Tuscan Pasta dish learns to Salsa

I have and always will love my pasta and sauce...it has been my favorite since I guess I began to eat on my own...s'ghetti and balls, goulash with ground beef-mac noodles and sauce, mac n cheese please.. There is just something about it that fills you up; its hearty and can be eaten hot, lukewarm, or cold (I get sidetracked taking pictures lately, and forget to eat).

While I was picking up my 25 lbs of quinoa flour at the Whole Earth the other day I past the pasta isle and said, "what the heck, I am buying some of those gluten free penne and I am making pasta". I am not complaining, I am eating pretty darn good in spite of the gluten issues, and if you notice there are no potatoes lately either. I decided to reintroduce shade vegetables and fruits back into the diet after I drop some more weight.














This is my view out my back door, so I was eating and watching the deer as they were roaming through the forest that surrounds my development...but, they were to quick for my camera talents...














I am not so sure this red on red (bowl/sauce) was a great idea, but this is a closer view of the Tuscan bean and veggie salsa sauce I made...

1 package moosehead gluten free pasta
1 Can great northern beans, rinse
1/2 cup carrots small chop
1/2 red onion small chop
handful of shredded arugula
1 cup salsa (cilantro, onion, garlic, lime juice, tomatoes in chilies)

Boil the carrots and onions with the pasta to soften a bit, and then drain off veggie stock (save for another time), and add beans, shredded arugula and salsa while the other stuff is warm...

Was spicy the way I like, the beans added protein, and while the pasta was not my choice, but you could not even tell there was a difference in flavor, because the salsa blew it right out of the bowl! Ahhhhh I got my pasta, and I feel like my long days ahead will pass with a greater ease...

NOTE: Debates aside, but this could either be considered an Arrabbiata sauce with the spice and penne pasta, but my info says it is also a Tuscan dish because of the beans and greens I slipped in...don't you just love the freedom of choice and the word 'fusion'...

Mommy gourmet wrote a post 'Humbled & Excited' about her getting an award and passed it on to me, so I would like to thank her for the very nice thing she said about me and show off the award!

"Chef E at Behind the Wheel Chef is fantastic. Her blog is beautiful, fun, funny, and lovely in one pretty package. She is full of great ideas and lovely meals" said Mommy Gourmet, and I say right back at ya my blog friend!

Soba Noodles- Homemade Thai

Okay readers...take a break, or grab a cup of some nice relaxing herbal tea or a cup of Joe if that is your game, cause this is a long one today...














I wanted to use my new packages of dishes I received on Wednesday, and I had this meal planned before they showed up on my doorstep. You are looking at Sweet Ginger Roasted Tofu, Chickpea Pollack, Seared Bok Choy, and Pan Seared Soba-Radicchio Stir Fry.

Yes, I got ambitious and made my own Soba Noodles today. Let me warn you though, do not plan it on a day when you wake up with allergy symptoms from spending the afternoon in someones house with pets you did not know they owned. So this meal was drug induced...sorry kids do not try to duplicate this at home...or take drugs without supervision...














Soba Noodles are originally from the Japanese food culture, but they are found in many Thai recipes using tofu, stir fry vegetables, and in many recipes. Unlike their wheat cousin, Udon, a thicker noodle, Soba is Japanese for Buckwheat and is a small noodle.

They are also high in sodium, so I try to look for low sodium, but they are hard to find in regular markets. I have decided to take a crack at them with my 'whip it up' skills (Alexis AKA Mom humor). I found recipes, but only one explaining how to make them, and with no pictures and very little instruction. I have made pasta years ago, and mine just will not be tiny round in shape like the store bought, but I will give it my best...












First we are going to marinate firm tofu in a sweet ginger sauce for an hour...

