Football And Chili Pepper Puree - Almost

Wow - what a weekend in college football it was, with Tennessee winning it's first SEC game and many upsets:

Iowa St. beat Oklahoma St.
Michigan beat Nebraska
NC State beat Clemson
USC beat Oregon
Baylor beat Oklahoma
Alabama beat Georgia Southern :-)

It was a tough weekend for the fans in Oklahoma and #2 got beat, so now there are a whole bunch of 9-1 teams to argue over who is now #2.  It will give the talking heads on TV plenty to pontificate about.

When I made my previous post about peppers, I almost said that it would be the last one for the year, but I’m glad I didn’t as I have just one more.  We had used some pesto from the freezer the other night for pizza and it got me thinking about a use for all of the small chile peppers I’d left on the plants.  I suggested to Bev that we cut out the stems and puree them in the food processor, seeds and all, then freeze them as cubes and use to add heat and flavor to dishes. 

Much to my surprise, she liked the idea (she often pooh-poohs my brilliant ideas), so off to the garden I went – I ended up with a small basket of anaheims/ poblanos and one of sweet peppers.

While Bev went shopping for our RV trip, I washed and removed the stems from the chiles to get a nice bowl full.

I chopped them almost to a puree and tasted – they were pretty warm but we decided they would work well in soups, chili, salsas, and sauces. 

We froze them in ice cube and ½ cup sizes.

This was a good way to use up those little peppers that I hate to see go to waste, but are too small to roast and peel and usually just end up in the compost pile.

All photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

One year ago:  Naan Bread Pizza – Better Next Time

Two years ago:  I Got This Day Started Right

Larry

Texas RV Trip - Hot Springs, Ark

After a pretty good night’s sleep, we awoke to beautiful dark grey skies and a thoroughly water-logged campground. We were staying in a 4 month old place called Catherine’s Landing which is on Lake Catherine just south of Hot Springs. Other than the mud and their wi-fi system being down, it’s a nice place, especially the clean, modern bathhouses – however I was about to go into internet/ blogging withdraw.

The hard shaking the RV took on the roads the day before has resulted in several things that aren’t working right, but nothing we can’t live with – we’re making a list. Hopefully we can make it to San Marcos okay, where we’ll have several days to check into some of them – it will be non-interstates the rest of the way there and perhaps all the way home. Bev asked if I thought we could send the State of Arkansas a bill as nearly all of our issues so far are bad road related.

After a leisurely morning, we rolled the car off the tow dolly and headed off to check out the Hot Springs area and the sun had popped out a few minutes before we left. We started at the Visitors Center and found two very nice ladies with some history knowledge and great advice, one of which was lunch at Rolando's Restaurante, where the owner is from Ecuador.

Here’s a shot of the the outdoor patio, which was closed, the rocks leading out to it, and the restaurant inside.  I believe dinner out there on a cool night with the lights on would be very nice.

I had the tilapia (recommended by the visitors center ladies) and Bev had a pork quesadilla.  Mine, which comes with a sauce made from lime juice, garlic, capers and tequila was outstanding as were the sides and garnishes of pickled cukes and pickled onions.

Bev’s was the best presentation of the dish I’d ever seen and it was very good but not in the same league as the tilapia – much prettier than the one on their website.

If we didn’t know better, we could have been in Sevier or Cooke County, Tn as the scenery was so similar, except their leaves were just past their prime and ours were gone. Here's a shot of Hot Springs form Mount Washington and the Lake where we're staying. 

After a very difficult travel day, we had a really nice day in Hot Springs.

All photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

Texas RV Trip - Day 2

The anticipated rain finally showed up with a vengence during the wee hours of the morning, but it was in bands, so we were able to pack up in just a sprinkle.  This is Sweetie Pie preparing for a hard days drive.

As uneventful as was day 1, day 2 was just the opposite.  We had just entered Ark. and pulled into the welcome center to let the dogs potty and as I walked back to the RV, I noticed the right rear tires were flat - crap.

