Spicy Saturday!

Confession: I like to surprise Brittany with really spicy food.. sometimes to her delight, usually to my demise. A pinch of red hot pepper flakes can go a long way in a dish, but apparently a tablespoon on a pizza slice will wreak havoc on taste buds. Who knew?

To help fuel my devilish activities I decided to leverage one of my favorite sauces - homemade roasted habañero hot sauce - and even convinced my lady to help me make it! Conditions were perfect: a lazy Saturday morning, a bag full of home grown habañero, pimiento, cayenne, and jalapeño peppers courtesy of my coworker Valerie, and an insatiable thirst for fire. 

We started out by lighting the grill up and washing the peppers down while everything warmed up. After a couple minutes I laid out each pepper on the grill and closed the lid, letting them roast in the hot environ over the open flame. 

 Wicked colors, ready to burn!

Roasted pepper carnage.

At this point, many of the peppers were starting to both blacken and soften up. A few even popped as the gasses expanded from the heat of the grill, spraying seed guts over fellow unsuspecting peppers.

 My dutiful helper, critiquing my choice of shoes, no doubt

As the peppers finished up I pulled them off the grill into a metal bowl which Brittany covered in saran wrap. The humidity from the cooling peppers helped loosen up the charred skins, making it easier for us to remove the unwanted burned parts. I wish this trick also worked when I grilled chicken...

We then used a paper towel to help remove the burned skin. Ultimately, we found that just rubbing our fingers on the burned portions worked the best. PRO TIP: use latex gloves when handling hot peppers! Your eyes, nose, and other unmentionable body parts will thank you later...

 After all the peppers had [most of] their burned skin removed we placed them in my fancy Cuisinart food processor. I gave it a few quick pulses to break up the meat of the peppers and evenly distribute the seeds before we started adding the next ingredients: garlic, vinegar, salt, black pepper, water, and a whole onion followed next. Once it was all combined and well mixed, I poured the sauce into a pot and let it simmer for ~45 minutes.

It almost looks like magma, doesn't it?

Second confession: I have a problem hording old jars and bottles. In this instance, it actually worked out. I rounded up a handful of small jars and proceeded to soak them in a bleach/hot water mixture to help sanitize and remove the labels. Once thoroughly cleaned and rinsed, I partially filled several bottles to share with friends and coworkers and put them straight into the refrigerator. No food borne illnesses here - just pure, unadulterated heat!

Valerie's Vicious Vitriol 

Yield: ~1 liter of pain

Ingredients

11 habañero peppers

4 pimiento peppers

10 cayenne peppers

3 jalapeño peppers

4 cloves of garlic

1 white onion, chopped

2 cups of vinegar

2 cups of water

1/2 Tbs of salt

1/4 Tbs of pepper

Directions

(summary of blog post above)

- Roast peppers over open flame until blackened.

- Cool in a metal bowl covered in saran wrap until cool to the touch.

- Pull off most of the charred surface from the peppers. A little leftover will give you a smokey flavor.

- Place peppers into food processor and pulse several times.

- Add garlic, onion, salt, pepper to food processor and blend until well.. uh.. blended.

- Pour into a small pot, add water and vinegar

- Simmer for 45 minutes

- Cool, and pour into clean, awesome old jars.

Warning: Spiciness will vary based on the peppers used. Any of the above peppers can be swapped for other peppers, but I prefer more habañeros for their flavor and heat index (Scoville scale). I've also used home grown bird's eye chili peppers before that waged war on all things sacred on my tongue, so just be careful. :)

Enjoy!

South Carolina Loves Peaches & Pecans

We love visitors!

A few weeks ago, the Chin family came to Greenville, SC to visit us.  As a "welcome to South Carolina" dish I decided to make a Peach and Pecan Crisp.

I have to admit, I am not a baker.  I am more of a "what's left in the fridge that I can make into something" kind of cook.  Trevor is the baker.  He is precise and pays attention to detail...I on the other hand...do not.  BUT, this recipe is one that my roommate, Karen, and I found and figured it was simple enough to try.  We made some healthy substitutions and found that we loved it!  It's a great dish to bring to a party or when you are having guests.

Tip: the more ripe the peaches, the better!

Southern Peach and Pecan Crisp
Yield: 1 Crisp in a 9x11 pan

Ingredients
2 cups rolled oats
2 cups whole wheat flour
2 cups brown sugar
1 cup pecans
3/4 cup tub margarine (we like Brummel and Brown)
8-10 fresh and ripe peaches
1/2 cup sugar
Cinnamon to taste

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350.  Meanwhile, grease a 9x11 pan with Pam spray.  In a large bowl, combine the oats, whole wheat flour and brown sugar.  Add in 3/4 cup of pecans.  Cut the tub margarine into the oat mixture with your hands until it is "crumbly" and put aside.   Skin and pit peaches and place into a separate bowl.  Add the 1 cup sugar to the peaches and mix well.  Spread 1/2 of the oat mixture along the bottom of the 9x11 plan.  Cover the oat mixture with the fresh peaches.  Finally, top the peaches with the remaining oat mixture.  Scatter the remaining 1/4 cup of pecans along the top of the crisp and sprinkle with cinnamon to taste.  Bake the crisp on 350 for 45min.  Serve, and enjoy!

Tip: This Peach and Pecan Crisp is great with some low fat vanilla yogurt!

