Tortillas!!!

"What's for dinner?" The dreaded question that plaques mothers and wives everywhere! Need something quick, easy and delicious for dinner tonight? How about home made tortillas? You can fill them with cheese, meat, beans, nutella (well maybe not for dinner), or eggs. Talk about versatile! Here's the recipe that I use and I bet ya have all the ingredients in your cupboards right now!


Here's what you you will need:

2 cups flour (I use half white, half wheat)
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup warm water (2/3 cup if you are using all white flour)

I put my frying pan over medium heat before I start mixing the dough then it is good and hot when you have your first tortilla rolled out.

Put your flour and salt in a good size mixing bowl and mix together with a fork (I am sure you could do all this in a mixer but I do it by hand because I don't have one). Next add the oil and water and mix that together and when it is combined I kneed it on a lightly floured surface until it is smooth and soft (2-3 min). Divide into 8 equalish balls and let rest for a 2-3 min. Roll out into 8" tortillas turing and dusting with flower as you go so they don't stick to your surface.

When your first tortilla is rolled out, throw it into your hot skillet. You can start rolling out your next tortilla as the first cooks. When you get some nice bubbles puffing up on the cooking tortilla (about 45 seconds-1 min) flip it over. There should be brownish spots on the cooked side. Cook on the second side for about 30 seconds and then put it on a plate. Repeat with all 8 balls (you may need to turn you pan down if the flour in the bottom starts to burn).

Fill your beautiful homemade tortillas with whatever you want and DEVOUR! Leftover tortillas can be stored in the fridge for up to 2 weeks and in the freezer for a month. Ours NEVER last that long!

Happy Monday, everybody!

-The Domestic Diva

(A big thanks to my friend Katie W. who helped bring these tortillas to the table!)

Diva 911

One of my AWESOME readers sent me the following question:

"Dear Domestic Diva... How do you get your kids to do their chores? Sincerley Tired of Bribing and yelling"

Dear Tired of Bribing and Yelling,
This is an age old dilemma of motherhood. How do we get our kids to clean up after themselves without pulling our hair out in the process? My children are ages 5, 3, and 15-months. My 5 and 3-year-old don't have "chores" yet. The only job they have right now is picking up their toys.
Here are some things that we do that may be helpful:

1. We live in a town house so many of the girls' toys are on the mail level. Before dinner, Kelly (my husband) or I have the kids clean up the toys and clothes that may be scattered (generously at times) around the front room.

2.Be specific! Saying "CLEAN UP YOUR TOYS" can be a little overwhelming for a little one so sometimes I'll have them pick up all the toys of one kind (ie: stuffed animals) then report to me and I give them another simple task.

3. I am trying to implement a "room cleaning day" once a week. I break up my own chores into days of the week so why not have the kids do the same. Ask them what day they want to clean their room. Give them some ownership in it!

4. PRAISE PRAISE PRAISE! EVERYONE loves praise! When they pick something up and put it where it goes, clap! MAKE A BIG DEAL of the good things they do! I know my girls respond well to this and when they are praised, they want to do more.


These are just a few ideas that I use. Now I want to put the question out there to our other readers and ask, WHAT WORKS FOR YOU? Please share your comments below!

Remember that, "Cleaning your house while your kids are still growing is like shoveling the walk before it stops snowing." ~Phyllis Diller, Phyllis Diller's Housekeeping Hints, 1966

We all have messy houses and children! It is a learning process for each of us! Do the best you can and let's enjoy these little ones while they are little because all too soon they will be gone and we'll be wishing there were toys everywhere (at least I keep telling myself that's what I'll be wishing)!

Hang in there, Tired of Bribing and Yelling!


Sincerely,

The Domestic Diva

S.A.D. Craft

I am sooooo ready for spring. I think I am suffering from S.A.D (Seasonal Affective Disorder or Sad Arss Day). In my attempt to survive this endless winter, I thought I'd make and share a fun and easy Valentine craft. Here's what you will need. It took me about an hour to finish this and I did it by hand. If you have a sewing machine, you could make about 10 in the time it took me to make one!

Needle and thread
2- 6" fabric squares
1-4" felt square
1-fabric heart


1-Sew the heart in the center of your felt square using a running stitch.
2-Sew your felt square in the center of one of your 6" squares.
3-Then put your 2- 6" squares together (right sides together).
4-Sew around the outside of the squares using a smaller running stitch leaving a 3" opening on one side of the square.
5- You want your stitches to be close and tight on the sides as you will be filling your squares with rice!
6- Turn your bag right side out.
7- Next fill your bag with 2 cups of rice (any old kind you have in your pantry will do).
8-Fold the unfinished edges down inside the bag and sew together with a running stitch.

You are done! See now, don't you feel better? I know I do!

You can put a tag on your bag that reads something like this:
Microwave for 2-3 min for a warm hug from (insert your name here)

Have a fantastic day!

-The Domestic Diva

Microwave Magic

Got a dirty, crusty food splattered microwave?




Try this!!!



Nuke a cup of water for 2 min... (you can read a short story while you wait:)





Wipe with a warm damp cloth and...




BATTA BING BATTA BOOM! You have a sparkling clean microwave!

Monday Has Been Canceled Until Further Notice...

Due to PMS, I declare this Monday January 17th, 2011 CANCELED until further notice.

-The Domestic Diva

P.S. If you should need me, I'll be hiding out in my house in my sweats.

