Texas Flour Tortillas

Ingredients:

• 4 cups of all-purpose flour 
• 3 teaspoons of baking powder
• 2 teaspoon of salt
• ¼ cup olive oil
• 1½ cups warm milk

Directions:

• Mix together the flour, baking powder, and salt.  Microwave the milk for 2 minutes and then whisk in the oil.  Dump the steaming milk and oil mixture into the flour and stir until a loose, sticky ball is formed.
• Using a rubber spatula, fold over and knead the dough ball in the bowl for no more than  two minutes.  Dough should be firm and soft and still warm from the milk. Do not over knead.
• Place dough in a bowl, cover with a cloth dampened with hot water, and let rest for 20 minutes.
• After the dough has rested, break off or cut sixteen sections, place on a plate or flexible rolling board (make sure they aren’t touching) and then cover balls with the cloth re-dampened with hot water10 minutes.  It’s very important to let the dough rest, otherwise it will be like elastic and won’t roll out to a proper thickness and shape.
• If making for the freezer, put each cut piece in a strip of wax paper, rolling up from one end for one complete turn, then wrapping both sides inward before rolling the rest of the way.
• If cooking immediately, sfter dough has rested, one at a time place a dough ball on a floured surface, pat it out into a four-inch circle, and then roll with a rolling pin from the center until it’s thin and about eight inches in diameter. Don’t over work the dough, or it’ll be stiff. Keep rolled-out tortillas covered until ready to cook or roll out each one before cooking.
• In a dry iron skillet, flat frying pan, or electric griddle, heated on high, cook the tortilla about thirty seconds on each side. It should start to puff a bit when it’s done.  They will draw up in size in the pan.  
• Keep cooked tortillas covered wrapped in a napkin until ready to eat.
• Tortillas can be reheated in a dry iron skillet, over your gas-burner flame, or in the oven wrapped in foil.  You can store in the fridge tightly wrapped in foil or plastic for a day or so.

Yield:  16

Source:  Rebecca Anne (Bettina Matilda) Boyles Kulp's recipe collection

Peanut Peanut Butter Cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cup flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 2/3 cups peanut butter chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Directions:

Stir together dry ingredients—flour, baking soda, and baking powder—in a small mixing bowl.  Beat together, egg, butter, peanut butter, sugar, and brown sugar in a larger mixing bowl.  Add in dry ingredients until thoroughly mixed.  Fold in peanut butter chips.

Drop onto a baking stone and cook until done, approximately 8-10 minutes.  My oven took 12 minutes.  They will look a bit not finished, but you don't want them golden brown.  If cooked properly, they will be crispy outside and soft inside.


Source:  Rebecca Anne (Bettina Matilda) Boyles Kulp

Red Lentil Dahl

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon sesame oil or olive oil
• 1 cup finely chopped white onion
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh ginger
• 4 cups water or vegetable broth
• 1 cup dried red lentils, rinsed and picked over
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon coriander
• 1 teaspoon tumeric
• 1/4 teaspoon cardamom
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/2 to 3/4 teaspoon salt to taste
• 2 teaspoons tomato paste or tomato sauce

Directions:

In a 3-quart sauteuse pan, heat the oil over medium heat. Once the oil is hot, add onion, garlic and ginger. Cook, stirring often, until the onions are translucent, about 6 minutes.

Stirring constantly, add the water or broth, lentils, spices and salt. Bring to a low boil, then turn down the heat to low, cover and let the soup simmer for about 20 minutes, or until lentils are very tender.  For a denser dahl, remove the lid for the final ten minutes.

Stir in the tomato paste until well combined. Cook several minutes more or until the soup is desired temperature and consistency, adding more water to the dahl if needed.

Alternatively, use 2 tablespoons of tomato sauce and add with the water and other spices.


Myrtle's Note:  I had this with Stonefire Tandor Baked Naan.  Thus far, I have tried six different brands of Naan and this is the first one I thought was close to what I have had in Indian restaurants.  I keep it frozen straight from the store.  I also used Roland Red Lentils.  They were small and delicate and delicious.  Finally, the recipe here also has the salt cut down a bit. Other than a wee bit salty, I found this to be really delicious ... even though I did not yet have the coriander! I made it with tomato sauce, not paste.

Yield:  4 servings


Source:  http://dairyfreecooking.about.com/od/soupschilistews/r/lentildahl.htm

Three Cheese and Balsamic Glaze Flatbread

Ingredients:

• Flatbread
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1/8 cup flour
• 2 cups hot milk
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 2-3 ounces gruyere cheese
• 1-1.5 teaspoons garlic paste
• 4 ounces brie cheese
• 4 ounces feta
• 1 tablespoon basil paste
• Balsamic glaze

Preheat Oven to 350 degrees


Directions:

Grate the gruyere cheese and set aside.  Cut the basil paste into the feta and set aside.  Trim the rind off of the brie cheese and slice into small pieces, approximately the size of a standard forever stamp, and set aside.

Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat, adding the garlic so that it can simmer in the butter. Once melted, slowly stir in the flour until smooth. Continue stirring as the flour cooks to a light, golden color, about 3 minutes.

Increase the heat to medium-high and slowly whisk the hot milk into the roux. Bring to a simmer, then reduce the heat to medium low. Continue simmering until the flour has softened and become completely smooth, about 10 to 15 minutes, stirring in the grated gruyere as it is nearly finished. Season with salt and nutmeg. Set the sauce aside.

[This will create enough base for approximately 3-4 flatbreads, so the leftover can be used for additional flatbreads (if you are multiplying the recipe) or in a pasta dish (I prefer lasagna made with béchamel base rather than a ricotta mix) or in the Croque Madame.]

Place flatbread on a baking stone and heat up for approximately 5 minutes to crisp up one side.  Flip so the crispy side is now the bottom. Spread béchamel sauce across the flatbread.  Place the slices of brie in rows down the flatbread.  Crumble the feta basil mix on top.  Generously drizzle (stripes and then diagonals) balsamic glaze on top.

Change oven to broil.  Broil until brie is melted and the edges of the flatbread golden brown.


Myrtle's Note:  I was trying to re-create an Archer Farms flatbread that was brie, balsamic glaze, and Italian cheese sauce. I looked everywhere, but could not figure out what "Italian cheese sauce" might mean, so I decided to use the idea of a béchamel sauce with gruyere that I learned about from Anna's magnificent Croque Madame.  However, I used a different béchamel recipe because I was looking for something I could halve easily.  From the Grilled Eggplant with Balsamic Vinegar, Basil, Feta and Grilled Baguette, I learned that warmed feta with basil was tasty, so I added it to the recipe.  And, of course, one can never go wrong with adding garlic when cooking with brie.


Yield:  1-4 servings (depending on if used as an appetizer or a side to a main dish or a funky personal pizza)


Source:  The béchamel sauce is a halved recipe from http://www.delallo.com/recipes/besciamella-béchamel.