Make Your Own: Flour Tortillas from Scratch (and a question about wheat)

Although most of our grocery purchases are organic or local nowadays, I've still been buying our favorite brand of cheap flour tortillas. We like the small size, the taste, and the convenience - burritos are my "I don't have time to cook tonight" meal. But I don't like the questionable/processed ingredients or the plastic packaging.

I've looked at Whole Foods for tortillas, but all I could find were some gluten-free things, and frankly, I'm not getting the whole gluten-free fad. Maybe someone wants to leave a comment explaining it to me. :)

Anyway, I'm mostly still sticking with our old reliable tortilla brand, but occasionally I make tortillas from scratch. They are sooooo yummy, healthier, and there's no plastic packaging involved.

Flour Tortillas

MAKES 8 tortillas
COST: $0.15 per tortilla

1 c. all-purpose flour
1 c. whole wheat flour
1 tsp. salt
1/4 c. butter
1/2 c. water

• Combine the flour and salt.
  
• Cut in the butter.
  
• Gradually add the water.
• Refrigerate for 4 to 24 hours. (The recipe I have says to do this , but I have to admit that I never have. As I said, burritos are my quick meal, and refrigerating for 24 hours would make them completely not quick.)
• Divide the dough into 8 to 12 pieces, depending on how big you like your tortillas.
• Roll each piece very thin.
• Cook on a hot griddle for about 20 seconds on each side.
  

And hurray, hurray, I finally got around to looking up that wheat farmer my friend told me about forever ago. I went and picked up some wheat from them last week - brought my own five pound buckets - so if I can get into the swing of grinding my own wheat, that's one step closer to zero waste!

Question though - does anyone know anything about soft wheat? I bought two buckets of hard wheat, and one of soft. Hard wheat is what most of us are used to, but the soft wheat is supposed to be good for things that don't rise like cookies and pancakes. But I always do half white half wheat in all my baked goods. Could I substitute the soft wheat for the white flour, eliminating the need for all-purpose flour?

Noteworthy Green: Trees, Recycling, Indoor Shoes, and More...

Check out my latest posts at The Green Phone Booth: Make Like a Tree, and Leave...

"My husband spent three hours getting the leaves out of our yard last weekend," a friend told me. "An hour to blow them all into a pile, and then two hours to bag them all up."

"Wow!" I replied casually, but inside I was screaming. Why, oh why, did he waste time getting the leaves out of his yard??? I want more leaves in my yard! We don't have any trees, and although we got enough leaves from our neighbors' trees to do this...

Read more...

and Are You Smarter Than a Tenth Grader?

My mom runs the virtual lab at a high school (that's the computer lab where students can take online classes), and she sent me the following email today:

I've got a student assignment where they have a list of products that can be recycled and have to tell what those products can be recycled into. I've spent a half hour on google and can't find a good website. I'd like one that covers most of the products. Know any? The products are--food waste, yard waste, plastic, metal, glass, paper, and cardboard.

I sent back a quick reply and then started thinking...Do I know what those products are recycled into?

Read more...

And elsewhere on the Internet:

:: Time magazine reports that Sesame Street taught children to be conscious TV viewers - and oh yeah, their ABCs.

:: Maya*made is a genius! Napkin holders out of security envelopes. I would have never thought of that.

:: The Simple Dollar flashes back to his reader's 25 best actions for saving money.

:: The Scrap Exchange has four fun videos with ways to reuse cardboard.

:: Tom Philpott discusses ways and whys the government needs to rebuild ag infrastructure for small farmers.

:: Kitchen Stewardship suggests having a pair of shoes only for indoors. Interesting idea. I usually wear slippers in the winter, but Katie suggests that shoes keep your feet from hurting and keep you productive.

I'm now using Twitter to keep track of my noteworthy green reads. If you'd like instant knowledge of what I find interesting, you can find me on Twitter as consciousshoppr.

• Looking for a way to get involved? Take a stand on Coal River Mountain.

• Looking for something to do? Check out my More (Fall) Fun, Less Stuff event guide!

Photo by chrissatchwell.com

I Need...Shoes

First off, let me say that on the spectrum of Things That Make a Big Difference to Saving the Planet, shoes are pretty far down there. But if you, like me, are trying to live as sustainably as possible, shoes do matter. Because we all own a pair (or two or three or four).


So why should you be conscious about your shoes?

1) Because of what shoes are made of...

Tanning leather uses many toxic chemicals such as mineral salts, formaldehyde, coal-tar derivatives, and various oils and dyes, some of them cyanide-based. Also, the leather usually comes from animals raised in factory farm settings.

On the other hand, fake leather shoes are made of plastic - generally PVC, the evil king of all plastics.

2) Because of how shoes are made...

Most shoes are produced in countries with poor environmental and labor standards (or with less enforcement of those standards). Workers labor under harsh conditions for little pay (in many places, well below a liveable wage) and are often exposed to toxic substances.

3) Because there are so many shoes on the planet...

According to Simple Shoes, 12 billion pairs of shoes were produced worldwide in 2004 with a projected production of 20 billion shoes in 2010. In 2005, Americans purchased 1.4 billion pairs of shoes - approximately four and a half pairs of shoes per person. That's a whole lot of shoes!


Okay, now here's what you can do:

BABY STEPS

• Donate your oldie-but-goodie shoes to a thrift store.
  
