Chilli, Ristra's, Drying & flaking

Wow its been 5 months since my last food blog so here it is................
I grew my own chillies through the summer & as well as cooking with fresh chilli I also made chilli ristra's & hung them up to dry. I apologise for not having a photo of the Ristra's.
To make a chilli ristra you need to pick the chilli with a long stalk then thread a needle with cotton & pierce the stalk at an angle slanting upwards pull the cotton through then add the next chilli in the same way. Move the chillie's around so the ristra is evenly spaced & then hange it in a light but cool dry place that will get air around them. Do not use or keep any chillie's that have gone white as this is mouldy, throw these away as soon as you see them so they do not infect the other chillie's.

When the Chillie's are completely dried out you can chop them grind them or flake them & store for use in sauces & con carne's etc I also add a bit of a pep to mince with a little chilli.
If you can, wear gloves while doing this :)
Take the chilli & pull of the stalk. Split the chillie & remove the seeds then break up & put on a chopper grinder or Mortar & pestle. Grind or chop till you have the consistency you want then fill a jar with the chilli & some seed's (but not all).
Save some or most of the seeds for growing new plants.

 Please be careful or like me you will end up burning your mouth & worse very sensitive parts!!!! I have washed my hands 20 odd times & still I keep getting areas of burn, Please don't go near your eyes till you know for definite the next day that all the chilli oil has been washed away.

Chocolate-y Toffee Shortbread

According to one of my favorite magazines, FamilyFun, these rich chocolate-y shortbread bars are a hit among Irish families, making them the perfect choice for serving on St. Patrick's Day.

All I know is these received two bellies up -- the highest honor -- among the guys who gather at our house for weekly Bible study.

Two bellies up -- these babies are winners.

Go see the recipe at the FamilyFun site, here.

Coffee Liqueur

This time of year I have lots of extra empty jars around, as we've been making our way through the year's stash of olallieberry jam, sweet freezer pickles, peach nectar, etc.
This seemed like the perfect moment to try making some coffee liqueur.  I've never made this before, but  love the flavor of coffee in chocolate desserts.
And hey, I've got all those empty jars, right?  It had to be done.
I won't know for sure the success of this experiment until the liqueur has "mellowed" for two or three weeks.  But based on a preliminary taste I'd say this will be a winner.  It came from the book Homemade Christmas by Mary Harvey Gurley, the same book that gave me this yummy lemon curd recipe.  Same exact page, by the way -- page 41.  It's a good page.

One more note:  I checked in my trusty Pyromaniac's Cookbook to see what dishes I could set aflame with this and, alas, I learned that while coffee liqueurs are acknowledged as tasty, author John. J. Poister says "their low proof does not make them suitable for flaming unless neutral spirits are added to bolster up the alcoholic content."
Sigh.  I did so want to light my food on fire.

COFFEE LIQUEUR
2 c. water
4 1/2 c. sugar
4 t. instant coffee
drop vanilla extract
1 c. brandy
1 c. rum

In saucepan, combine water, sugar, coffee, and vanilla.  Heat over low-ish heat, stirring, until sugar and coffee powder are dissolved.  Set aside for a minute or two to cool, then add the brandy and rum.  Pour into clean jars and close 'em up good.  Liqueur should be ready in two to three weeks.

NOTE:  This seemed like it would be a whole lotta liqueur, so I cut these amounts in half and still ended up with two-plus small jars full.  FYI.

Five Sneaky Little Healthful Steps that Even Diehard Foodies Can Live With

Michele at Fit Foodista blog is hosting a blog carnival on food, health, and wellness.  When I hear the word carnival, I think cotton candy and caramel apples and I am most definitely in.  Here's my contribution to the carnival: 

Five Sneaky Little Healthful Steps that Even Diehard Foodies Can Live With

1.  Don't drink soda, drink water.  Except with pizza.  You gotta have soda with pizza.

2.  Make your own Happy Frappies.  I don't know the exact calorie count of my homemade blended frappuccino, but I'll bet with skim milk it's less than half the 500-plus calorie count of some local coffee shops' offerings.

3.  Good bread without butter is actually quite tasty.  Really.

4.  Instead of joining the rest of the family in shoveling in yummy salty French fries at the drive-through, just take a deep whiff instead.  The smell is just as good as the taste.  Maybe better.  And no calories whatsoever.

5.  Find some form of exercise you love and schedule it regularly into your life.  It will become like brushing your teeth; you will automatically do it without even thinking of skipping.

