Xmas Tacos

I've got leftover Hashbrown Casserole, Christmas Ham, and Mexican Taco blend Cheeze...
Uh...  Christmas, er uh, I mean Xmas Tacos?  Uh...  OK!

The Hashbrown Casserole has Southwestern Flair with Red, and Green Chile.  So it fits perfectly with Tacos.  Add some butter, chopped ham, and Hashbrown Casserole to a hot skillet.  Let them fry for a couple of minutes.  Then add a couple scrambled eggs, and seasoning.

Then warm up some Tortillas on the Griddle.  Add the Cheeze to the flip side of the tortillas, as they get ready for the breakfast taco mix.  Fill then Fold, and Monka-NomNomz...

Potato, and Egg Taco's are my favorite.  The Xmas Variation is might be better.  Mexican Cheeze, the Southwestern Hashbrowns, and the Taco Delivery with some Hot Sauce make them awesome Breakfast Tacos...

Fall Harvest 2016

Its Harvesting Time again.  I haven't been able to spend much time working on the garden lately, but its been growing none the less.  I have a light deficiency because of my Oak Tree, and I hope to rectify that soon.  This is the first year that I have grown Thai Chile, they are neat, miniature...

I have yet to try them, but I bet they have some heat.  I also grew Kung Pao Chile this year.  They did pretty good despite the lack of light.  They are a lot like Cayenne, thinner this time.

The Tomatoes did terrible.  They got largely overgrown by the Romanesco Broccoli, which also did terrible.  I'll try the Romanesco Broccoli this Fall, and Winter.  I think it will do better.  I've had a number of volunteer crucifers come up like Bok Choi, and Mustard.

The Herbs in my garden are pretty persistent like Sage, Rosemary, Thai Basil, and Parsley.  The Carrots are looking good.  Something I'm kinda concerned about is the miniature Ruellia invasion.  It's starting to grow everywhere, and I need to start transplanting it to other areas.  A friend gave me a Dragon Bean, and it has grown prolifically, but hasn't produced any Beans.  I'll try again next year after I trim back the Oak Tree.

Its tring to choke off the Kung Pao Chiles, but they are persistent, and I still got a significant harvest of Kung Pao Chile.  might be as much as a pound.  I need to harvest some Habaneros, and Carrots.  The Chile Plants might have another five or six weeks to make some more Chiles before the first freeze.  Now its time to clear out the weeks, and unproductive plants, then plant some winter vegetables like Onions, Garlic, and hearty Crucibles.

Stuffed Bell Peppers

Yeah, I'm a Chilehead.  Last week I had a leftover burger, some rice, a little Hatch Chile, and some Vidalia Onion.  It was a leftover lunch, but reminded me of Stuffed Bell Peppers.  So I hatched (LOL) a plan to make some Stuffed Bell Peppers this weekend.  I got the stuff at Rozemeade on Saturday...

So I started with a pound of ground Beefz.  Brown it in a stir fry pan, adding the vegetation as it was cooking.  I added a chopped Vidalia Onion, a couple chopped Jalapenos. sliced Garlic, diced Tomato, Sea Salt, and ground Pepper.  Cook that down a while until nomlishous...

In the interim I sliced the tops off four Bell Peppers, and added the fleshy part of the tops to the stir fry pan.  I removed the pithy part of the Bell Peppers, and the seed pod.  There was some leftover steamed Rice that also got added to the mix, and a handful of Cheddur.

Then we stuff the Bell Peppers full of this nomlishous mix of Beefz, Cheeze, and Vegetation.  I baked them covered for 30 minutes @ 350F.  Then topped them with some more Cheeze, and finished them off with another 10 minutes in the meltification machine.  This is prep cooking for lunches during the workweek.  The people I have lunch with are going to be jealous...

