52 NEW RECIPES in 2011 (#4)

Homemade Queso & Tortillas

I have to tell you that the pics are terrible.

I had planned on making chicken enchiladas with

homemade tortillas, but it sort of changed....sort of.

While on allrecipes.com, I found this recipe for QUESO.

Please note:  I made my chicken in the crockpot with mexican

seasonings all day before starting this quest.

Since I had fresh chicken broth, I used it in the queso instead

of water.  I also cut the recipe in 1/2...that cheese

is EXPENSIVE.

 Here are the ingredients for the TORTILLAS.

 4 cups of all purpose flour.

1/8 tsp. baking powder

1/2 cup shortening (I used lard)

1 cup lukewarm water w/ 1 1/4 tsp. salt dissolved in it

Mix the flour, baking powder and lard until crumbly. 

 Once it is crumbly, slowly pour in the warm water

and continue to mix with your hand.

It should start making a wetish dough...not

as dry as bread dough.

 Once you get a ball formed, let it rest for 20+ min.

covered with a warm wet towel.

(This is where I started making the QUESO)

 This picture is out of order....but too hard to try to move

it on this post....sorry.

Divide the dough into golf ball size balls.

 Pound the ball flat and then using a rolling pin, begin rolling it

out...ideally, you roll it into a circle.

Ideally, it will be a circle when finished.

Guess what...."ideally" went out the window

with me....they still taste the same!  :P

 Heat a griddle...NO OIL.

Carefully peel up the tortilla dough and place it in the pan.

Let it cook for oh about 15 - 20 seconds and then

flip it over and do another 15 - 20 seconds.

You have to make them enough to figure out how long to cook them.

I cooked mine too long and they were more like chips after they

dried.

Here is my routine:

Roll

Put in pan

While one is in pan, roll another tortilla

1/2 way thru the rolling, turn tortilla in pan

Finish rolling

Take tortilla out of pan

Put new one in the pan

Repeat until finished.

 I used the leftover peppers and onions by

adding them to some chopped up chicken and sauteing them

with a tad bit of butter to put into the enchiladas...or

burritos....I have no idea what they really were.

I used my fancy food processor to make the refried beans.....

I just threw a can of pinto beans in it with 1/4 cup of lard

and hit the pulse button.

I heated on the stove, added salt and pepper.

 I heated the taco chips in the oven at 325 degrees for 10 min.

I topped the enchiladas/burritos with the QUESO.

Topped that with some hot salsa.

Dear husband ate 2 plates of this stuff!

He had to rush out the door and I didn't get a picture

of his "review".

He said he would give it 4 thumbs up if he had 4 thumbs.

 Here is the QUESO.

Cutting the recipe in 1/2 was A LOT of QUESO.

You could easily cut it into 1/4 and have PLENTY.

 The kitchen was a pit!

With practice, this will get quite easy.

From start to finish it took 1 hour and 45 min. to

get the food to the table.

It took another 45 min. to clean the kitchen....GAH!

Will I make it again?

YES!!!

Next time, SOMEONE ELSE will clean the kitchen....

See?  I shaved 45 minutes off that easily!!!

 Regan gave it 2 thumbs up!

She only ate the bean burrito and QUESO.