Arkansas Pepper Sauce

I inherited this recipe from my mother.  Modify as you wish.  I do!

My parents were from Arkansas, raised on farms, thus a huge fan of living on the land, subtracting the middle man. When they migrated north and settled in Michigan, they brought those traditions with them and they served us well.  My dad hunted, my mom skinned it. We had fruit trees (cherry, pear, and apple) and those whole foods along with the rich and festive gardens were a staple for our large family.

I tender this recipe as Arkansas Pepper Sauce because I received it by request, then embellished it to my flavor (garlic, spices), and thus became a huge fan of canning.  You can do it using any jar, just make it clean and handle with care.

Ingredients
jalepeno, whole or sliced peppers
white vinegar
water
1-2 T minced or sliced garlic
1 t -1 T peppercorns
1-2 T olive oil (any oil will do)
dash of dill weed
dash of Italian herbs (rosemary, basil, oregano)
1/4 to 1 t salt (table or sea salt) to taste
1t to 1 T sugar to taste


Supplies
jars with lids
measuring cup
tablespoon
strainer opt.

Instructions: You may use any jars you like, though mason is preferred.  Just clean with hot soap water, rinse with hot water, and air dry.  Here comes the science.  The amount of brine you create originates from the size of the jar you select and the amount of peppers you elect to can.

Place sliced or whole peppers washed peppers into your selected jar, fill with water, leaving about 1/2 -1 inch space between the water line/peppers and the rim of the jar.  Now take this water and pour into your measuring cup.  This is the minimum amount of liquid to create your brine.  Keep track of this measurement, but discard the water, leaving the peppers inside of the jar.

Measure your vinegar from that measurement of water from earlier.  Pour that vinegar into a small pot.  Add from 1 t to 1 T of sugar, but do not be afraid to taste.  Add salt to taste, then minced garlic.  The rest of your spices and olive oil are placed inside of the jar atop of the peppers.  Bring the pot of vinegar, sugar, salt, and garlic to a boil.

Pour your brine over your peppers, remember not to overfill, keeping mind of the 1/2 - 1 inch space between the liquid/pepper line and the rim of the jar.  If you wind up with more liquid, use the strainer to separate the last of the liquid with the garlic.  Then place the garlic into the jar.  Screw the top on, give it a gentle whirl to mix.  Wipe jar clean and tilt to remove bubbles. 

Set on the counter to cool.  If you are using canning jars, use the seal test to determine ready for use.  You do this by pressing your finger onto the lid.  If sealed it will not pop back.  If not sealed, refrigerate for use.  Store up to one year.

Taco Salad

Ingredients
sliced carrot
sliced jalepeno's
diced cucumber
chopped green pepper
chopped tomato
chopped onion
chopped Romaine lettuce
jalepeno's
shredded cheese
sour cream
taco sauce
taco seasoning
tortilla chips
Gardein burger (thawed, ground)

Preparation.  I thawed three vegetable burgers and ground them in a chopper.  Using a couple of T of olive oil, add ground burgers to skillet, Brown, season, then de-glaze pan with a little water.

Prep your salad.  I like to do this in layers, placing lettuce on the bottom then a few chips, add small drops of sour cream, cheese, veggies, repeat.  When you reach the top, sprinkle your vegetable crumbles and the rest of your toppings.  Add more sour cream and taco sauce.  And you're done!

Cook's Convection Air Fryer 2.5 L

Delivered on Valentine's Day, this gadget is shaping up to be the best gift ever!!! I put 'air fryer' on my Christmas List, but it did not quite make the cut. And that was okay, because even though I wanted one I was not sold on it yet.  I had no counter space set aside to hold it.  I had not seen any visuals that convinced me that this was something I could put to good use.  I have tons of electronic devices and did not want to push the universe to conspire on my behalf.

But then, I started watching videos on YouTube, namely from Bhavna's Kitchen, as she reviewed two brands. She is quite a healthy food prep maven.  Her results definitely hooked me to at least trying it.

Cook's 2.5 L Air Fryer (JCP)

An air fryer must be able to satisfactorily fry three of my favorites: french fried potatoes, cauliflower, and cheese sticks, for me to consider it worth separating from my pot of cooking oil.  My convection toaster oven does a fabulous job with french fried potatoes, but my cauliflower is a mess and does not come close to crunchy before it goes too soft in the texture.  I like my cauliflower with a bit of a bite.  And as for cheese sticks, I only trust the oven on 200 degrees to keep them warm, certainly not to cook them.

***

Temp set: 400 degrees F.  Time set: 5-20 minutes.  Check every 5 minutes.  Spray oil or 2 T of cooking oil (max. for each prep) applied with a basting brush.

Trial I: French Fried Potatoes.  20 minutes.