While the Chin family was in town, we enjoyed a lovely lunch downtown Greenville at one of my favorite lunch spots, Mary's of Falls Cottage.  Mary's a very sweet small cottage with seating both downstairs in the house, upstairs and on their back porch.  The weather was so nice (unusually below 90 degrees) we decided to eat outside!  Trevor and I split their special Fried BLT sandwich with a side of broccoli salad and the Chicken, Apple and Goat Cheese Salad.  Mom and Dad both got the quiche and salad special and my brother Brendan enjoyed the Turkey, Apple and Harvati Croissant.

After lunch we took a walk through Falls Park and admired colorful andscaping they have throughout.

At the end of Falls Park, there is one of South Carolina's most photographed trees, the "Falls Park Tree" with exposed roots.  It's a downtown Greenville must see!

At the Falls Park Tree

That night, I made reservations for everyone at Soby's for some New South Cuisine, and it was wonderful! Soby's is in the center of downtown Greenville and has a great food and drink menu.  I chose this restaurant as Brendan cannot get enough of the southern She Crab Soup.  We were sure to order 3 bowls of Soby's She Crab soup for the table to split! I ordered their summer Grilled Salmon with spicy blackberry BBQ sauce, bean salad, cucumber and tomatoes.  It was a wonderful light summer dish where the hot salmon is served over the cold salad, it was very refreshing.  Trevor, Mom and Brendan enjoyed the Pan Seared Scallops with mashed potatoes, sweet corn, asparagus and mushrooms.  It was the perfect combination of sweet and savory, and something I will have to order next visit (or just convince Trevor to go halfsies).  Dad got the Bacon Wrapped Pork Tenderloin which was very tender and savory.  According to their website, this is one of their "classic" dishes since the restaurant opened 15 years ago.

We were sad to see them go, but excited for them to continue their journey to the South Carolina coast where they enjoyed the rest of the week on Myrtle Beach!  Hopefully next year we can continue on with them!  

First Annual Labor Day "White" Party

Traditionally, it is a fashion Faux Pas to wear the color white after Labor Day as Labor Day signals the unofficial "end" to summer.  Well, it is usually 80-90 degrees in South Carolina until October....but we decided to put on our favorite white dresses, shirts, shorts and shoes and use this fashion faux pas as a reason to celebrate!

When starting to plan the party, I read a lot of websites that suggested that both the food and drink were also white (in case some spills all over their white outfit...ahem Trevor).    This required some thinking...then I realized that one of my favorite foods, cheese, is white!  The menu just kind of developed from there. 

The White Food along with beautiful white hydrangeas 

Labor Day White Party Menu

• White "Hidden" Veggie Pizza with Mozzarella and Parmesan
• Yogurt Dipped Pretzels 
• Pirate's Booty Popcorn
• Crackers and Cauliflower with Roasted Garlic Hummus
• Baked Brie with Honey served with Apples and Whole Grain Crackers
• Sliced Pears
• White Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies (courtesy of Lynne)
• Cake Batter Blondies (courtesy of Dana)
• Beverages: White Peach Sangria (courtesy of Erin and Ricky), Champagne, Duval liquor and a variety of white wine and beer

The food was all a hit and I barely had any to clean up!  We're such a clean partying bunch ;-)

One dish that went particularly fast, was the White Veggie Pizza with Mozzarella and Parmesan.  The recipe had a different "spin" on it as I was trying to be sure the veggies were covered and didn't bring too much color to the table.  So, I decided to "hide" them under my favorite food, cheese!  I have shared the recipe with you all below. 

White "Hidden" Veggie Pizza with Mozzarella and Parm

Yield: 1 16" pizza

Ingredients

1 Trader's Joe's White Pizza Crust (I usually prefer the whole wheat, but I sacrificed for the party)

2 Tbsp olive oil

1 cup Low Fat Mozzarella Cheese

1/4 cup Shaved Parmesan Cheese

1/2 zucchini, sliced into very thin half moons

1/4 Vadalia onion, sliced thin

3 Tbsp sun dried tomatoes

8-10 Fresh Basil leaves, chopped

Pepper to taste

Garlic powder to taste

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
2. Spray a 16" non-stick pizza pan with Pam spray.
3. Place the pizza dough on the pan.  Using your finger tips, spread the pizza dough out into a circle on the pan starting from the center.  
4. Using a pastry brush, spread olive oil on the pizza dough, both the crust and in the center.
5. Spread the zucchini slices, onion slices and sun dried tomatoes onto the pizza dough.
6. Sprinkle the pizza with fresh ground pepper, garlic powder and the basil leaves.
7. Cover the pizza with the mozzarella and Parmesan cheese, leaving about 1/2 inch for crust.  
8. Bake the pizza on 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes, or until crust is brown and cheese is golden and bubbling.
9. Remove pizza from oven and let cool about 5 minutes.  Cut pizza into 8 slices or for party, try cutting it into 20 small square pieces.  
10. Enjoy!

Step 1 - roll out the dough and add veggies

My favorite white food: cheese!

Completed white pizza for the party :-)

Over all the night was a success, and definitely something I will continue to host year after year.  We had a great group of friends come to the party and continued downtown to Carolina Ale House.  It was pretty funny walking on the streets in such a large group of white people...not something I can say I've done before.    We pretty much closed down the place and walked back home... in our large white group.  Best Labor Day weekend in Greenville yet!  I'll have to remember to keep my eye out for cute white dresses before the end of summer to wear to the Annual Labor Day White Party!

Hope you all enjoyed the holiday as well :-)

The whole White Party!