Recipe

Name: Tortilla Berry Hand Pies
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 20 min
Yield: 5 people
Ingredients: 3 cups vegetable oil; TortillaLand® Uncooked Flour Tortillas; 1 lb. of berries • Strawberries, raspberries & blackberries; 2 tablespoons AP flour; 2 tablespoons cinnamon sugar; small bowl of water

Let’s Say Oui to ME Time • Oui by Yoplait

4 · Sep 4, 2017 · 2 Comments

As much as I adore my kiddos, there are times when I need a special ME treat! Do you ever feel that way? This post is brought to you by the amazing folks at Yoplait, because they know that sometimes, we need to say Oui (French for YES) to ME time!

Disclaimer + This post is sponsored by Yoplait. However, all thoughts, ideas and opinions are my very own.

My kiddos are cute, they’re crazy, goofy and silly. Sometimes they’re grumpy and quite frankly they turn into pills at times. This little guy is a ball of energy, when that energy is directed towards good, he brings such light into our home. BUT… If that energy is a negative energy man-oh-man, his energy can turn negative rather quickly. It’s like it’s his super power. Jekyll & Hyde ring any bells? Toss him into a home with three teenage sister and it can turn into a powder keg for sure.

It’s true magic when we are all together and having fun just being together, but… When the wind is blowing from the east or someone’s foot touches someone else’s personal space, WATCH OUT! Think super collider!

We had one of those super collider days a few weeks ago, right before school started again. Actually, I believe it was the last Friday before school started the following Monday. We were all on each other’s last nerve. We had just returned home from a two week long road trip and we decided at the last minute to paint a couple of the girl’s rooms in our new house. Brilliant! Not our best move…

That afternoon, I just couldn’t take it anymore. I needed a break. I needed some ME time. I needed a treat. I didn’t know what. I didn’t want something full of sugar, but I still wanted it to feel decadent. I wanted it to be special.

The closest store to our home is Walmart and I decided to head there. I really don’t know why I chose Walmart, other than it was the closest place that was easy to escape to and I could wander the aisles aimlessly until I found that special something that could get me out of this bad attitude. Mom needed a timeout!

I wandered to the bakery, nothing looked tempting. I hit the candy aisle, again nothing hit the mark. Freezer section, nothing. I wanted something cool & creamy, not too sweet, something that tasted real.

I rounded the corner into the dairy section at Walmart and it hit me… I knew exactly what I wanted to help wash away the frustrations of the day, Oui by Yoplait.

I saw this new yogurt and before I even registered what it was, I knew that was what was going to hit the spot. It was so cute and you know how much I LOVE great branding. It was creamy French style yogurt in a little glass jar. I had found my ME moment with Oui by Yoplait without even trying! It was like this beautiful yogurt was created just for ME!

Of course, I immediately grabbed some of my favorite flavors; lemon, black cherry, vanilla & strawberry and headed home to enjoy my new found treat.

You may find it a little weird but, my children have been trained after 7 years of blogging, if Mom comes in the house with something and she says that, “it’s for the blog,” they WILL NOT touch it. In 7 years of blogging, I have never taken advantage of that… Until now! You guys, this yogurt is so good! Yoplait has hit it out of the park with this one. It’s thick, creamy and not too sweet and boy, I’m not going to share!

It’s made the traditional French way with simple, straight forward ingredients. The vanilla flavored Oui by Yoplait is made with; milk, cane sugar, yogurt cultures (L. bulgaricus and S. thermophilus) and vanilla extract. That’s it!

Their cows that produce the whole milk are feed a Non-GMO diet. The fruit is REAL, nothing is artificial. The French believe the measure of good food is the pleasure and joy it brings to life. That is exactly what I needed at that moment. Something cool, creamy & subtly sweet to bring back the joy that I needed to go back home to be with my family, with the right attitude in tow.

Will I start to share? Nope, as far as I’m concerned… These little pots belong to me. They are extra special and for those times when I need something extra special to bring that joy back into my day. Yoplait knew exactly what you and I needed to make our days extra special!