1/2 cup fresh orange juice
2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
2 teaspoons reduced-sodium soy sauce
2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger
1/2 to 1 teaspoon Thai chili sauce
1/2 teaspoon cilantro paste (cilantro & olive oil minced together)
Juice from a fresh lime

Blend together in morter or if you have a 'lil chopper that will work, and then cut tofu into 1/2 inch slices and place in dish and cover with sauce. Turn over in a 1/2 hour to marinate both sides well.





...add some thinly sliced onions just in case you want to have one in a wrap the next day, and for added flavor... Bake in 450 degree oven till brown...



















Now to the Soba...





Here is the real Japanese way of making them...







Take 1 and 1/2 cups buckwheat flour and 1/2 cup quinoa flour (or regular if no gluten problems) and mix together in large bowl. Taking 1 cup of lukewarm water and slowly blend in with flour until it begins to form to a dough consistency, well they say a ball if using your mixer, but I have no cabinet space for mine, so I get that extra exercise using the old fashion way of a large fork and my muscular right arm!














Remove it from the bowl and begin to knead until all air bubbles are gone, and then roll it out on a floured cutting board or counter. Roll it out as thin as you can make it, and I read at least 1/8 inch, so I got a ruler for this one.

Tangled Noodle has posted a blog about a contest that involved using food ingredients to write a message, and here is my spur of the moment, and difficult recipe message (above)to my viewers...

Lets discuss kitchen tools...I for some reason do not like using a rolling pin...I grew up with a mom and grandmother that used a glass to roll out biscuits and stuff...but I did had this rather tall shot glass in the cabinet that has sat there for years, because my husband just had to buy it as a souvenir on a trip and no one ever uses it!

The pizza cutter gets used a lot, but I felt sorry for this shot glass and it worked perfect for my rolling pin!
















Drop them into a tiny amount of hot stock for 3-5 minutes; then once liquid is about gone throw in a splash of oil and some chiffonade radicchio, scallions, garlic and lemon grass and saute on medium high. Remove to your platter and then saute some whole leaf bok choy...gotta have them greens in their somewhere...














Plate with the other sides we made today and garnish the tofu with some 'Green Chili Pesto' that I tweaked with some ginger and lemon grass to step it up for the Asian theme...which also reminds me of Gloria Chadwick to whom I owe the inspiration for a Green Chili Pesto I made...she has given me something on her Awards, Awards, Awards blog at Cookbook Cuisine!


Thank You Gloria! One day when I can get back down to Texas, and visit San Antonio we will have to meet Blonde Duck, other Texas bloggers and go out for some good Tex-Mex, or your place and we can all cook together!














...and doesn't this count for a post about writing with or in your food? This is what cold meds do to you when you take on a Soba Samari!

If you want to enter this contest with Tangled Noodle...

To participate:

1. 'Write or spell' using food or drink and create a blog post about it until midnight on Friday, March 6th. Any previous blog posts you already have where you've created a 'written'-inspired dish or drink will be accepted.

2. Blog about your creation, including photos, and add a link back to Savor the Thyme (http://savorthethyme.blogspot.com) and Tangled Noodle (http://tanglednoodle.blogspot.com).

3. Send an e-mail titled 'Eating Your Words' to eatingyourwords09@cox.net with the following information:

• Your name
• The name of your blog
• The name of your dish or drink
• Your food blog name and the link to your entry, including pictures, by midnight March 6, 2009

You can still participate even if you don't have a blog at all. Simply e-mail the above information minus the blog details and we'll include it in the round up.

4. Please keep it clean! Appropriate humor is always welcome.

Salmon Candy Croquettes

Some of you out there may be saying what are 'Croquettes', and some are going 'Yuck' did we just zoom zoom back to the 70's! Like I might have at seven or twelve years old... Mom made these every so often when she could afford a can of salmon, yes, snub your noses at 'canned' anything...but when you are poor some things are not an option...fresh Salmon like we do today...no way!