Fire Roasted Hatch Chile Salsa

Autumn is perhaps the best time of year for food.  Hatch Chiles are in season, and Rosemeade Market has them roasted, then frozen, and ready to use.  This is a 14.5 oz. can of whole Tomatoes, coarsely chopped, five fire roasted Hatch Chiles, some chopped Vidalia Onion, chopped Cilantro, and Sea Salt.  Mix it all together, and chill.  Then get ready to eat the best salsa you can make...

Melons

Look at my Melons...  LOL!  Sugar Baby Watermelons...

Hatch Chile, Egg, and Potato Breakfast Tacos

Hatch Chiles are in season, and Rosemeade Market has them roasted, and then frozen.  I picked some up yesterday, and used them with Flank Steak Tacos last night.  This morning all I could think about was Hatch Chile, Egg, and Potato Breakfast Tacos.  For a sauce I made a Jalapeno Verde with Garlic, Lemon, and Cilantro.  Really good with both the Flank Steak Tacos from last night, and the Breakfast Tacos.

Habanero Sculpin Chili

Fall is here...  A cold front is on the Northern frontier.  Time to make Chili.  A friend gave me a bottle of Ballast Point Habanero Sculpin IPA.  I don't usually drink IPA, but thought yeah if its got some Habanero in it, Fuck Yeah!  Its really good, doesn't have an overbearing heat.  I'm impressed...

So I decided to make Chili with it.  The alcohol distributes the flavors of the Habanero and Tomatoes, plus the yeastiness of Beer works great with Chili.  I'll start with my usual Chili mix, which is chunky vegetables like Tomatoes, Onions, Jalapenos, and Garlic.  I usually use Carroll Shelby's Chili kit, its a ICS Award Winning Recipe, then embellish it with what I like.

I brown both Beef, and Pork, a pound of each, then start adding the Veggies, Sea Salt, and the dry spices from the Chili mix.  This has to simmer down a while to get the flavors to meld together correctly.  In the meanwhile I tried the Habarneo Sculpin IPA, and was rather pleased with it.  So I continued sampling the IPA, and a little more...

Unlike the IPA, I like my Chili Hot!  Light your Skull on Fire Hot!  So were going to add five fresh Habanero Chiles.  I have already added Jalapenos, Chile Powder, Cayenne Powder, and some Red Chile flakes.  This Chili is around a Quarter Millon Scovilles, and that is about perfect for me.  I might need some Sour Screams to cool me off a bit.  Overall the Habanero Sculpin is 4.5 Starz, and my Habanero Sculpin Chili has yet to be judged.  Here's shot of the Chili simmering...

Yeah, I think its a winner...  I made a Habanero Pico de Gallo this morning, and the Chili is hotter.  That is good for me because the pain in my mouth distracts me from my other pains, and that is a good thing.  I'll see if the other ChileHeads I know feel the same...

Taco Pizza

Most Taco Pizza's are going to have a Tortilla Crust.  Well this one has my Pizza Doh! under it.  Its Metaphysical Pizza.  Heh, its a Z.Monkey thing...

I had made a Salsa that has Scallions, chopped Jalapenos, and Garlic in it.  Good for Chips and Salsa, but I thought this would be great on Pizza, and that is where this idea was hatched.  So, I rolled out the Doh! as usual, then used the Salsa rather than the normal Pizza Sauce.

Queso Quesadilla, or even Queso Fresco would work here, but I used Cheddar instead.

Then also had some prepared Pork Taco Meat, and Cranberry Beans...

Then bake until GBD, Golden Brown, and Delicious...

Watermelon

When is it ripe?  I dunno...

Magic Bean, and Baby Watermelon

Sometimes I get some funny things from the garden.  You have to watch the Cucumbers closely or they'll get overgrown, and turn Orange/Yellow.  This one kinda looks like Jack's Magic Bean.

Then this is a baby Watermelon I noticed last weekend.  I need to camouflage it so the critters don't notice it.  Its maybe three inches in diameter.

