Adela (Lita) Lerma's Homemade Tortillas

My mom has been making tortillas ever since I can remember. The only problem is she has never measured anything with any cooking or baking utensils. Mom actually uses the lines of the palm of her hand to measure and the feel of the dough to determine if it is right. So I have done my best to try to capture the measurements of her tortilla recipe.

2.5 lbs of flour

1 heaping soup spoon of salt

1 tsp of baking powder

1 handful (from the fingertips to the main crease of your hand) of Crisco

hot water (almost boiling - hot enough to make kneading the dough with your hands uncomfortable) - hot water is added until the dough feels right.

Knead the dough until it feels right and then make small round dough "patties". Not balls, but patty-like so you can then roll them into tortillas. Heat on a comal at medium high heat. It the comal isn't hot enough, the tortillas will cook too slowly and be hard. Also note if you add too much baking powder, the tortillas will also become hard. It's really a learning process to get the dough correct. Even my mom, when out of practice, can make a hard tortillas.

Dough "patty" topside view

Dough "patty" underside view

Dough "patty" side view

Standard comal

Rolling the dough "patty" into tortilla form

Tortilla

My First Field Trip

My mom recycled before recycling was cool.

This morning while packing my daughter's sack lunch for her field trip, a flood of memories from my childhood field trips filled my head. There was one very vivid one in particular. I don't remember what grade I was in. Maybe second or third grade. But I remember I was going to the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) Zoo in Portland, Oregon. I was so excited to be traveling to Portland and even more excited to go to the zoo. I couldn't wait to see the exhibits and experience the zoo because truthfully the only times I got to go were through school outings.

My mom was a single mom raising four children. She had a sixth grade education and English was her second language. She was born in Crystal City, Texas but began working as a migrant farm worker about the same age I began going on field trips. She traveled from Texas through Colorado into Washington and eventually settled in Washington where she met my father. 

Their relationship did not last and my mom was twenty-five with four children and very limited options for work which limited our budget. We simply were unable to enjoy activities requiring any expenses such as travel or admittance fees, so this field trip was an adventure. An escape. A world beyond Adair Village, Oregon. 

To be honest I don't really remember much of the field trip other than lunch. I think the event was so universally encompassing that the impressions I got were what any child would walk away with. What made this field trip stand out for me was not the actual trip but rather the lunch my mom packed me. I was so excited to have a sack lunch because being a free-lunch child I seldom got a sack lunch. I always had the hot school lunches and envied my friends with their hostess cupcakes, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and super hero thermos. I wanted a Scooby-Doo lunchbox with a matching thermos but instead I got the colored lunch tickets. This field trip brought me my first sack lunch. 

I remember sitting on the ledge of a cement wall. I believe it was a landscaped area outside of the entrance and I remember excitedly opening my sack lunch only to find a folded tortilla with peanut butter and jelly wrapped in foil and a Golden Griddle bottle filled with Tang. There were no hostess. No chips, no soda. Nothing except mom's tortillas and Tang. I remember someone jokingly making a comment about my Golden Griddle Tang bottle. I laughed it off and I think I was able to play it off well because my classmates liked me and I don't think they truly wanted to hurt my feelings. 

But I was disappointed. I was sad. I was embarrassed. I was ashamed.

Looking back now I know my mom gave us everything she could. We were poor but we weren't without and today I just wanted my daughter to not stand out. I wanted to spare her the sadness I felt on that first special day. My first field trip.  

So today I made sure to pack my daughter a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on whole wheat bread, a banana, strawberries, trail mix, and a Hansen's soda. No one noticed her lunch. No one made any comments. She simply blended in with the rest of the students. 

Procrastination...

Mother Mary publicly breastfeeding baby Jesus.

As you can see it has been awhile since I've posted anything to this "blog". I had great intentions and seriously wanted to begin blogging but realized I couldn't hold myself to the daily postings so I simply shut down. But today I have a renewed energy and motivation. My son is now 2-years old and has found ways of entertaining himself at times when I need to do some research or get online. Hopefully I can find the energy to get online after the babes are asleep as I don't want this to pull me from my motherly duties. My children come first and everything else gets re-prioritized as priorities change.

I will be posting about several topics I hold near and dear to me. Mostly parenting, cooking, and a few social/political issues. As I share my thoughts and beliefs about certain issues, please understand I truly do it with love. I don't mean to turn anyone off or away and sometimes I may come across as intolerant but that is the furthest from the truth. I am probably one of the most accepting and tolerant people I know. I have friends from every political leaning and extreme and they are my friends because all politics aside, I know they would be there for me if I ever needed them. They are my friends and have supported me through emotional difficulties, the loss of my dad and brother, failed marriages, and the ups and downs my family has experienced as a poor Mexican family growing up with a single mom. I also have friends who disagree with many of my beliefs both Christian and secular. Some of my friends do and believe in things I don't, but there is some commonality that bounds us together and that is what I hold on to and why we remain friends. Not all of my friends have breastfed or kept their sons and daughters intact. And not all of my friends parent as I do. Not all of my friends vote the way I do. That's okay. 

So if at times I seem intolerant, please email me and remind me the most effective methods of change require love, compassion, and gentle prodding. I will do my best to hold to my Christian beliefs of love and compassion and articulate my thoughts in ways that I think bring honor to my Lord and my causes. 

Here is what you can expect: Food, food, and more food. Parenting, cooking, and baking with love. Intactivism with love and breastfeeding news and support. Every now and then I'll share articles on relationships as we all can use help in that area. And I'm sure there will be much more. 

Thanks for riding along and I hope you enjoy this journey with me.