Breakfast Burrito

Here's an idea for breakfast: Make some tofu scramble and wrap it up in a Whole Wheat Tortilla, and you got yourself a breakfast burrito.

Try this recipe

Scrambled Tofu

• 1 lb firm tofu
• 1 tsp chicken style seasoning (see chicken style season recipe below or use a vegan chicken style seasoning mix)
  
• 2 Tbsp each: chopped green bell pepper, onion and sliced olives
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 4 Created Whole 100% Whole Wheat Tortillas
• Avocado & Salsa
  

Place olive oil in pan. Add veggies and satay for 2 mins. Add tofu, and mash with a fork. Add seasoning and remaining ingredients. Cook for about 10 minutes over medium heat. Wrap scramble in a warm tortilla. Serve with avocado slices and fresh salsa. Serves 4

Chicken Style Seasoning

• 4 tsp celery salt
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 4 tsp onion powder
• ½ tsp garlic powder
• ¼ tsp marjoram
• 4 tsp parsley flakes, ground
• Pinch savory
• ¼ cup salt
• 1 tsp brown sugar

Mix all ingredients together. Store in airtight container. 1 tsp of this seasoning may be substituted for one packet of George Washington Golden seasoning or McKay’s Chicken Seasoning. When substituting for McKay’s Chicken Seasoning, use less salt in recipe.

order tortillas at www.TheBestTortilla.com/order

Traveling Nutrition Challenges or Creativity? You Choose!

Traveling puts a new perspective on the day to day. Along with new sites, meeting new people, and maybe dealing with language and culture differences, one has to face different habits and practices when it comes to food and eating. Out of the entire month of March, I've spent all of 2 nights at my apartment (I just cringe when I think of that fact and my LA rent...ughhh). But, the lack of time in LA, has lent itself to the adventures of 10 days in Italy, and I'm currently finishing up a 19 day work assignment in Rockford/Chicago, Illinois.

When it comes to your nutrition, living out of a hotel, hostel, or spending an entire day on an airplane or wandering airports, creates either challenges or lends a hand to a creativity, depending on how you want to look at it. Sometimes healthy options are not readily available, and you are forced to make the best choice that you can, or you must give yourself full permission to embrace the experience.When you are constantly on the go, it's hard to plan ahead with your meals, but there are some simple things that you can do, that will save you time, money, and the headache of finding yourself starving, and nothing available to eat.

Here are some tips for when you are on-the-go:

• Pack raw almonds in your carry-on bag. Protein and healthy fats keep you satisfied.



• LaraBars are awesome; easy to pack, all raw, and contain lots of fiber.



• Drink water! It's soooo easy to let yourself get dehydrated when traveling. Take an empty Klean Kanteen with you through security and fill it up on the other side. You save money and help reduce environmental impact.



• Eat as balanced as possible when you are traveling. You feel more jet lagged and tired when you are just grabbing candy and sweets.



• And probably the best tip, and I'm serious when I say this because I've learned from experience; Tortillas are awesome to have in your bag when you travel! It's so much better than the Kraft packaged snacks that Southwest dishes out or the snack packs that you pay a pretty penny for. Take Justin's individually packaged Nut Butter's with you or individually packaged hummus, or of course, I just eat tortillas straight. When you leave for the airport, take your tortillas out of the freezer, and when you eventually reach your destination, just put them back in the fridge...that's if there are any left after that 10 hour flight:)

Tortillas took a trip to Whistler, B.C.

Best Mountain Snack EVER!

www.thebesttortilla.com

Make Burritos For Lunch!

Ethnic foods are gaining in popularity. The Hispanic population is growing faster than the overall population in the United States, and due to this, Latin foods are becoming more popular among consumers. The Hispanic population encompasses 15 percent of the total population in the U.S., and that number is expected to grow to 30 percent by 2050. Sales of Hispanic foods are at 7 billion dollars annually, and expected to rise to 12 billion by 2014.

Until recently, ethnic foods in the natural marketplace were hard to find, but since 1990 the ethnic purchasing power has more than doubled. This generation is the most diverse in American history, and with that diversity comes an opportunity for unique, tasty, and healthy products.

What's so cool about being in the tortilla business is that we don't have to educate people on what a tortilla is; everyone knows. I think the surprise comes when people realize that a whole wheat tortilla can actually taste good. One of our biggest compliments is when one of our Hispanic friends or customers say, "I grew up on grandma's or mom's homemade tortillas and these [Created Whole Tortillas] are GOOD!"

We are really blessed to be entering the market at this time, with such an exceptional product. The opportunities ahead of us are limitless.