2016 Garden Shots

Here are a few shots of the 2016 Garden.  The Chiles are starting to show some accelerated growth.  It usually takes them a while to grow vigorously.  There are even a few small Chiles.  I went to get Tomatoes last weekend, and they didn't have any.  I guess I waited too long this year, so I had to make another choice, Watermelon.  These are the Sugar Baby variety.

There are a couple very small, grape sized, Watermelons already.  I planted four of the Sugar Babies.  A lot of the things I planted from seeds are starting to take up space in the garden now.  These are the Romanesco Broccoli.  I haven't started to see the flower yet, so I think they got a good start, and didn't bolt like the Bok Choy, and the Cilantro.

I will be neat to watch that one grow with its Fractal Flower.  Another one I am excited about are the Daikon Radishes.  These will get very large if you let them.  I've seen some pictures of Daikon that are 18 inches long, and weigh several pounds.  The ones in the store are more than a pound each.

The Kaleidoscope Carrots are growing well also.  These are neat at harvest time.  They produce Yellow, Purple, Green, and Orange Carrots.  Rabbit fencing at work here.  No Bunnies...

Red Globe Radishes are an easy to grow staple that I try stagger plant.  Every couple weeks re-seed the area to stagger harvesting the Radishes.  This way there are always some ready to eat.

You can see the Onion Flower on the right.  I pulled the Onions, and one Garlic, and am in the process of dehydrating them to store for next fall.  Here is what I pulled.  Some of these Onions are three years old, the big ones, and others are getting started, small.  Some of these onions have divided multiple times.  I pull them apart, and then replant them in the Fall.

There is also a Evergreen Herb patch I am cleaning out.  This is Sage, but I also have Rosemary, Oregano, and Tarragon.  I'll be working on those parts of the garden next.  The Rosemary is wildly overgrown, and needs to be shaped.  Then I want to augment those beds with Composted Cowq Manure, and the re-mulch them well.  At the moment there is Wild Strawberry covering most of the area around the Evergreen Herbs.

Bok Choy Beans

I seeded the Bok Choy around the start of February, a little late for Bok Choy.  So the plants never really had a chance for vegetative growth, and went to flower, then seed early.  The Brassicaceae family generate small yellow flowers, and then produce a bean pod with seeds.  This is why I am calling them Bok Choy Beans.  I have pulled the whole plants out of the ground, then bound the root ends together so they can hang upside down.

Then they will slowly dehydrate hanging on the fence.  This is a good way to dry spices also.  I have also pulled all the Cilantro plants, and tied them in the same way.  When the plants are dehydrated I can then liberate the seeds easily.

Potato, and Egg Breakfast Tacos

Quite possibly my favorite Breakfast Taco is the Potato, and Egg Breakfast Taco.  Krispy fried Hash Browns make this ultra nomlishous.  My wife hears me say "These are the best Tacos evar" all the time.  The best Tacos you have evar had are the ones you are eating right now...  With Habanero Sauce...

2016 Garden

I've changed some of my methodologies concerning the garden this year.  Distributed compost in one.  Rather than making one big heap of compost I have been distributing the compost around the garden using it for mulch, and pathways.  Let the stuff breakdown where you need it.  Also I used composed cow manure, and humus for fertilizer.  Its probably been four years since I used it in the garden.  I have been trying to use only compost for fertilizer, but I found out that I need something with a little more punch.

So everywhere I planted plants, or spread seed I added both the old mulch, and the composted cow manure with humus, then tilled them into the soil.  I'm still finding some hard clay spots, but overall the soil is very much improved.I still have some of last year's plants growing like these Onions.

They may even be Shallots.  Once they get dried out, as the heat goes up, I'll pull them, and let them rest in a cool spot until Fall.  Then I'll divide the bunch, and plant them again.  I have another one I divided last Fall, and its pieces have divided again.

