On-going Fall Harvest

I've just about gotten everything planted for the fall garden, with the exception of radishes, turnips, mustard greens and spinach.  We're still getting pretty strong bug and worm pressure right now, so we'd like to get some cooler weather that may dissuade them from nightly all-you-can-eat buffets in the garden before we plant.

Speaking of all-you-can-eat buffets, I came back from work the other day to find one of our goats named Popcorn had jumped over a weakened part of the garden fence and that dude was in the garden eating.  Fortunately, he only got to the sweet potato vines when I caught him.  I was still some kind of angry with him.  I had used landscape timbers as fence posts (bad decision) and they rotted.  The goats took advantage of this and pushed the post down and it enabled Popcorn to get in the garden.  Today I picked up 6 treated 8 foot 4x4s at the hardware store.  Mending the garden fence is my next project.  (Thank you, Popcorn.)

One thing that's really coming in strong right now is peppers.  They are in abundance, healthy, and colorful.  We bring baskets and baskets in and have started taking them to church to give away.  They'll continue producing until the first frost kills them.  The average first frost date for our area is November 10th.  That means lots more peppers forthcoming.

The photo below shows Anaheim peppers at top and right, bell peppers at bottom, lilac bell peppers at left and underneath them are sweet banana peppers.  Not pictured are the jalapenos.  We've been picking a bunch of those, halving them and coring/seeding them and freezing for making jalapeno poppers.  With the Anaheim peppers (mild) and bell peppers and banana peppers (sweet), we chop those up and freeze for cooking.

Around here there's something called the trinity of Cajun cooking.  That includes bell pepper, celery and onion.  When we were in the grocery business, one of our more popular selling items was Pictsweet Seasoning blend.  This was pre-cut and frozen Cajun trinity.  No chopping or work.  Cajun Trinity frozen in a bag.  Open the bag and dump in your skillet to cook down.  Easy peezy.  Although we don't freeze them all together.  We cut and freeze peppers, onions, and celery to use in cooking.  It's a great time saver in the kitchen.

The bright orange peppers below are called Datil peppers.  They are HOT!  We core these and put them on the dehydrator for drying.  Once completely dry, we put them in a food processor and make pepper for seasoning.  We learned you've got to be careful.  We've added a little too much to dishes and you had to have a glass of water handy while you ate!  The peppers on the right are Hot Banana Peppers.  Unlike their cousins, sweet banana peppers, these will start a five alarm fire in your mouth.  They look just like the sweet ones, too!  We normally pickle most of the banana peppers - both sweet and hot.

The last photo is okra.  The production of okra is certainly way down since the summer.  We grow several varieties (Louisiana longhorn, Burgundy okra, Beck's Big okra, and Clemson spineless).  We chop them up and cook down with onions and then freeze in quart freezer bags.  We'll freeze a lot of this to use in winter gumbos.  Once you have an inventory of all the garden harvest in the freezer, it makes cooking the meal that much easier and cuts out trips to the grocery store.

In a few weeks, I'll chop all the okra down and plant mustard greens, spinach, radishes and turnips between rows on the fallow ground between where the okra was planted.

Picking Pecks of Peppers

We always plant our peppers from seeds on January 1st.  We've eaten plenty of peppers all throughout the year.  Unusually high rainfall earlier in the year sickened our peppers, even causing some of them to die.  It hurt their yield.  Now that cooler weather has set in, the peppers are very happy and they are producing peppers faster than we can eat them.  That's a good problem to have, I guess.

We picked two buckets full of jalapenos the other afternoon.  We have a mild jalapeno and a hot jalapeno.  I planted them too close together and they have cross pollinated, so they are all very hot now.  Even as we picked the larger ones, the sheer weight of the smaller peppers weighed down the branches.

We've cooked with them, dried a bunch of them and eaten a whole lot of them.  We'll make jalapeno poppers again pretty soon.  That's our favorite thing to do with them.  I'll have to check our inventory of Pepper Jelly in the pantry to see if we can make more.  That's a good snack!

The sweet bell peppers are producing nicely, too.  Just the other night, we had "dirty rice" for supper.  The next evening, Tricia picked some nice bell peppers, stuffed them with the leftover dirty rice, baked them, and we had stuffed bell peppers for supper.

The Lilac bell peppers are very healthy now, too.  We like colorful things in the garden and these fit the bill nicely.  Named lilac for their purple color, these peppers are just beautiful.  They are sweet, so the taste resembles a normal bell pepper.