Meal Planning 101

Every Friday I is grocery list/meal planning day at the Fiack house. I love to cook, but I HATE thinking of WHAT to cook. So last summer I made a plan. I took blank sheet of paper and put numbers 1-7 on the page representing the number of dinners I would plan for the following week. I took down my favorite cookbook picked out 4 of my favorite recipes and wrote down the name of the recipe and the page number on the sheet of paper. Then I handed the book over to my husband and told him to pick 3 recipes that looked good to him (he marked them with sticky notes for me). When I was done, my menu looked like this:


Menu # 1
1- Eggplant Parmesan

2- Ham & Cheese Frittata

3- Chicken Quesadilla Salad

4- Fish Tacos

5-Spring Roll Salad

6- Pizza

7- Waffles


I looked at my recipes and made a shopping list according to the recipes we chose. I continued to do the same thing until I had 4 weeks worth of menus. The menus are printed on card stock and I have them on a clip board hanging in my kitchen. In addition to the ingredients for my menu I also plan for quick breakfasts, and usually soup or sandwiches for lunch. Piece of cake!

I rarely prepare my meals according to the numbers on my menu. I take a look at the clip board some time during the day and decide what I want to make that night. I only have to shop once a week and rarely have to make emergency runs to the grocery store.

This week I will be working from the following menu:

Menu # 2

1- Chicken Rolls

2- Pan Steamed Veggie Dumplings (ww 31)

3- Sushi Salad

5- Philly Cheese Steak Sandwiches

6- Tostadas

7- Spinach Frittata

I'll be posting pictures and recipes all of next week.

Happy Friday everyone!

-The Domestic Diva

Dirty Dirty Dish Rag

Have you ever gone to pull out a newly washed, dried and folded dish rag, held it to your nose and taken a deep breath expecting it to smell of Tide only to find your dish cloth smelling like Old Faithful? Then, a little annoyed, you pull out another and another only to find the same unpleasant odor permeating each of your laundered dish cloths? You quickly choose one of the cloths, SLAM the drawer shut and wipe down your kitchen anyway... Come on you KNOW what I'm talking about!

I love to cook in a clean kitchen. A clean kitchen to me, is like a blank canvas to an artist. It's a must! There can be no dirty dishes in the sink, no crumbs on the counter the stove must have no remnants of a previous meal plastered onto it. To me, CLEAN dish rags are a must to prime my kitchen for any meal I will be preparing. Dirty dish rags are a breading ground for germs and all things nasty.

SO... this is what I do to keep my rags FRESH and clean:

1-I buy my rags in bulk and I replace them about every 6 months. (You can find inexpensive bulk packs at Walmart)

2-I have a mop bucket under my sink. After each use I toss the rag in the bucket (I never use a rag for more than 1 day. Many times I will only use a rag for one meal clean-up.)

3-Every couple of days, I will dump my rag bucket into the washer then wash the rags in HOT water using laundry soap and BLEACH (according to the "laundry" directions). Then the rags are tossed into the drier until they are completely dry.

and PRESTO CHANGO! I have fresh rags that will keep my kitchen nice and clean!



I am going to get off my soap box now and go take care of my sick children... REST ASSURED! They did not get sick because of a germ ridden dish rag!

-The Domestic Diva

Cleanliness is next to impossible. ~Author Unknown

Cleaning your house while your kids are still growing is like shoveling the walk before it stops snowing. ~Phyllis Diller, Phyllis Diller's Housekeeping Hints, 1966


I'm not a clean freak...JUST A FREAK! Having 3 small children makes keeping a clean house next to impossible. I find myself glorying in the small tasks that I can do each day that STAY DONE! My favorite is that of making my bed. The rest of my house could be going to hell in a handbasket, but as long as my bed is made, I can feel some semblance of peace and tranquility. There is something satisfying about climbing into a crisply made bed after a long day of never ending housework.

May you find joy in the little things you do today,

-The Domestic Diva

Simplicity Is Elegance

My dad always tells me that "Simplicity is Elegance". I was asked to make a "wedding cake" for a Relief Society activity centered on the temple. I decided to go the simple route and make the cake entirely of Rice Crispy Treats. There are four cakes (6"x6"x4) each has a different flavor. Carmel/pecan, Chocolate/mint, White chocolate/strawberry, and chocolate/peanut butter were the flavors I chose. Each block was made by following this recipe:

1- 10.5 oz bag of mini marshmallows
1-stick of butter
10 cups of rice crispy cereal

Then I added simple flavor embellishments to each block.

The idea came from looking at "rice crispy wedding cake" images on google. Who knew something so simple could be so elegant!

Have the greatest day of your life!

-The Domestic Diva

Dirty Jobs

Being a housewife/mother has it's glamourous moments. Cleaning the bathroom is NOT one of them!

Monday is my official bathroom cleaning day. I prefer to split up my less glamourous housewife tasks into different days of the week. It makes these jobs less overwhelming and painful.

There is nothing I hate more than having my hands smell like pee and chemicals so to combat this, I choose to work in rubber gloves. I also hate using rags so I choose to increase my carbon footprint and use disposable Clorox wipes. They leave my bathroom smelling like a summer breeze and they make everything *sparkle*. I can clean both my bathrooms in less than a half an hour. I've found that if I put an episode of "The Take Home Chef" (it is a TLC program in Netflix) on the laptop, then I can watch and clean at the same time and it makes the work less torturous.

Happy Monday Everybody!
The Domestic Diva

In the beginning...

Shalece Fiack's my name, domestic peace and tranquility is my game. Join me on a journey through the daily joys of motherhood. I'll share cooking tips, crafts, cleaning and organization ideas, menu and shopping tips and so much more! Sit back and enjoy the ride!

Sincerely, The Domestic Diva