A croquette is a small fried food containing usually as main ingredients mashed potatoes, and/or minced meat (veal, beef, chicken, or turkey), shellfish, fish, vegetables, and soaked white bread, egg, onion, spices and herbs, wine, milk, or any of the combination thereof, sometimes with a filling, often encased in breadcrumbs.The croquette is usually shaped into a cylinder or disk, and then deep-fried. The croquette (from the French croquer, “to crunch”) was a French invention that gained world-wide popularity, both as a delicacy and as a fast food.

Well at least it is the internet meaning...my childhood recipe memories are of old white bread crumbled when left open without the twist tie...often enough through out the week (kids!), a few eggs, onions so chunky they bite back, canned salmon, and if you were lucky mom might feel a little creative and put some mustard or miracle whip in them. We would have them with mashed potatoes as a side, and I think she got the idea from her 'Betty Crocker' cookbook from the 1920's (exaggerated a little) given to her by my dad's mom! That was about as gourmet as her kitchen was, and we did not even know it was French! So I was cultured...







Sorry for the blur, but I thought the five pics I took looked okay on the camera...photo critics cut me some slack! Please...




Leftover Salmon Candy crumbled with fingers, cooked seasoned Quinoa from the weekend, red onions, egg, and grainy mustard was my first thought, so I went with it, and as long as hubby does not read my 'memory' part, he thinks I have gone to a lot of trouble, just the oil smell is a little overwhelming, so I make them before he gets home. They are good to eat at room temp...so let's go with this one...

As it says in the above Wikipedia info...the French term croquer represents quinoa...and it does just that *crunch*, along with the sweet taste of the salmon and the slight hint of mustard...its a keeper! Oh, and try it over a home-mixed bed of greens...that information you will see on the next post...















Go ahead and drool at this closeup, I am...I ate it like I had never had them before, and you know what...I had not had this version...this definitely blotted out old memories quicker than you can say 'Salmon Croquettes'!

Packages, packages, packages have arrived!

bubbles, bubbles, toil and trouble...




Or should I say "Its Alive...Its Alive"...maybe we will just stick to the facts...Joie de vivre @ An amateur gourmet's guide described watching her sourdough starter like your baby...

Mine began growing only two hours after I added the 4 oz of whole wheat flour to 4 oz of water, and my loving environment must have been just what this baby needed, cause it has grown more than twice its size since Saturday!














Joie de vivre its here!




She told me that someone had given her this book full of authentic recipes, and we decided to do a duo Ethiopian blog later next month; once my above starter and Teff flour become romantic in a few weeks to create injera...she already made a recipe from her copy...Birz

I ordered this and two other books with history and some of my favorite kinds of recipes...new fusion ideas...yep that is what I and my food are...fusion...just like Frankenstein the monster!















Terri Stelling you are the best!




Yes, when I married my sweetie two years ago (I also married his mother), and we started dating nine years before that, I was embraced by his mother and we both share a love for cooking and cookbooks. She knows I love orange-red colors, so I got a bag full of new dishes from Pier One from her...lots of new photo props!










Guess what I am holding?




When I had my cafe in the health food store in Ewing, NJ, I had the luxury of procuring ingredients for their shelves and my cafe...I discovered quinoa flour, as you all see in many of my blogs using it for pizza crust, doughnuts, tortillas, and that fabulous beer batter! I could not find it anywhere, and finally got my way into getting a health food store near me to order it and I would take what ever they could get...50 lbs, but they split it with me, so I am holding 25 lbs of "precious...got to have...precious"...

If you cannot find it in a health food store near you...try batting your eyelashes at the store buyer...or you can make it by soaking quinoa...rinse it, then soak overnight and make it into a batter in the blender, but it will not keep long in that form, so I opt for the flour and a dark closet...

Can you imagine if I had the biggest mixing bowl in the world for this much flour, or the local water fountain in town center, and a really bad heat wave...I could feed all of NJ with my crazy quinoa concoctions!

