all purpose grain-free low carb wrap / flatbread / tortilla

Now, admittedly,

I tried out more recipes for chocolate chips cookies

than wraps,

before deciding to come up with my own,

but I have tried quite a few wrap / flatbread/ tortilla recipes.

None of them satisfied.

About a year ago,

heady with my cookie success, I guess,

I came up with my own flatbread/ wrap /tortilla recipe,

and then tweaked it

until I was happy.

(the wrap recipe didn't take nearly as many tweaks as the cookie recipe,

I can tell you that!)

You know how, 

at Chuy's,

you just rip up a tortilla and eat it 

- plain -

and moan something about it being food of the gods?

no?

That's just me, then.

Well.

Anyways.

Let me be the first to tell you

do not eat these plain!

There will not be moaning;

there will be face making.

And, if you took a big enough bite,

spitting, perhaps.

They are not tasty plain.

But

- and this is a big but -

they are a wonderful vehicle for all sorts of fillings/toppings.

We use these as tortillas for tacos and fajitas.

as wraps

for all kinds of sandwiches.

And as individual pizza crusts (dry 'em out in the oven first)

This recipe makes five 6(ish) inch wraps.

What I am using them for 

determines the size I make them.

If I'm making, say, sandwich wraps for the whole family,

I'll make a double batch and make 8 larger ones.

Grain Free Low Fat Low Carb Wraps for everything

Throw the following ingredients into a small mixing bowl

1/4 c  LC grain free baking mix*

2 Tbs Psyllium husk powder**

2 tsp oat fiber

1/2 tsp xanthan gum

couple shakes of salt

Give that a quick stir - I usually just use a fork,

then mix in

2 tsp refined (no flavor) coconut oil or olive oil

Then add 

1/2 c hot water

and stir briskly to combine.

Set a large skillet on the stove over medium heat.

(I guess you could use a griddle, too, if it's easily accessible.)

Divide the dough into 5 (or however many you want) equal portions.

Set one of your dough balls on a silicone baking mat

or piece of parchment paper 

(For goodness sake, buy yourself some mats!

They reduce a lot of frustration in low carb baking.

If you can't afford two, at least buy one...)

flatten it slightly

then cover with another silicone mat

(parchment paper works better on top than on the bottom if you just have 1 mat)

and roll out super thin.

(I forgot to take a picture of this. 

I am so not a food blogger!)

Carefully peel off your top silicone mat,

and carry your bottom mat, with the rolled out dough on it,

over to your pan,

peel it off

and lay it neatly in the pan.

As if you needed the absence of a picture to let you know I am not, in fact, a food blogger. bahhaha

Cook  the wrap /flatbread / tortilla about 1 minute, 

then flip it over and cook about a minute more.

Remove from pan and place on a cooling rack

(If you don't have one, a plate would work just fine, I imagine)

While your wrap is cooking, roll out the next one

and so on and so forth.

When cool, store in a plastic bag, or eat up :-)

*if you haven't yet made the baking mix (why not?!)

just use 2 Tbs ground flax, 1 Tbs almond meal or flour, and 1 additional Tbs oat fiber

in place of it

For the Trim Healthy Mamas:

each wrap  only has 2.4 gr of fat and  .7 gr of usable carbohydrates

(based on 5 wraps/recipe)

so  you can eat 2

 (provided you have no additional fat, except in your low fat protein source)

and stay in FP mode.

**Psyllium seed powder also works fine in this recipe,

but your wraps will be considerably darker colored.

This is not a problem, just useful information,

lest you wonder why yours don't look like mine...

I will admit

the kids all prefer a regular tortilla to these.

Quite honestly, I might also.

(although, I am quite pleased with these!)

But if eating a regular grain filled tortilla isn't a good option for you,

these make a mighty fine substitute in my (rather picky) opinion. 

this and that on a Thursday

Monday,

Lily told the hens that they all need to be laying eggs.

(never mind that I tell them this all the time)

Tuesday,

all 8 of my girls gave us an egg!

Yesterday,  we only got 2 eggs.

So I told Lily 

she best be getting out there and talking to those girls 

daily.

~

It is very hard to find a dozer person.

Who knew?!

~

I'm not quite sure how it happened,

but I went a month without exercising.

I know!

I remedied that yesterday.

I am always shocked to discover how quickly I get weak 

when I go for a period of not working out.

~

Actually, 

I do know (partly) how it happened.

