Gifted ~ Homemade Crushed Red Pepper Flakes ~ Hot Banana Pepper Relish ~ Dehydrated Tabasco Peppers

It was a day to label all those jars and find a place to store them for winter.  In doing so, I found a pint of last years green tomato salsa.  I cooked a small amount of corn off the cob, and black beans, mixed those in with a bit of our hot salsa and the green tomato salsa and boom - a cold meal was made.  If you call it a meal.  It was a back up for the two coming home from a very hot day.

Latest berry picking.  Looks like a snack vs. freezing it.  Or into a smoothie.

Hubby brought home a loot of peppers, given to him from a co-worker.

I was tickled pink to get them too.  I was so, so happy to receive the generous gifts - hot banana, chili, jalapeno, and tabasco peppers.  And one single habanero.

Here's what I made:

Fire powder.

Fire powder is a mix of hot peppers that we simply use to flavor just about anything.  The habanero went into the fire powder, along with a few of every hot pepper.

To make them, simply slice hot peppers, place them with seeds on parchment paper lined dehydrator trays.  Dehydrate per your unit's instructions.

Allow to cool.  I like to grind the peppers first, then toss in the loose seeds (or grind up everything) to have whole seeds in the mix.  Store in an air tight container.  Your dehydrator instruction book may also instructions for this, as well as many dehydrator books available today.

I use the same process of dehydrating and grinding, to make crushed red pepper flakes with the chili peppers.


Dehydrated the tabasco peppers, and ground them into a powder.  I can add water to make tabasco "sauce" or simply use it as is.  No canning or freezing required.

I canned hot banana pepper relish, using the hot banana peppers, some of the jalapenos, and our home grown green bell peppers.

Heat Wave

The heat wave continued through the first of the week, bringing us more uncomfortable weather, but I needed it for more ripe tomatoes so I tried not to complain.  Today, it's supposed to be the last of hot day.  I guess we'll see.  It was so hot some schools without AC let out again early and will again today. 

Hubby has to work in rooms with hot machines, and yesterday, he almost got sick twice.  I told him to request an ice jacket (vest filled with ice) today.  Some machines can be from 130° up to 700-800°F.  He is requesting those jobs be delayed by a day today.  He was so sick when he got home, all he could eat was the blueberry bread I made.  So glad I made it.

Our daughter's school has AC, but the school buses do not.  We are not used to having heat waves in fall, and she has a black school uniform (pants).  No time to change to shorts on the way home either.  She came home miserable too and went straight to the couch.

Update on our Moroccan Creole garlic - horrible harvest.  The cloves are the smallest of all small.  Too small to plant, so it won't be continued here unless I purchase some for fall planting.

On a "happy" note, the heirloom green bell peppers are starting to produce a few.  We got more rain with the heat, so I am anticipating some going in the freezer.

This weeks breakfast was created with garden bell peppers, garden potatoes, a few hot peppers, onion, sausage and eggs.

I pickled some hot banana peppers.  Per Hubby's request, they were cut in larger pieces and with seeds.

I was low on certain baking ingredients, so I went fishing online for a blueberry cake/bread that didn't have butter.  I made AllRecipes blueberry bread I recipe, adding a bit more blueberries and added cinnamon and nutmeg. 

Your probably wondering how all this cooking and baking can be done when the heat index is 101°F?  I would have felt horrible if I didn't have a treat for my husband and daughter to come home to, or a meal.

I finished another Harley Davidson inspired lapghan.  It's up for sale.   

Tiger stole my chair.  

Dinner last night - baked lemon pepper/garlic flounder (homemade lemon pepper), with pearl couscous (zucchini, onion, basil and tomatoes from the garden).  It was very good, but not something for Hubby. It's packed in his lunch today, but he may not be able to eat it with the heat.  These were perfect to cook together.  Other than cooking the veggies before, the fish and couscous only took 10 minutes to make.

Random Tidbits ~ Struggles

I hope your labor day weekend was fantastic.  Ours was hot, productive, and yet fun.  We didn't go camping, but Hubby and I stole off on a one day motorcycle ride.  Our first motorcycle show/stampede about an hour away. But oh,it was hot. Too hot.  We were so ready to be home sweet home.

I made a batch of black bean hummus to go with those homemade einkorn chips.  Yum!  No tahini either.  I even added a garden jalapeno to it.  Oh, and I seeded it and got about 100 seeds saved from one.  I plan on saving more.  I also saved hot banana pepper seeds and green bell pepper seeds.