Lemon Caper Chicken Pizza- GF

I will blame a recent blog post somewhere on my pizza craving, and had already planned Lemon Caper Chicken for our dinner...my lemon idea came from a post on 'Fresh' @ boychefgirlwonder...their description of their 'fresh' sandwich lunch reminded me of a trip into NYC, and a quick dash into a deli around the corner from hubby's sisters on the upper east side...it had slices of delishious thin, thin slices of lemon atop a veggie cibatta bread dream...














I like the oven view...anticipation is keeping me waiting...but letting the heat out man...

Unsure I could get a close taste resemblance to the lemon craving or even bread until I can experiment with the flour I have bought, but I got as close to a real pizza crust tonight! I just used what ingredients I had, and those darn capers that have been waiting in the fridge from the last lemon chicken recipe...yep I forgot to add them until after I posted...we cannot neglect capers right? So what if we make mistakes right...we live...we learn...

I will prove the theory wrong that gluten free pizza crust is not as inedible as it seems...do not buy frozen, make it yourself! My experimental bread, doughnut, brownie, and cookie making lately have been satisfying my need, but adding some herbs, garlic and truffle oil to the crust made this post over the top!

I par-cooked some chicken breast in garlic, Italian herbs, and lemon juice...shredded it...made the crust, rolled it on the pan...baked it for about 7 minutes to firm up, and then covered it with capers, the chicken, lemon wedges that had been fried previous (they will be bitter otherwise), some cheese...and baked it at 450 degrees for 20 minutes...















Toss some sliced asparagus into a hot pan of truffle oil and you have yourself another healthy side dish...but hey those capers rocked this slice tonight!

How to be a Better Foodie

Frankly, I'm proud to be a fully committed Foodie and absolutely not afraid of the F-word. While friends and family have (mostly) kept their thoughts about my increasingly bulging waistline to themselves, they've become more intrigued by my passionate immersion in shopping, eating, reading, vacationing, and conversing obsessively about food...

Does this sound familiar? Are you truly Epicurious? Well it sounded just like my hubby and I about ten years ago, and still does today...Sudi Pigott wrote this in a little pink and brown book, 'How to be a Better Foodie', that I keep in my guest bathroom for a good reader, and most come out chuckling over the random quotes, descriptions, and definitions...and probably connecting it to the fact that they now know exactly what there hosts (us) are...food geeks!

My bookshelves house many reads like this by David Kamp, Tom Colichio, Charlie Trotter, Ruth Reichl, and many other chefs and food critics...

This book is delectable, erudite yet firmly tongue-in-cheek version of EATS (greedily) SHOOTS (daikon) and LEAVES (preferably shiso, surely rocket is so over) bulging with information that the better foodie needs to acquire full gastro-credentials...and the author remebers when, where, and how she knew she was a true and sincere foodie like me...

My first knowledge of who, what, and why food was more than just sustinance...was when I first saw my aunt make lasagna at age nine; which my mom did not make, and a dish of french green beans with cream cheese, gouda and other ingredients like 'fresh' garlic and not powder, and I found it to be a supreme dish and wanted to put these ingredients in our home foods, but was told "Your father likes his food made the same way, and since he makes the living, he gets what he wants" by my mom. Meat, potatoes, and canned vegetables were the norm.

I would linger at the counter watching her, my grandmother, and others making the same foods over and over, but I wanted more! I longed to try new things, so i found excuses to eat at the neighbors (who grew figs), and friends from school (who added cheese and herbs to biscuits), and the hispanic friend Silvia's mothers Mexican creations... so that I could try more than what was being offered at home...my palate demanded it!

A Quiz...What kind of Foodie are you?

1) How often do you think about food a day? everyday, and I plan meals weeks in advance depending on ingredients available, and not just part of my 'real' job!

2) How do you choose your vacation destinations? We make food reservations before choosing destinations (based on reservations), hotel, etc...

3) What's your idea of a serious shooping day out? I hit most of the ethnic and gourmet shops first, and Whole Foods and Wegmans which host more unique ingredients for me to play...

