Easy Homemade Flour Tortillas

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Over the past few years I have joined a few cooking groups. A few month's ago I joined a cooking group for moms on Facebook and always see new dishes or old favorites all over my newsfeed. This always sparks new ideas in my head and helps me make my menu for the week when writing the grocery list for the week. I've seen all sort of cakes, desserts, dinners, and lunch ideas. The other day I saw some Chicken Quesadillas and all of the sudden, I wanted quesadillas. But we haven't bought any tortillas because they sell for around $4 for a pack of 10! To us, that is ridiculous amount to spend on one item for a simple lunch. I had the urge to make some homemade tortillas. You know, the kind that give your vegan tacos the extra BANG before you even add the extra guac!  I had this recipe stored in my cookbooks for years, so I am not sure exactly where it originated. I've seen some similar recipes through Pinterest, but haven't found the original. All I know is that this is an EASY recipe that works time and time again. You will never buy tortillas again!

Homemade Flour Tortillas

Makes 15 Soft Tortillas (or 25 small ones)

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups Self Rising Flour

1 Stick of butter (1/2 cup), room temperature

1 Cup of hot water

2 Tsp salt

Directions: 

1. Measure out 2 1/2 cups of flour along with the salt and set aside in a large bowl. Add the butter, and with a pastry cutter, cut the butter into the flour. It should be crumbly. 

2. Slowly add the hot water and mixing into the dough. Knead dough until it isn't sticky anymore. Leave in the bowl for 30 minutes to an hour.

3. Separate dough into 15 balls. Set aside for another half hour. 

4. Flatten out balls as thin as possible. On a hot skillet, cook each tortilla individually. Bubbles are completely normal. Cook evenly on both sides. 

LifeGuard Dual USB Car Charger

You know what can break up a marriage? Fighting over who can use the car charger. If you tell me you have never fought with your spouse about a car charger, you either haven't been married long enough or you don't spend time in a car together. For the sake of our sanity, we got a dual car charger. Now Hubby can continue playing his pointless games while I play Candy Crush.

About LIFEGUARD Dual USB Car Charger

Cost: $10.97 on Amazon

• + IQ Technology: Now you can charge your iPhone, iPad, Samsung Galaxy, HTC, MP3 Players, Digital Cameras and other cell phones, Tablets and USB devices with high speed using the +IQ USB jack.
• + Elegant: The +LIFEGUARD 2.1A Vehicle Charger has an amazing design and color. You will love it and your friends will desire the +LIFEGUARD.
• + Powerful and Fast: This dual USB Car Charger can quick charge your device when you most need it. Let be surprised by +LIFEGUARD 2.1A Car Charger.
• + Lifetime Warranty: The +LIFEGUARD 2.1A Car Charger has a LIFETIME warranty and it carries the trustworthy +LIFEGUARD brand. You can count on the +LIFEGUARD customer service crew anytime and anywhere.

I have a few products from LIFEGUARD, including the portable power bank. I wasn't completely impressed with their power bank, but we have enjoyed this dual car charger. Being able to charge two devices at the same time can come at a huge advantage some days. I like that it lights up when plugged in. This makes it easy to find at night. I like that it is not tiny like other ones I have, and not huge and heavy. A lot of reviews say that it is tiny, but I do not find it as tiny and that is a good thing. I lose tiny stuff. 

I received this product in return for an honest review. I am not required to give a positive review. All prices stated are correct as of posted date and time. All opinions stated are my own.

Packing Snacks With Francois et Mimi Bento Box

*** Please leave some love by commenting below! ***

a Stay at home mom brings a lot of challenges. We are always on the go with appointments, meet ups, and play dates. Add in running errands, and yo u spend most of your day running from one place to another. This always leaves us hungry and thinking about getting some fast food in between a playdate and shopping for groceries.  A long time ago, I decided to take a packed lunch with us where we can snack on the go. This kept us from ordering unnecessary fast food that I didn't want to feed our family. I had a little insulated lunch box and I would place an ice pack in, an extra juice box for Aiden, and a few snacks. It didn't fit much, so after if our trip out that day wasn't short we would be starving when we got home! I needed a different solution but I did not like the price of the items I was looking at. Francois et Mimi sent me their Multi-Compartment Bento Box, so I have been trying that for a few weeks. This is the first product from Francois et Mimi that I haven't completely loved. I just have a couple problems with it, but it does fit our lifestyle much easier than what we had. Before I get into the pro's and con's, let me give you more information about it.

