Egg and pepper sandwiches

I'm not a big fan of green peppers. I neither like nor dislike them, but every once in a while I get really hungry for egg and pepper sandwiches.

It's far from a culinary triumph but it hit the spot and fulfilled the craving.

It started as one large green pepper, four eggs, and some buns. We had a mismatch of buns. Two kaiser and a potato hot dog bun. Child requested the hot dog bun.

We sliced the peppers into long slivers and fried them over low heat in olive oil & butter. I sprinkled them generously with garlic pepper.

Once the peppers changed to a more mellow color and softened, I jacked up the heat and added the scrambled four egg mixture (I had added about 1/4 cup water to it). 

And that is it. 

So good I want another.

Garden Taco Night

I am happiest when I am cooking. I don't mean that when I cook I become happy, I mean that when I am happy I cook. And I do good stuff. Not the eat for survival stuff. 

The chicken sitting adventure is going well. We got 18 eggs today and rushed home and made thick egg sandwiches on rye before school.

I whipped up some soft taco filling: ground beef, beans that I made today not from a can, the last batch of corn preserved from a local farm last year and diced pepper from the lady who owns the chickens.

Spices for the batch include paprika, cumin, chili powder, hot chili powder and garlic powder. I use a lot of each, to taste.

Spicy corn salsa

First canning project of the season. Spicy corn salsa.

For the salsa:

- corn cut off six ears of fresh-from-the-farm sweet corn 

- about one cup cherry tomatoes, cut in half

- about 1/4 cup mild green chili pepper

- about 1/4 cup medium jalapeño, chopped

For the sauce: 

- 1/2 cup lemon juice

- 1/2 tablespoon local raw honey

- 1/2 teaspoon each of ground pepper, cumin, chili powder and hot chili powder

- 3.5 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

Mix everything together. Bring to a boil. Simmer, covered 10 minutes, ladle into jars.

Process in hot water bath 15 minutes.

Child soft tacos

We're reinstating the child-makes-one-meal-per-week policy and she opted for soft tacos.

In the skillet, she combined:
- water
- about 2 tablespoons chili powder
- 2 teaspoons cumin
- 1 finely diced garlic clove
- 1 pinch Indian chili powder
- 1 pinch Italian seasoning
- 1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

- 1 lb ground beef
- about 16 ounces corn
- about 16 ounces beans
- 1 bell pepper from the garden, diced
Cover with water and boil at medium to medium high for one hour, adding more water and stirring every 15 minutes

Corn Salsa

Today we're adapting the Better Homes and Gardens recipe for corn salsa. I tasted a few corn kernels and it is divine.

The BHG recipe calls for:
- 4 large ears corn/2 cups
- 1 large onion/ 1 cup (coarsely chopped)
- 1 large green or red sweet pepper / 1 cup (coarsely chopped)
- 1 cup coarsely chopped peeled tomato
- 1 fresh jalapeño pepper, seeded and coarsely chopped

For my mix I used:
- 3 cups corn from a local farm
- about 1/2 cup finely chopped red onion
- 2 tablespoons diced chives from the garden
- 2 (or was it 3) pickling cucumbers (chopped)
- 1 cup and then some chopped tomatoes from a neighbor's garden
- 1 small green pepper and one really small red pepper from my own garden, chopped

For the sauce:
The original BHG
- 1/2 cup lime juice
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper

To this I added:
- 3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 1 teaspoon local honey
- 1/2 teaspoon hot chili powder

Method:
In large saucepan, combine ingredients and bring them to a boil.

Simmer, covered, for ten minutes.

Ladle into half pint jars. (oh bugger! I did 1 half pint, 2 half jellies and a pint.)

Process jars 15 minutes in boiling water canner.

Vegetarian sausage topping

To accompany the cornbread I made today, makes three servings:
- 2 Morningstar breakfast patties broken into bits
- one small green pepper (my first from the garden), diced very small
- one apple, sliced very thin
- butter, if desired
- local honey, if desired

Using butter, no stick spray, oil or your favorite vegan spread, sauté peppers and apples until soft. Add vegetarian sausage. Stir fry until hot. Drizzle with honey. Serve over cornbread.

Meal idea

So, last week I bought thin pork chops on sale thinking they would be perfect for the grill. I have green pepper, red pepper and potatoes left from an earlier meal.

I thought I'd slice the peppers in big pieces, mix them into pineapple, add black olives and throw the meat in there to marinade.

But all week, life kept thwarting my plan. Today I finally put the pork in the freezer. I still hope to prepare this meal. In my head, I have it all figured out.

I'm going to chunk the leftover potatoes and line the vegetable basket with them. Then I'll top with the pineapple-pepper-olive mixture and grill the chops outside of the basket.

If you try this before I do, let me know how it turns out.