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.