Mother's Day at Panera Bread Meet Up

About Francois et Mimi Multi-Compartment Bento Box

Microwave, dishwasher, & freezer safe (Do not place lids in dishwasher or microwave)

Custom insulated lunch bag is designed to keep food warm or cold. Bag is stain and odor resistant

BPA-free & FDA approved - All food grade materials

Includes built-in plastic silverware - fork, knife and spoon. Product Measures 7.5"x7.5"x4.5"

Container nests inside the bottom one for compact & easy storage

It is currently unavailable on Amazon, but they restock often so keep checking!

Now, I will start with my con's because they aren't that bad. Ok, I only have one negative point to make, and that is that the compartments don't lock with each other. They stack great, but they do not lock with each other. Now why is this important? It is not really, but it becomes annoying when you take each compartment out and the utensils fall out because the cap does not lock. But aside from it being bothersome, there is not other negative for me. 

Lemon Broccoli Cookies? A hit!

There are three different compartments. Which is great for my family because I can store snacks for Aiden, Hubby, and I when we all go out. If it is just Aiden and I at a meet up then i just take two with me, and place an extra juice box in the lunch box. Each compartment is big enough to store a variety of snacks. There are days we do not eat all of the snacks, and that is just fine. But I try to take as many healthy snacks as possible. There is always a food pouch, whether homemade or store bought. The one in the picture is store bought and organic. I hadn't seen them yet, so I wanted to give them a try! We have also fallen in love with a new bar, as you can see in the picture. Native Bars are a gluten free, organic, vegan, and quinoa based! There are three different flavors and my favorite is the Apple Cinny Raisin! I will be posting more about those within the next few days, so you will want to keep an eye out for that! 

Love Candy Co fruit Chews and a Native Bar? My kind of snack!

To see more packed lunches and snack ideas coming up, follow my Facebook page The Eclectic Hippie Mama.

Please leave some love and comment below! What is your favorite lunch to pack for a busy day or to take to work?

I received this product in return for an honest review. I am not required to give a positive review. All opinions stated are my own.

Back From Our Honeymoon!

Oh... you didn't know your fellow Hippie was getting married?? Well, neither did we until about three weeks ago! We decided to make our vacation into our Honeymoon! We went to the courthouse, got married, and drove straight to the port on our cruise Honeymoon.  And... it was awesome! I am not sure if it is the first time I was able to drink on a cruise, or the fact that it was the first time we got to be adults and be with other adults since Aiden was born, but I think it was our best vacation yet.

We cruised with our favorite cruise line, Norwegian Cruise Line, on our favorite ship, the Norwegian Sky. This was our 7th time on board this vessel! There are so many reasons we love cruising. I can literally talk about it all day. First, it is so much cheaper than doing any other vacation for us. Between driving, food, hotel stay, and entertaknment, the bill racks up pretty quickly. Now with a cruise, all of that is covered under one price. The price of your cruise includes all meals, your cabin, and entertainment. You can drink without worrying how you are going to get back to your hotel. And depending on your itinerary, you can visit a new place everyday! And now NCL implemented a promotion where you can drink for free your entire cruise. Free Margaritas anyone?

Now, like I have stated before, we rarely drink. But if I am on vacation, you can bet I am drinking a Mimosa in the morning and whatever else sounds good in the afternoon. I leave the heavy drinks for the nightly shows, like the Adult Comedy show. Between Hubby and I, we drank over $800 worth of drinks for free. Our cruise in itself was $826! So we drank our whole cruise fare.... that's insane. We ended up with a few favorite bartenders and a few new favorite drinks. Now, we probably won't drink again until our birthday or future cruise.

 

As we got back, it was a rainy day, so I did not attend to my garden. While we were gone, Hubby's brother watered them since he lives in another section of our house. The next day when I woke up, I decided to go check out my plants. While my berry bush looked like it was dying, my beans looked awesome! I even saw a few beans growing already! That is awesome! My raised garden bed looks great as well. My fig tree got trampled over, so I will have to put it in a bigger pot now. The lemon tree did have a few visitors. I saw three caterpillars chomping a few leaves. Now after doing some research,  I found out that these caterpillars don't eat the fruit and will just eat the citrus leaves, so I will not be removing them.

I also received a few new things while I was gone. Some items include a new mat for Aiden, a Bento lunch box from one of my favorite companies, and a bath toy organizer.

Shatterproof Wine Glasses!

