Inspired again

I've been inspired again to get back to the blog. Would you believe that after 5 months (whoops!) it was a tamale to get me back on here? I went to a winter farmers market this morning and there was a vendor selling freshly made Mexican food. I got a chicken tinga tamale and some guacamole to go for lunch. As soon as I got home, I opened the husk and the aroma and steam hit me. I took a bite and I'm pretty sure the world stopped for a minute. The tamales I've had in the past were good, but always, always dry. Not this one. It was moist and flavorful and fresh. I inhaled the rest, along with the guacamole, every bite reaffirming my love of good food. That's when I thought about the blog again.

Please excuse the less than stellar cell-phone pic. These were my other finds from the market: vegan trail mix cookies, thick-cut maple cinnamon bacon and turmeric kombucha! Such a wide variety of vendors, it was awesome!

It's not that I haven't been cooking, just a lot has happened since my last post! Weeks were spent tending to those flowers I planted only to find that nothing but weeds would grow - just in case anyone was wondering... J and I traveled to Iceland and ate our way through the country (I suppose I should do a recap post on our foodie finds). I also moved about 30 miles closer to work. That was a big transition, to say the least. Then the holidays came and went, with lots of cookies being consumed. Seriously, lots. Even for breakfast. It was glorious. Not surprisingly, my stomach problems have flared up again. 

I'm currently embarking on a elimination diet, getting rid of common allergens and then reintroducing foods one at a time to see what the culprit is. This is certainly the cleanest I've ever eaten, which is a pretty big accomplishment I think. But my love of good food has brought out my creativity in the kitchen and I refuse to let the lack of gluten, dairy, soy, peanuts (gasp! the horror), etc, get in the way of making a delicious meal. 

To go with my tamale lunch, I decided to go with a Mexican dinner. The star of the show was a stack of quinoa tortillas, adapted from this recipe.

Yield: 3 tortillas (I scaled down to make this just enough for me)

Ingredients:

1 1/3 cups quinoa flour (I ground quinoa and measured out the proper amount)

1/4 cup GF flour blend (I used Namaste Foods)

1/3 tsp salt (not that I measured, I just used a little heaping pinch)

1/2 tsp olive oil 

1/2 cup hot water (plus a little extra in case the dough is dry)

Directions:

Combine all of the ingredients in a bowl and mix until the dough holds together and is smooth. Divide into three dough balls.

If you happen to have a tortilla press, by all means break it out now! If you don't, flatten your dough balls slightly and place in between a piece of folded parchment paper. Grab a saucepan a press down on the dough until it's flat. Alternatively you could roll out the dough. I'm not able to get them super flat this way, but I really don't care. I like that they're a little thicker, it certainly makes them more filling.

Place tortillas in an ungreased pan on medium heat until they brown on one side. The recipe said to cook for 1 minute, but mine were a little thick, so they went about 5 minutes. Flip and cook on the other side. The charred bits are my favorite, so if you're with me on the slightly browned train, let them sit in the pan a little longer. 

Easy, right? How have I not done this sooner? They are so flavorful, too. The salt is key to this recipe, in my humble opinion. 

No this isn't all I ate, just a late night snack of the leftovers! Pardon the nibbled tortilla on the top of the stack...