I wish I were Mexican.

As much Mexican food as I devour, I should be given Mexican citizenship. I am seriously a Mexican food lover to the max. Trevor gets really sick of Mexican food quickly so I always have to play it safe and not over do it or else he will never let me make it! Back home, I was blessed with a family who put up with my Mexican tendencies and made Mexican for me at least once a week. It was always our "Cheap" meal too... so I never thought some of the ingredients would be so expensive!! I mean, Tortillas are SOOO expensive! 3 dollars for eight tortillas?? That's ridiculous. Maybe I'm shopping at the wrong store but either way... ridiculous! We decided that we would try and make our own tortillas for this Mexican meal. I've only had homemade tortillas once-- in Alaska-- and so I was eager to try them.

Tortilla Recipe:

http://www.texasrollingpins.com/tortillarecipe.html

They were delicious! I recommend everyone to try that recipe! There are a lot of variations of tortilla recipes depending on the amount of warm water you use and whether or not you use lard or shortening. I had shortening in the house so I used shortening. Trevor and I also like our tortillas crispy, so I cooked them in a little ( and I mean LITTLE ) bit of vegetable oil. I don't have any tortilla "kits" or equipment to make tortillas. I dont even have a rolling pin! Instead I substituted a rolling pin for a regular old can (you know, the cans that hold peas or corn) and rolled it as thin as I possibly could. I then stuck the tortillas on a pan on medium heat with the oil. They cook really quickly, so it was hard for me to keep up with rolling and frying so I had to be fast. Trevor also likes to cook his tortillas in the grease left over from the meat. Not my cup of tea (Does make a good tortilla... but really fatty and greasy!) but he said to make sure I mention that. Give it a shot if you want. 

We used the taco seasoning meat you can buy at the stores for like 50 cents but the last time we made tacos we didnt have any. Trevor improvised with what we had and it turned out amazing! He used brown sugar, onion, garlic and a half a packet of chili seasoning. He let the meat cook just like a normal taco seasoning. As a side, we had both Spanish rice and Hominy. The Spanish rice was on sale for 75 cents at Weis (the grocery store across the street from our house) and was from the Simply Sides collection. Alternatively, we could've used our white rice that we had and just cooked it and added tomato sauce. But we were going for quick and cheap and Simply Sides achieved that and it was pretty good. I am a huge fan of Hominy where as Trevor has only had it once and didnt like it. I hope to change that but I doubt it'll happen. I like to make my Hominy minimalist style.... half a tablespoon of butter and about a pinch of salt. Delicious.. but when is Mexican not?! :)

What is your taco seasoning recipe? If you try the tortilla recipe, let me know what you think! I am eager to hear peoples opinions as well as different approaches to homemade tortillas :)

--Nicole