 It is equipped with a system that equalizes the pressure between the the two tires and it along with the hubcap to which it was attached were gone - crap.  This is the missing one and what it's supposed to look like on the other side.

We'd just passed through a terribly rough section of road and I think the hubcap just popped off.  Anyone who isn't concerned about our infrastructure only need travel the roads we were on in New England in May and a great deal of what we were on this day.  The person we bought the RV from made sure we knew to buy Coach Net roadside assistance (like AAA for your car) and they dispatched someone to fix us up - as it turned out both tires were ruined.

While we waited, I wanted to see how long we were compared to an 18 wheeler so I took a shot of the front and back and as you can see, if I were to pull up to even the rears, we're just about the length of his cab shorter.

So after $1100 and over 4 hours, we were back on the road only to go a few miles to run into construction and another 1 1/2 hours to go 10 miles.  After losing the 5 1/2 hours, we finally rolled into the campgrounde in Hot Springs at 8:30 in the pouring rain.  Fortunately the live-on-site guy came out and led us to our site where we just hooked up the water and power, had a big gulp of wine and went to bed - their wi-fi was down, so I couldn't even blog.

The campground is only 4 months old and sits on the shores of Lake Catherine.  It's going to be very nice, but the lack of grass made it pretty muddy while we were there.  This is from one of the lakeside sites.

All photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

Semi-Homemade Corned Beef Hash - Sorta

I’ve failed miserably in my plan to run a taste test on homemade vs. frozen hash browns, but Bev is already convinced the home made ones aren’t worth the extra effort - I'm not.  I’ll use as my excuse that I’m waiting for Lea Ann from Mangos, Chili and Z to perfect the homemade version.

In the meantime, Bev had a hankering for corned beef hash and went the semi-homemade route by using Ore Ida potatoes and deli corned beef.  However, she had way more potatoes than meat, so this was more hash browns with corned beef and onions.

But hey, hash browns, corned beef, onions and topped with a couple of over easy – you know it had to be good.

All photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

One year ago:  Pulled Pork Breakfast Burrito

Two years ago: Gotta Use These Mushrooms

Larry

Texas RV Trip – Our First Big One – Day 1

After a couple of weekend trips and having to cancel our original big trip thru the Northern US for family issues, we’re ready to head out on a shorter southern trip.  We really wanted to go RVing before winter sets in and we have to winterize it, so a little trip down to Texas worked out.

We’re taking five days to drive down to San Marcos, TX (between Austin and San Antonio - SA),  with a couple of nights in Hot Springs, Ark.  San Marcos is just north of our daughter’s home, which is just north of SA, and in the Hill Country known for BBQ and German food, including chicken fried steak.  We’ll be there the weekend before and early Thanksgiving week, so the grandkids are out of school for our entire visit.  We’ll come back the southern route through LA (Louisiana) and LA (lower Alabama) taking several more days to get home.

We wanted to pull our little Honda hybrid, which required getting a tow dolly, and here we are loaded up and ready to pull out.

We’re taking the two little dogs along and the house sitter will look after Cody and Kitty, so hopefully that will all work well.

When we ride in the car, I generally have Sweetie on my left leg and Coco rides with Bev - I won’t do that in the RV (at least yet), but they both still want a lap, so this is how Bev gets to ride.

I’ve divided the trip into about 300 mile increments so I would only be driving 5-6 hours per day, with the first one on I-40 West to Nachez Trace State Park.  We arrived there without incident, in good weather, where we got a nice pull through spot overlooking the lake and relaxed with a glass of wine and watched the sunset – which is by 5pm on the eastern side of the central time zone.

While I was relaxing and Bev went in to fix our dinner of warmed up pepperoni buns with sauce and cheese, I heard this loud, and pretty long, crash and went running to the RV.  As it turned out, when she opened the fridge, the top plastic hinge broke and the door fell off – and it was only day one.  We used some duct tape to secure it (Bev’s universal fix-all) and spent the next  couple of hours out in the cool dark talking about stuff – that was different – no TV, no computer, just us and the two little dogs enjoying the night air under the stars and the jet contrails.