My dadgum ankle has been hurting.

But it didn't hurt yesterday,

for the first time in about 3 months.

:-)

So far, it doesn't hurt today, either.

Of course, everything else does, though ;-)

~

I notice I am laughing more.

I think that vacation was really good for me.

Thanks, Love!!

~

The calendar is getting really full

really quickly

though.

: /

~

Some new friends gave us deer meat to try.

I'm eager (but also a tad nervous) to try it.

I hope we like it!

~

We took the pool down.

We weren't sure it would last the whole season,

but thankfully, it did.

We bought one a little bigger (on major clearance - yay!) to replace it.

It's kinda weird to look out the window and not see it though.

(not bad weird. Just weird)

~

Tyler and Brandon repurposed it 

as a tee pee for the kids.

~

They (the kids. Not Tyler and Brandon)

have been working on some tricks for halloween.

~

Can you believe October is almost over??

I can't.

~

I am enjoying fall. I am not dreading winter.

I am enjoying fall; I'm not dreading winter.

I am enjoying fall.

I am not dreading winter.

(I have to keep reminding myself)

jumping on the bandwagon

I'm actually a little surprised at myself.

I'm not exactly a 'jump on the bandwagon' type of person.

In fact,

It's quite likely 

that I have never before

in the history of

me,

ever

jumped

on a bandwagon.

I was not the least bit interested when I started seeing 

mini minis

around blogland.

I don't even like working with tiny pieces.

And I've never even made a pincushion.

Or a regular mini.

(well - I did make that mug rug that one time....)

Why on earth would I make a mini mini?

But then,

darn it,

Allison posted the sweetest mini mini,

(complete with a pattern/tute!)

that she made for Kitty.

Okay.

This was (sorta) getting personal.

Because,

 I pop in on both Allison and Kitty

about once a week.

And they pop in to visit me on occasion.

And I've had comment/e-mail correspondence with both of them.

So when Allison

talked about this quilt, however blasted small, 

she made for Kitty,

and why she made the choices she made,

I totally got it.

for my friend, Carole, because she just loves chickens with quilts. heehee)

I love making things for people that are 'them'.

And man, she nailed it with The House Where Kitty Lives!

I told her,

"Darn it, Woman, you just might suck me into this tiny craziness!"

And darn it, 

if she didn't reply with, 

"Well, how about you swap with me??"

Argh!

Once I started thinking about what kind of a mini mini I'd make for Allison,

and sketching out some designs,

well,

resistance was futile.

I really wanted to make a flowering snowball,

but I figured it'd be tough on such a small scale,

that center piece is pretty small anyways.

While searching for a paper piecing pattern for it,

(which I didn't find)

I found a pattern called night and day,

and knew it would be perfect.

Allison lives in Germany

(where we once lived...)

and I live in Arkansas.

It's not exactly opposite sides of the world,

but pert' near it.

Near enough that that when it is late at night here,

her day is beginning there.

I printed off the pattern

then shrunk it down to tiny,

cut off the now tiny seam allowances

and added proper 1/4" seam allowances back on.

I gathered my fabric scraps,

choosing ones I thought Allison would like:

a few Anna Maria Horner fabrics,

some Allison Glass and Carolyn Friedlander,

and of course, I had to throw in a piece of Jenean Morrison,

(because if it's remotely possible, I try to add at least one JM print to every quilt)

and an assortment of low volumes for the background.

I got all set to start paper piecing

and my mind went completely blank.

I couldn't make sense of how I needed to go about it!

I'm not a fan of foundation paper piecing anyways,

so I thought 

I could either spend a long time trying to wrap my poor brain around it,

or I could figure out how to piece it without paper.

I went the paperless route.

Not paperless paper piecing,

(because that required too much brain power, too)

just paperless piecing.

I quilted it in my signature style,
a mix of machine and big-stitch hand quilting.

And I am just tickled with how it turned out!

I hope Allison likes it as much as I do :-)

~

I actually didn't have a ton of fun making the (mini mini) quilt top,
but

the finished result was so darn cute,

and

I hadn't made any of my own designs,

so I decided to make her another one.

'Home' is precious to most people,

but especially so for Allison;

She lives in Germany,

but she isn't German.

And sometimes she feels a bit displaced.

She has come to realize 

that home is where your heart is,

it's just that,

some people's hearts

are in more than one place...