The peppers are full of blooms and will continue producing until the first freeze kills them.  Until then we'll continue to enjoy.  Long about the time the freeze kills the mature plants, we'll plant replacements for them from seed on January 1st and start the process all over again.

Fresh, Homemade Pico de Gallo

Pico de Gallo means "the beak of the rooster" in Spanish.  It does not contain the beaks of roosters.  I always wondered how it got that name.  After researching, there are a couple of theories - some say it is because you eat it with your thumb and index finger (like a rooster's beak).  But we always eat it with chips.  Some say it is because the serrano peppers look like a rooster's beak.  I don't know about that.  All I know is that it tastes great, and we can wipe out a bowl of it in no time flat.  That is quite a feat when I don't like raw tomatoes!

We have most everything fresh from the garden to make fresh, homemade pico de gallo right now, so we are eating plenty of it.  First, we have homegrown heirloom tomatoes in many different varieties and colors.  It makes for an interesting looking dish.  Then, we have just harvested onions and jalapenos.  We also have cilantro, but it is all store-bought right now as ours all bolted to seed.  A couple of limes are store-bought as well.

So here Tricia is assembling it.  We've chopped up jalapenos and have begun to core the tomatoes.  She's selected a molcajete to put the seeds and cuttings into and a talavera bowl that we'll serve the pico de gallo in.  Talavera is pottery that originated in Spain and was brought to Mexico.  A lot of it is made in Puebla, because of the fine clays needed to make it is found there.  There are six colors permitted: blue, yellow, black, green, orange and mauve and all those colors are from natural pigments.

It is a simple dish with few ingredients.  The flavors of everything mixed seem to really compliment each other.  We have chopped up tomatoes, jalapenos, cilantro, onions and are ready to add them all together.

Everything is mixed all together in the bowl and then salt and pepper is added.  Then the juice of two limes is squeezed on top and everything is mixed together.

The longer you let it sit in the fridge, the better it tastes, but we never let it sit for long.  We bust open a bag of chips and it is like magic.  We can make the whole bowl disappear!

I even like when we're at the bottom of the bowl.  I like to crumble up the chips and let them soak up the lime/tomato flavors and eat it up with a spoon.

I Yam What I Yam

Image Credit

There's a gentleman and his family that we go to church with and they pickle quail eggs in pint-sized jars.  Growing up, when you'd go into a local convenience store, these were always placed predominantly by the checkout counter - jars of beautiful little quail eggs swimming in a highly seasoned brine.  Oftentimes there was a gallon sized jar next to it with pickled pigs feet!  The pigs feet were not very appetizing to me, no sir.  Not at all.

Back to the pickled quail eggs...  So the gentleman from our church asked me if I might have some extra jalapeno peppers that I could sell him to season some of his quail eggs EXTRA HOT.  I have two varieties - one variety is hot, while the other is milder but large.  Those are great for stuffing with cream cheese and chorizo when we make poppers.  Anyway, I told him that I didn't have any to sell him, but I had a lot to give him.  He lives right down the road and when Tricia was in the hospital, he came by and fed the animals.

So Sunday after church I walked out and picked a produce bag full of peppers for him.  The walkway between the peppers had been overgrown with sweet potato vines that I had recently clipped and thrown over the fence for the cows to eat.  There is nothing they like as much as sweet potato vines!  While I was picking jalapenos, I saw a nice-sized sweet potato in the walkway.  I left it there for a few days until Tricia pointed it out and I pulled it. 

Isn't she a beaut!  That is about as perfect of a Beauregard Sweet Potato as I've ever picked from the garden - growing right in the walkway!  Our sweet potatoes never have to be planted.  They come up on their own each year (like weeds do).  One time probably 10 years ago, we composted some scraps and a sweet potato grew and each year since then, we can count on sweet potato slips popping up out of the ground in the early spring.

I have planted another heirloom sweet potato cultivar called "Golden Wonder" a couple of years ago and now those come up volunteer as well.  Usually in October when the first signs of fall appear, we'll dig up the sweet potatoes and cure them in onion sacks hanging from our garage.  If the vines are any indication of a successful crop, we are going to have a bumper crop of sweet potatoes like we've never seen.  I'm telling you the vines are thick and lush and beautiful.  I've caught the cows coveting the sweet potato vines.  I think I actually saw them marking off the days on a calendar until October as they know they will get a gargantuan amount of sweet potato vines to eat.  We always joke that the next day, the milk will be extra sweet from the sweet potatoes.  We'll be sure to post about the sweet 2017 potato harvest.

