Making Homemade Tortilla's

I make my own tortilla's. It is amazing how easy they are. I have a simple recipe that makes about 50 tortilla's. You can divide it in half if you chose to do so. It is easy. Measure out 8 cups of flour in a bowl, if you have a Bosch Mixer pour it in the mixing bowl. Add 3 tsp. of salt and 2/3 cup of oil, blend together with dough hook. Then add 3 cups of hot water. As hot as you can get it out of the tap. Mix all together. If you have a Bosch Mixer mix enough to get all the liquid mixed into the flour. Do not over mix, I can't stress that enough. Do not over mix. Just mix until flour is all mixed in. If you are doing it by hand do the same. Make sure the dough is very soft. You may have to add another tiny bit of hot water. About 2 tbsp. Your next step is to form into balls. About the size of a golf ball. Let them all sit covered for about 30 minutes. Then roll them out. A little rolling pin is the greatest thing to use. Because you can actually make them into a circle. Have fun.

Cleaning Glass Top Stoves

Cream of Tartar is an excellent cleaner. Just add a little water make a paste and rub on the class top burners. Let is sit for at least 15 minutes befor you try to clean it. Make sure that your burners are a little warm when you do this, it makes things work better.

Clean Your Oven

To clean an oven preheat to 200 degrees. Leave it on for about 10 minutes. Turn off the oven. Dump some ammonia into the oven and let sit for 30 minutes. Everything will wipe right off. I usually dump enough ammonia in to cover all the bad spots on the bottom of the oven.

Pink Eye or Any Eye Irriation

The best remedy for this one is Boric Acid. It comes in a powder and you can find it at most pharmacies. We found it at Rit Aid. Mix a little over 2/3 of a tsp. with one cup of water. Dip a clean rag into the solution and wipe out the eye. Do this a couple of times a day. For my daughter it took one day of doing it twice. Good luck!

Amazing Muffins

I have a Sister-in-law that is amazing when it comes to cooking. In a way we should all think like her. If you have a problem with something figure it out and change it. My daughter went to her house and she had incredible muffins there. She asked how did you make those. Sil answered simply well what is wrong with your muffins. Daughter answered they are dry and don't rise well. Sil said add more levening and more liquid. Here is picture and the recipe my daughter came up with for all to use.

HEALTHY PUMPKIN CHOCOLATE CHIP MUFFINS

3 cups White Wheat Flour (High altitude add 1/3 cup more)

1 1/4 cups White Sugar

2 tsp Baking Powder

2 tsp Baking Soda1

1/2 tsp Cinnamon

1 tsp Salt

1/2 tsp Nutmeg

2 Eggs

1 (15 ounce) Can Solid Pack Pumpkin

1/2 cup Unsweetened Applesauce

1/4 cup Oil

1 cup Chocolate Chips (or Walnuts, which are a great substitute!)

1 1/2 cup Warm Water

Mix together dry ingredients and wet ingredients separately. Then combine wet and dry ingredients.

Mix enough to incorporate the wet and dry ingredients. Do not over mix. Handle as little as possible once the wet and dry ingredients are combined. Then add Chocolate Chips or Walnuts to the mixture. Coat 12 average size muffin cups with nonstick cooking spray. Fill till heaping with muffin batter. Bake at 350 degrees F for 22-25 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Don't open the oven door, except near the end of the cooking time to check for doneness, or stomp around the kitchen because the muffins can easily flunk. Let the muffins cool for 5 minutes before removing from the tins. Then let cool on a wire rack.

Something To Help A Headache

Drink water. My son has had problems with headaches ever since he was little. If I made him sit down and get a quart of water and sip it his headache would soon disappear. I believe a headache comes from dehyration and it is the bodies way of saying I need liquid. Another way is 2 cups of Gatorade. You will notice an immediate difference.

Hints For Baking Bread

When baking bread it is always best to cook on a lower temperature, because then the bread will cook from the inside to the outside. You can preheat your oven on 400 degrees, when you are ready to put the bread in turn it down to 325. Cook for 30 minutes. Of course if you are absent minded like me you can just preheat it to 350 and cook it for 30 minutes. It works great either way.

Adjust Your Cookie Recipe

This comes from the cookie lady as well. In all recipes she adds equal parts of margarine, butter and shortening. This makes your cookies chewy rather that puffy or flat. So if your recipe calls for 1 cup of butter add 1/3 cup of shortening, 1/3 cup of margarine, 1/3 cup of butter. It makes them great.

Baking Cookies

I have a friend and she is called the cookie lady. She makes incredible cookies. Here is a help hint that might help your cookies be better. She cooks her cookies on 400 degrees for about 8 minutes. It makes the cookie done on the outside and chewy in the middle.

A Problem With Serging Thread Constantly Breaking

My daughter called me on the phone the other day and happened to be sewing while I was talking. She kept getting frustrated. I said,Why are you so frustrated? She announced that everytime she had to re-thread her serger the threads just keep breaking. I said, "Don't you know that you have to have all the threads threaded and totally seperate from each other, then make sure they are all pulled a few inches behind the pressure foot. "So each one has to start at where it is threaded all the way to the back totally seperate from the other." Well she made sure that was the case and announced, "Why haven't you ever told me that". We as a family have been sewing for years and I just assumed she knew, because she had watched me so many times. Glad I was able to help.

Threading Sergers

I've worked with sergers for many years and have learned a few techniques to make threading them easier. Cut the thread close to the spools which are already attached. Then tie each new strand of thread to the old strand that is hanging, that you have cut off. The next step is either to serger them through or pull each one through seperately. The knot won't go through the small headed needles so you will have to thread them by hand. But a whole lot easier then doing all 4.