So for my second mini mini for Allison,

I made houses

based on some houses on a pillowcase she'd pinned.

Because she loves green

as a sign of growth,

I set the houses on lush green lawns

and because she has a thing for birds, and orange,

I used Waterfront Park Flight in clementine

as my sky.

This mini mini was easy.

After sewing the grass to the sky,

I just cut tiny house shapes after I'd added interfacing to an assortment of scraps

(My kids said, "Oh - you're doing mouse shapes on this one!" 

Yes. I guess I am:-)

and lightly glue basted them in place,

strategically covering birds that would've looked stupid 

with only half showing.

Then I added batting (bamboo)

and thread-painted  my words and outlined my houses.

Allison is not a huge fan of blue,

but I think she'll forgive me for using it on the back,

because this fabric is just too perfect!

It has both places that are home for her.

And hey - it's half orange...

After adding the backing piece,

I echo - outlined the houses

by hand, using a cream colored guterman sew-all thread,

because shockingly, I didn't want those stitches to stand out.

Then I bound it in a leftover strip of fabric from one of my very earliest quilts

folded in half, then cut to 3/4".

Because I think sometimes my corners look better on the back than the front,

I opted to attach the binding backwards.
(I'm not sure how I feel about that.)

It's a totally different style than the first quilt,

but I still like it very much 

and hope Allison feels the same.

~

After all that,

I still had one more mini mini that wanted to be made.

A little challenge for myself, 

if you will.

You see,

everyone says mini minis use such tiny pieces,
that it's best to paper piece for accuracy.

I wanted to see if I could make a patchwork mini mini.
without all this paper piecing nonsense,
and without using interfacing.

(Sure I'd managed to piece the day and night quilt
fairly accurately,
but it only (only!) had 24 pieces,
and was kinda big, for a mini mini)

(Oh gosh.

I forgot to tell you the sizes!

The color wheel day and night quilt is 4 1/2" square,

and "home" is 3 1/2 x 4 1/8)

Ya'll 

this one was fun!

Of course, it helped that there was no pressure whatsoever,
And 

I was using favorite favorite fabrics....

I counted out 48 scraps

and then roughly cut them out a little bigger than a square inch.

Laid them all out on my ironing board and sprayed 'em with my favorite sizing.

Ironed them, 

and grouped them by 3s for cutting.

(the top fabric on each pile would be fussy cut)

After cutting 48

1 inch squares,

well, you know how I sewed 'em together...

then I added bamboo batting

and an Art Gallery backing,

machine quilted in a crosshatch

with off white Aurifil in the needle

and teal some kind of thread

on the bobbin.

Like my previous quilt with these fabrics,

I bound it with a strip of Cotton & Steel,

this time cut to 1 1/2"

(which was too tiny, I had to trim the quilt about 1/16 of an inch)

A patchwork quilt, with squares that finish at 1/2 inch?
Mission accomplished.
 :-)
And now,

I want to give it away!

For a chance to have this

50 fabric

3 1/4" x 4 1/4"

baby patchwork quilt

show up in your mailbox,

tell me,

are you a bandwagon person??

(be sure that you leave your email address if you are a 'no reply blogger')
(or if you don't have a blog)

Allison, I will get your babies in the mail on Monday, after I choose the new owner of the patchwork mini mini :-)

As adorable as these little mini minis are,
it's back to
regular size sewing for me.
Like I told my daughter in law,
in the time I spent playing with these babies,
I could have made a good sized quilt for a real baby...

this picture makes me laugh :D

p.s. If you like the teeny tiny patchwork, and want it,
you don't have to be a 'maker' to get your name in the pot.
It would make a very fine coaster ;-)
or tiny doll quilt...

Linking up with tiny-piecer extraordinaire, Amanda Jean

chainmail piecing, a mini tute

Hydee wanted to know a little more 

about the chainmail method I used for sewing my latest quilt top.

As mentioned, I couldn't find the post I'd previously read on the topic,

but then,

after spending several minutes,

googling several different phrases, 

I still couldn't find anything describing the method

(never mind the exact post I'd read...)

so I figured what the heck, I'll just do a quick tutorial.

love me some nicely starched fabrics :-)

This mini tutorial assumes that you have a good understanding of quilt making

and are just wanting a faster finish.

You can use it for simple patchwork,

or as a way to join pieced blocks.