Making Homemade Mayonnaise

We have made homemade mayonnaise in the past, but we were just given an immersion blender and decided to make some more using this new appliance. We've made it in a regular blender before, but the immersion blender makes it better and faster.  Just the other day Tricia made a batch of mayonnaise for us and Russ was in from college for the weekend and we decided to make a jar for him - with a twist.  Jalapeno Mayonnaise!

I have to admit that I'm not a fan of mayonnaise.  I never have been.  However, there is a local po-boy place in Lake Charles that uses jalapeno mayonnaise.  It adds a great spicy flavor to a poboy, so we decided to make some of our own.  Here are the ingredients:

• 2 medium eggs (our hens are only laying 5 eggs a day, so we're rationing the eggs now!)
• 2-3 teaspoons lemon juice, lime juice or vinegar (we used the vinegar from our pickled jalapenos)
• 1 Tablespoons whey (whey is the liquid that comes off when you make yogurt)
• a generous pinch of salt
• 1 cup of light olive oil

Ingredients for making (jalapeno mayonnaise)

Mayonnaise is so easy to make.  Once you have all your ingredients together, crack two eggs into a mason jar.

Break a couple of eggs

Add a generous pinch of kosher salt...

Salt

Next we added 1 Tablespoon of whey from our cows.  This was separated off when we made kefir - a type of drinkable yogurt that we make smoothies with or when we make cheese.  This earlier post about cheese-making shows pictorially how we separate whey.  Whey is a preservative.  In fact, homemade mayonnaise made like this will last for a week, but when you add a tablespoon of whey, it will last for several months.

Whey

Then we pour in 1 cup of extra light virgin olive oil.  Notice how everything goes into the same mason jar that you'll store the mayonnaise in.

Adding the olive oil

Then in a couple of teaspoons of vinegar from the jar of pickled jalapenos we made last year.

Jalapeno vinegar

Put the immersion blender down to the very bottom of the jar and pulse to blend the eggs.  Then move the blender up and down slowly to mix the entire contents of the jar.

Let's mix things up!

I kid you not - in just a few seconds... voila! Mayonnaise!

Homemade mayonnaise!

Now, here's the part that you customize.  We added pickled jalapenos, but you can make whatever you wish.  Adding fresh dill would make a fantastic herbed mayonnaise.  I was talking to a buddy today who makes chipotle mayonnaise by adding a can of chipotle peppers at this point.

Adding jalapenos to make jalapeno mayonnaise

The blender chops the jalapenos up and gives the mayo a slight greenish tinge and a nice, spicy taste that is sure to liven up a po boy, sandwich or burger.

Our work here is done

We labeled it, dated it, and put in the fridge to use.  We talked about using it to make a chicken salad sandwiches or egg salad sandwiches with a little "kick" to it!

Jalapeno Poppers for the Big Game

This weekend was the opening game for college football season.  Excitement was in the air and we couldn't wait for the LSU - Wisconsin game to come on.  Russ was home from college for the Labor Day weekend and we got ready to watch the game. First, though, we wanted to make some appetizers to munch on while watching the game.

I had just picked about 30 nice jalapeno peppers from the garden and Jalapeno Poppers seemed like just the thing.  We had a short time before kickoff, so we had to get busy.  We used this recipe that can be found Here.   We thought it was easy, quick to prepare and cook, and delicious.  Here's what you need:

1 lb breakfast sausage (like Jimmy Dean)
8 oz package of cream cheese, softened
1 cup shredded Parmesan Cheese
30 jalapeno peppers, cut in half lengthwise and seeded

Russ cut all the jalapenos in half and seeded them:

Jalapenos halved and seeded

While we were cutting up the jalapenos, we put the breakfast sausage in a skillet and started browning it. You want to cook it until it is no longer pink and then drain the fat off.

Browning the sausage

We began grating the Parmesan Cheese until we had a cup prepared.

Grated Parmesan Cheese

Combine the Parmesan cheese with the softened cream cheese.  Stir it up pretty good.

Combining the Parmesan with the Cream Cheese

Then mix in the browned breakfast sausage.

All ingredients combined - ready to go!

Now we took a spoon and began filling each jalapeno half with our cheese/sausage concoction and putting them on a baking tray.

Filling the jalapenos

We put the loaded jalapenos into an oven preheated to 425 degrees Fahrenheit and let them bake for 20 minutes.  You'll know when they are done because the cheese will be browned.