As I have mentioned before, Aiden has broken almost every glass we have in our home. We have stopped buying cups made of glass for this reason. He does not break them on purpose, but his rush of energy takes over when running around the house. We have gotten some copper and silicone glasses, and now I'm trying out the magnetic shatterproof glass. I like that it has the name "shatterproof" right in the tittle. It makes me feel a little more secure that it will outlast the toddler years. The magnetic part of the glass is just plain cool! The stem of the wine glass just completely comes off. This makes it easy to store in our limited kitchen cabinets. Now it doesn't have a comical saying on the glass like the "What Night?" wine glasses, but it is still pretty cool.

About the Kuuk Magnetic Shatterproof Outdoor Wine Glass

Cost : $9.95 on Amazon

Made from shatterproof polycarbonate rather than glass, so you can drink outdoors stress-free

Features quick and easy one-touch assembly. Simply hold the glass cup to the stem, and the patented magnetic mechanism does the rest

The glass fits upside down neatly on the stem for efficient storage. Both parts are held in place magnetically so they remain clean and unbroken

Perfect for outdoor activities and events such as camping, hiking, BBQs and music festivals

BPA-free, dishwasher safe, and washes easily by hand

I received this product in return for an honest review. I am not required to give a positive review. All opinions stated are my own. All prices stated are correct as of posted date and time.

Softy Hand Wipes

A few months ago I had gotten Softy sanitizing wipes. It was a huge tub, and I still have a few left inside the tub. Now Softy sent me their new hand sanitizing wipes. This box was huge as well! A full box of individually wrapped wipes to keep yourself clean while you are out. As a mom to a toddler, this has become essential. I carry about 5 in my toddler bag, and I keep a few in the car as well. The texture and wetness of these wipes are just about the same as the cleaning ones, just slightly smaller. So you can use these individually wrapped sanitizing wipes for your hands or surfaces. I have used them frequently to clean the shopping carts when we go grocery shopping.

About Softy Individually Wrapped Sanitizing Wipes
Cost : $19.95 on Amazon box of 100 wipes

100 ct. EXTRA LARGE individually wrapped 7" x 8" wipes. The LARGEST sanitizing wipe on the market.

Anti-bacterial formula kills 99.9% of germs in less than 5 seconds.

Use on hands, body, and surfaces. Alcohol-free. Vitamin E + Aloe. Feels amazing (not sticky) on your hands!

SOFT & THICK quilted fabric for a plush, pillowy feel. Strong enough to hold a 12-kg kettlebell.

Citrus Fresh Scent that smells incredible! Made in the USA.

I received this product in return for an honest review. I am not required to give a postive review. All opinions stated are my own. All prices stated are correct as posted date and time.

Mother's Helper Toy Organizer Giveaway!

We have been on our plant based diet for a while now, and have noticed a few changes in our lifestyle. We do have some sort of meat once a week to please the Hubby, but we stick to fruits and veggies all week long. The main problem we have been having with this lifestyle is keeping our fruits and veggies stored. We have a very tiny kitchen with very limited counter space. There is this blank area in our kitchen where more counter and cabinet space should be, but isn't. I have yet to buy anything to put in this area, using this area has been a little difficult. After the microwave, fruit bowl, and a few storage canisters, there isn't much room. We do place some of the fruit and veggies in the refrigerator, but have to keep most of it out because they aren't ripe enough yet. This leaves us with a lot of fruit bagged up, even with the fruit bowl overfilled. This causes some of the apples and oranges to go bad before we even open the bag.

I started using Mother's Helper Toy Organizer as fruit storage in this unique space. This has really come in handy in a few ways. First, the fruit can breath and won't go bad as fast as before. Also, I have more counter space because I don't have opened bags of apples and oranges on the counter all day long. We eat fruit for breakfast and lunch, so they are on the counter frequently. Furthermore, I can see just how much fruit we do have and can stock back up before we run out. I put the oldest fruit on the top bag, and the newer fruit on the bottom. That way I use the freshest fruit first. What do they say about eating the food that is easily available? That's right, we don't even think about what is in the cupboards because we have the fruit right there in front of us! At first I had only installed the first bag, and used the second bag when shopping at the farmer's market.

I'm thinking of getting another pair of bags for my son's toys, ie what the bags are intended for. Aiden hates baths so he doesn't have many bath toys for us to use this as a bath toy organizer, but I was thinking of using these bags on the wall in his room so he can store some of his toys that don't fit in his small toy organizer anymore. If i keep them at his level lined up horizontally where he can reach them easily, the room might just loo organized for once! A mom can dream, right? There are many ways to use this. You can use it on your stroller to hold bags or toys when you go to the park.  Hubby said it would be a great to store in the car for his gym clothes. The two bags come with four suction hooks that make it easy to install in the bathroom or mirrors, so there are many ways these bags can be used. I used nails on my walls for a more sturdy storage.

