Flacita Burritos

When my beautiful sister was in college in Chicago, she worked for a time at a Mexican restaurant. The cooks there called her Flaca (meaning skinny) because she is tall, skinny and very blond. For Spring Break, our parents let me fly to Chicago for a visit, and I spent quite a bit of time hanging out around the restaurant while she worked. The cooks quickly dubbed me Flacita (or Little Skinny). I decided to called these treats Flacita Burritos, not because they are skinny or healthy, but because calling them that takes some of the guilt out of eating them. Denial is a powerful thing.

I got the idea of these in my head on Friday, and just couldn’t shake it. I wasn’t sure how I was going to pull it off, but by Pete, I was going to figure it out. I ended up spreading out a buffet of warmed corn and flour tortillas, apple butter, peach and apple jam, toothpicks and a pot of hot oil. Okay, really the pot was the end of the buffet line, but I’m guessing you get the idea.

I tried corn tortillas first because I wanted to do a sort of taquito, but since I was using apple butter as opposed to diced apples, they were hard to roll tight enough without ripping them. I tried both rolled and fold ones, and although they fried up well, the crunchy texture and corn taste were a bit more than I wanted.

I tried round 2 with the flour tortillas, which were quite a bit larger. The rolled/taquito style still didn’t work too well, but the burrito-style ones I tried worked perfect! Simply roll them up, and stick a toothpick in somewhere to keep everything nice and compacted once you put it in the fry oil. If you don’t have toothpicks, you can use metal tongs to hold them together for a good 25-35 seconds just to be sure they’ll hold their shape.

Once in the fry oil, the burritos only take about 1 min on each side. or until lightly browned on each side. Remove from the oil, and place on a baking rack to drain. I use a roasting pan with paper towels between the rack and the pan to keep it clean and keep the burritos crispy. As soon as you get them on the cooling rack, sprinkle them generously with a mix of cinnamon and sugar. Trust me, you won’t regret it.

Serve these immediately, preferably while piping hot. Or if you’re like me, bite them the second they cool enough to be picked up, therefore burning your tongue repeatedly in a wanton fashion.

Flacita Burritos

Flour Tortillas
Apple Butter
Cinnamon and Sugar, blended
Toothpicks (optional)
Oil for frying

Heat tortillas in the microwave, covered with a wet paper towel, for 30 seconds or until pliable. Lay flat, and place 3-4 table spoons of apple butter on bottom 1/3 of the tortilla. Roll up, pin with toothpick, and set aside.

Heat 1″ of oil in a pot (I use a dutch oven) to 350*. Place burritos in the pot, with the ‘tortilla flap’ down so the burrito doesn’t expand. Cook for 1 min on each side. Remove from oil unto cooling rack, quickly sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar, then allow to sit for 3-5 minutes to drain off excess fat.

Serve immediately.

Up to my elbows in apples

My neighbor paid my boys to pick and deliver around 70 lbs of apples to me. I had no idea this was happening untill they pulled a wagon right into my kitchen and started unloading them. I quickly called my mother and got her apple pie filling recipe. I have made 18 quarts so far. I plan on making a few more and them moving on to apple butter. There are still three more trees to pick so I should have plenty. If anyone else has an urge to do anything anywhere near this big of a scale, I would strongly recommend an apple peeler. I bought one that peels, cores and slices the apple in seconds. It cut my prep time in 1/3. It is going to be a good Thanksgiving : )

Dutch Apple Pie, I surrender to you.

So in this particular instance, I suppose last night my kitchen was my Mama’s kitchen. Or at least it smelled like it. One thing I’ve been basically terrified to try is the wonderful, spicy, crumbly sweet-ness that is Dutch Apple Pie. My mother makes a mean apple pie. Seriously, it’s amazing. For holiday’s she even makes one of my cousin’s a whole pie just for himself, because it’s all he’ll eat (frankly, I don’t blame him). So obviously although I’ve helped make this recipe 1500 times, it’s a bit daunting for me because I’m more then a little afraid I won’t measure up.

Then came the challenge. This last weekend, the Boy and I went to a friends for dinner, and since I had about 10 minutes notice, I just ran to the store and grabbed one of their bakery pies. They didn’t have a ton of choices, so I just grabbed a lemon meringue because it’s fairly generic so usually most every one likes it. Sad day for me,because in this case, that wasn’t so. Our host (or one of two I should say) not only doesn’t like meringue, also not a fan of citrus custard pies. In case you’re keeping track, that makes my store bought pie 0-2.

Now, I basically feel like an a-hole. I know that may not make sense, but I like to feed people. When people don’t eat, it upsets me. So I promised to make him a pie, any pie. Peach? Cherry? Apple? Bam, he wants apple. Alright, what about Dutch Apple? That’s his favorite! Sweet, good I know what to make! And I even have apples from the local orchard!

Tuesday I sat down to make the pie and the little voice in my head started to have a panic attack. I’ve never made a Dutch Apple by myself, let alone using only my memory to (try to) recreate my Mama’s specialty. I may or may not have stopped several times purely to spew a string of obscenities, gather myself back together and continue. Happily for me, Luck was with me and everything came out great. The dough was perfect, the apples were spiced just perfect and the crumble was sweet and buttery.

My new favorite teething treat!

