I like it hot and cheesy!

I've missed you lovelies!

Due to a ridiculously busy week of also family visitations, work schedule fuck ups, Haydn's birthday, university convocation, hair appointments, and the need to finish the last book in The Hunger Games, I took last week off. And you know that? I'm damn glad I did!

It just needed to be done. 

Those of us with blogs know how time consuming they can be, but my wonderful friends who aren't obsessed with their computers don't realize that between 3 posts a week @ Gastronomical Sovereignty and 1 here, I probably waste spend near 40 hours a week cooking, taking photos, editing photos, posting, promoting, and doing general blog things. It really is about 10 hours a post - and while I love it, I needed a week off. 

But now I'm back! And that also feels damn good.

And to celebrate? How about a little cheesy spicy goodness? For this week's make-something-from-another-blog-post I decided to pull out a little trick from Kimberly @ Rhubarb & Honey.

The chick is fuckin' rad and so is her food philosophy. She also happens to partake in The Secret Recipe Club with me - and while I may not get as my SRC assignment, it doesn't mean I can't give the woman props and make something from her blog.

Her recipe has less fat in it than mine does but I have a slight fear of anything "low fat" or "non-fat".... If they take the fat out of an ingredient, they have to replace it with something. What is that something??? Ick! So instead, I went all-fat. And let me tell you, I'm pretty sure my thighs are feelin' it. But it's all good because anything that is cheesy and spicy makes me a happy girl... 

Speaking of which, have you read 50 Shades of Grey??? I'm on the first book right now and I've never read anything so outright cheesy and hot in all my life. But it's Summer time - when else during the year can you indulge in such sauciness?

Gooey Cheesy Baked Jalapenos
 (printable recipe) - serves 5 - 6.

Ingredients:

6 Jalapeños, halved and seeds & ribs removed.
1/2 Cup Cheddar Cheese, grated.
1/4 C Cream Cheese, whipped.
4 Scallions, finely chopped.
1/2 Cup Whole Wheat Flour.
1 1/2 Cups Panko Crumbs.
4 Large Egg Whites.
Course Sea Salt & Fresh Cracked Black Pepper.
1/2 C Sour Cream.

What to Do: 

Pre-heat your broiler and line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Place a wire rack on top and lay jalapenos on rack, broil for approx 2 minutes or until they start to char. Allow to cool completely and turn the oven down to 400 degrees F via the regular element.

In a small bowl combine the cheddar, cream cheese and half the scallions. Gently spoon & tightly pack into eat half pepper.

Place the flour and panko crumbs in two separate shallow dishes, seasoning both with a little salt. In a third bowl, whisk the egg whites until foamy.

Dredge each jalapeno through the flour,s haking off the excess, followed by the egg whites, and then the panko.

Place back on the wire rack/foil lined baking sheet again and season with salt and pepper. Bake until breading is golden and cheese is melted, approx. 20 minutes or so.

As they brown, mix the remaining scallions into the sour cream and season lightly with salt.

Serve baked jalapenos with the sour cream on the side for dipping.

Eat.

What do you do to relax? How do you know it's time for a break? Good Summer read suggestions, darlings?

 

This post is linked up with Whole Foods Wednesday; Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways; Cast Party Wednesday; Simple Lives Thursday; Showcase Your Talent Thursday; Full Plate Thursday; Tastetastic Thursday; Fresh Bites Friday; Fight Back Friday.

Homemade Mustard Piquante

The Lowdown:

Addictions, like individuals, come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes. Some people are addicted to drugs or alcohol. Some are addicted to food. Some are addicted to porno or war movies. Others are addicted to glue. And then, there are those who are like me - addicted to condiments (maybe a few of the aforementioned as well). Not just any condiments though. Mustards and hot sauces always catch my attention. No joke, I just counted seven types of mustard and five types of hot sauce in my fridge. That also wasn't including the left over packages of McDonald's hot mustard. I don't know why, but I just can't resist that yellow death.

I wish I could say that as I matured, my tastes matured as well. They didn't. I still love hotdogs, hamburgers, Kraft Dinner, pizza pops, and cream soda. So I started to think that maybe I should just start making these things at home. Really, if you take out all of the preservatives they aren't all that bad for you. In the end, everything is about balance. Unfortunately, I balance eating hamburgers from the quaint little chain known as McDonald's and homemade delicious food.

A dream of mine is to stumble across a restaurant that makes plain food, but has an extensive list of condiments. In this dream there are hundreds of condiments, all homemade of course, listed by cuisine region. They would be paired with food,  like wines are in most restaurants. The possibilities would be endless. Take a burger for example. How sexy would it be if you got to choose from dozens of mustards, dozens of BBQ sauces, or whatever you fancied. What if you took those classics and added spice, sweetness, savouriness, or tartness. What if you wanted a clubhouse with a tarragon, white wine mustard and a honey-lime, Cajun aioli? What if you wanted a Jamaican jerk ketchup to dip your fries in?

Well, these are all things that I want, and until now I never though about trying to make a homemade condiment. Why would you? They are cheap to buy, and chances are you have enough of them in our fridges to survive a nuclear fall out. But lets face it, we all got into cooking because we wanted to push our boundaries. Whether we want to cook to save money, cook to prove something, cook to explore flavours - we all want to push our personal expectations. To be honest, making mustard shouldn't be considered pushing any sort of boundary; however, it seems to be one of those things that nobody really thinks about. This was one of those times that I just let go, and said, "why not?"

If you're interested in the history of the mustard seed (which is quite interesting) click here.

The Playlist:

1/2 cup Ground mustard

6 tbsp Mustard seeds*

1 tsp Turmeric

4 tbsp Red wine vinegar (good quality)

1 Bhut jolokia, dried**

5 Chili pequin, dried

2 Thai chili peppers, dried

1/2 cup Red wine (or water or combination of both)

* White are the most mellow, red are much spicier (the nasal spicy), and black, if you can find them, are the spiciest.

** Using these dried allows for the flavour and a bit of the spiciness to come out. A fresh bhut jolokia pepper in this recipe would be way too much for the average person to handle.

The Skinny:

1. Crush the red mustard seeds, with a mortar and pestle or coffee grinder, so that the majority of them remain intact.
2. Grind the spicy peppers into a fine powder. I was given these peppers from a co-worker who loves spicy food. If you can't get a hold of these, feel free to use whatever peppers you like.
3. Add all of the ingredients together and mix until a paste is formed. Place in a glass jar, seal, refridgerate and allow to sit for a few days before use.

Featured on: 33 Shades of Green, Mandy's Recipe Box, Chef in Training, Food Renegade

Stay rad - h