Preserving Inspiration in Indiana with Newell Brands Makers of Ball® Fresh Preserving Products

7 · Aug 31, 2017 · Leave a Comment

With a rich history of canning in my family, preserving the history of canning has become a new passion of mine. Come learn about what I learned on a quick visit Indiana with Newell Brands, makers of Ball® Fresh Preserving Products, a few weeks ago…

This post brought to you by the folks at Newell Brands, makers of Ball® Fresh Preserving Products

I grew-up watching my Mom and Dad in the kitchen during the late summer, toiling over the stove and sink where they were preserving our family’s favorite peaches. It was always an all-day affair with the kitchen loaded with boxes of fresh Colorado peaches straight from the orchards on the western slope of Colorado. My Dad spent some of his youth in Palisade, Colorado, a small town on the western slope that is famous for its peaches. He had family members that owned orchards and he spent many summers working the trees and hauling in the fuzzy fruit. He would talk about that peach fuzz and how awful it was to get all that fuzz stuck up your nose as you worked in the orchard all day. That just makes me squirm even thinking about it.

Every year, the first item on our canning list was to can peaches. Peaches, peaches and more peaches. Our family could never have enough. My parents would also preserve pears, and make jelly and jam from the elderberry bush in our yard and from the crabapple tree in the front. My Dad put in a huge garden and they would pickle cucumbers and beets. All such amazing memories. We had a small storage room in our basement where my Dad built rough shelves out of wood planks and cinderblocks. That is where the summer’s harvest would live until my Mom would send one of us girls down to the basement to grab a bottle of peaches, pickles or whatever her fancy was for our meal.

As a child, I never knew how special it was to have such traditions in our home. As we got older and busier, my Mom went back to work and sadly some of those traditions took a back seat and the skills didn’t quite make the jump to my kitchen. What a sad state really, for years, I have let the bounty of Summer be just that, the bounty of SUMMER. I haven’t had those days of canning in my kitchen with my kiddos, teaching them how to preserve the flavors of Summer for another most likely cooler day.

Well, all of that is about to change! The passion is back in a big way and I can’t wait to share. I was approached by the lovely folks at Newell Brands, makers of Ball® Fresh Preserving Products to come to Indiana, the home of the brand, and learn from their experts how to can for this year’s #CanItForward day. Of course, I was thrilled to learn more and couldn’t wait to travel to Indiana to learn more about their passion for preserving.

We learned about the history of the brand and we had the opportunity to tour their warehouse and packing facility.

Later, we met with Jessica Piper, the canning expert in the beautiful brand test kitchen to learn how to safely preserve some of our favorite fruits and vegetables.

Jessica and I actually filmed a great segment for Can-It Forward Day on the basics of canning. We made some simple Mixed Berry Jam. I learned sooooo much, you should check it out on their Facebook page.

A couple of things that I took away from that experience…

•Canning is so much easier than I thought

•You don’t have to can super large amounts of fruits and vegetables, you can preserve small batches

•Preserving needs to be precise

I’ll share more about those along with other gems I learned in the coming months. I’ve loaded up my pantry with all kinds of fun Ball® jars and I’ve purchased the official Newell Brands, makers of Ball® Fresh Preserving Products, cookbooks and I’m ready to start to #CanItForward!

For more great videos to learn canning basics OR to brush up on your canning knowledge visit their Facebook page for more videos from other bloggers that are a part of the Fresh Preservers program like Garden Betty, COOKIE + Kate and Food in Jars.

Disclosure + I am a paid partner for Newell Brands, makers of Ball® Fresh Preserving Products. However, all thoughts and opinions expressed are entirely my own.

Tortilla Desserts Two Ways • Berry Hand Pies + Baked Tortilla Sundae Bowl

13 · May 5, 2017 · 6 Comments

Find yourself looking for some easy dessert options? Did you know that you can find uncooked tortillas at Costco from TortillaLand®? You CAN, and you can create all kinds of fabulous tortilla desserts with them! Come learn all about the Baked Tortilla Sundae Bowl & Easy Berry Hand Pies…

Post brought to you by • TortillaLand®

The Secret to Finding the BEST Tortillas

Have you ever hit one of your favorite stores, let’s say Costco (because it’s one of mine) and found a product that at the time seemed a little understated and yet, turned into a magical find? That’s what happened to me several years ago when I was walking through the refrigerated section of Costco and discovered a small little section in-between the bacon and orange juice. What I found truly intrigued me, TortillaLand® Fresh Uncooked Tortillas… What?

