- rolling out the tortillas with corn flour and a plastic barrier
- use spatula to scrape the tortilla off the rolling surface
- delicious lunch – corn tortilla topped with leftover rice, beans, beef, and goat cheddar cheese
I did get back to the corn tortilla dough I mentioned on Tuesday. I’m grateful because the tortillas turned out so awesome! Several things helped me roll them out.
- Flour the rolling surface with corn flour.
- Use a smaller amount of dough and roll each out to a smaller size; this increased manageability.
- Put a piece of plastic (I used one side of a gallon-size freezer bag) between the rolling pin and the dough.
- Use a spatula to gently scrape each tortilla off the cutting board.
For the lunch, I put a scoop of leftovers (brown basmati rice, pinto beans, and roast beef, warmed up in a separate pan) on each cooked tortilla. On top of that went goat cheddar cheese. The whole thing ended up being somewhat hand-sized. It wasn’t the most graceful thing to eat, but we kind of held the whole thing rolled up a bit in one hand while leaning over our plates with our mouths to gobble up the yummy meal. We sure didn’t care about being graceful when the lunch was so delicious!
I can’t tell you how much this meal costs, but I’m sure it was cheap. I purchased all the naturally-grown meal components in bulk – the rice, beans, grass-fed beef, and corn. This meal is also frugal with time, as I had the dough ready ahead of time. And the meal is frugal with our resources, as I used up leftovers instead of tossing them or letting them spoil.
Please share any ideas you have for quick, cheap and frugal lunches!
This post is part of Pennywise Platter Thursday – please visit and see other submissions for frugal real food ideas!















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I LOVE corn tortillas, SOOOOO good.
I need to start making some again…..
Thanks for being part of the carnival!
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Yay! I’m glad they finally worked out for you. I need to make some more, we just finished eating the ones in the freezer and toddler is on a quesadilla quick right now.
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Wardee, where are you getting your corn for these?
gab
Gabrielle – I buy the 25 lb. bags of popcorn from Hummingbird Wholesale. Do you want some? I have enough to share, just cracked open a brand new bag. And I haven’t forgotten about those grape leaves! But I haven’t been back to Roseburg and not sure when I will be there next.
Hi, Wardee!
The corn tortillas sound delicious.
Please share with me how you cooked them.
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Nurturing Wisdom – They were super easy. Medium+ heat, cast iron skillet, 1 minute on each side. The skillet can be dry. But I did some in coconut oil for fun! The recipe came from Cheeseslave – http://www.cheeseslave.com/2008/08/03/homemade-corn-tortillas-part-one/. Enjoy!
thanks Wardee! i was wondering if you could use popcorn or needed some other type of corn. i have a lot of organic popcorn.
i wonder if you can cut fresh corn off the cob and dry it to use later to make corn flour, corn meal, etc?
I think you can use fresh corn off the cob and dry it, but I have not specially read about this process. When fresh corn is dried it has such a difference appearance from popcorn. Does anyone know the difference or importance of using organic popcorn vs. dried organic corn when making masa? In traditional cultures I think dried corn is used. I wonder if there is a particular reason for this.
Also, the process of nixtamalization typically refers to a process for the preparation of maize (corn), or other grain, in which the grain is soaked and cooked in an alkaline solution, usually limewater (or wood ash can be used), and hulled. With traditional nixtamalization the caps or hulls of the corn are generally removed (one of the hallmarks of the process) rather than ground up in the recipe. Nixtamalization improves the nutritional value of food tremendously.