4) What are you most likely to dream of? what new creations or combinations to make...

5) How do you like to clebrate your birthday? A new unique eatery of course!

6) What does thinking seasonally mean to you? I keep a list of foods that are locally and seasonally grown, and what I would find in the market...ready for summer tomatoes!

7) what works for you to relieve tension and stress? duh! being in the kitchen...

8) What's your beside reading? duh! stacks of cookbooks, gourmet and test kitchen magazines...

9)What do you consider eating more adventurously? well hubby and son ate live tiny crabs once at a Sushi restaurant, but I will do most things that are not 'normal', but they cannot move...anymore!

...and I would add another to her all readly long list of 'foodie' questions...

10) Do you blog about food, and how many computer sites do you have that include your food ramblings? at lest four, maybe five...

Do you remeber when, where, and why you became the foodie that you are today? We all still have our 'taboos', but I eat things now that I would have not when I was younger...a much larger palate due to our global tranporting of ingredients, and recipes out there...

'Gluten Free Lemon Caper Chicken Pizza' is coming soon...

A Trip to Ethiopia

Sunday, 2/22/09- after only a few hours it's tiny bubbles began to form!



As many of you know I am a very experimental chef, and the reason my mom would not let me cook when my dad was around, it would have ruined his meat and potato ways. So, get ready for a tour of far away land cuisines to come...Spain, Basque, African, and Porto Rican foods...

I once managed an Ethiopian/Ethnic restaurant in St Louis called The Red Sea, as a Chef. Once a week a young Ethiopian woman would come in and help me make up batches of the menu items, so I learned lots of authentic recipes passed down from generation to generation.

Anyone that loves spicy foods such as Tex-Mex and Indian cuisine, surely has tried Ethiopian. Although the cuisines does have its milder side, their method of cooking many ingredients in a stew like form is facinating. Some recipes can be spicy with their smoked chili combination called Berber.

Ethiopian cuisine characteristically consists of spicy vegetable and meat dishes, usually in the form of wat (or wot), a thick stew, served atop injera, a large sourdough flatbread. I will be making Injera from Joie de vivre: An amateur gourmet's guide Making your own Sourdough Starter...her and I have also decided sometime in the end of March or so we will do some tag blogs making different recipes that she too has produced. She also has gotten her hands on an authentic cookbook from the region I wish would magically appear on my cooking library shelf!

The Teff flour, traditional for injera, Ethiopian flat bread, is waiting in the cabinet along with yellow lentils for my first courses...Dora Alecha & Dora Wat... Mostly eating gulten free these past weeks I realized once the sourdough starter (I made with whole wheat flour) yeast takes over in the teff flour, it will become gluten free.

If anyone wants to tag along with me they have to make sure their passports are up to date!

UPDATE: I weighed in today after my last visit a month ago and the nutritionist said I lost 20 pounds!!! Thanks to my new eating lifestyle...

Gluten Free Chocolate Sunday

Dee @ Texas to Mexico wrote about her hubbies favorite brownies, and Sunday is my beef and brownie splurge day...she shares a Smoking Chipotle Brownies and I put my twist on it by using quinoa flour, maple syrup and organic ingredients in place of hers, but go check her site out...I love the music that plays while I read her post!












Recently I tried a mole recipe, and still am not quite the pepper and chocolate sauce over chicken fan I should be, but putting it in some brownies, well...what wouldn't taste good in a brownie? My Peanut Butter Stuffed Jalapenos might have gotten better reviews if I have stuffed chocolate in them like I had planned, but that got foiled when I notice hubby ate the chocolate bar I had tucked away, cause he thought it was free eats...









Someone who once owned a bakery in Texas passed these molds on to me years ago, and I just never have thought about using them till I wanted a molten cake like shape for these brownies...oil and dust them with flour and wait until they are completely cooled (freezer helped) before trying to pop them out...