Make burritos for lunch!
www.thebesttortilla.com/order

information and facts taken from the following articles:
Ethnic Cuisine Heats up Naturals Market
Hispanic Foods Heat up the Market

Tortilla Development

These days, there are a lot of things in the works for us. For Created Whole, it has been almost two years since our first production day, production that happened and for only a short while longer will happen at a small tortilleria, one that we don't own. To finally have purchased our own tortilla equipment is a huge and exciting step for us.

We've only just begun the journey, and at this point, our business is undergoing many changes. What we started out thinking, believing, and focusing on, has adapted and changed. We've tested the market and we have a different plan in how and where to market than when we started. It in a sense feels like we are only now launching.

There's interesting balance between feeling like Created Whole is not progressing and then questioning how we are going to be able to keep up. The growth of the company is insignificant in comparison to the growth that has been seen in our individual characters. God has been opening doors and events and situations have happened that only can be attributed to divine appointments.

To give a brief update on some areas we are working on right now is the manufacturing side of things, where a lot of work has to be done in setting up the factory. Working out supply and distribution. And the major area of focus is marketing. We are focusing on creating a better website, one that looks professional, credible, is easy to navigate, and has an awesome store front. We plan on relying heavily on online orders. You can see the website we have right now at www.thebesttortilla.com. We are also putting together press kits and marketing plans to get our name out there. And, we are looking for people with talents and skills that can be utilized in this growth stage of the company and that would be willing to donate their time and strengths on a volunteer basis. If you want to be part of the growth, let us know. Email Tim@thebesttortilla.com.

Never Say Never

The woman sitting across from Kara stretches her arms wide, as to create emphasis. "Kara," she says, "Do you realize that, on one hand, you are completely spontaneous, facing what many people fear with excitement and enjoyment, relishing the unplanned adventures, and on the polar opposite end, cling to a suffocating control and structure that has wanted to choke out any and all of the beauty in life that you so desperately are searching?"

That would be a quite accurate observation.

Kara is an anomaly, not following the normal post-college life that many of her friends have chosen with marriages, homes, kids, and office jobs. "I thought I wanted all of that right out of college, but really, I had no idea. In God's wisdom, I didn't get what I hoped for, and how I thought my life would be is very, very different from my current reality. I am very blessed and thankful that God knows best and that my plans didn't happen," she says.

If you told Kara four years ago that she would be a flight attendant, living in Los Angeles, in a quaint beach apartment, having traveled to Haiti, Costa Rica, Honduras, Belize, Hawaii, British Columbia, Germany, Czech Republic, Amsterdam, Belgium, Guatemala, all in the span of one year, as well as developing a strategy to take a little tortilla company mainstream, she would have looked at you and asked if you were feeling ok...or if you were smoking crack.

She never wanted to be a flight attendant, had no desire to live in LA, and traveling that much seemed too unbelievably awesome. "I remember flying out of LAX as a passenger years ago, taking a red-eye out, noticing the flight attendants, and thinking, 'I'd hate to do that job.' It's crazy for me to think of how I actually love my job, how I like LA, and how lucky I am to have made a great community of friends."

To Kara, flying is still "just a job," and her passion, and what she knows to be her future, is Created Whole. Her creativity, enthusiasm, and natural interest in people, combined with a degree in Marketing, have created a natural fit as Lead of Marketing and Promotions. "I believe in our company. I can't imagine my life without tortillas, and honestly, I don't know how other people live without them either. They shouldn't have to. My personal mission is that people no longer be without an awesome tasting whole wheat tortilla," she says with a laugh.

In Kara's "fun time", she enjoys riding her Cannondale road-bike, spending time with friends, and dreaming up the next adventure. The "Must-See List" includes Italy, Chile, Israel, and Thailand, and the chart toppers for the "Must-Do List" are learning Spanish, sky-diving, and biking from Canada to Mexico.

Why Not Tortillas?

A similar post has appeared in our blog addressing how we got started in the tortilla business.

When people ask us how we got into the tortilla manufacturing business, they are often searching for some explanation regarding a certain ethnic background. It only makes sense, right? Well, we don't have any Central or South American background. Our background is living on a farm in the San Joaquin Valley, driving tractors through the fields, and flying airplanes. What we do have is a knowledgeable dietitian on staff and an interest in health.

Typically, people with our background, don't make tortillas. Created Whole is nothing typical. We are breaking stereotypes. We are going to big manufacturers who tell us that what we are doing is impossible, but we know it's possible. We have people that have grown up eating "mama's tortillas" tasting ours and telling us Created Whole Tortillas are incredible! A product like this has to go to the masses. We are determined not to waste the potential at our fingertips and what God has blessed us with.

Wheat tortillas are the fastest growing product line, not only in the tortilla industry, but in the entire grain products industry. 62 percent of the food industry, both commercial and non-commercial businesses, reported using tortilla products in their operations. People are requesting whole wheat tortillas in restaurants and food establishments. People are expecting great tasting products that are also healthy. Tortillas are versatile and consumable. They are eaten at breakfast, lunch, and dinner, as an appetizer, entree, dessert, or snack. With our background in health, along with an exceptional product, and industry timing, it's only natural that we should enter this market.