I think it's probably better suited for throw-sized quilts and smaller,
simply because you are handling the fabrics a bit more
than you would be if you were sewing a quilt top using the
'sew pairs together,
then sew those pairs together,
and repeat 'til you have a row'
method,
so there is more fraying than usual.

ok ~ here ya go:

For starters,
lay out your quilt.

(mine is a just small one, with a 6x8 layout)
(and my 'blocks' are just squares of fabric...)

At this point, you want to denote (with a pin or mark of some sort) 

the upper left hand corner of your first (upper left corner) block.
(It helps you find it when your piece of 'chainmail' gets big...)

I don't have a picture of this, but you are bright,
you can figure it out ;-)

(If you think these fabrics look familiar, you would be right,

they are all in Simply Luscious :-)

After laying out your quilt,

there is no need to label your pieces/blocks
 - yipee! - 

just place all of your column 2 blocks
on top of your column 1 blocks,
right sides together,

to prepare them for sewing.

Then,

stack all of your fabric pairs together,

top row at the top of your stack,

bottom row,

you guessed it,

on the bottom.

Don't pair up any more blocks,

but stack all of the remaining (single) columns
 this same way,

with the block from row 1 on top, and your final row on the bottom.

(again, you may want to note which way is up, just for good measure)

then stack all of your stacks together,
working left to right
(so your stack of pairs is at the top of your pile,
your stack from column 3 is just under those,
and so on and so forth.

Beginning with the pair of blocks at the top of your pile,
sew the 2 blocks together with a 1/4" seam
and without cutting your threads,
continue to chain piece
until you have no pairs left to sew,
and the piece on the top of your stack
is the first single piece - the first fabric from column 3.

Now, you can cut the threads - but only the ones still attached to the machine -
and remove your 'chain'.

Take your whole chain of sewn pairs,
and leaving them joined together,
open up your first pair (row 1, columns 1 &2)
and add (right sides together) that first single block
and sew.
Again,
without cutting threads (aka chain-piecing)
continue to add the top block on your stack to
the right of the next set of sewn pairs,
until you are out of sewn pairs.

Snip threads to remove from machine.

Continue on,
without snipping thread between blocks,
adding the blocks from your stack
to the right side of  what are now strips of fabric

here, I'm getting ready to begin adding the 4th column...
see the threads holding it all together like a 'curtain'?

repeat, repeat, repeat,
until you are out of blocks.

Here's where I differ from the instructions I originally read:
she said to still leave everything together and press every other row in opposite directions,
then
still without clipping any threads,
join the rows.

While I can see the beauty of that system,
(no chance of getting rows out of order)
those threads got in my way!
(and if you're going to press your seams open, it'd be impossible to do with them  there)

For Brandon's quilt,
I labeled the rows,
and clipped the threads that joined each row as I was ready to press it,
then pinned it to its upstairs neighbor.
I joined the rows in pairs,
then joined those  pairs,
until I had a completed top.

For this little quilt,
I left the threads unclipped,
pressed to the sides
(every other row in the opposite direction)
and clipped the threads as I was pinning the rows together,
and just added rows one at a time
'til I had a quilt top.
Again - easier for a smaller quilt, I think...

There you have it;
my version of the 'chainmail' /'curtain' quilt top piecing method.

If you have any questions, ask away ~ I'll do my best to answer 'em

Linking up with productive Lee and a bunch of other creative peoples

(come back soon for a chance to own the finished quilt :-)
go here

hands down, the best gluten free low carb chocolate chip cookies. ever.

We went to Claremore today yesterday,

so we have a fridge and freezer

full

of delicious nutritious 

raw milk.

This seems like as good a time as any to

(finally)

share this recipe with the world.

I've been waiting

(for over a year, oops!)

until I had photos worthy of these cookies

to go along with the recipe.

I've finally come to the conclusion that 

until I get my new kitchen,

that's just not going to happen...

(somebody should do that for me ;-)

Take worthy photos;

not get me a new kitchen....)

~

A few notes before I get to the recipe:

If you are going to do much low carb baking, 

do yourself a favor 

and buy a couple of silicone mats if you can afford them.

You really must purchase the Honeyville brand blanched almond flour.

It's pricey, I know,

but your cookies won't be as holdable without it.

At least mine weren't...

This recipe is the only one I use the Honeyville flour for;

a 5# bag lasted us a year.

Xanthan gum is essential if you want your non-wheat goodies

to resemble their grain filled counterparts.