Trial II: Fried Cauliflower.  15 minutes.

Trial III: Mozzarella Sticks.  7 minutes.

It's a win!  What more can I say?  The plan is to make a small investment in a sprayer so that my stock of canola gets good use!

National Pizza Day...my way!

From last weeks bread bowl, out comes a sleeve of hoagie rolls adjacent to the slider buns.  They did not get much game play during the Super Bowl Party, but this past week, plenty of turnovers!

One of those featured pizza.  In honor of National Pizza Day (2/9/18), I share this culinary delight.

Process: You take one of those hoagie rolls, steam it, slice it open, lay it flat (we're talking flat bread ICYMI) and fill with your favorite vegetarian toppings.  The starting lineup...Smart Bacon diced, micro-diced red and green pepper, sliced onion, minced garlic, mozzarella cheese, oil, and oregano!

...for the field goal, topped this yummy pizza with sauce and baked it at 450 covered in foil for 15 minutes, then 5 minutes uncovered!  We have a champ!  

Veggie Burger Sliders w/ Warm Relish

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For Super Bowl LII, I opted to not do anything that would stress me out, considering I really did not have a team to support.  However it was a great game and full of excitement.  Congratulations to the Eagles!  

All I needed to do was make slider buns.  Now sure you can do this with four-squared bread, but I was ready to make some bread.  I literally placed it on my 'to do list'.  I even secured some fresh dry yeast.

Thawed veggie burgers and divided each one into fourths.  Everything else was basic cooking and preparation.

The yeast bread/roll recipe can be found right here on this blog: multigrain yeast rolls.  The warm relish consisted of sauteed green peppers, onions, and diced Morningstar Farms bacon.  Delish! The sliders were a culinary hit!  

vegetable lo mein

Vegetable Lo Mein

1 oz lo mein pasta noodles

sliced carrots, broccoli, green/red peppers, green onions

minced garlic

spinach

salt, pepper, onion powder, sugar, light soy, and mushroom sauce

2/3 cup, sliced seitan

cooking oil

Preparation:

Boil spaghetti. Strain in cold water rinse. In a skillet or saucepan a few T of cooking oil, stir fry veggies. Add garlic and seitan. Add cooked, drained towel blotted noodles to sauteed veggies. Plate and serve with egg roll and hot tea.

Carrot Cake Dessert Smoothie (Vegan)

3-4 Mini Carrots
1/4 Granny Smith Apple
4-8 raw almonds
1/2 frozen banana
1 frozen pineapple ring
2 T raw oats
1-2 dashes of all spice
water

You will need a high powered blender.  I use the Ninja Kitchen System, single serve cup attachment.  Press ingredients into server cup, fill with water below the max capacity line.  Blend until smooth.

This is a favorite for me.  I often have it alone.  This week, it was featured alongside brunch, a Tofu Bacon BLT. 

Nose Piercing Update

Christmas, 2017 (almost 3 months).

It's been a long time since I posted anything aside from food, but this blog originated with both health & beauty.  I find it fitting to put my update/review of my adventures in nose piercing.

First. I pierced my nose all by myself, no Hennessy or drugs used to numb pain.  I have and always had a generally high tolerance for pain. 

Second, I did not use a needle.  In recent years there has been this huge wave of promoting sanitary environments in terms of piercing and I will not venture to say that I disagree.  However, I have never experienced any issues with gun piercings, so why would I expect any environment that I manage to be unclean?

Third, my nose piercing was not my first 'self-piercing'.  I re-opened my third holes on my earlobes.  That pretty much was my litmus test that I could do this.  And fourth, I made sure my hands and nose were clean at all times when I touched my nose.

Q/A.

Where did I find the piercing materials and were they affordable?

I ordered multiple piercing kits online from eBay.  I believe they came from the orient.  A single shot costs about $1.  They were a one and done.  That means one piercing, then you dispose of the remnants.  No need to worry about sterile equipment, as the equipment came in sterile packs and with cleaning pads.  I am a homeopathic, so all of my cleaning and healing medicines are natural. I will share with you the products I used later in this post.

How long did it take to heal?

I pierced my nose on or about Oct. 1.  Since I have never had a nose piercing, certainly not in this location (and it does matter) I have no trajectory to compare it.  I would say it takes on average 3-6 months.  My piercing no longer drains nor is tender.  This healing required 3.5 months.

What earrings do you wear or recommend?

I am not a professional at this.  The original piercing earring was only in for a few days due to the back cap being too tight.  I removed it and used an earring with a longer stem.  I spent about $20 on two pair of surgical steel earrings and I have yet to report them any better than the silver, though not recommended for use.  However, I did try nose screws and this is not something I intend to wear because it is too much work to insert and remove.