So maybe instead of asking "Why tortillas?", we should ask, "WHY NOT TORTILLAS?

Get To Know The CEO

With his contagious laughter and "kid-at-heart" personality, he's more than just fun to be around. He can be an all out riot! He's easy going, but far from lazy. He's sharp and determined, displays strong character and kindness in all that he does and pursues. He's the owner. He's the tortilla recipe master. He's Tim Mulder.

Tim Mulder is a professional pilot, lover of the outdoors, and a health enthusiast. Before he was old enough to drive a pickup truck, he was driving a large wheat harvester in the dusty wheat fields of the San Joaquin Valley. Early on in his married life, Tim became captivated by a study of the ancient scriptures and the health secrets found in them. Combining this study and the science of health he began living and sharing what he discovered.

Convinced that if people would live more closely to the way God made the foods found in nature, he dreamed of one day creating a food company that lived and practiced in their manufacturing methods the health principles that he found to be true and that he practiced in his own life. With the abundant refining of grains and cereals in the American diet, he was sure that manufacturers needed to reduce the use of preservatives and the refining of wheat.

"For years I felt a need and urge to manufacture food the way you would if health were your primary value instead of shelf-life or simply profit," Tim explains. With this in mind, he dreamed of creating his own food manufacturing company. So, with the encouragement of his wife Brenda, daughter Kara, and son Bryan, Tim began tinkering in the family's kitchen, perfecting and scaling the whole wheat tortilla recipe that he had been making in his own home for over 25 years. A simple, yet nutritious recipe became "Created Whole". Tim's dream of becoming an industry leader in freshly manufactured food products began moving towards reality. The journey is only beginning, and Tim believes that someday, through Created Whole, he and his family will be able to touch many peoples' lives with the truths of health in countries all around the world.


Tim's life is more than just tortillas. He also enjoys working in his garden and tending to his orchard of fruit trees, and recently became a certified grower, which enables him to sell produce at farmer's markets. He loves to backpack, windsurf, play tennis, hang glide, and spend time with his wife Brenda. He's an amazing man, an amazing husband, and an amazing father. As the CEO of Created Whole, this company is in good hands!

There's A "Super Mom" Behind Every Super Tortilla

Brenda Mulder is known for her caring and loving spirit, laughter, and her amazing ability to multi-task. (Some have nicknamed her "Super Mom". I'm still trying to figure out how she does it all). She is not only one of the main cheerleaders in the business, but also the inspiration and go-to-gal when it comes to Created Whole and anything nutrition. Brenda's interest in health and nutrition, that started many years ago, has laid the foundation for Created Whole. Read on to get to know more about her!

Brenda Mulder is a Registered Dietitian with a passion for helping people achieve their lifestyle goals. With a background in health and wellness and a personal commitment to apply positive lifestyle principles in her own life, she encourages her clients to take care of their health and live well. Brenda's background includes work as a Clinical Dietitian in the Hospital setting and in Long Term Care, Health Education and Wellness, and Nutrition Consultation for individual clients.

Currently: The owner of Quality Life Design, where she specializes in consulting individuals on healthful living principles that will give them an improved quality of life. She also enjoys her new "mini vacations" with her recent job addition and adventure of being a flight attendant for SkyWest Airlines.

Hobbies: Loves to cook. Has cooked healthy foods for family for over the past 30 years. Enjoys being creative through art, sewing, and crafts. Likes the outdoors, hiking, camping, and loves to travel.

Loves to give, help others, and be a blessing to those around her. Brenda has a desire to make a difference in this world. She feels that one way she can give back is by encouraging people to follow healthy lifestyle principles that will be a blessing in their lives.

She tweets about nutrition and health @BrendaMulder

Why don't you sample with Salsa?

We have had some customers ask or wonder why we do not sample our Create Whole Tortillas with some great tasting filling like salsa, humus, scrambled eggs or tofu.

Well... During our testing we found that even a horribly bad tasting tortilla is acceptable if you cover the flavor with a good enough filling. Sure our tortillas are fantastic with scrambled tofu, salsa or humus, but when we go head to head with nothing but the tortilla taste as the standard of comparison it is a more accurate test of quality.

There is one other issue about sampling. What filling will we use? Some might not like the sample because of the ingredients we have chosen. By sampling just the tortilla we have a better chance of gaining the customers confidence of our quality product.

Created Whole Tortillas... the original "eat it straight" tortilla.

Full-Time Tim

Tortillas eventually, or more like, initially enter most social conversations. It's so hard not to talk about Created Whole for us, because this company is something that we are so passionate about.

