Winner and back to work . . .

Thanks for all your wonderful comments to my two year blogaversary! Without further ado, the winner is my giveaway is . . .

True Random Number Generator Min: 1 Max: 72 Result: 56

katecooks says:

September 4, 2010 at 3:47 pm (Edit)

congrats! two years, wow. i’ve loved reading daily. you amaze me with all your delicious recipes and weekly menus!! the no-rise pizza dough is my favorite. i make it too, all the time! hope you are having a great holiday weekend

Congratulations Kate! Send me an email at bdl319@gmail.com and give me your address to get your goodies! 😀

We had such a lazy, slow moving day yesterday which was awesome. But by 11:30 no one had eaten breakfast, and we kind of felt like lunch. We had a couple errands to run, so we hit up our local wing place. I forgot my camera, but I had a buffalo chicken wrap with cajun spicy fries. Probably around 600 or so calories, but considering it was both breakfast and lunch, I didn’t worry about it too much.

When we got back home it was time to make pepper jelly! I lucked out because our store had jalapenos on sale for .39 cents a pound.

Biz’s Pepper Jelly

2 pounds jalapeno peppers
2 large apples (1 pound)
2 cups white vinegar
4 cups sugar
1 package unflavored gelatin
1/2 cup water
1 teaspoon green food coloring

Using gloves (don’t miss this step!) cut off the tops of the jalapenos, cut down the middle and take the seeds out. Throw everything into a food processor. Cut and core the apples, leaving the skin on, and add that to the food processor. Puree.

Add to pan and bring to a boil, boil for an additional 20 minutes (should take about 35 to 40 minutes total). At this point, your husband will shout from the living room “What the hell is that smell?!!”

Place in sterilized jelly jars, and add to a pot of water, just until the top of the jars are covered by an inch. Once the water comes to a boil, boil for 5 minutes. Remove and let cool.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA — I made the mistake once of not using gloves - my hands hurt so bad I had to sleep with frozen peas on my hands!

I know Mara has made Rick Bayless’s mole sauce before. The last time I was at the library I picked up one of his cookbooks. He had a recipe for red chile chicken and cheese enchiladas that sounded really good. I even went so far as to find the exact peppers he requested in the recipe:

I’ve never heard of these peppers, so I looked it up and they were described as mild to moderate heat. Tony has a threshold of heat, so I thought this would be perfect for everyone to enjoy (even if not spicy enough for me!).

You cut the dried peppers, seed them, then slice them in half. You bring a skillet to medium-high heat and cook them for about 10 seconds a side. Add the peppers to a blender, adding a 28 ounce can of diced tomatoes, cumin and garlic.

Once the sauce is pureed, you cook for 10 minutes, then add a cup of chicken broth and cook an additional 10 minutes, or until it starts to thicken up. Add 1/2 of the mixture to two cups of cooked chicken breast.

Then I added 1 cup of monterary jack cheese, then made my enchiladas.

Then added the other 1 cup of cheese and the rest of the sauce overtop.

The verdict? Underwhelming is the only word to describe this dish. It was not spicy at all, in fact the sauce was seriously lacking something, but we couldn’t figure it out. I followed the recipe to a T. You know your dinner isn’t a winner when after a couple bites, both Hannah and Tony put their plates on the floor for the dog to eat 🙁

Luckily though we had my tortilla soup on the side which was delicious!

I updated our 101 Days of Summer Challenge page. Check it out – a couple people had some amazing results!

While I stayed the exact same weight (169), I lost 2.5 inches all over my body. I attribute that to the bike machine – since June 1 I’ve ridden 248 miles!

Feels like another wonderful cool fall morning – too bad I have to spend it in an office all day! Happy Tuesday and hope everyone had a great weekend!