My plan for tonight was to use the mushrooms, spinach and green onions from yesterday’s produce delivery to make quesadillas. I could also dice some of the smoked ham steak in the refrigerator to add smoke to the dish. Best laid plans. I didn’t make it to the store to buy the tortillas on my grocery list, so I was faced with a big decision (for me).
Do I make a special trip to the grocery store for tortillas?
– or –
Do I make flour tortillas from scratch without saturated fats?
You see, flour tortillas are traditionally made with lard. Today, most recipes call for shortening, which is pure trans fat (aka EVIL in this house). Some vegans would use palm oil 0r coconut oil, but that still leaves the question of whether any fat that is solid at room temperature is good to have in one’s arteries. Hint: if you’re unsure, check out the just released, updated nutrition guidelines! Of course, store bought flour tortillas have these same limitations. It’s just that I am not capable of making these from scratch the same way. Call it my obsessed public health perspective, insanity, whatever…. I can’t do it. I know, I know…this is hypocrisy! It is actually probably better for me to make the tortillas with lard than to buy them that way, but that will never happen. Something about public health training and all that!
Back to the dilemma! A special trip to the grocery store in rush hour, which would consume fossil fuels (even in my hybrid vehicle) and my peace of mind (a natural resource more precious than oil), or a foray into homemade flour tortillas with a monounsaturated oil (e.g., olive, peanut)? I chose the latter, substituting olive oil for the shortening in a traditioanl recipe, and the dough came together so beautifully that I wondered why I’d ever hesitated. This recipe is a keeper!
Fast forward one hour, when it was time to form the tortillas: the littlest chef really got into pressing the tortillas in the tortilla press! For those of you who still don’t own one of these, take it from me. I procrastinated about 10 years in buying one, and 10 years and about $10 later, I can’t believe I waited so long!
The littlest chef LOVED pressing the tortillas. Her mama and her mama’s trusty cast iron skillet couldn’t keep up!
She liked the tortilla-making so much that she’s having the one leftover tortilla for breakfast tomorrow, spread with peanut butter & jam, rolled up, and cut into spirals (hope you’re taking notes, Daddy!). We may be changing our Super Bowl menu to Quesadilla Party! Stay tuned!
