Flour Tortillas!!

Connor has been gluten free, dairy free and soy free since he was a baby. His momma, me, on the other hand, became gluten free as an adult. I know what a warm donut tastes like. I know what a warm, flaky croissant tastes like. I miss good, light, fresh, good bread for a sandwich. I love good food, which makes going gluten free, and dairy free so hard for me. It is hard to find good gluten free food. It is hard when you know what a good home made flour tortilla tastes like fresh off the grill to then settle for a store bought corn tortilla. Well, I have found a way to satisfy some of my food sadness. I haven't found a good donut or croissant yet, but I have found an excellent and easy flour tortilla recipe.

When I was a young wife, before I had kids, I use to make home made flour tortillas daily. We would some how find a way to make tortillas work with what ever we were having for dinner. We could be having fried rice, and we could make it work with flour tortillas. When friends came over, the first thing they asked for were the flour tortillas. Good, homemade flour tortillas are incredible. We are from the West, and Mexican food is a part of our culture. I was very sad when we found out we had to go gluten free, because that meant the tortillas had to go, until now. I found an incredible and EASY recipe for those of you that are challenged in the kitchen. A website called, "Gluten Free Cooking School" has the best recipe for gluten free flour tortillas. I challenge you to make these and not tell anyone that they are gluten free and see if anyone notices. I find the true test is when they go unnoticed as being "good for being gluten free". I want them to just be great!! My family keeps asking me to make these tortillas. That is awesome!!

Gluten Free Tortillas:

2 c. Gluten Free All-Purpose Flour Mix (I use Bob's Red Mill)
1 1/2 tsp. xanthan gum
2 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 c. warm water

1. Add the dry ingredients to a large mixing bowl and mix the ingredients thoroughly.

2. Add the cup of warm water to the bowl and mix the dry goods into the water. Just mix it all up until all of the dry ingredients are no longer dry. And then keep mixing a minute longer.

3. Separate the dough into 8 pieces and roll each piece into a ball. Place all but one of the dough balls back into the bowl and cover with plastic wrap until you’re ready to work with them.

4. Sprinkle a clean, flat surface with a bit of all purpose flour and then roll your dough ball into a roughly circular shape. Get is as thin as possible. Make sure to keep it from sticking to your surface.

5. Throw the tortilla onto a hot griddle (I use a cast iron griddle on medium heat with just a smidge of shortening or oil) and let it cook approximately 1 minute – or until it has started puffing up and the bottom side is developing those lovely brown spots. Flip the tortilla and cook the other side until is toasty as well.

6. Slide the cooked tortilla onto a waiting plate and repeat from step 4 until you’ve cooked all 8 tortillas. I generally roll one tortilla out while another is cooking, so that there’s is always a tortilla on the griddle.

I find it helpful to not stack hot tortillas on top of each other. I like my tortillas slightly crunchy and the steam from one tortilla will make the next one soggy if they are stacked.

ENJOY!!

In the paper

Well, Connor and I were in the local paper yesterday. I am not thrilled with the article since the majority of the text was either fluff about us moving to this town, or reiterating the authors past negative article. I wanted to talk about being an advocate for your child. I wanted to talk more about how far Connor has come. I especially wanted to talk about the positive things the school district is doing for my son. Apparently, the newspaper sells more with negative articles, surprise, surprise.

I want to say thank you to my son's teacher, Ms. Lloyd, his para, Ms. Monica, his resource teacher, Ms. Wendy, and his entire team. Thank you for your constant hard work and patience. I am under no delusion that Connor is an easy child or that your jobs are easy. I wish more people, even people with typical children, could understand the lengths you go through to help our children. You sacrifice money and time and heaven knows patience, to help our children daily. I am not good at saying thank you and I expect a lot from you, but I am appreciative. You are all good at your jobs and have wonderfully large hearts. You have helped my son and you have loved my son. Thank you. To all teachers and all supporting staff across the country, thank you.

In case you want to read the article:


Mom pleased with support of autistic student

December 01, 2009 10:21 PM
BY WILLIAM ROLLER, SUN STAFF WRITER



When Jill Mitchell first met with Yuma Elementary District 1 to inquire about services available for her autistic son, she was prepared to fight for them.

Mitchell, who moved to Yuma from Woodland Park, Colo., last summer, said services for her son Connor, 10, were not optional - she said she has read books and attended conferences and knows what works.

But despite some criticisms she had heard about special education programs at the district, Mitchell was pleased with what she found. "The fabulous thing about District 1 is that I didn't need to fight because they agreed on everything," she said.

The Arizona Department of Education audited Yuma Elementary School District 1 in October after a complaint was filed by a parent. The audit noted that 29 percent of special education teachers have not met the Highly Qualified standard in the subject area they are assigned to teach as mandated under the 2001 No Child Left Behind Act. And there are four positions currently filled by long-term substitutes.

Mitchell said she knew that her son needed a paraprofessional "and without blinking an eye, they agreed."

A paraprofessional is a trained aide who spends all of their time with a disabled student while they are at school. After 8-1/2 years of therapy, diet and supplemental vitamins, Connor is now considered a "high functional autistic," Mitchell said.

"He walks and talks and does his homework, but he still has emotional and behavioral issues associated with autism. So he needs to have constant supervision to be successful."

Mitchell's husband, now a civil engineer at Yuma Proving Ground, had been self-employed. But because his business was keeping him from home, they moved to find a job opportunity in a sunnier climate with hopes of a better quality of life.

Initially, Mitchell noticed that parents had a negative view of how school districts handled autism. She found many parents who were criticizing their school's approach. This is because a diagnosis of autism is new and the rates are skyrocketing, she said.

Yet negative comments did not discourage her because she never was content to drop off her son at school and expect them to do all the work, Mitchell said.

Despite Connor's disability, he is participating in a regular fourth-grade classroom at Sunrise Elementary School. One of the initiatives the school takes that is especially helpful is the "lunch bunch" break period when Connor, his paraprofessional and two other classmates get together.

They not only enjoy sharing their meal, but it is an opportunity for Connor to work on his conversational and social skills in a small group setting while all 32 of his classmates take turns dining with him.

By having all the children rotate turns sharing quality time with Connor, none of them feels left out of the fun, and they have the chance to get better acquainted. Even before he arrived for the school year, District 1 had a counselor meet with Connor's class to explain how a child with autism is different but they can still be friends, Mitchell said.

"That made a difference in his being integrated into a regular classroom because now when he showed up, he was accepted by everyone."

Connor is now performing grade-level work, but that requires a lot of effort because he still has a lot of issues to overcome every day, Mitchell said. But, she noted, there is one type of therapy called applied behavioral analysis (ABA) that works better than others.

When Mitchell discovered Connor's paraprofessional lacked this background, she appealed to District 1, which had Connor's paraprofessional trained in ABA at Alice Byrne School. Mitchell's only complaint is that not enough teachers receive this specific professional development and the state needs to pass more bonds to fund this.

"I think parents ultimately got to take the responsibility for their own child and not blame the schools because District 1 has done an excellent job," she said.

In a previous Yuma Sun story, Darwin Stiffler, District 1 superintendent, said only 16 teachers out of nearly 60 special education instructors must meet additional requirements. He said ADE's report recognized that the teachers are certified in special education.

But ADE is adding new obligations that were not compulsory until now in order to meet the Highly Qualified standard. The 16 teachers must pass the Arizona Education Proficiency Assessment (AEPA), which evaluates general education knowledge, Stiffler said.

He said District 1 will comply with helping teachers prepare for the AEPA by providing professional development and reimbursing teachers for the exam expense.