Homemade Corn Tortillas. Yum!

One thing that I've discovered since going gluten free? You have to cook a LOT of things from scratch. This has been a challenge, but also a lot of fun. Yesterday I decided to try making some corn tortillas. There are only 3 ingredients, so how hard can they be? I started with the recipe from the back of the Maseca bag. Turns out there is a bit of a learning curve. The first dough was too dry and I didn't know how to properly cook them. They were also a bit bland for my liking. Today I tried again and I am happy to report that I have been successful. Here is my recipe. I added a bit more water and salt to that first, original recipe off the bag.

Corn Tortillas

2 cups masa flour

 3/4 tsp. salt

1 1/2 cups warm water

(plus more if needed)

 

In a bowl, wisk the salt into the flour, mixing it in thoroughly. Add the warm water and mix it in using your hands and fingers, until all the flour is incorporated. You want the dough to be the consistency of Play-Doh. If the dough feels too stiff, add some more warm water, a tablespoon at a time. If the dough is too moist add a bit of masa flour. Once your dough feels right, cover it with some plastic wrap. It dries out really fast. Get out your tortilla press and start heating your pan. Start with your pan on medium high heat. You may have to adjust the heat up or down. All stoves vary and it will also depend on the type of pan used. I use a cast iron frying pan and a medium heat. Anything hotter and it burns off the seasoning from my pan. Cover your press with some plastic wrap.  

 

 

Take a small amount of dough (about walnut size) and roll it into a ball, then slightly flatten the ball and place it on the press.

 

 

Top the ball of dough with another piece of plastic wrap and close the press, pressing down hard on the lever.

 

 

Open it up and "ta da"! You've made a tortilla. I like to rotate the tortilla 180 degrees, then press again, to make sure it is flattened evenly.

 

 

Carefully lift the tortilla and remove the plastic, one side at a time. Brush the tortilla lightly with oil (depending on the type of pan you are using. Mine needs oil) and lay the tortilla in the pan. Cook it for approx. 50 seconds per side. You want it to get cooked and slightly browned, but not burnt. Flip it once the first side is done.

 

 

Don't worry if your tortilla feels a bit stiff. You may be wondering, as I did, "how is this thing going to roll up or fold around a filling without breaking"? Here is the secret to soft, moist tortillas. Once they are cooked you place them into a tortilla warmer (or steamer). These can be made of cloth, pottery or plastic. Mine is blow molded plastic. You close the lid and the tortillas steam each other, making them soft and pliable. Like magic.

 

 

Once you get the hang of it, making fresh tortillas from scratch is incredibly easy. You will never want to eat those rubbery tortillas from the grocery store, ever again. Enjoy!

 

Fall Varroa Mite Treatment

Fall is the most crucial time to treat for varroa. The mite population is increasing as the bee population begins to decline. The bees go into the winter with  much fewer numbers and the winter bees are the ones who will be hatching in the fall. Those winter bees will be cooped up inside the hive until the weather warms up in late winter/early spring. If there is a large mite population in the hive during the winter it can really weaken the bees. Even if you don't see any mites in your hive, they are there. By the time I noticed them in my hives, which was after their 2nd winter, they were heavily infested. One of the hives was weakened enough that they developed nosema and dysentery. I was able to rectify the situation using HopGuard but the bees took all summer to recover. This seriously effected my honey harvest.

This year I am going to treat both fall AND spring. I use HopGuard, 3 applications, 7 to 10 days apart. I put solid boards, smeared with Vaseline, under the screened bottom boards to catch the dead mites. These are the mites that were on the board after 24 hours.

Close up of mites. They are the blood red ovals.

I will treat twice more this month. Meanwhile I am feeding them 2:1 syrup and giving them pollen patties. I want to make sure they have plenty of food to get them through the winter and raise their winter brood.

Visit To GFJoe's

This is my honest review of GF Joe's which is a Gluten Free Market in Tacoma, WA.

"From the outside it looks huge, which adds to the shock when you actually enter the store. I agree with others that the ambience of the store is too sparse and quiet. It feels as though they have too large a space for their actual needs. There is what appears to be a deli area but it is empty. I asked how long they'd been open (thinking it must have been a very short period of time) and was surprised to hear it has been an entire year.

There is a good variety of GF foods offered but prices are high.

One of the things I miss most about being GF is beer. Finding Omission beer was well worth the visit. $2 per bottle and delicious. Udi's  bread was also worth the visit.

Things that I would like to see:
Deli/bakery area, more bulk offerings.

I will continue to shop here for things like bread, beer, pasta."

Here are my purchases:

Omission IPA $1.99

Van's crackers $3.99

Udi's bread $5.89 (for 13 slices)

Veggie bouillon $3.19

Quinoa pasta $1.32 (it's $6.29per lb.)

tax $.57 (not sure why I was charged tax on the crackers????)

 

TOTAL: $16.95

I don't eat a lot of bread but I do like a piece of toast with my morning egg. The Udi's was very much like traditional bread. Here it is shown toasted, with butter and honey.

My favorite find was the Omission IPA. I savored it. Yummy! If only my husband, the brewmaster, could figure a way to brew GF beer.

I'm sure I will be a regular customer at GF Joe's although I am a little concerned that Tacoma may not have a large enough GF community to keep them afloat. If you are GF and in the area, please pay them a visit.

