Recently, I became a fan of the pioneer woman! Love her cookbook and the blog site is great. My family and I are enjoying trying out the recipes from the cookbook and her blog. So, this week I made the Flour Tortillas from the pionner woman blog!

Homemade Flour Tortillas 

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/page/2/

Prep Time: 1 Hour30 Minutes Cook Time: 10 Minutes Difficulty: Intermediate Servings: 16

Ingredients
2-½ cups All-purpose Flour
2-½ teaspoons Baking Powder
1 teaspoon Kosher Salt
½ cups Lard Or Vegetable Shortening
2 Tablespoons (additional) Lard Or Vegetable Shortening
1 cup Hot Water
Preparation Instructions

Combine flour, baking powder and salt in a large wooden bowl. Stir together.

Add spoonfuls of lard or shortening (use 1/2 cup PLUS 2 tablespoons), then use a pastry cutter to combine the ingredients. Cut mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs.

Slowly pour in hot water, stirring to bring mixture together. Lightly knead dough 30 to 40 times, or until it becomes a cohesive ball of dough and is less sticky. Cover with a tea towel and allow dough to rest for at least an hour.

Roll into ping pong size balls, place on a tray, cover with a tea towel, and allow to rest for another 20 to 30 minutes.

When you’re ready to make the tortillas, head a dark or cast iron griddle to medium/medium-high heat. One by one, roll out balls of dough until very, very thin. Throw tortillas (one by one) onto the griddle. Cook on each side for 20 to 30 seconds, removing while tortillas are still soft but slightly brown in spots. Remove and stack tortillas, and cover with a towel to keep warm. Serve immediately or allow to cool before storing tortillas in a container. To warm, nuke tortillas in the microwave, or wrap in foil and warm in the oven.

(Printed from the PW Blog siteon 04 June 2010)  Please see her site for lots more great recipes!

After making these great flour tortillas, I continued on my foodie adventure.  Dinner on this evening was to be Mushroom Quesadillas… YUMMY. I found the recipe on the food network.com site awhile back. 

Mushroom Quesadillas

Ingredients
3 tablespoons butter, plus more as needed
10 ounces white mushrooms, sliced
1/2 to 1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 cup coarsely chopped fresh cilantro leaves
4 (10-inch) flour tortillas
8 ounces grated Monterey jack cheese, about 2 1/2 cups
2 ounces crumbled feta cheese, about 1/2 cup
Optional garnishes: Sour cream, cilantro sprigs, salsa
Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil.

Melt 2 tablespoons of the butter in a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add the mushrooms, shake the pan to distribute them evenly in the pan, and then cook without moving until the mushrooms begin to brown, about 5 minutes. Do not salt. Add the remaining tablespoon butter along the sides of the pan if the pan seems very dry. Toss the mushrooms, and continue to cook until nicely browned, about 2 to 3 minutes more. Season mushrooms with the chili powder and salt and cook 1 minute more. Stir in the cilantro and set aside.

Toast the tortillas directly on a medium gas burner, turning occasionally until slightly blistered on each side. (If you have an electric burner, do this in a dry cast iron skillet.) Place the tortillas on the prepared baking sheet. Spread the jack cheese on one half of each tortilla, top with some of the mushrooms, and then sprinkle with the feta. Fold the other half of the tortilla over the filling, to make a half moon shape. Lay another sheet of foil over the quesadillas. Bake until the cheese melts, about 12 minutes. Serve whole or sliced into wedges, with optional garnishes.

Printed from FoodNetwork.com on Fri, 04 Jun 2010