Again, it is recommended that you use titanium or surgical steel, not silver.  I have used all three, and I prefer silver.  I purchased a multi-pack of earrings.  I wear one for about a month and then toss it.  All of my earrings are studs with color crystal stones.  They are both 2 mm and 3 mm in diameter (stone).  I only wear the earring and store/discard the back cap.

What do you know now that you wish you knew before?

Nose piercings are not for everyone.  They require far more maintenance and care than your traditional ear piercing.  Many people, even me, thought many times to let it close and forget about it.  I struggled getting the screw in many times, before I gave up that ring.  I am not a quitter.  I remained in it for the long haul.  It will take time to heal and you need to know this.  It will appear to be healed and then you will discover that it is not healed. You may think "this is taking too long" but keep the ring jewelry in your nose, else it will close rather quickly, and you have to start all over again.  You might get a little frustrated.  Be patient.  Keep it clean.  Turn your ring between cleanings.  Keep back ups in the event one falls out and you misplace or damage it, because it closes easily.  And worse, you do not want to use a damaged or abrasive ring in a piercing.  Leave it alone when you are not cleaning or changing the ring.

What do I recommend to care for your piercing?

Echinacea tea added to your recommended sea salt solution.  Add a few drops of lavender oil.  I boiled the tea in a tiny pot, then added the salt, and lavender oil.  Use when it is warm to touch.  Do not put boiled water on your skin.  You do not need to submerge your nose into the solution.  That is ridiculous and sounds like some hazing-water-boarding torture.

You do need to care for this at least twice a day for the first 30 days and then once a day thereafter.  Just soak a fresh sterile cotton ball or cosmetic pad into your 'solution' and rest it on the front and underside of your piercing for a minute, rotating locations, and repeat for a total of ten minutes.

Additionally, I used a q-tip to apply avocado oil to both the front and underside after each cleaning.  Turn your ring only after you have moistened it with cleaning solution/oil.

I continue to use the same solution weekly to clean my nose piercing.  I now add additional tea tree oil to the cleaning process.

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If you have any additional questions not answered here, feel free to leave them in the comment section!

Apple Smoke Tofu Bacon

Ingredients.

1 pkg of firm tofu. Froze. Thawed. Drained (Freeze this immediately to save you time later)
1 small granny smith apple, sliced
3 T Canola oil (any oil will do)
1 cup Light Soy Sauce or liquid amino's
2 T Turbinado Sugar or Brown Sugar
2 T Smoky Apple Wood Season/Smokehouse Maple Season

(to your taste, optional) Additional:
salt, cracked black pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, chives, all spice,

Apple Smoke Tofu Bacon

Directions.

Set oven to 450.  Mix oil, soy sauce, apples, sugar, and seasons.  Let it stand.  Cut tofu into thin slices, approximately 1/4" thick.  Pour half of your marinade into the bottom of a baking dish.  Place tofu slices into the marinade.  Pour the remaining marinade on top.  Cover dish with foil.  Bake at 450 degrees for 45 minutes.  Remove foil.  Bake an additional 15 minutes uncovered.  Turn oven off.  Allow to come to room temperature in the oven.  Remove.  Ready to Serve. 

For crispier or more chewy texture, reheat.

Store them up to a week in the fridge.  You may choose to freeze them in a baggie or plastic covered container. 

Tofu Bacon BLT, Carrot Cake Smoothie

Rediscovering Vital Wheat Gluten

If you are wheat sensitive, this post is not for you or you may substitute for tofu, if you fancy it.

I fortunately affirm that I have a tolerance for these processed plants, and lately some interesting ideas have come out of using them.  First, in this post, I dedicate to Vital Wheat Gluten.

A couple of months ago, I purchased a bag of Bob's Red Mill Vital Wheat Gluten for the purpose of making Seitan.  When I originally tried it, the preparation did not agree with me.  I hated the flavor suggestions.  I swore I would never venture that way again.

But a friend who flexes vegetarian inspired me to take another shot at it.  If a family that stumps for meat can love Seitan, why can't I?  And so I drilled up the courage to make last Sunday the day.  Let me tell you, the ideas have gone through the roof.

The bag has instructions and you should follow them.  In terms of savory seasoning, go with your own taste. 

I did a bang up job.  I left out the once suggested 'liquid smoke' (yuck) and stuck with my homemade broth with some store bought included. 

I increased the kneading time as well as the boil.  I had everything from a stir fry, to nuggets, to a steak sandwich!

I still have more left.  I will follow the instructions for storing it.  In the meantime, I plan to continue exploring Seitan.




Check out this collage...

Clockwise: Vegetable Fried Rice, Nuggets w/ Green Beans,
Stew, and Steak Sandwich!