Tortillas travel everywhere with us. A couple of weeks ago, the flight attendants of the family (Brenda and Kara), were grabbing lunch at Baja Fresh at LAX, and the young woman in line just happened to ask, "Do you ladies know if they have whole wheat tortillas?" Smiling, Kara says, "No they don't, but I do," while rapidly explaining about the tortilla business, and frantically trying to find a business card. Not having any business cards and only two tortillas left, she handed over the tortillas with the website written on a napkin. This business has comical moments to say the least.

Tim received a phone call last week from a woman who says she's praying for us to get into Trader Joe's and praying that we will be successful. She loves the tortillas. Stories like this have been happening for us everyday. From the random people we encounter, to our regular customers at farmer's market, we need these affirmations.

This past week, Brenda was in Santa Barbara for work, and Tim was in Utah or somewhere, and Kara was enjoying the wonderful island of Oahu. Our lives are a little nutso. It's a challenge to build a business when there isn't someone dedicating all of their time to just tortillas. Three months ago, we set a goal that Tim would be our full-time employee by the end of the summer. We've needed him full-time for awhile, but he hasn't wanted to let go of the security of his job. So, it's the end of the summer.

Every time the three of us (Tim, Brenda, Kara) get together to talk about the future of tortillas, each one of us has a, "You'll-never-guess-what-just-happened-to-me-story." There some pretty exciting opportunities "in-the-works" right now that can't be shared at this time on such a public forum, but the one thing I can say, is that things look good. There's a lot to be done. So much so, that we had an intervention with Tim, and he's done working for anyone but Created Whole.

Congratulate Tim on his new position as full-time Director of Operations/Production!

This Frustration Can Be a Good Thing

"Dad, these tortillas...they are SO salty. Why are they so salty?" I question mid-chew, as I sit in the backseat of the car. He asks for a piece to try, and then he is quiet for a moment. He begins to shake his head back and forth, in a sense of confusion and mutters how this salty tortilla could be. Mom and I begin to question, "Did you forget that you put in the salt and then added extra unknowingly? Did you measure too much? Did the recipe mix unequally and it only is this dozen that is unreasonably salty? He shakes his head more vigorously, and replies, "No. No. I measured everything right. I made the recipe exactly right." He's just as stumped as we are. We go about the day, but every hour or so, we return to the topic of the salty tortilla. We are all very bothered by this occurance.

Come to find out, the whole batch is ruined, all 56 dozen. And, come to find out, it has nothing to do with a mistake that we made or anything that we really had control over. It was the bakery owners that made the error, and even though they admitted to adding more salt without our consent, they were unwilling to refund us or make another batch "on the house." In all points of business, the people involved must be honest and willing to make amends for mistakes made, however costly they may be. There are different ways to learn in life, and one is by seeing how NOT to do things. Created Whole will always be committed to honesty, quality, and integrity, unlike some in the business arena.

The frustration with the current bakery we are working under has risen significantly over the last year. The owners have increased the price per dozen that we pay to make our tortillas at their facility, a price that is unreasonably high. The going rate gives us little added benefit. We are only able to make tortillas on their schedule, and at their convenience. The relationship seems fragile, breakable. We are caught in a tight-rope, scared to make a misstep that could send our baby business plummeting to sudden death.

The three of us (Tim, Brenda, and Kara), share equal responsibility (for the most part), for the decisions made within our business, but as the daughter (Kara), I look up to my father as the leader. He is intelligent and extremely capable, and it's really because of him that this business began. I have been at the point of breaking for quite awhile, not wanting our business to continue like it has. We are stuck in limbo, because without production, we cannot grow. Without growth, in all honesty, it's time to ask the question, "What the hell are we doing?"

I hate it when something happens with our tortillas, because I am so emotionally attached to the success and the quality of Created Whole. I think one makes better decisions when there is not the emotional attachment, but the attachment is an indicator of how much I care. We all care. I think, somewhat ignorantly, and it's easy for me to say, "Let's grow." I don't know the feeling of debt. I don't really know what it's like to fail. To jump completely in, with nothing and no one to fall back on and not look back. To me, the concept of just diving head-first into waters that are murky and with depth unknown, seems much more rewarding than hanging out in the kiddie-pool with rubber duckie arm bands. Sometimes, I think that Dad is just fine with the kiddie pool. I become angry that he's not doing anything (which is a completely unfair and a wrongful accusation. People are not the most rational when angry.) But, I see that he does care, maybe even more than I do.

With the latest bakery frustration, I feel thankful. Maybe this will be the last straw for Dad. Our goal was for him to be the full-timer in our company by the end of the summer. It's almost the end of the summer, and I think that we are all at the end of our patience with our current situation. So, this time, the frustration that we are experiencing may just be the catalyst to take us into the big markets that we keep dreaming of. So, maybe this time, this frustration can be a good thing.