Well things have been rolling along here, a few bumps, some fun downhill slopes, just like life...
I will put the tortilla recipe on this post, I promise! First though, an update on the turkey rebellion!
Turns out humanely, sustainably raised turkey is not easy to get folks! Apparently they are hard guys to raise, and without chemicals and cages, even harder! Farmer tells me that they are very sensitive to weather and other factors, and require lots of work. She said of the 50 she tried to raise last year, only 10 made it to butchering (she didn't use antibiotics, hormones etc). This is an interesting lesson in sustainable eating, because imagine what it must take to produce those cheap, huge-breasted turkeys we all expect at Thanksgiving!!!! Farmer says those guys are horribly malformed, can't stand, much less walk, never see the light of day, are kept incredibly confined in tiny cages, and require massive amounts of chemicals to keep alive. Add in the transportation, and we can easily see how bad this industry must be for the environment, the animals and for our bodies! GREAT for the Big Food Industry executives' pockets though! Hmmmmm....rich unconscionable people gettting richer at the expense of the environment, innocent, helpless animals, and humanity...suddenly I am not even hungry...
SO! No turkey breast sammitches for my husband, poor guy... Oh, and order your sustainably raised holiday turkeys now folks! And be grateful, not annoyed, by their normal-sized breasts....
The packed lunch battle rages on...
BUT the good news is: we made mozzarella!!! From raw milk! In our kitchen! In about half an hour!!! WOOHOO!!! Boy that was exciting! So exciting that I am planning to do it again today!
Ok, so here is the recipe for the tortillas we have been making (remember my whole wheat flour is grown and ground in Duncannon!), and then a recipe for a blueberry dessert we have been making from all local stuff (except vanilla and suger):
Whole Wheat Tortillas
4 Cups whole wheat flour
2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
4 tablespoons cold butter (you can use lard for this, but not margarine)
1&1/2 Cups water
1. Whisk the flour, salt & baking powder together in a large bowl.
2. Mix in the butter with your fingers until no clumps of butter remain (about 3-5 minutes).
3. Add the water and mix until the dough comes together.
4. Knead on a floured surface until smooth and elastic (about 3-5 minutes).
5. Divide dough into 12 equal pieces and roll each into a ball (I make a flattened ball out of the dough, then cut it in half, then cut those halves in half, then cut each of those wedges into 3 wedges. This will make large tortillas, like burrito size. For smaller ones for tacos or for dipping in things, make 24 pieces).
6. Allow dough to rest for 10 minutes.
7. Preheat a large skillet over medium high heat (a heavy skillet works best for this, because it holds the heat better). While it preheats, roll out the first ball into a thin round circle (the thinner they are, the less flexible they seem to be, but you can still make them pretty big, about 8-10 inches across).
8. When pan is hot, spray it lightly with cooking spray (or brush with oil) and place the dough in the pan. Cook until it puffs up a bit. It won't take long, usually I roll out the next one while I wait, then flip it. Flip, and cook other side until light golden (again, not long, a couple minutes; it is important to cook them long enough though, otherwise they taste very floury).
9. Place cooked tortillas on a plate layered between damp, wrung out paper or cloth towels (one on plate, one on top of stack of tortillas, NOT an additional towel between each tortilla), and cover with an additional layer of dish towel (have the plate and damp towels ready before you start cooking them!).
10. Continue rolling and cooking remaining dough.
11. Eat one hot out of the pan!
When they are all cooked, I put them with a damp paper towel in a zip-top bag and put them in the fridge. If I don't use them that day, then I put them in the freezer. To reheat, wrap in a damp paper towel and microwave for 20-30 seconds, or heat in a hot pan lightly coated with cooking spray or oil.
And the delicious blueberry dessert:
1 Cup whole wheat flour
1 & 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 tsp vanilla, divided
1/3 Cup milk
3 eggs
1 & 1/2 Cup blueberries (fresh or frozen, I have done both)
1/3 Cup powdered sugar
8 tablespoons whole milk ricotta cheese OR cream cheese (I have used both, turns out great either way!)
Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 9X9 square baking pan (or spray with cooking spray).
1. Cream butter, granulated sugar, one egg, milk and 1 tsp vanilla in large bowl.
2. Mix in flour and baking powder.
3. Spread evenly in pan. Spread blueberries on top.
4. In a medium bowl, beat 2 eggs and ricotta OR cream cheese until smooth. Stir in powdered sugar and 1 tsp vanilla. Spread over blueberries.
5. Bake for 55-60 minutes, or until cooked through. The top will be nice and brown and crispy!
Serve with ice cream or whipped cream if you have it! Yum!
In other news, the garden continues to flourish! We have been getting plenty of banana peppers and jalepeños; no ripe tomatoes yet, but the plants are COVERED in green ones!
My zucchini plants are enormous, but no zucchinis appear to be growing on them yet =( not sure what is up with that! Oh wait, not true, there is one teeny tiny one on the plant in a pot on the deck, but it hasn't grown AT ALL in a couple weeks, so again, a mystery....
We got fresh broccoli from the farm on Friday and it was SOOO SWEET AND DELICIOUS! My former mother-in-law had been telling me there was no comparison between store-bought and fresh from the garden broccoli, and boy was she right!
Well, if I don't get to studying in the next five minutes, I will absolutely FAIL my anatomy test tomorrow, so I gotta wrap this up. Until next time: make tortillas! Google where to buy pastured meat locally! Go to a farmer's market, cuz they got some GOOOD stuff right now! Order a humanely, sustainably raised heritage turkey for Thanksgiving from a local farm! In fact, order 2, cuz you never know when your husband will want a turkey sammitch for lunch... =/
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