Cheap Eats: Tortillas!

The Topic: Flat-Out Fab Food

The Dish: Besides biscuits, there's one other recipe I rely on regularly when I'm in need of cheap food and/or the illusion of a fancy (read: homemade) meal: motherflippin' tortillas. And by that, I mean my Mother taught me how to flip them—her recipe and tortilla expertise has guided me to where I am today.

Using dirt-cheap ingredients, similar to their quick-bread counterpart, these tortillas are easy peasy and turn taco night into a high-class affair. If you're not in the mood for a rice-and-beans burrito, that's okay—Mom has a ton of delicious suggestions for this flat-bread base, including cheesy garlic, sweet saffron, and even chocolate dessert variations. For now, I'll share two secret recipes with you: The Original, and Classic PB&J.

"The Original" Tortilla

What You Need:

1 cup flour

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1/4 cup water, plus 1 tablespoon

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

What You Do:

1. In a large bowl, combine all ingredients and let stand for 20 minutes.

2. Form dough into a ball, then place onto lightly floured countertop. Divide into 1-inch balls. Flatten each ball into a round, and, with a rolling pin, roll out lightly on one side.

3. Over high heat, place cast-iron skillet. Cook tortillas in ungreased skillet for 2 to 3 minutes, then flip and cook other side until lightly browned, about 2 minutes. Serve warm.

Classic PB&J

What You Need:

1 cup flour

Dash sea salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/3 cup peanut butter

1/3 cup water

1 tablespoon agave syrup

What You Do:

Same as The Original! Except when these are finished, smother with your favorite jam, maybe some more peanut butter, and devour the best PB&J ever.

A few tips from Mom aka the Tortilla Queen:

• When rolling out tortillas, only roll on one side—no flipping!
• Don't be afraid to sprinkle the PB 'tillas with a little more flour when rolling. These will have a slightly different texture than The Original.
• You'll probably just want to make a double batch, because these will be gone in no time.

The Final Word: Sure, you could just buy a pack of tortillas at the store, but that isn't fun, and it's more expensive (unless you're buying those mega-packs of corn tortillas for like 50 cents or something insane, but do those have peanut butter in them?). Don't be afraid to experiment with add-ins—these are really hard to screw up. And if you try out a really awesome (or awful, god forbid) let me know!

Cheap Eats: The Biscuit Edition

The Topic: The Art of Biscuitry

The Dish: The general equation for eating on the cheap is simple: groceries plus kitchen equals affordable food. Due to my inherently lazy nature and string of excuses—

"It's too early to cook. I'm tired."

"It's too late to cook. I'm tired."

"It's the weekend! I want a burrito."

—sometimes it can be difficult for me to motivate and make the most of my dollars and pantry. Enter: The Biscuit. This five-ingredient beauty has gotten me through some tough times, including a post-college stint in Arkansas in which my sister and I subsisted mainly on their floury goodness.

They make regular appearances during my lunch shifts at the VNHQ, and for a few good reasons:

1. They’re cheap. Using the most basic baking ingredients, a double-batch helps feed a famished staff and is super affordable, clocking in at a couple bucks.
2. They’re easy, using only five common pantry ingredients. If you never bake and don’t buy flour on the regular, stocking up won’t set you back much, and it promises future batches.
3. They’re customizable. From the basic recipe, you can go anywhere with add-ins—sweet, savory, spiced—and it’s incredibly friendly to ingredient substitutions.

These have impressed everyone from homemade-bread aficionados to biscuits ‘n’ gravy-loving omnivores, and they take literally minutes to make from mixing bowl to mouth. The recipe is so simple that I have it committed to memory, and it’ll be no time before you do, too. If you’re baking for a crowd or planning for the week ahead, I recommend doubling the recipe.

Abby's Cheap-Ass Biscuits

Makes 9 small or 6 medium biscuits

What You Need:

1-2/3 cups flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

2/3 cup non-dairy milk

1/3 cup oil

What You Do:

1. Preheat oven to 475 degrees. In a large bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, and salt. Add milk and oil, and mix until just combined.
2. With a 1/4-cup measuring cup, ice-cream scoop, or your clean hands, drop dough onto an ungreased baking sheet. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes until bottoms are golden brown.
3. Top with non-hydrogenated margarine, syrup, jam, peanut butter, gravy, or anything else that you could possibly put on bread. Devour!

The Final Word: Like I said, this recipe can be taken in many directions. Feel free to experiment with different kinds of flours, oils, and milks (I love olive oil and almond milk), and add-ins are the best: garlic, fresh herbs, vegan cheese (1 cup of shredded cheese and a few cloves of garlic make the best cheese biscuits ever!), oats and raisins, etc. You can even skip the oven and throw spoonfuls in the skillet if you don’t want to heat up the house. I could go on forever. Can you tell how much I love these freaking biscuits? Go crazy with your imagination—or whatever you have on hand—and enjoy!