Place some batter into the pan and then place chocolate pieces with ancho chili paste in the center, and then cover with more batter...normally the recipe makes 12 each, but using these is only 6 each...invite company over to help eat them! Oh, and place on a cookie sheet to bake...












While they are in oven I dance around to the song 'Don't Rock The Boat'...a little kitchen prayer so my cakes will not fall... These came out like little souffle perfections!















See the chocolate and ancho center to the left of the caramel? Just add some whip cream and you have your selves a Sunday Brownie feast, but I cannot have dairy... Sorry! I'm so bad, but who said we cannot have dessert before dinner?



What is for dinner you said? Spicy Beef Short Ribs and Sun dried Tomato Collard Green Barley

A Love Affair Dinner- Beef & Barley

Hubby's 'big' short rib...


I had already decided that it was 'beef' time for Sunday supper, and sent the hubby off to Whole Foods while I ran a double whammy Open Mic with my poetry and other artists Saturday night. I told him to get two pounds of short ribs, because I have not made them since my days of high end professional kitchen stint in Dallas, and it would go well with the barley I had purchased a few weeks ago.

Many of us know that husbands do not like to go the market if they can avoid it, and mine just does not know how to go with his 'list', and walks out with many more bags than was required. I never know what he will bring home. Well, this time he was better than usual, and the reason... because he had knocked blueberries all over the store floor and was embarrassed, so he split with my minimal list of items as quickly as he could. Poor guy, I am making this meal really special for him...
















I was over at The Alchemist Chef reading about her Spicy Shredded Beef using a bottom roast and slow cooking it, and thought "I have all those ingredients"...and 'Short Ribs' are perfect for slow cooking!

Following her recipe closely... the short ribs cooked slowly, and they were placed on my stove top grill to finish off with a little browning. Taking the pan sauce I cooked it with a splash of white burgundy to make some gravy to add with a paste I made of sun dried tomatoes, onion, garlic, and olive oil and then poured it into the barley. Cooking the barley per instructions for 40 minutes slow simmer with added vegetable stock to create a tender and tasty side dish to its beloved beef com padre...oh, and I chopped up some collard greens and added them when there was about 15 minutes left, turned off heat and let meld for about 20 minutes till we were ready to eat.















This is my portion, meat shredded, a glass of red wine and movie are waiting...

I made Dee's Smokin Brownies for our dessert...

Food Journal Friday

Making a commitment to go down the healthy eating path is a big one, and I have found writing down what I eat each day helps me to keep on track. I can see how much vegetables, fruits, and protein I am getting, and how many tablespoons of nuts and seeds I am eating. Even those can be full of fat, and we have to be careful not to over indulge now and then.

Having bloggers like Joie de vivre: An amateur gourmet doing her French Friday posts help me realize I am not the only one out there that has to watch what I eat nowdays...
















A whole week has gone by since I started this, and I will admit it has not been easy the past six weeks of no gluten, sugars, and limited meat proteins only a few times towards the weekend. Cravings for doughnuts, and stopping in for On The Border Tacos comes on like a runaway train.




















Deciding to eat in food combination s that help your stomach digest in a more efficient way has helped me feel lighter on my feet and seem to have more energy. With me is that possible, sure, I often was feeling sluggish, and had to push myself to get more done each day. I have chosen to limit starches for now, at least until I get more comfortable with the proper salad and protein combination. There are many nutritionist and studies out there that believe eating meat protein, starch and vegetables or salads together takes longer for our stomachs to digest, than just having two combination's at a meal.




















The real 'fun' of it all is trying new recipes, as I already do, but exploring new vegetable, raw, and salad combination's. I am also revisiting old ethnic salads that I had forgotten about, and as you have witnessed I am going a gluten free route with my wraps and flat breads, and have lots more to share with you! I am trying to approach this like writing my memoirs and make it a best seller in my book world!

The hardest has been replicating my love for Tex-Mex, but I tried a new 'Chickpea Green Chili Nachos' recipe and will post that next...