Bonus tip:  Better one blissful bite of blueberry muffin that actually tastes good than a whole huge fiber-filled wad of muffin that tastes like particle board.  As the author of the book French Women Don't Get Fat says, "Fortunately, with good chocolate, you don't need, and should not want, pounds of it for pleasure.  A couple of choice pieces a day won't disable your budget or your weight maintenance program."

Amen?

Amen.

Have you got any healthful tips to share with those of us who love our food?

Take Care of Those Wooden Spoons

For a very cool tip on taking care of your wooden kitchen utensils, check out Food in Jars blog.  Pretty nifty.

Cheese-Oozing Onion Bread

Well I'm not sure I even need to add any words to this; the picture pretty much says it all.  A round of bread sliced almost all the way through, oozing with cheese and diced green onions and poppy seeds.  You pull off cubes of the cheese-soaked bread with your fingers and pop them into your mouth. 

Does it get any better?

No.  It does not.

One word of warning:  The first time I made this, I had no idea how filling it was.  I served it with spaghetti.

We did not need the spaghetti.

The second time, I served with a small fruit salad.

Much better.

This would also be wonderful with a light (think broth-y) soup.

This recipe is officially an appetizer, but if you think cheese fondue, you can call it a main dish and I'd be behind you 100 percent.  Just don't think about calories. 

Tomorrow you can have salad for dinner.  Tonight?  Lick your fingers and enjoy.

 

Go visit Leigh Anne at Your Homebased Mom blog for the recipe and a thorough "Bloomin' Onion Bread" tutorial.  She got the recipe from See Jane in the Kitchen! who got it from The Changeable Table.  You know a recipe's a winner when it keeps getting passed from blog to blog. 

Today's Quiz

When your hobby is trying new recipes, you never know when you'll pounce upon an unexpected gem.

You also never know when you'll wind up with some . . . let's just say, less than spectacular results.

The last couple weeks have been bulging with mediocre results.

See if you can spot which of the following dishes was my favorite, the one I'll be making again. 

Was it this dried apricot/fresh rosemary yeast bread?

Was it these Scottish shortbread cookies, made with cornmeal?

Could my favorite be this retro chicken and rice casserole, topped with those '50s standbys, cream of mushroom soup and onion soup mix?

Maybe the favorite was these lemon custard cups, recipe from my great-great grandma Hattie.

What do you think?  Could the best of the bunch be this "light" recipe for fresh cranberry and lemon scones topped with powdered sugar?

Or could it be these ever-so-humble peachy carrots, a 3-ingredient recipe where carrots are simply heated with jelly and a bit of butter and served?
I'll give you a minute to think.
La la la la la.
Do you have your answer?
Give you a minute more.  La la la.
OK.  Time's up.
The dried apricot/rosemary bread was definitely interesting.  But the rosemary overpowered the apricots, and I couldn't figure out whether to eat it for breakfast or with dinner.  Dried apricots in bread is a wonderful idea, but I won't be pairing them with rosemary next time.  Pass.

Shortbread -- I've never tasted a shortbread I didn't love.  Until now.  The cornmeal in this made it dry as dust.  The bulk of these, sadly, ended up in the garbage.

On to the retro casserole.  I had high hopes for this one, onion soup mix being one of my favorite dip ingredients.  Also in its favor, the recipe came from a cute little booklet put out by the Republican Congressional committee eons ago, which even included a recipe for "General Eisenhower's Beef Stew." Alas, my California representative from way back when let me down.  It needed the extra zip of teriyaki glaze just to give it enough flavor to be edible.  Sorry, Mr. Congressman.

How about these  lemon custard cups?  While these were mighty tasty, I couldn't be sure I cooked them all the way as great-great grandma Hattie didn't give very explicit instructions on that front.  They were souffle-like on top, pudding-like on the bottom -- more like a pudding cake than custard.  With some tweaking, I bet they'd be good.  But as is, I was a little nervous that perhaps I was eating raw eggs.  Yikes.

Cranberry scones -- more like cake than like scones.  Not that there's anything wrong with cake.  I just wanted scones.  Sigh.

So have you guessed yet?  The very best recipe I've made in the last two weeks, the one I'll be making again?  It's Peachy Carrots, from The Four Ingredient Cookbook.  Who'd have thought such a simple little recipe would surpass the others?  Here's the recipe, and I will save you all that time-consuming experimenting.

You're welcome.

PEACHY CARROTS

1 lb. package of carrots (the authors recommend you slice and cook them; I simply took a 12-oz. bag of petite carrots and used them whole, without pre-cooking)
1/3 c. peach preserves (I used peach pit jelly I had made over the summer)
1 T. butter

In small skillet or saucepan, combine all ingredients and cook over medium heat until heated through.  That's it.  Sweet and yummy and pretty darned simple.