About the Mother's Helper Toy Organizer

Cost : $9.99 on Amazon (This brings to bags)

Mother's Day Gift -- 2 Packs of storage bags each sizing 18" width x 14" height holding abundant toys for your kids;

Removable Handles- Unique extra long 8" removable handles make easy to take it off the hooks；

Suction Cups that DON'T Suck - Tested in Utah USA, normally hold 8 pounds of dumbell, or apple, at ease;

Multi-Use - Make great use for all possible purposes, it can be one of the best Baby Shower Gifts;

Satisfaction Guarranteed - We are dedicated to making Customers Happy!

In the meantime you can enter this cool Giveaway! First place winner will receive a $50 Amazon Gift Card! The second place winner will receive the same toy organizer as I have above, while the third place winner will have a Mother's Helper Shower Caddy.  To enter, click on the Rafflecopter below! You do not need to enter all the options, but the more you do the more entries you receive! This giveaway ends on May 10th!

a Rafflecopter giveaway


I received this product in return for an honest review. I am not required to post a positive review. All opinions stated are my own. All prices stated correct as of posted date and time.

Green Mint Monster

I'm always for trying new things. I take special advantage of this when I go on cruises. I try to explore my palate as much as possible these days, specially with natural foods. I tried Matcha for the first time a few months ago, and I was not a fan. I tried a few different recipes with drinks and in baked goods but I was not impressed. I decided to give a try again, but this time with the right equipment. And when I mean equipment, Matcha has its own kitchen products! I wasn't aware of that the first time I tried Matcha.

I was first fascinated with Matcha due to the health benefits it has. It has the nutrition of 10 cups of green tea in one cup! It also lowers cholesterol and blood sugar, detoxifies naturally, boost metabolism, and burns calories. And these are just some of the benefits of Matcha Green Tea. I received the Matcha Tea Gift Set by Matcha DNA. It includes a handmade matcha bowl, whisk, whisk holder, and bamboo spoon, Handmade items hold special value to me, so I loved that little touch! It also came with one ounce of Matcha to get started! Unfortunately, when I received my gift set, my whisk holder arrived damaged even though it was carefully packaged. I contacted the company immediately, and they sent me a replacement set. Don't you love great customer service? I know I do. Now that I think about it, this would be a great Mother's Day gift set! I decided to experiment with my Matcha again, hoping for great luck this time. And guess what! It tasted great! Before I give you my new recipe, let me tell you the basics of the gift set.

About the Matcha Tea Gift Set by Matcha DNA

Cost : $49.99 on Amazon 

COMPLETE MATCHA TEA GIFT SET BOX: This beautiful Matcha gift set contains everything you need for to make a traditional cup of Matcha green tea.

100% USDA ORGANIC MATCHA GREEN TEA. Includes 1 oz of USDA Organic Matcha Green tea Powder

HANDMADE MATCHA TEA BOWL & CERAMIC MATCHA WHISK HOLDER. The handmade matcha tea bowl is just the right size for traditional Matcha tea preparation

HANDMADE BAMBOO WHISK & BAMBOO SPOON - The bamboo Matcha tea whisk is handmade with sustanablly grown bamboo. The whisk holder holds the whisk during tea preparation and drying and helps keep its shape

PERFECT GIFT ITEM. This Matcha Tea Gift Set is the perfect gift for family, friends & loved ones.

Now, my recipe may not be traditional, but it taste great! I added a new product I will writing about soon. This tea has a hint of mint and chocolate, and topped with foam. I won't hold back any longer. Here is the recipe!

Green Mint Monster

Ingredients

16-18 ounces of Almond milk, separated

1 teaspoon of Matcha DNA (bamboo spoon)

1/2 teaspoon NuStevia Cocoa Mint Syrup

Instructions

1. Heat all of the almond milk in a separate container. In the meantime, set up your area to prepare the Matcha.

2. Pour about 5 ounces of the milk into the Matcha bowl. Add one bamboo filled spoon of matcha into the bowl and whisk for about a minute, or until fully dissolved. Add about 5 more ounces of the milk into the bowl along with the Cocoa Mint NuStevia and whisk quickly. Pour into a glass.

3. Froth the remaining milk in the separate container, and slowly add it to the glass. Top with Matcha powder.

That's how easy this was, and so healthy too! You may be worried about the Cocoa mint syrup, but it actually is vegan, gluten free, and has ZERO calories!

I received this product in return for an honest review. I am not required to give a positive review. All opinions stated are my own. All prices stated are correct as of posted date and time.