New Direction

I initially started this blog as a way to showcase practical cooking and baking in your own home. I aimed to gather recipes for college students who didn't know their way around a grocery store or Moms who didn't have the time to care about the variety of food they were serving. I wanted to introduce easy international dishes to people who never thought they could cook regional foods with what they could find at the local grocery store. In this desire I dreamed up "Almost From Scratch". After a few months of little use however I realized I wanted to chronicle more than just the foods I ate but also the changes I am making. This summer I am setting my aims high and my "from scratch" ingredients are my body.

So let me introduce myself...

My name is Sydney, I am 22 years old and engaged to a wonderful man who took this picture for me. I am aprox. 5" 2" tall, and ~ 200pds. I carry my weight through my hips, stomach, and legs. And I wear a size 18 jeans. This is my first step toward working with my body. Being honest about what it is. 

My ingredients...

I do have a few considerations beyond just my weight and age. When I was 16 I was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis, I have always been chubby to overweight but the diagnosis definitely complicated my life. It is not always the best choice for me to eat the "healthy choice", ie. raw veggies and fruit. 

I also hate exercise, I have always felt like a outsider to those who exercise regularly, like I am missing the gene that makes sweating fun.

But I do have a desire to be healthy. And this summer I am committing myself to building myself back from scratch not only physically, but mentally. I am going to try and keep writing about my progress, success and yes failures. I hope that I can start working toward a healthy life dispite my disease. 

My Motivation...

I love my family, friends and my fiance and I want to be the best person I can be for them. But more importantly I have decided that it is time I begin to love myself.

Fresh Corn Tortillias

For my first project I wanted to start with a basic recipe that is featured in many Mexican and Latin dishes. The corn tortilla. Corn tortillas are an ancient dish that made up a large portion of the early american diet. Tortillas a a kind of flat bread that requires no leavening agent and uses mostly maize flour. The other ingredients could easily be leftover from the other parts of a meal. In addition t masa or corn flour the tortilla maker will need water, salt and a fatty component like lard, butter or oil.

In my modern kitchen I will use butter.

Approximately two tablespoons, if using a semi solid like lard or fat drippings I would add a little extra, The purpose it to bind the masa together so it has a nice elastic consistency before cooking. This allows the tortillas to be pressed thin without breaking and makes them more pliable once cooked. You don't want to add too much fat however or you will get crispy chips when you cook the tortillas.

I used about 1 1/2 cups masa to my  2 table spoons of fat.

 Mix the fat into the masa throughly.

 Now slowly add one cup of water. 

 Hands are your most useful cooking tool, as long as they are clean use them as much as possible.

 Your dough should begin to form together.

 For this part I cheated a little from a true corn tortilla recipe. I used regular baking flour to powder my kneading surface. You can use corn flour to be more authentic but I find wheat flour helps keep the tortillas more flexible after cooking. 

This is where the artists touch comes in, you may have to add a little water to you dough to get the right consistency. Add it in spell amounts as you kneed. My preferred method is to run my hands under water or dip them in a bowl and work the moisture in incrementally.

Once your dough is a nice moist consistency and all binds together. Now you have to let it sit for around 30 minuets to a couple hours. This is a good time to prepare the rest of the meal and clean up your kitchen.

 Next i made a "poor mas tortilla press" with some wax paper and a plate. Divide your dough into 12- 16 balls and smashing each between two pieces of wax paper with the plate.

 With a small amount of oil in the pan cook each tortilla until browned on each side.