Papawow and a Raw experience

Most of you that follow me by now know that humor and lots of education, information, creativity is the name of my game...

Well, once in a while I come across a few foodie sites that just tickle my funny bone and are usually also packed with information and education that most would read a few lines and move on, but I thrive on my geekiness!

I love all of you out there I promise, but I still surf on a quest for more...

Here is a new site that just ask me to be friends on foodbuzz.com, his name is Dave @ Papawow...his piece on 'Soy is making kids Gay', 'Inside the mind of Chef Boyardi', and even a tid bit on the first Roman cookbook and its content are worth the finger and eye exercises one has to put forth...and just look at his photo above, and the enthusiasm he puts forth over his thirst for good wine...

So go check him out, and if you have not gone to Greg @ Sippity Sup, or Dash @ DashofStash...he just wrote about a Lebanese dish, >Ful Medames over Naan made with Fava beans! So, get movin' on over there now!I promise you will leave there sites with a big ole smile on your face!



















Oh, and as an added bonus for reading this...see what I made last night and they are ready to eat...Raw...her little coconut doughnut holes enticed me to try them and share the experience...I stuffed chocolate chips in the center for added goodness!

PS...This post is out of whack (line) because I messed with html that I am just learning, and others will be in front when I post them in the next few days...that is if you care!

Peanut Butter Boy meets Hotzilla

Please no comments on how I have been stuffing these a lot lately...heat is my only vice that is allowed, so I might be stuffing more in the future!















The Myth:

Once upon a time in a faraway town down south clouds were brewing up electrical storms that the townspeople had never witnessed before. The storm seemed as if it was particularly over one area where a peanut butter factory was located. Soon the vats of peanut buttery goodness began to hiss and moan, and up out of the goo arose a ten story buttery blob that was beginning to take shape. First the body formed, and then it had arms and legs... The workers ran as it suddenly began to move about and escaped from the factory slinging peanut butter all in its path, and became known as...'Peanut Butter Boy'.

On the other side of town in a chili factory a woman was telling of the peanut butter horror story, and as one of the chili plant workers was listening he began to lean on the lever that turned up the speed of the machine belt. They tried to stop it, but no one could shut it down. Hundreds, thousands of chilies began to move into the machine so fast that it went crazy. As if it had a mind of its own, and the workers just stood and stared as it to began to shoot out liquid green onto the floor of the plan. The pile began to form into one gigantic jalapeno shaped monster 'Hotzilla' came to be known. Seeming to not want to hurt the workers; it walked out of the plant as if on a mission to find its opponent that was raking havoc on the town.

As many towns people watched from their windows, cars, and rooftops they saw the two gigantic creatures come together. They did not know what to think of the two as they began to battle. Was peanut butter the enemy, or the jalapeno? No one knew the answers, but chefs wished they could get ingredients in such a huge amount. Some thought about sneaking up behind and swiping some of their yummy goodness, but no one dared to try.

The two battled for days as the Peanut Butter Boy left signs of his presence all about, and eventually they began to fight high above the ground on some electrical tower. Just above an oil plant. Once again the storm and electrical clouds began to move over them sending down charges of great power, as if the interfere in their battle. Just as Peanut Butter Boy was about to strike and send his peanut gooey goodness towards Hotzilla's way to send him to the hard ground...but then Hotzilla opened up and with a great inhale he began to suck all of the peanut butter into his belly, and save the town once and for all...

As he did suck in every last bit of the Peanut Butter Boy's existence, a great lightening bolt hit the tower and sent Hotzilla whirling down right on top of the oil factory and through its roof. He landed into a huge vat of batter and broke into a million small chilies, and the machine began to send them all on a belt into the hot oil room to be fried. Many of the oil plant workers watched in amazement as the jalapeno poppers came out of the oil a nice golden brown, and were relieved that the doom that shadowed over their town was finally gone.

This is how all new creations begin, by two oddly likable ingredients make their way into our imagination!














