Homemade Cayenne Pepper Powder

A friend of mine brought me a box of all kinds of peppers (she works at a doctor's office and the patient's bring him tons of vegetables).  There were several cayenne peppers and I didn't want them to go to waste so I looked up how to turn them into the powder you use for baking.  I basically found that you just cut the ends off and stick them in the dehydrator.

I wasn't sure if the color would still come out red because of the green ones.  I left them in the dehydrator overnight and this morning I broke them up in my magic bullet (you could use a blender or a food processor).  It took literally a couple seconds to turn into powder.  I was so very excited because it looks just like what you would get at the grocery store.  I probably go through one a year to use for chili and cheese straws and I've been wanting to make some homemade taco seasoning.  This little bit of peppers actually made more than one of those little spice containers at the store.

It seems once or twice a week I'm learning something new I can do to help keep costs down or to make more things homemade.  It may not seem worth it when you just make a little container of powdered pepper, but when you add it all together, you are saving money and making healthier food for your family to eat, so it IS worth it!

This post is part of the Homestead Barn Hop at The Prairie Homestead.

Dodging the Hurricane

We got all worked up this weekend thinking a hurricane was headed our way (we are in south Alabama), but now it looks like it is heading towards Mississippi and Louisiana.  Lots of prayers heading to those states and also praying that maybe it will lose some strength.

During all of our watching the news and such, I started thinking how some people have teased me about canning and such and isn't it funny now that I'm not having to run to the grocery store to get canned goods because I probably have enough on my shelves to get us through a few weeks without power.  Now that is the best revenge Ha!  :)

My husband's uncle was actually teasing me Friday night because I had just canned some jalapenos and banana peppers and I told him that he was not allowed to come get any when the hurricane rolled in.  Joking of course (maybe LOL)

Last week I finished up that basil I was working on.  I can't wait to use it.  It dried really nicely and I just put it in a small jar. 

Sorry for the bad/blurry pictures! I've got to figure out the trick to taking good pictures of jars and inaminate objects.  I do a lot better with kids. 

Speaking of the little devils, here they were on the first day of school, all excited and ready to go.  Ya'll have a great week :)

Basil On My Brain

Ya'll, my kids are back to school, husband is back to work after a little beach vacation and I have the house to myself! That means I have time to do a little blogging.  I've been trying to think of what to blog about.  I walked around the back this morning and found my basil plants have doubled or tripled in size in just one week!

Last week these plants looked like a few twigs with leaves on them.  I pruned them like I've read about.  I put them outside and it's rained lots this past week, but we've also had a lot of sunshine.  They have grown so much in a week, it has just blown my mind away. 

It makes me really happy because basil has been the only herb I have been able to grow this year and even it was not doing that great.  I don't know what my problem is with the herbs, although I have a feeling I might pay a little too much attention to them, possibly??  This might be a prime example.  I leave this plant alone for a week and it flourishes!

So if any of you have doubted pruning your basil, don't doubt it, just do it because it works.  Right now I am drying what I pulled off in the oven.  I will post more on that tomorrow.

What do you like to do with basil besides pasta sauce?  My neighbor wrapped her shrimp in some I gave her and grilled it, that sounds wonderful.  Looking for more ideas!

Everyone have a great week :)

Learning Plant Names

One thing I have learned this year is that it is very important to label the things you plant and learn their names.  I thought if you wanted to plant squash, you go buy some squash seeds and that was it.  I felt pretty dumb going into the co-op and asking for squash seeds and being asked what kind?  Uh, the yellow squash.  Well there is summer squash, crook neck....not to mention all the other kinds that are NOT yellow.  Oh I have so much to learn! 

I got some herb packets and in a little spot right next to my house we planted some chives.  At least I think I remember it was chives ha!  They have grown and taken over.

But for some reason I was expecting them to look like the long skinny green onions you buy out of the grocery store.  I kept thinking weeds were taking over and I needed to pull them.

I have done an internet search and can't find any chives that look like this.  Maybe they are weeds?

Maybe I just got it mixed up, maybe I really didn't plant chives, but I'm pretty sure we planted the chives packet here.  Maybe they put the wrong seeds in the packet?

This makes me feel really dumb, but you can guarantee next year, I am going to be relentless with labeling and checking things twice.

Now I'm off to find out the correct name for this plant.  I bought it at the nursery this summer.  It was small and pitiful and I really thought it was going to die at one point.  It has taken off and it even produced a tiny little purple flower.  It is so pretty with its green and pink speckled leaves.

This post is linked to the Homestead Revival Barn Hop