Homemade Corn Tortillas Cooking with Kids

My child came home one day, super excited about a story he read at school! He pulls out his school book from his backpack, and shows me the page of the recipe.  

He says, "¡Mamá let's make tortillas!" It's a short story from his school text book, and I can't remember the story line but it surely made an impression on him.  

Of course, I've never made homemade corn tortillas. So this was going to be a challenge especially since I didn't have a tortilla press.  So I improvised with two plates, and some saran wrap (plastic wrap).  My sweet mom later on sent me a two tortilla press that I now use instead of the plates. :) 

Here's the tortilla recipe: 

• 2 cups masa harina (traditional corn flour) 
• 1 tsp. sea salt 
• 1/4 tsp. baking soda 
• 2 cups very warm water 
• 1 tsp. oil 

In a large bowl, mix corn flour, salt, baking soda, warm water and oil. Stir until dough stays together and does not break apart. Knead until dough forms a large ball. It should be soft and not sticky. Cover and let stand for two minutes. Pull off balls of dough, and roll each one into a small ball circle. Flatten with the press or (like we did with two plates).  Heat a heavy iron pan (or an electric skillet).   Cook the tortillas until both sides are golden brown.  

Makes 12 tortillas. 

I have to admit these came out yummy although the texture was just missing something.... but I'll figure it out. Practice makes perfect, no? 

This post is part of the Multicultural Kid Blogs Global Learning for Kids Series. This month featuring Mexico. Do you have a post on Mexico? Be sure to link-up below!

                                

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An InLinkz Link-up

Discovering Mexico with Kids: Paletas

If there's something that yells "Mexico" it's the famous paletas! The paletas represents Mexico's cultural tradition of frozen treats.  Also known as popsicles they are a popular  in many countries. The traditional Mexican paletas are made with real fruit juice, and sometimes chunks of fruit in it.

Kid-Made Strawberry Banana Nutella Cake

My 8 yr. old loves watching The Food Network Channel. His favorite show is Cake Wars. He was excited with the "Sea World theme" from one of the episodes.  Hence, his request to make a strawberry banana Nutella cake with crushed walnuts that looked like a shark!  Say what?? My head was spinning! Ha! 

Book Review: The Gingerbread Cowboy

Yee-haw!! I am excited to review the book: The Gingerbread Cowboy, by Janet Squires as part of the "The Gingerbread Man" Around the World Series for Kid World Citizen, during the World Folktales and Fables Week which is this week! I'll also be joining other mom bloggers with tales of different runaway stories from around the world.

Disclaimer: An Amazon affiliate link is used in this post. If you purchase through this link I will receive a small monetary compensation. 

The gingerbread man in this story is actually a western cowboy; and it is set in the wild, wild, west. The story starts off with a very frisky gingerbread cowboy who escapes from the rancher's oven. As he tries to escape, he outwits most of the animals, the rancher & his wife, and the cowboys in the desert; and  in the true spirit of a cowboy he is chanting, ♫♫ "Giddyup, giddyup as fast as you can. You can't catch me, I'm the gingerbread man"♫♫ as he's running away! 

However, in the end he can't run as fast as he can, and well you can guess what happened to the gingerbread cowboy. I have to say  my 4 yr. old wasn't happy! He enjoyed the book until the end, so to cheer him up we made gingerbread cowboys!  Yee-haw! 

Unfortunately, I'm not a baker so I used a Betty Crocker ready to use gingerbread mix.  Little one and I used the gingerbread man cookie cutter to make the gingerbread cowboy, except that I added a hat to it. Not bad, huh? :) 

He also wanted to make the animals from the book, but I didn't have any coyote, or lizard cookie cutters. Do they exist? :)  So we settled for elephant, crocodile, dolphin, and rhinoceros. I decorated 2 of gingerbread cowboy,  and little one did the rest. Can you tell? :)

As I previously mentioned little one wasn't very thrilled with the ending, but funny enough when we were making the animal gingerbread cookie he say's "We can have the rhinoceros eat the gingerbread cowboy!" Really? 

What I enjoy about this story is that it doesn't stray away from the original concept. The book also has beautiful illustrations of the animals, and the desert all in warm earth tone colors. My favorite part of the story is the very catchy chant: ♫♫ "Giddyup, giddyup as fast as you can. You can't catch me, I'm the gingerbread man"♫♫ that my son was chanting as we made the gingerbread cowboys. 

What's your favorite runaway version? Don't know of any, except for the gingerbread man? In the meantime, check these out  from Mud Hut Mama's: The Runaway Dinner, Little Artists':  Russian Runaway Gingerbread: Kolobok, All Done Monkey's:  The Runaway Radish , and The Piri-piri Lexicon's: Roule Galette: a French version of the Gingerbread Man story. 

Please like, share, pin or comment! Would love to hear from you!

Disclaimer: An Amazon affiliate link is used in this post.

Giant Gingerbread Man {Cooking With My Little Chef}

Christmas in our house is not over, and what better way to have fun during these festivities than to make a giant gingerbread man!  Little one loves to help in the kitchen, and this is a simple, super easy to make recipe!  I am by far a baker, so we're going to make this easy, peasy. :)  

So we gathered up the ingredients, and the supplies. We're ready to start, but wait a minute... little one has a request: he wants to do everything by himself! :) I was happy to oblige since it shows an interest in being independent, and getting hands on with the baking.  I just cracked the egg. He mixed, poured and even looked with amazement how the dry mixture turned all gooey. He also got a kick out of looking into the oven window to see how the gingerbread man was baking. 

I love cooking or in this case baking with little one. It's another one of our bonding moments,  and it's a learning process for him. He's mastering his mathematical skills and learning the science of cooking. He's learning time management and patience. By setting up the timer, and waiting patiently for the gingerbread man to bake in the oven.  He's also using his imagination and artistic creativity by decorating the gingerbread man.  

He was really "into" the whole I'm a "chef" now.  He had his apron, and chef's hat and was very much into character.  After the gingerbread man was out of the oven, I asked him if he wanted to sit and decorate the gingerbread man. I was blown away by his answer, "Mommy chefs don't sit. They stay standing up."  Humm, where did my child come up with an answer like that? Maybe looking at Mommy cook in the kitchen, or perhaps from the cooking shows that I've watched? I have no clue, but I was very proud of him for wanting to do the whole process all by himself.  

From now on, he's going to be my designated sous chef when I'm in the kitchen cooking. :)  What yummy things have you cooked or baked with your child? Would love to hear from you. Please comment, like or share. 

¡Buen provecho! 

Note: The gingerbread man is still in the baking pan because although we followed the instructions to a tee (ungreased mold) it didn't come out! So I let little one do his thing with decorating it, and then I cut it out into large pieces. He was happy regardless!