...made an einkorn pumpkin spice bundt cake since I had more pumpkin puree thawed.  Very good too!  Recipe is online.

Almost had ground hog for dinner.  Almost.  It was headed straight towards the garden (not that it would have gotten much), but still.  It ran off in the opposite direction just as my hand went on the door knob.

I got some good news regarding the soap saver bags that I took to a historical museum gift shop - 4 sold!  A check is coming my way.  So happy about it, so I plan on making more soon.

Also, I found out about an upcoming farmer's market event in the "Big City" and guess what?  There is no set-up fee.  I have registered and I'm just awaiting their email to confirm it.  It's in September so people may be thinking "fall" and my scarves and lapghans will sell.  I hope to make a trip to the "Big City" and look for more white mugs for mug/coaster sets to make too.  I need to look through my yarn stash as well.

Just when I was ready to start yanking those tomato plants the weather turned on us.  It was back up in the high 90's over the weekend (with more thunderstorms), so I let them sit to see if we'll get more tomatoes.  The beets are not getting big either, so I sure hope the rain helps.

It's been one heck of a year this year.  Not only did one plum tree die, but the other one did too.  Cherry tree has been dead for a year, and not been replaced.  Deer have practically ruined one of my elderberry trees, and now my green apple tree is practically dead (fungus).  The peach tree now has a bit of fungus, so those were sprayed and hopefully regain full health.  We also noticed an infestation of tent caterpillars, so we headed to town for a same spray that will take care of that.

Oh, and all those apples are gone.  Poof!  Either deer, raccoons or squirrels got them, so baffles will need put up before next season.

We got the go kart (aka dune buggy) out and worked on her, but she's not running just yet.  She'll need a few new parts, 
then it's Ba ha time.  We actually got it to start, but it won't idle, so yeah, new parts and she'll be zooming around the homestead.

I found the best deal I could on hot banana peppers.  It was a 30 minute drive, but we got a peck of peppers for $8.00.  

16 1/2 glorious pints of hot pepper mustard were canned, even though it was another hot weekend.  How hot?  Heat index of 99°F.  It'll stay hot for the next few days, so I'm praying we have lots of tomatoes.

Puttin' Up Purslane

One bonus from all this rain and recent heat wave, is that the weeds are galore.  Edible weeds - purslane.

Although this is wonderful fresh, I'm stocking up as much as I can for winter soups and frittatas.

I steam it for a few minutes, and followed the directions found at Mother Earth News online page (regarding harvesting purslane).

I cooled it per their instructions as well, to not wash off the vitamins and minerals - filling a metal bowl with ice water, putting an empty one in the ice water, and cooling the steamed purslane.

Thursday To-do's

I woke up Thursday realizing I had no plan for the day.  I always have a plan. Yikes.

The only think I needed to make was a nice home cooked dinner and deliver some to Dad for his 87th birthday.  It all depended on if the chickens gave me more eggs too.

I had to flour and pepper my pumpkins due to the excess of bugs.  I am sad too.  Only 2 jack'o lantern pumpkins on them, and no pie pumpkins (a few blossoms, but they look terrible).

If we ever have another wet spring like we did, I will not plant our garden.  It's so big and wide that I can't get the weeds caught up either (due to rain).  It's been a huge issue, and now faces us with the cost of putting in raised beds (so I can plant and weed no matter what), or move the entire garden, or reduce it's size.

As for the tomatoes, the weather is now cooling down, and they don't like that, so I'm going to salvage any green ones and start ripping them out. Yeah, not gonna plant a garden late ever again.

I couldn't let these buggers sit one more day to wait on late tomatoes, so a little over a pound went into the freezer.  

Speaking of freezer, has anyone ever frozen their tomatoes and thawed them later to can salsa or anything sauce-wise?  If so, I'd love to hear how to froze the tomatoes - skin on? skin off? etc.  Just asking in case we can't get enough in one picking in future years.

Just after washing all the dishes and putting them away, I did it two more times.  I guess the "to-do's" found me.

Made a jar of nettle hair tonic.

Made a jar of Four Thieves Vinegar.

Harvested some herbs - thyme, rosemary and parsley.  I needed fresh parsley for dinner.  I love the smell of fresh herbs.  

