Tacos and Corn Tortillas

We eat tacos almost every week. Tacos may seem complected when watching cooking shows and read taco meat recipes, but it doesn't have to be. If you go to a real Mexican Taquería, you get tacos for a dollar and in the tortilla there is meat, cilantro, onions, and salsa. Nothing else. So why make them so complex at home? We use leftover meat for our tacos and we always have cheese. This is an easy way to get Bebé to eat peas and spinach too. I heat the tortilla with cheese and veggies to make more of a quesadilla and he loves it.

TACOS

12 homemade corn tortillas (recipe below)
2 cups refried beans or 1 can
2 cups shredded chicken (leftovers from the chicken roasted the night before)
2 cups shredded roman lettuce
1 cup shredded jack cheese
salsa

Heat the beans and chicken by microwave or stove top. Dress your tortillas with beans, chicken, lettuce and cheese. Add salsa as desired.


As I've said before, corn tortillas have 2 ingredients, but there's a lot more to the technique. I've gotten really good at it because we eat corn tortillas every week so I practice all the time now. The key is to be patient, and if it doesn't work the 1st time, try again. Also, you do not have to have a tortilla press to make tortillas. As long as you have a large pan, you can make them. I have my Calphalon skillet and it works perfect.

CORN TORTILLAS
serving: 12 tortillas

ingredients:
2 cups masa harina like Maseca
1-2 cups warm water

equipment:
frying pan to flatten tortillas
2 pieces of wax papper
flat iron or large frying pan for cooking

In a bowl, pour the masa harina. Slowly add 1 cup of water and mix with your hands. Continue adding water until the masa is soft, but no longer sticky. Divide the masa into 12 rounds. Place 1 ball of masa between 2 piece of wax paper and flatten with the frying pan. Peel the top sheet of paper off and place the tortilla in your dry hand and peel the other side. Place tortilla flat on the hot iron skillet cook until lightly tanned on each side, about 2 minutes on each side.

TIPS:
If the masa is not moist enough it will crack. Test by getting a small ball of masa in your hand and flatten. If the sides begin to crack, add a little more water.
Keep masa moist by putting a damp cloth over the masa balls.
Keep hands dry by dusting hands with dry masa harina before placing the tortilla in your hand.
The tortillas do not need to be as thin as the store-bought kind. They will not come off the wax paper easily and only 1 tortilla will be needed for tacos instead of the 2 needed when using store-bought so they don't fall apart.