The Real Story:

Seriously, I was doing some reading on Mexico and chilies finding this tid bit about how they like to eat Peanut Butter Stuffed Jalapeno's, so I thought I would try it out for you, and on my friend Gen who is coming over...

1 Jar pickled Jalapeno's, or fresh jalapeno's dropped in boiling water that is removed from heat and then sit for 20 minutes or so; clean out seeds and membranes)
1 Jar of Smooth Peanut Butter

Beer Batter Recipe Here

Mix 1 cup of quinoa flour, beer, and rice milk until you get a nice batter mixture. Slit the jalapeno's down the side a bit, drain on paper towel and then begin to stuff each one with peanut butter. Dip into the batter and drop into a medium high pan of oil and brown. Bon Appetite.















Also here is an amusing diddy I found out there surfing the web...

Oh my Mama, ain't that Texas cookin' somethin'
Oh my Mama, it stops your belly and backbone from bumpin'
Oh my Mama, ain't that Texas cookin' good
Oh my Mama, I'd eat it every day if I could

~ Guy Clark, Texas singer and songwriter














Oddly enough we liked them (my beer batter), and I will admit it was the first time I steamed them this way in the hot water, was a thought be we did like the texture and less heat from keeping them in their raw form before stuffing...I am not a big fan of peanut butter, but my hubby and friend Gen do and they went crossed eyed when I produced them, but hey Peanut Butter Boy was better off giving in to Hotzilla...

Chickpea Green Chili & Blue Corn Tortillas

A few posts ago I made what I dubbed 'Green Chili Pesto' over meatballs and it was really good! My friend Gen liked it so much she wants me to make it again.

I just hit the Indian grocer for my dried lentils and picked up some dried chickpeas. The personal chef family eats these less often than I wish, so that I could play with them in food more, but I will entice all with this recipe...














Chickpeas in the can hold about 50% or more sodium than cooking them from the dried version, so that is a big no-no for someone with high blood pressure issues like me. They hold so many minerals and vitamins that when you cook them you should do it in a way that retains the water and you do not throw it out. My big experiment will be to soak them in spice brine to infuse some more flavor into them, and make a green chili with my 'TVP Chorizo' over my homemade wraps.

Soak them for about eight hours or over night covered in vegetable stock, cumin, chili powder, paprika, SALT and pepper (many recipes say throw out water, because of skins, but the skins will just be added fiber). Make your 'Green Chili Pesto' and place in refrigerator till you are ready to combine at the end (I doubled this recipe for the chili).

Now after the chickpeas have soaked, cook your 1 cup of TVP Chorizo with a chopped onion, and then pour in the chickpeas, water and all. Add a can of diced tomatoes (with chilies if you want more heat), 1 can of tomato paste and simmer for until chickpeas are tender and it thickens. Serve over homemade blue corn tortillas, topping with cheese or whatever your little healthy heart desires!















Blue Corn Tortillas (wraps and nacho chips)

1 1/2 cups blue corn flour
1/2 cup quinoa flour
1 egg
1 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
2/3 cup warm water
1/4 cup warm beer

Mix together flour with fork; add butter and blend with fingers till becomes course; make a well and add egg slight beat, and then pour in beer and water; blend with fork until starts to form a ball, scraping sides. Knead in bowl with hands for two minutes and then lift up and out of bowl; knead a few more minutes with hands blending in any dry ingredients left in bowl.

Sprinkle cutting board with quinoa flour and pinch off pieces of dough- roll into balls- cover with wet towel. Take each roll of dough- flouring both sides and roll slowly out into large or small rounds; toss on hot non-stick pan to cook each side. Serve in covered dish to maintain warmth and softness(I slipped mine into the microwave on plate and covered with another plate).



















For nacho chips cook a little longer and do not place in covered dish then they will stiffen; slice into quarters when ready, and put together a little plate of nachos with the chili, cheese, and a dallop of hot sauce and sour cream!