Here you can see a variety of sprouts.  There are Cucumbers, and Sugar Snap Peas along the fence.  Then some Habanero Chile just inside the fence.  You can see Bok Choy to the left, Romanesco Broccoli in the middle, and Daikon Radish to the right.  And lots of weeds, did I mention the weeds?  Last weekend I planted some Red Globe Radishes, and Turnips.  Also I have spread a lot of Onion seeds, and Mustard seeds in their areas.  Sprouts everywherz...

Chargrilled Wing Things

Of all the ways I have done Chicken Wings, I think this is the first time I've made Chargrilled Wing Things.  I spent all day working on the garden, and I was looking for a quick dinner.  The Baby Q is a little hotter than the oven, maybe 600 to 700 degrees Fahrenheit.  So it should cook the Wing Things faster than the oven.  Yeah, worked good, the Wing Things were done in fifteen minutes.

It took longer to make the salad.  There is a green salad which has Iceberg Lettuce, Cilantro, and Vidalia Onion.  Then the rough Guacamole is Avacado, Tomato, cleaned chunky Jalapeno, and Sea Salt.  I used my usual spice rub on the Wing Things which is Tony Chachere's season salt, and black pepper.

Next time I do this I will probably cook them quicker.  They were maybe a little overdone at 15 minutes.  Over this last month I have been cleaning up the yard, and patio.  I cleaned out the Baby Q, and the burner.  Now all ports are burning, and making even heat so the Baby Q is cooking great...

2016 Chiles

I got some Chile plants in the ground yesterday.  This time I found Kung Pao Chile, and Habanero Chile.  I'm still looking for Cayenne, and Jalapeno.  Rosemeade Market happened to have Kung Pao this year.  I've never seem them there before.  I did find Bhut Jolokia there in 2013.

This year I have the Chiles along the Garden Fence.  There are Sugar Snap Peas, and Cucumbers that grow on the fence wire, and this set of Chiles is just inside the fence.  The reasoning is that the western most part of the garden gets the first light in the morning.  I'm having to trim my Oak Trees back so the garden can get more light.

I found some Garlic growing down at the end of the Garden where Harlz is in this picture.  This year there is a motley assortment of plants including Bok Choy, Daikon Radish, Romanesco Broccoli, Kaleidoscope Carrots, Sage, Rosemary, Cilantro, Thai Basil, Onions, and Mustard.  A little of this, a little of that.I don't have any Tomatoes this year, and I may have to change that.  Going back to Rosemeade Market today for more plants.

Shrimp and Egg Breakfast Tacos

Wild Texas Gulf Coast Shrimp are the cornerstone of this mainstay.  I got acclimated to those farm raised shrimp, and was blown away at how much better the Wild Texas Gulf Coast Shrimp are.  I gave them a bit of a Scampi taste with Garlic this time.  I'm using large, raw, peeled Shrimp cut into pieces.  Melt some butter in the pan, add Shrimp, and Garlic.  Saute for 5 minutes, then add eggs, and cook till done.

This is something that I first tried at Fuzzy's Taco Shop.  Now I have a need for Shrimp, and Egg Breakfast Tacos with Habanero Sauce.  I usually have a griddle going for the side stuff.  Got a couple Hash Brown Patties, and the Blanco Tortillas with melted Cheddar.  Griddling the Blanco Tortillas gives them a little krunch on the outside.  I've got two sauces this time.  Melinda's Extra Hot Habanero Sauce, and Mrs. Renfro's Habanero Salsa.  They are both a good burn...

Jalapeno Cheeze Burger

This is why I like my Baby Q.  I can make burgers like this in 10 minutes.  This time I added Black Pepper, granulated Garlic, and Sea Salt in the burger.  Grill on high, just a few minutes on each side.  The bread is griddled Sourdough, from Village Baking Co., in butter, then sprinkled with granulated Garlic, and Sea Salt.  There is Jalapeno Mustard on both sides of the Sourdough, with thin sliced white Onion on bottom, and thin sliced fresh Jalapeno on top with the Cheddar.  Its a Texas thing...