So Squeak is approaching the 6 month mark. She has been eating baby food for a while now. She loves peas and carrots the best! She has a snack food called Mum-mums that are like rice crackers that she is also pretty fond of. We are now fully into teething. She gets the fever, the crying that only being held fixes, the swollen gums. Poor thing is miserable. I have people tell me ice cubes work, or jerky, or a wet washcloth or a host of other things. I have discovered though that Squeak loves frozen Apple slices. Now it can be a little messy as they thaw but man do they quiet her down and help her poor mouth feel better!!

Open mouth, insert Fritter

I had an insane sweet tooth craving last night. I really wanted donuts, but I don't have a deep fryer and all the recipes I found for baked donuts just sounded... Blah. Thought about beignets, but again no deep fryer. I finally found a recipe for fritters and went a-ha!

I diced up a cameo apple I had in the fridge, whipped together the fritters (I added both cinnamon and a dash of nutmeg). I didn't have any powdered sugar, but I made a light glaze with apple cider and sugar. I had a one (or two) while they were still hot and saved the rest for breakfast this morning. They were amazing both ways!

Easter Weekend Recap

The Boy and I went to town for our (now) weekly farmer's market trip, and I spent a few dollars more then last week but I'm not too shocked or surprised. I got more apples, including a hybrid breed called CrispGlo which are amazing! Seriously, if you can get your paws on some of these DO IT. The Boy is very picky about his apples (like his mama, he's a Cameo guy) but I had to hid these so I could use some of them for oh I don't know, cooking?!

My friend who is helping me with a little garden, and oh so kindly donating both land and work, should be finished up with the roto-tilling soon. Since he's putting in so much initial work, I offered to deal with some of the starts and things. I talked to one of the nursery owners, and settled on buying some starts. We are now the proud owners of carrots, lettuce, yellow Spanish onions, thyme, sage and chives. I'm probably forgetting something, but you get the gist.

I also bought some more Irises, and this bunch has the slightest tinge of blue and purples and might be prettier then the last. I made some of the apples into (yet more) apple butter, and tomorrow I'm going to take a shot at Apple Pie Filling. I would have attempted it today, but I didn't have nutmeg. And despite my protest that I think nutmeg is useless (mostly because I didn't have any) Gracie swore I need some or it wouldn't really taste right.

And today was also a bit of a celebration! Ryan the 2L and I have finished our Lent Fast and both managed to lose the 10% total weight loss bet. I still 'won' by 4% overall, but I don't think Ryan wants to admit it. Since today was the first real day I could eat 'whatever' I wanted, you can imagine I've been thinking it over for awhile. But this organic, self-sustaining thing is getting to me a bit and I couldn't force myself through the McDonald's drive-though. Or Jack in the Box. Or Taco Bell. And yes, a little piece of my soul died with it.

Instead, the Boy and I made Snickerdoodles! I found a pretty easy recipe on RecipeZaar and they came out gorgeous! The Boy had a ton of fun rolling the dough in the cinnamon mix, and they smelled like heaven coming out of the oven. The recipe is pretty easy, and luckily I could involve the Boy with little to no mess.

Oh how I love you, Apple Butter

After the Adventures at the Farmer's Market I had several pounds of beautiful cameo and granny smith apples, the great intention of making apple butter, and a brand spanking new pressure canner. There are a few flaws in this though, as I don't had no idea how to make apple butter and have never canned anything in my life.

Luckily for me, both issues where solved pretty quickly. I found a Apple Butter recipe in my Canning for Dummies book, and started reading through. 8 Large apples (I had 10), check. Ground cinnamon? Check. Sugar, canning salt? Check and Check. Cinnamon sticks...Apple cider? Crap. 30 mins. and one trip to the grocer later, I'm ready to put the plan in action.

I peeled 5 apples with a vegetable peeler, and was working on a pretty good hand cramp when my mom called. I was complaining about the peeler I bought when she very sweetly reminded me that was why we always used knifes. I promptly defended my vegetable peeler, and as quietly as I could grabbed my parring knife.

I finally had all the apples peeled, cored and sliced. I brought 4 cups of cider to a boil, dumped in the sliced apples brought it to a simmer and walked away. No, really. I stirred every once in a while for 45 minutes. Then I tossed in the salt, sugar, cinnamon and the cinnamon stick and walked away. Again. Then I funneled it into hot jars (it made just about 3 pints) threw on the (hot) lids and bands, and poof. Apple Butter.

I decided to pressure cook it because 1) I'm terrified I'm going to poison my friends and family and 2) I wanted to get the hang of it so when the veggies come in, I'm not panicking. Got the canner set up fine, and didn't have a single problem with the actual process. Gracie and I purchased the same canner, and in place of a pressure gauge this particular model has a pressure regulator. Which to me if a fancy way to say "weighted plug". You pick the pressure level you need, set the rings and go. It worked great, and was it was comforting to hear it whistling away on the stove. After their allotted time in the steam, I pulled the jars out, set them aside and let them cool overnight. Tested the seals, and they seem perfect. Today a friend of mine is coming by to pick up his freezer jam, and I'm going to give him some of the apple butter and canned pears as well. He loves it, so I know he'll be a good critic on how to change around the recipe if I need to.

Ladies and gentleman, I'm pleased to announce Operation Can Like Mad is a go.