Why would anyone have the need for uncooked tortillas? In our fast paced world, doesn’t that mean a few extra precious steps. “Honey, would you like a quesadilla? Hold on for a minute, I need to cook the tortilla first.” In my mind, I had a hard time figuring out what the benefit would be to buying uncooked tortillas. However, my adventurous self won the day. I wanted to learn WHY someone would go through the trouble of cooking their own tortillas when from what I knew, the already cooked ones were just fine.

That’s the key phrase though… JUST FINE. When I prepared my first TortillaLand® tortilla and tasted it, all of a sudden, just fine was no longer good enough. There is magic to cooking your own tortillas. It truly only takes an extra 60 seconds to cook and they taste warm, light, full of the flavor that tortillas are supposed to have. Somehow, unlocking those flavors right before you plan on eating them is the best way to have a tortilla! Whether you are using it for a humble quesadilla or creating some tasty desserts with them, the old saying is true… Fresh is best!

Another thing I absolutely love about TortillaLand® tortillas, they only have 5 simple ingredients. I don’t know if you’ve ever checked out the ingredients on your other tortillas but, they are full of all kinds of crazy stuff like soy for example. Now, I know that the origins of tortillas didn’t not include soy or preservatives. I have been recently diagnosed with several food allergies and soy is on my list of foods I can no longer have, along with yeast. When I found out about the yeast thing I thought, that’s alright, I will just eat tortillas instead. Sadly, when I went to my local markets and started reading the ingredients of all of the prepared tortillas, they ALL contained soy. I was shocked. I was now faced with no longer being able to enjoy bread AND tortillas. It was a tad bit heart breaking.

Years before, when we lived in Vegas, much closer to a Costco, we used the TortillaLand® tortillas all of the time, our family loved them. Right now our nearest Costco is about an hour away so we don’t get to shop there often. (They’re building one close to our house this year and we are thrilled!) Anyway, we drove up to Costco to check things out last weekend. I was curious to see what I would find on the Tortilla Land ingredient list. Sure enough, my beloved TortillaLand® tortillas did not contain soy or any crazy fillers, just FIVE simple ingredients; wheat flour, water, canola oil, salt and sugar. Honestly, that is as close to the original tortilla recipe as you can get. I was over the moon excited!! I gabbed a package (they contain 50 lovely fresh, uncooked tortillas that you can freeze by the way) and ran home to see what I could make with these tasty gems.

Tortilla Recipe Ideas

Now, wrap your mind around this… With fresh uncooked tortillas the sky’s the limit. You are the master of this tortillas destiny. You can cook it according to the package directions and make all kinds of stuff; breakfast burritos, quesadillas for a quick snack, burritos or soft tacos for dinner.

You can make a peanut butter and jelly roll-up for the kiddos after school or make some beautiful pinwheels as an appetizer for your next party. With the nature of the fresh uncooked tortilla, you can now make your own flautas & chimichangas as well. Really, you can cook all kinds of stuff.

Tortilla Dessert Two Ways

Having being limited as to what I could eat due to my new eating challenges, I decided the first item that I would make must be DESSERT! After playing around with a few ideas, I’ve come up with dessert two ways.

I created some beautiful tortillas bowls in the oven that don’t use a drop of oil, just the natural heat from the oven. Then I deep fried some fruity hand pies that turned out like scrumptious filled sopapillas, YUM!!

Tasty Cinnamon Sugar Tortilla Bowl Sundae

The trick for the tortilla bowl is to drape them over an oven safe bowl our jar. I used some canning jars because I know that they are heat tempered and wouldn’t have an issue in the oven. I made sure they were clean, then draped the tortilla over the bottom of the jar. The trick to the bowl holding it’s shape is to not butter or grease the bottom of the jar. You actually want it to “stick” to the bottom of the jar. If it doesn’t it will fill with air in the oven and then fall off of the jar. If it sticks a little bit on the base it will make a perfect bowl for you. Don’t worry, they will come off the jar with just a little help after they have cooled.

