Did you know you can fry flour tortillas to make a cheap and easy dessert or afterschool snack? We rarely have cookies in the house, so this is a nice substitute for when we have a craving for something sweet. It goes well with hot chocolate, and my personal favourite cold-weather beverage, hot vanilla (take superheated milk and add a splash of really good vanilla). Add sugar and it’s like drinking a marshmallow. Seriously.
Here’s how we make our fried tortilla dessert:
- Take one tortilla. (Fresher is better here.)
- Fry in a bit of oil you’ve swirled around a hot frying pan. It will puff up as it cooks. Flip it over after a minute or two and brown on both sides.
- Dust with icing sugar.
- You are done.
For awhile I was using cookie cutters to make fun shapes – circles and stars and diamonds – but Sarah reminded me recently that it’s fun to go freehand sometimes. This is her creation:
Not bad eh? And it tasted pretty good. :)
There’s been an important update! See update below!
Judging by the crickets in the comments on my recent post about the Extra Helping you’d think that there was no action in terms of new subscribers, but LO, there has been. Thank you to all you new folks who quietly subscribed. You sneaky quiet people! It’s hard to know what you’re up to! :)
As a thank you I’m giving away TWO gift certificates for a one hour massage with Lorrie Douthwright, RMT at Back in Balance here in Westboro. I wrote about her in a past issue of the Extra Helping. To summarize: She’s a wonder.
I have terrible posture, which is made worse by the fact that (a) I spend a lot of time hunched over my computer and (b) carry my stress around in my shoulders. Lorrie, a regular Fishbowl reader, was kind enough to give me a gift certificate earlier this summer. It took me MONTHS to redeem it (isn’t that sad?) but when I did, oy, it was fantastic. I WAS A LUMP OF DOUGH IN HER MAGICAL HANDS. Whether you get massages regularly or are a newbie, you will really like Lorrie. She’s a totally regular person, a mom of two school-age kids, who is very friendly and approachable and works hard to make you feel comfortable. I walked home feeling happy, limber, and stress-free. (For a change. Ha.)
Want to win one of the gift certificates? YES YOU DO. You deserve this! Or you maybe know someone who would like this too? (HELLO CHRISTMAS GIFT.)
- I’m giving one gift certificate away to one person who comments below, and another gift certificate to one Extra Helping subscriber. Is your name down in both places? No problem, it just means you have double the chance of winning. (By the way you can subscribe here if you’re keen.)
Some other details:
- This giveaway is open to anyone residing in the Ottawa area but is void in Quebec. (Here’s why.)
- A maximum of two entries per family please (one in the comments and one as a newsletter subscriber). We want lots of people to have the opportunity to win.
- Let me know if you can’t post your comment here or are unable to sign up for the newsletter. My email is andrea AT quietfish DOT com … however I cannot be responsible if your entry is misdirected or gets stuck in my Spam folder.
- I will do a random draw of (a) the comments below and (b) Extra Helping subscribers on Thursday December 1, 2011 at noon and contact the winners via email. It is entirely possible that one person can win both gift certificates!
- I will mail the gift certificate to each of the winners in a timely fashion.
- Update! Lorrie tells me that anyone who comments on this post will get $10 off a 60-minute massage when they book with her in January and February 2012. Thank you Lorrie!
That’s it! Over to you. Thank you Lorrie for these gift certificates too. Yay!
Personally, I think the snow should hold off until December 1. I don’t mind winter, but I’m totally not ready for it. I can’t find my mittens. Mark needs a scarf. And Emma needs new boots. Ack! At least one member in the family is happy. Er. Make that two.
More than ever, this turn of weather is making me crave comfort foods. I cooked a roast for the FIRST TIME yesterday (it turned out well!) but my biggest issue lately has been with the side dish side of things. I’m experiencing a bit of a dry spell, although perhaps “rut” is a more suitable word for it because it better describes the mindless journey of potato/tossed green salad/raw veggie platters that have been marching to the dinner table night after night after night.
I offered to cook Sunday dinner at my in-laws last week. I planned on making meatloaf so I was FORCED to address the side dish situation and make a real effort to find something good to go with it, above and beyond the usual mashed potatoes and sautéed carrots and green beans. And I think I hit upon a good combo. Let me know what you think.
(Click on the links for the full recipe. All are from Epicurious.com.)
- Mom’s Meat Loaf, which uses pork and beef, which I think works really well although it was a bit fall-apartish when it was sliced. (It made up for it by making an AMAZING lunch the next day.) I followed the recipe to the letter but ended up brushing the top with a mixture of chill sauce and brown sugar. It wasn’t called for in the recipe but it was a very smart move on my part, because it was excellent.
- Apple poppy-seed coleslaw, which was a perfect make-ahead dish but it made a LOT. I think the serving size is a massive understatement. I used Heritage Carrots I found at Farm Boy, which included a few purple and yellow ones and it added some great colour. And for goodness sakes, check your teeth after you eat this.
- Sesame green bean “salad.” A keeper. Woot!
- Mustard-roasted potatoes. It was good, but I’m not 100% sure it was worth the extra effort. (Normally I’d just slice the baby potatoes in half and throw them in the oven with a bit of olive oil and some rosemary and S & P sprinkled on top.)
Everything came together nicely and I was very happy with my menu plan. I think I might have to pull a repeat performance. Tell me, what do you serve with meatloaf? Inquiring minds want to know!
