Clean Whole Wheat Tortillas

In an effort to eat clean, I had to find a way to make tortillas. In case you have not read the back of a bag of flour tortillas lately... let me inform you. You are hard pressed to find one with less than 15 ingredients. Most of which you can not pronounce. So I found this recipe and I really like it. The tortillas were very yummy. We filled them with m favorite new chicken fajita crock-pot recipe! Delicious! Here is what I did:

Tortilla Recipe-
6 cups whole wheat flour (divided into 4 cups and 2 cups)
2 tsp. salt
½tsp. baking powder
2 cups warm water
½ cup oil (olive)
Mixing: In a large bowl, or the Ninja in my case.. combine 4 cups of flour, salt, baking powder, and mix. Add water and mix some more. Mix in 1½ cups of the remaining flour, and then only enough additional flour to form a very slightly sticky dough.
With floured fingers, shape the dough into golf-ball sized balls, or smaller for an 8-inch press. If you have a helper, they can begin pressing right away. Otherwise, make all your balls and place them on a flat surface and cover them with plastic wrap to keep them from drying out as you press.  Dough balls should sag a little as they are waiting to be pressed.

Pressing tortillas:Place a ball slightly off-center in the press (a little closer to the hinged side).  Close the press and push down hard on the handle. You'll see that your ball has spread very thin and filled the full circle of your press. Place each tortilla in a pan heated to medium high for 1-2 mins per side. You could also use your skillet. I used both to make it go quicker. Also, if you don't have a press you can roll out your tortillas with a rolling pin and plastic wrap. They will store in a plastic bag for several days.

I stored mine in a zip bag.

Crock Pot Chicken Fajita's-

• 1 yellow onion, sliced
• 3 sweet peppers, sliced
• 1 ½ pounds boneless chicken breast or thighs
• 1/4 to ½ cup chicken broth, depending on preference (leave this out if you prefer a drier fajita filling)
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons cumin
• 1 ½ tablespoons chili powder
• Squirt of lime juice

1. Combine sliced onion and peppers in the bottom of a greased crockpot.
2. Lay chicken on top of veggies.
3. Pour chicken broth over top.
4. Sprinkle everything with cumin, salt, and chili powder.
5. Give a nice quirt of lime juice over the top.
6. Cover and cook on low for 4-8 hours (or on High for 4 hours) or until meat is shreddable.
7. When meat is done, shred with two forks and stir back into juices. 

The Ninja

I finally bit the bullet and bought a Ninja. I researched them extensively first of course. I waited and watched until I got a good deal, and let me tell you.. I. LOVE. THIS. THING.

Here is the one I chose.

I wanted to make nut butters, and smoothies and dough. I needed a versatile machine. So I picked this one. So far I have made:

Clean Mayo

Garlic Hummus

Clean whole wheat waffles

Peanut Butter

Almond butter

Bullet proof coffee

Clean whole wheat tortillas

We have also made countless smoothies and juice blends, bread dough, pizza dough and butter.This thing will do anything! I love making my own products so that I am not pumping me or my kids full of preservatives and chemicals. Especially since Kennedy is allergic to citric acid. 

Recipes:

Clean Mayo- 

1 Egg (room temperature...this is important)

1/2 tsp Lemon Juice (could use vinegar instead)1/4 tsp Sea Salt3/4 c. Oil  (Choose organic.  Could use olive oil, coconut oil or palm oil)

• 4 garlic cloves, minced

• 2 cans (15 ounces) chickpea (garbanzo) beans, drained and rinsed

• 2/3 cup roasted tahini

• 1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

• 1/2 cup water

• 1/4 cup high quality extra virgin olive oil

• 1/2 tsp sea salt

Crack egg into Ninja. Turn the Ninja on. When egg begins to fluff and turn a lighter yellow color, add lemon juice and salt.  Once salt and juice are whisked in well, slowly drizzle a thin, continuous stream of oil into the mixer while beating. It's best to use a cruet here. Or improvise like I did and use one of the kids sport bottle cups... drizzle it in until oil is gone. Store in fridge. 

Garlic Hummus-

Combine all the ingredients in the Ninja. Blend for several minutes until very smooth. 

Nut Butters-

Use one pound of dry roasted, plain nuts. Make sure you are using dry roasted with no added oils! Add nuts to Ninja and blend for 5-10 mins depending on the nut. Almond butter needs a tablespoon of coconut oil added as well. Your peanut butter will need salt added as well. Store nut butters in fridge. 

Bullet Proof Coffee-

1 cup brewed coffee

1 teaspoon butter

1 teaspoon coconut oil

Blend for a few seconds in the ninja. This will keep you full all morning long!

*Whole wheat tortilla recipe is in the next blog.