• Recycle your athletic shoes through Nike's Reuse a Shoe program. Says Nike: "Since we started the Reuse-A-Shoe program in 1990, we've collected more than 24 million pairs – in other words, enough to create a chain of athletic shoes that goes all the way around the world more than five times. That’s a lot of kicks kept out of the landfill." And that's just the number of shoes collected, a minuscule amount of the number of shoes that are bought (and tossed) every year.

JOGGING STRIDE

• Purchase fewer shoes. I have to admit, I've never been the type of girl to go ga-ga over shoes, so I really don't get the shoe hoarding habits of so many women. I'm not going to judge you if you're that type of girl - I have my own questionable habits (Diet Coke) - but maybe you could cut out one or two pairs?
  
• Buy quality. Investing in good shoes is not only eco-friendly (because you'll be shopping for shoes less often) - it's also a money saver. It might seem counter-intuitive, but in general, spending more for a quality product will save you money in the long run. Think of your shoes as an investment for your feet.
• Repair, not replace. Locate a good cobbler and make your quality shoes last.

MARATHON RUNNER

• Look for shoes made from eco-friendly materials. Many conventional shoe companies have started manufacturing a "green" line. Or you can look for a sustainably-commited company like Simple Shoes, which produces shoes with recycled tires, recycled plastics, organic cotton, bamboo, hemp, and other earth friendly materials.
• Buy used.
  

Tips for the Budget Conscious
Quality or eco-friendly shoes can be pricey, so I've got one important tip for you: Shop the sales! A couple months ago, I bought some flip flops from Simple Shoes for $10 (regularly $40). I wish I'd waited to buy my hemp EcoSneaks, which I bought at full price but saw on clearance a couple weeks ago for half price!

The other budget conscious route is of course to buy used. But I've found that finding used shoes can be touch and go. Shoes are an item that people wear until they're falling off their feet, so good shoes don't usually end up at the thrift store. I've found better selection at consignment stores, but they're also more expensive - often the same price as new shoes on sale but not in new condition. I've had much better luck with used shoes for my kids.


Where I'm At
I've been able to get my dress shoes at the thrift store, but my everyday sneakers I bought new from Simple Shoes. I've also got my eye on some TOMS. My kids almost always get used shoes.

Photo by Ella's Dad


Related Posts:

• Spotlight on Raleigh: Thrift Stores
• Spotlight on Raleigh: Children's Consignment Stores
• I Need...A Happy Period
  

Defeating a Swarm of Fruit Flies

A few people have asked me how the worm bin is going, so here's a little update...

I definitely made the mistake of putting too much food in the bin when we were starting out. One of the many advantages of a worm bin over a traditional compost bin is that it's not supposed to stink, but our bin started getting pretty rank. We also got a major gathering of fruit flies, and some of the worm tea started leaking out of the bottom holes.

There came a week when the weather was going to drop down really low, and it would have been best to bring the worms indoors for the night. But there was no way I was going to bring that rank mess of flies and worms into my house.

Luckily, the worms survived the cold, and they seem to be multiplying. In the meantime, I've cut way back on how much I was putting in there. I think I've gotten better now at telling how much I can feed them, but it sure isn't as much as I was hoping. At this rate, we're going to need several more bins to be able to compost all of our waste.

Warning, gross pictures ahead...

Even though the worm bin is out on our porch, a swarm of sneaky fruit flies snuck into the house. If you ever have the same problem, here's how you get rid of fruit flies:

STEP ONE: Keep your counters cleared of anything that the fruit flies might find appetizing.

STEP TWO: Put a small bowl of apple cider vinegar or balsamic vinegar on the counter. Apparently, fruit flies can't resist the stuff. Leave the bowl on the counter for a few days, and pretty soon, you'll see this:

Noteworthy Green: Walkable Cities, Glue Sticks, Sesame Street, and More...

Check out my latest post at The Green Phone Booth: These Cities Weren't Made for Walking.

My butt is mad at me tonight.

Earlier today, I had a meeting downtown, so I loaded up the stroller - three umbrellas, two kids, one backpack, and a partridge in a pear tree - and hauled all 100 pounds of it up and down North Carolina's hills to the bus stop a half a mile away. We took a quick trip on the bus to my husband's office, and then I deposited the load in my husband's safe hands before heading off to the meeting.

Read more...

And elsewhere on the Internet:

:: As if to prove the point of my Green Phone Booth post, New Raleigh points to a study listing Raleigh as the sixth most dangerous city for pedestrians.

:: Loving Nature's Garden has ten tricks to get kids outdoors.

:: Kelly at The Green Phone Booth gives us the scoop on recycling glue sticks.

:: Planet Green lists 45 foods you can make yourself (but didn't know you could).

:: The Greenists celebrate Sesame Street's attempts to help children go green.

I'm now using Twitter to keep track of my noteworthy green reads. If you'd like instant knowledge of what I find interesting, you can find me on Twitter as consciousshoppr.

Photo by Suzie T

Still here...

It was my birthday this weekend, and I unintentionally unplugged. But it's been good...A yummy dinner at a local restaurant. Homemade cookies (no cake for me, thank you!) Binge reading an entire novel in one day. And this:

I'll be back to blogging soon!

I'm sick...Screw the planet!

Anyone else feel this way?

Thankfully none of us have gotten the flu yet. But I've had a cold for four weeks and it sucks.

Today I forgot to eat breakfast (you can tell I'm sick - when have I ever forgotten breakfast?). I didn't remember until we were already out and about, and I just felt like, "Screw the planet. I'm going to Starbucks."

Here was my order, in all it's lovely overpriced trash-filled glory:

I think we all have days like this.