Homemade Dog Treats ~ Treats for the Family ~ Baked Einkorn Chips

Wednesday I knew it was going to rain, but still did some laundry.  Hubby has been working overtime, and forgot to put his laundry in the utility room.  We have indoor racks so it was not a big deal.

I had no produce to put up (feeling sort of odd about that too), so I whipped up some dog treats.  I now have them on hand for grand-pup visits here or their place.  I used my home grown pumpkin puree to make them.  All organic ingredients.  Normally, I'd bake these with our homegrown carrots, but we were force to plant late, and I have not even checked them yet.  I've used a few different recipes, but here is one of them:

Homemade Organic Dog Treats
3/4 cup organic pumpkin puree (I grow my own pie pumpkins)
1/4 cup shredded organic carrots
1/3 cup organic (ingredients should say peanuts only) peanut butter
1/4 tsp. organic cinnamon
1 egg beaten (I use our organic fed hen eggs)
2 cups organic all purpose flour

Preheat oven to 350°F, line baking sheets with parchment paper.

Mix all ingredients, roll on a pastry cloth or floured surface, to about 1/2 inch thickness.  Use a cookie cutter to cut dog treats, place on lined baking sheets and bake about 15-17 minutes, or until they are just turning brown.

I also whipped up some more Einkorn Snickerdoodles for the family.  Our youngest was a bit disappointed to come home with no cookies after a very hot day at school.  She is also starting to feel the stress of being back to school.

I made baked einkorn chips for the first time.  First tray I didn't bake long enough, but I'll definitely be making them again.  They are a substitute for store bought organic (expensive) tortilla chips.  They are not crispy crunchy like fried, but they are fantastic.  They last 3 days, so we used them with our home canned salsa, and of course delicious by themselves.  I think they would be fabulous with hummus.

Both einkorn recipes can be found online.

Carpet shampooing resumed too.  Oh I cannot wait for the day to rip up carpet.  I got about 40% of the bedroom done, but it'll take lifting and moving to get the rest done.  Not sure I have Hubby on board either.  I need him to look at my shampooer too.  I'm not sure it's working properly.  I have done what I can, but I'll need him to work on it I think.  

Gardening and Stocking Up ~ Another HOT day

The garden has been nothing but a struggle this year.  

On the up side. . .and all done in 2 days . . .

I got a small batch of salsa canned, and some tomatoes made it to the freezer.  I left the jalapeno seeds in this time.  I'm labeling these jars "ON FIRE!"  Boy is it hot. Super hot.  Hubby loves it.  I do not.  Next batch, if there is one, will not have the seeds left in. It's a new recipe for me to try (Ball book recipe), but it fit my need with how many tomatoes I had.

Onion soup made it's way to the freezer - 12 pints made.

Another batch of Cowboy Candy was canned.

A small bit of green beans went into the freezer, and some into our tummies.

Since we don't have a root cellar or basement (yet), the tiniest of the potatoes were boiled with the green beans, with bacon and bacon fat added.  One of our garden favorites.

A batch of zucchini meatballs made it's way to the freezer.  Bought the zucchini from a neighbor down the road, who has a produce stand.  I also got more jalapenos from him too.  I actually added diced jalapenos to these.  I should have double the recipe with winter around the corner.  Guess I'll put it on my list of to-do's along with our beef/pork meatballs.  Gotta get it done before the freezer fills up, or it'll be stuck to the upper racks (again).

A veggie frittata, loaded with dandelion greens, was made for us early birds for breakfast.

...and because it was so stinkin' hot (some area schools let out early due to no AC in the schools), I made a cold dinner - Mexican Quinoa (using thawed and cooked corn off the cob, leftover zucchini salsa and some fresh grape and cherry tomatoes).  After I took that photo, I took treats to the hens, and found purslane.  I added some to the dish.  

I'm already writing up a plan for next year's garden.  We may be moving it though.  I know cabbage, watermelon (and other various fruits), along with more tomatoes will be on the list.  Then I can supplement Stud Muffin and the ladies to offset the cost of expensive organic feed.  Oatmeal, only if I can locate it bulk and cheap (for the hens).

Our oldest daughter stopped in with grand-pup Mia.  I'm gonna have to get some dog treats made for their future visits.  She of course raided the fridge.

So, are you wondering what I'll be doing on a hot rainy day?  Most likely cleaning indoors.