E-ssential, I'm telling you.

The rule of thumb is 1/2 tsp per cup of alternative flour.

I am not going to buy Lily's Chocolate chips

(which is the 'acceptable'  truly LC brand)

I'm just not going to.

I tried making my own chocolate chips.

they didn't hold up well to baking,

even though they didn't taste half bad.

For our family,

with our budget,

even though they contain sugar,

I am okay with using the chips as stated in the recipe.

(obviously, I didn't make these during my 'no sugar will pass my lips' challenge)

By my calculations, the carbs per cookie

fall in acceptable ranges,

and we never eat more than 2 cookies each.

Feel free to use whatever chocolate chips your heart desires.

I have reduced the xylitol further for us,

only using 1/2 c,

but if I make them for someone new to low carb eating,

I'll use the 2/3 c the recipe 'calls for'

(for some reason, that cracks me up. 

I'm the one telling it what to call for..haha.)

Personally,

I find them too sweet with that much.

Sadly,

as amazing as these cookies are,

they don't bake up as sturdy if you try to make big cookies,

so keep 'em on the smaller side.

okay.

I think that's everything.

On with the recipe!

best gluten free low(ish) carb chocolate chip cookies. ever.

Using an electric mixer, cream together

1 cup butter, softened

1/2 - 2/3 c. xylitol (I prefer this birch-based xylitol)

1/8 tsp (4 donks) stevia (I use this) 

2 tsp molasses
1 tsp vanilla

then add and mix

1 large egg (not extra large; just large)

Add and mix

3/4 c baking mix

1 1/4 c Honeyville blanched almond flour

3 Tbs. unflavored protein powder (I use this one these days.)

1 tsp xanthan gum

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt (less if you use Himalayan. but then, if you do, you already knew that ;-)

and one last time, 

add and mix

3/4 c mini semi sweet chocolate chips

(OR 1/2 c mini morsels and 1/4 c dark chocolate chips, which is what I usually do;

the multiple sizes add a 'little something'.

You can use all dark chips, but you'll want to chop at them a bit,

as most dark chocolate chips are huge, 

and your chocolate won't be distributed throughout the cookie.

makes 28-30

3-3 1/2 inch (I'm guessing here) cookies

Bake at 300 degrees (note the unusually low temp!)

on parchment or silicone mat lined baking sheet for around 13 minutes.

(You know what a cookie looks like when it's done....)

Leave on baking sheet for a few minutes before serving,

then thoroughly enjoy!

If you want to bake some now and some later,

you can refrigerate the remaining dough  as is (covered, of course)

or roll it up into a log to slice and bake and wrap in plastic.

Both ways work just fine.

You could probably freeze cookie sized dollops of dough 

and bake one or two cookies at a time,

but I haven't tried that.

~

So.

There you have it.

My little gift to the world;

perfect (grain free, low carb, hold in your hand, THM  friendly) cookies.

beach week comes to an end

When we do a beach vacation,

a washer and dryer in the unit is a must have.

Everyone takes

1 swim towel

2 swim suits

3 or 4 changes of clothes, including underwear

2 pairs of shoes (3, if you're Mom)

2 pairs of socks

jammies are optional, 2 pairs max

When we come in from the beach,

towels and (rinsed off) suits gets tossed in the dryer so they're ready for next  time.

I do laundry

3-5 times throughout the week

and when we get home,

we usually only have 1 load of towels,

and 1 load of clothes that need attention;

everything else can immediately be put away :-)

Brandon and Tyler are teaching themselves to play the guitar.
We are such light packers that we had enough room left in the back of the van for them to bring one along :-)

We have determined that 

we prefer to cook (simply) and eat at the condo

rather than go out.

Not only is it (far) more affordable,

it's just easier!

Plus 

it allows us to spend more time on the beach.

We spent hours over the course of a couple of days on this stupid puzzle.
I was just sure we'd get almost finished and discover there were pieces missing, but I was wrong.

Yup.

We are beach people!

There were 4 fountains in the zero entry pool ~ when they stood on 3 of them,
the water in the remaining fountain would shoot waaaay up in the air.

Here we're heading out for our last walk on the beach, and waiting for the elevator (which always arrived empty)
 Except for Lex' who wasn't feeling well, they were all singing ' very loudly.
When the doors opened, there were people in there!
"They're hicks, Rita!" ;-)

...goodbye, glorious beach...
XO