When ready to serve, brush them with melted butter and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar if you like. Then fill them with your favorite ice cream and fruit for a fabulous summer treat! Here’s a quick video to show you how I make them…

Scrumptious Tortilla Berry Hand Pies

Now, for our second option… This is dessert is equally as scrumptious and super easy as well. It’s kind of a mix between a sopapilla and a hand pie.

They couldn’t be easier to make, watch this video recipe so see how to make your own tortilla pies. The full recipes will follow the video.

Tortilla Land Berry Hand Pies from Heather Thoming on Vimeo.

Want to win a Costco Cash Card so that you can go load-up on some scrumptious TortillaLand® Tortillas? Click this link for your chance to win TortillaLand $25 Costco Cash Card Giveaway

Tortilla Dessert Recipes

1 vote

Tortilla Berry Hand Pies

Prep 10 mins

Cook 10 mins

Total 20 mins

Yield 5 people

Nothing better than the sweet taste of summer berries wrapped in a uncooked tortilla a cooked to perfection!

Ingredients

3 cups vegetable oil
TortillaLand® Uncooked Flour Tortillas
1 lb. of berries • Strawberries, raspberries & blackberries
2 tablespoons AP flour
2 tablespoons cinnamon sugar
small bowl of water

Instructions

Prepare your berries by washing, removing leaves and stems. Cut into bite sized pieces if needed.
Place berries into a medium sized bowl and mix with flour and 1 tablespoon of cinnamon sugar. Set aside.
Pour oil into a sauce pan, and place over medium high heat until it reaches 350˚
Cut tortillas in half.
In one of the tortillas halves place a large spoonful of the berry mixture.
Dip your clean finger into the bowl of water and lightly we the outside edge of the tortilla.
Fold tortilla in half and then crimp with a folk.
Place 1-2 of the hand pies into the 350˚ oil and fry on both sides until nice and brown.
Remove from the oil and let sit on a paper towel to drain any excess oil.
Sprinkle the hand pies with cinnamon sugar
Let cool and serve.

Courses Dessert

Disclaimer // This post is written by me on behalf of Tyson Foods, Inc. All opinions are entirely my own. This shop has been compensated by Acorn Influence, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone.

Cheesy Salsa and Green Onion Dip Recipe

10 · Dec 20, 2016 · Leave a Comment

Everyone loves a good party dip and no, I’m not talking about your crazy uncle. I’m talking about those scrumptious treats that go so well with veggies and chips. It’s not an everyday thing, it’s one of those tasty treats that you enjoy when celebrating with family and friends. I’ve even attended parties focused solely on a dip recipe. Ever been to a “12 Dips of Christmas” party? It’s a great way to enjoy all kinds of goodies in one night. I’m a kind of girl that really loves to have a little taste of everything rather than sitting down to one meal so that kind of party really appeals to me. With that in mind, I thought together, with my favorite Old El Paso friends, I would put together a great dip that everyone will love!

This Cheesy Salsa and Green Onion Dip will be the perfect addition to your next get together! The fact that it’s a cinch to make and you can make it ahead of time is another bonus!

• You can find the full Cheesy Salsa and Green Onion Dip Recipe at Old El Paso •

Here’s what you’ll need…

You can get the full list of ingredients at the link above.

1st important item, make sure your cream cheese is at room temperature. Then add it to your mixing bowl and whisk until nice and smooth.

Next, add your green onion.

Then add the Old El Paso Taco Seasoning.

Next up, add the Old El Paso Thick n’ Chunky Salsa & the Old El Paso Taco Sauce.

Finally you’ll add the cheese and mix it well.

Serve with your favorite veggies and chips!

Disclaimer // I am an Old El Paso Ambassador and this post was sponsored. As always, I will never post about a company or product that I don’t truly believe in!