthday cake, and play around with decorating things when I could. I was also fortunate to help decorate cakes at Dairy Queen, which allowed me to practice different techniques and decorations.

Once I was older, I started buying my own supplies and have begun to work on my skills even more so. Here are some pictures of cakes I have made:

This cake was made for one of my best friend's (Polyana) wedding 

A Reese's cake, just because

Birthday cake and cupcakes for my Pixar-loving best buddy, Brian Clayton

Mickey Mouse cake for my Disney-loving roommate, Brittany

S'mores cupcakes for a summer cook-out

For me, cake decorating is therapeutic and a lot of fun. I LOVE decorating cakes. If any of you are interested in me making a cake or cupcakes, let me know!

A Little Add-On:
One person I admire to is the "Cake Boss". I love watching him work and always wish I could have as many opportunities to decorate cakes. If you don't know who the Cake Boss is, check out this YouTube video and see for yourself. 

My goal is to one day have all the fancy tools like he does and be able to create beautiful masterpieces.

Also, here's part 2 for anyone who wants to see the end results of this cake:

One of My Inspirations

Many people wonder why I got started in doing a food blog of all things. Yes, I love to cook. Yes, I want to teach others about cooking. But, one of the biggest inspirations for starting a food blog is my sister, Melissa.

She is amazing. She shares my passion for food and cooking. A few years back she started her own food blog. I saw how much she loved trying out new recipes, sharing the recipes, taking pictures, and doing what she loves. You may have heard of her, and if not, you should!

Her name is Melissa Griffiths and you NEED to visit her blog at blessthismessplease.com. I have loved talking to her about new things she's trying, new cooking techniques, how to use different ingredients, and everything else about food. Honestly, I've tried, and loved, a lot of her recipes. Having such a positive experience with her blog has made me want to do the same for others.

The biggest thing that she did to inspire me to start my blog was living with her last year. I was able to live in the tiny town of Orderville, Utah with my sister last summer. I was able to work at the local grocery store and spend time with my niece and nephews (the loves of my life).

My adorable niece and nephews: Henry (back), Macey, and Kimball. 

Along with that, I was able to be with her and see how she was running her blog. I helped make some of the recipes or come up with ideas, I saw how she took pictures and created her blog. And the best part, I got to try amazing food All summer long! 

She is also helping me fulfill my dream of having a blog just as fancy and popular as hers by: giving me advice, tips, ideas, and encouraging me to keep going. I feel so much love and support from her when it comes to working on my food blog, it makes me even more excited for the future and what I hope my blog becomes and does for other people. 

So, Thank you Melissa!! I love you dearly! :)