Jalapeno Poppers hot from the oven

We rated these Two Thumbs Up!  They were outstanding hot out of the oven.  Baking the peppers seemed to make the peppers milder - still spicy and hot, but tasty.  The cheese and sausage topping was very good and kept us going back to the warmer again and again during the game until they were all gone!

The jalapeno poppers were hotter than the Tigers through 3 quarters, but at the end of the game the Tigers came roaring back and delivered a winning performance - just like this appetizer!

Making Jalapeno Pepper Infused Olive Oil

The freeze hit the garden hard and the pepper plants were done.  I picked all of the peppers and sliced up everything but the jalapenos and put them in the freezer for cooking later.  I wanted to try something different with some of the jalapenos.

The last of the jalapenos for 2013

I decided to make Jalapeno infused olive oil.  I've heard that it is great for dipping bread in as a snack and great for drizzling over popcorn.  Interesting!  The first thing you do is get some nice, firm jalapenos.

Jalapenos

Slice up the peppers

Chopping them up

I then use a meat tenderizer to bruise up the chopped jalapenos in order to release more oils that reside in the peppers.

Bruising the peppers

Now we add enough olive oil in a small pot to cover the chopped peppers.

We heat the oil to 180 degrees.  I had a thermometer that I used to tell me when it was hot enough.  Once hot enough, I removed it from the burner and let the oil/pepper mixture cool.

Then we just bottle it, but we want to strain out the peppers and any pepper residue.  I place a coffee filter in a sieve and pour the oil into it.  The oil slowly drips through the filter.

Filtering out the peppers

From a bottom shot, you can see that the oil is clear so the filter is doing its job.  

After leaving the oil to drip overnight, we had a half pint jar of Jalapeno Infused Olive Oil.  I'll store it in the refrigerator until we are ready to try it.  I can't wait.

Jalapeno infused Olive Oil

This is the last of the jalapeno peppers until the Spring crop of 2014.

Making Candied Jalapenos

I went out and harvested a nice mess of jalapeno peppers from the garden.  We make pepper jelly, pickled jalapeno peppers and then we cook with them as well, but this time I was looking for another option of something interesting to do with them and I found just the thing.

On a website called Foodie With Family, I found a great looking recipe for: Candied Jalapenos  That sounds very interesting to me - Peppers that are sweet AND hot!  Before we get to making the recipe, we had to pick them.  The pepper plants were absolutely loaded with jalapenos. It took just a short amount of time to pick just enough for the recipe - 3 pounds!

Picking Peppers

After I weighed them I washed them up real good in the vegetable sink.  The red peppers are some cayenne peppers I threw in there just for color.

Peppers all cleaned up

Then I got out a cutting board and a sharp knife and removed the stems and then sliced the peppers into 1/4 inch slices, making a note to myself to NOT rub my eyes.  (That's experience speaking.)

Sliced jalapenos

Then I set them aside in a bowl.

I grabbed a large pot and poured in 2 cups of apple cider vinegar and turned up the heat to start it boiling.

Then I added the spices to the boiling apple cider vinegar:

• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
• 1/2 teaspoon celery seed
• 3 teaspoons granulated garlic
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Spices

Then I also add 6 cups of sugar.  Yeah, 6 cups, wow.

Here it is all poured into the pot just prior to boiling.  Give it a good stir.

Once it comes to a full boil, turn down the heat and simmer for about 5 minutes.

Then add in all the jalapeno peppers, stir, and allow to simmer for 4 minutes

Simmering peppers in the syrupy spices

Now I use a slotted spoon and a canning funnel to spoon the peppers into sterilized pint sized canning jars.

Packing the jars with peppers

Once I removed all the peppers, I bring the syrup to a full boil again and let it boil for 6 minutes.  I then use a ladle to dip out and pour the syrup into the jars.  You'll notice that I had some extra syrup left over that I put in a half pint jar.  The recipe says to use this to brush on meat on the grill or add to potato salad.  As you can imagine it has some sweet, spicy heat.

Jars full of peppers and spicy syrup

I wipe the rims and then put the Tattler lids, gaskets, and rims on the jars and put into a canner and cover with enough water so that the jars are covered with 2 inches of water.  

Adding jar to a canner

Bring the water to a full rolling boil and allow to boil for 15 minutes.

Rolling boil

Once 15 minutes has passed, I remove them with some canning tongs and put them on a cooling rack to cool for 24 hours.  

Allow to sit for 24 hours undisturbed

It is recommended that you let them sit in the pantry for at least 2 weeks or a month before you eat them to allow the flavors to mellow.  I gotta tell you I can't wait to try Candied Jalapenos!