Honey Extraction 2013

I harvested my honey rather late this year. My bees had a rough time this season and I wanted to give them every opportunity to get some honey capped for me. I finally pulled all my honey frames last week and was waiting for another 80 degree day so I could extract. Today proved to be just such a day.

My uncapping tank is a sink I bought off Craigslist which I set on top of 3 shallow honey supers, stacked one on top of the other. There is a bucket lined with a straining bag placed directly beneath the drain opening.

 

I set the frame in the sink and use my uncapping knife to uncap the cells. Then I go over the ones I missed with the capping scratcher. You need to make sure all the cells are uncapped in order to extract the honey from the frame. Once the frame is uncapped, on both sides, you place it into the extractor. The wax and honey that remains in the uncapping tank gets pushed through the drain opening and falls into the bucket.

 

Once all of the frames have been extracted I place another bucket, lined with a filter, under the opening on the front of the extractor and open the "honey gate".

 

 

The honey flows out, along with chunks of wax and any other debris. The honey is then filtered by passing through a very fine strainer. This large bucket also features a honey gate. The nicely filtered honey is now ready to be placed into smaller storage buckets, or jars, for long term storage.

 

After the frames have been extracted I place them, and the rest of the extracting equipment, out into my bee yard for the bees to clean.

 

 

That way there is no waste. The bees are only too happy to take the leftover honey back to their hives. Today the air in my backyard was full of happy, excited bees. It was a challenge to get these videos and pictures as the bees were careening past me, full throttle.

 

 

In the end I extracted 16 pounds of honey this year, which is twice the amount of last year's harvest.



Vintage Dress, 1967

Now that the weather is cooling, and the garden and bees are wrapping up for the season, I am starting to think about my next sewing project. I have been itching to sew a vintage style dress. I recently bartered for 2.5 yards of a navy blue crepe suiting which led me to dig out this dress pattern.

 

The fabric is a poly crepe. Nothing fancy or expensive. This will be an experiment to see if I can resize this vintage pattern to fit me. I'll need to size it up a bit. The zipper and self-cover buttons were already in my stash. I picked up the contrasting crepe for the yoke, and the white lining, at Jo-Ann fabrics, along with some matching thread.

 

I'll need to do some adjustments to the pattern, and sew up a muslin or two, before I cut into the fashion fabric.

Nasty Wax Moths

Earlier this summer I had pulled some un-needed frames from my hives. I wrapped them in plastic sheeting and stored them in my garage. I hoped the plastic would keep the wax moths at bay. Sadly, it did not. A few days ago I went to retrieve them and was dismayed to find wax moth larva cavorting all over 5 of them.

The way you kill the larva and eggs is to place them in a freezer overnight. This is not an easy task if all you have is a side by side freezer/fridge. I removed a couple of shelves from the freezer, placed the 5 frames into a tall kitchen garbage bag and stood it upright in the freezer. The next day I removed the frames from the freezer, shook off as many of the dead larva as I could, and placed the yucky frames back into my strongest hive. The bees are supposed to be able to clean the frames and save the wax. We'll see.

Potato Chips & Newly Gluten Free

There have been some minor changes here at the urban homestead. First, I have made the decision to make some dietary changes. I have a chronic autoimmune disorder since I was 20. Well over 30 years. It's not life threatening but it is a nuisance. It's one of those maladies that doctors can't cure.

Recently I stumbled upon some forums and read posts from others with my same illness that had benefited from going gluten free. On August 16th I cut out all wheat, rye and barley and immediately began feeling better. On August 26th I decided to eliminate processed sugar from my diet. It is also a trigger for my autoimmune disorder. I understand it takes a month to see most results and a full 6 months to get it completely out of your system. However I have already seen these changes:

*As of today I have lost 1.5" from my hips and a full 2" from my waist. No, I am not exercising.
*My skin is clearing up. Even the skin on my face has improved.
*My joints feel much better. My knees no longer hurt.
*My gums are in much better shape.
*I have more energy.
*Food tastes better.

The only real hardship? I miss beer. Yes, I know there if GF beer out there but I am used to drinking my husband's delicious home brew.

I also need to find a good salad dressing without added sugar. Or learn to make my own. I am a beekeeper so I am going to use raw, unpasteurized honey, from my bees, as my only sweetener.

The immediate weight loss was a happy revelation. I wasn't expecting it. I always wondered why I kept gaining so much weight when I really don't overeat. Apparently my body couldn't process the gluten. I look forward to getting my skinny body back. Stay tuned as I chronicle my GF/SF journey. Meanwhile, here is a nice snack you can whip up if you find yourself with an abundance of potatoes. I used sweet potatoes for this batch.

 

 

Baked Potato Chips 

 

Potatoes, any kind.

Olive oil

Salt

 

Slice the potatoes thin. I used a mandoline. Soak the potato slices in an ice bath for 10 minutes. Drain well and blot dry. Place in a bowl, drizzle with some olive oil (just enough to coat them) and mix them with your hands. Spread them out in a single layer on a baking sheet, sprinkle lightly with salt and bake for 20 minutes at 300 degrees. Watch them the last few minutes to make sure they don't burn. You want them crispy and slightly golden. You may have to adjust the temperature as all ovens vary. Enjoy!

 

NOTE: I can't report on how well these store since they didn't last that long. ;-P