So much for day one and I’ll keep you posted as we go along and weave a couple of pre-trip posts in as well.

All photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

One year ago: Beef Stew In The Pressure Cooker

Two years ago:  Peppers And Smoked Pork Loin

Larry

Eating Out Of The Freezer

In a couple of days, we head off on our big major RV trip and Bev decided we had too much to do besides cooking.  As a result, she went to the freezer and pulled out some stuffed peppers and cabbage rolls for us to eat for three nights or until we run out – we’re both okay with eating the same thing for several meals in a row – I can always put an egg on it for breakfast :-).

She added the cabbage rolls and peppers to a pot with a sauce of 1 quart of our home canned tomatoes, a can of tomato sauce, 4 cloves of pressed garlic, and black pepper – our tomatoes and the sauce have plenty of salt.  The first time we didn’t cook the peppers long enough so this time we went 1½ hours at 350*.

Here’s my bowl with a pepper and 2 cabbage rolls topped with some sauce and grated romano cheese - after I cut the pepper open, I added some more sauce.

For the initial meal, neither the peppers nor the rice inside were done enough, but this time both were just right and I thought they were outstanding as were the cabbage rolls.  This sauce, while simple, was very good.  I could tell no difference between fresh and frozen and the next time we have lots of sweet peppers, many more will be stuffed and frozen for an easy meal - if you grow peppers, have extras, and like them stuffed, I encourge you to try this. 

All photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

One year ago:  And Finally - The Smoked Everything Else

Two years ago:  Follow-up Odds And Ends

Larry

November BBQ Day

We were planning to be gone for my regular BBQ day, so I cooked a week earlier and for this day I had a turkey breast which the customer requested be herbed.  I had used Todd’sDirt for chicken herbage last time I cooked and I liked it plus it received rave reviews.  Here’s the finished product, which I pulled from the smoker at 158*, knowing it would move on up about 5 degrees.  Now the customer can slowly reheat it in the foil to about 160* then unwrap and put it in a very hot oven to crisp up the skin – the reverse sear for turkey.

For the same person, I cooked a brisket, again using the Chris Lily method as shown on Robyn’s Grill Grrrl blog, except I cooked it to 195*.

For a friend, my daughter, and ourselves, I cooked up a bunch of chicken – breasts and wings.  For those going to others and our wings, I again used Todd’s Dirt.

For our breasts, Bev wanted some with jerk marinade and some with the citrusy rub I make – the jerk is in the round pan.

Here’s most of the finished chicken.

For our supper, I cooked a slab of baby backs that had been marinated overnight in this Asian concoction from Amazing Ribs - I used half this for one slab. 

1 cup or a 9 ounce jar of hoisin sauce

1/4 cup diced onions

1/4 cup soy sauce

1/4 cup rice wine or white wine

1/4 cup rice wine vinegar

1/4 cup orange juice

1/4 cup fresh ginger, grated

1/4 cup toasted sesame oil

1 tablespoon mustard powder

2 tablespoons sriracha hot chili sauce or another hot sauce

3 cloves of garlic, minced or pressed

1 teaspoon five spice powder

Before serving, they were glazed with honey and looked like this.

One of my goals was to cook some ribs better than I had eaten at an Asian restaurant recently, but I got on a phone call with relatives in WV and forgot them – therefore they were overcooked (damn), just like the restaurant (but at least all of the fat was rendered).  Bev and I both liked the flavor and it was a nice change of pace so we’ll give it another try and cook them right next time.  Like the steak a few nights ago, this was the whole meal, sided with a glass of wine to end up with this.  The dogs love it when we have ribs.

All photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

One year ago:  Tater Soup

Two years ago: Up Next - Smoked Pork

Larry