My sweet revenge

So, I finally made my own hot sauce, as I've been threatening to, for more than a year.

What I used:

- 5 mangoes, a mix of ripe and underripe ones, peeled and seeded
- 1/2 white onion
- 6 large garlic cloves
- 1/4 lb habaneros
- 1/2 - 1 cup lemon juice
- 2 tbsp salt
- 1/4 cup honey

What I did:

- put all ingredients except for the honey into a blender and blend into a purée
- pour into a frying pan, add the honey and cook till boiling. Let it simmer for 15 minutes or so
- let it cool and store in bottles that are free of any water

You can adjust all ingredients according to your taste, but I love the way this turned out. The first bite gives you a sweetness on the tip of your tongue and then the heat his the back of your tongue and throat.

Easy mango mousse

What I used:

- 1 cup fresh mango purée
- 1/2 cup condensed milk
- 1 cup heavy cream, whipped till it's the consistency of sweet whipped cream

What I did:

- mix the mango purée and condensed milk
- fold in the whipped cream (do not use store bought whipped cream, it's sweetened and adds unneeded sugar)
- pour into bowls and let it sit in fridge for an hour
- enjoy

Pasta salad

What you need:

• a box of any colorful pasta. I've used Wacky Mac, tri-colored rotini, plain shells (though the colorful pasta looks prettier)
• a pint of grape tomatoes, cut in halves
• a pint of olives, any pitted ones you like, cut in halves
• 8 oz feta cheese or goat cheese
• a bag of mini pepperoni
• some hard salami slices, chopped smaller
• some Genoa salami slices, chopped smaller
• a red or orange bell pepper, cut into 1/2 inch thin slices
• a red onion, cut into 1/2 inch thin slices
• 2 tsp oregano
• salt & pepper to taste
• garlic powder to your taste
• olive oil
• balsamic vinegar or red wine vinegar

Boil pasta according to directions. Rinse with cold water pretty well so it's not hot. Throw it into a big glass bowl. Add all the dry ingredients. Mix well. Add about 2 tbsp of olive oil and 2 tbsp of vinegar to start with. Mix it well. You want all the ingredients coated, not swimming in the sauce. Add more if needed. Put it in the fridge for a couple hours, it lets the sauce actually infuse the ingredients and it tastes so much better cold.

Variations I've done: used fat free Italian dressing or any vinaigrette dressing instead of oil & vinegar

Crockpot chili

What you need:

1 lb ground beef, browned
1 lb Italian sausage, crumbled and browned
1 large onion, chopped finely
2 jalapenos, seeded and diced
26 oz can any kind of tomatoes (diced, stewed, whatever)
8 oz can of tomato sauce
1 can kidney beans
1 can chili beans


2 tbsp garlic powder
2 tbsp chili powder
Salt to taste
2 tbsp paprika
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp ground coriander 

6 oz beer

Throw everything in crock pot.The dry spices, go with your instinct and what you like in your food, we love garlic so I think I actually used half a cup, no kidding! Cook on low for 6 hrs. Add beer. Cook on low for another 1-2 hrs.

Throw some raw chopped onions, some shredded cheese on top and enjoy!

Salsa chicken & Spanish Rice - in the Crockpot

So, I make a lot of chicken in the crock pot lately. Ont he weekend, it's so easy to get a couple different big meals done for the week while still being able to spend time with my family. Easiest is to throw some frozen chicken into the crock pot and some sort of sauce (either bbq or a salsa) and let it cook till it's really tender. Well, last weekend, I thought of all the water in the salsa and wondered if it would cook rice. So, I threw in a box of Rice-A-Roni Spanish rice and it's seasonings. Without the butter. Let it cook for a couple hours on low, and it cooked the rice perfectly. Let me try and put what I did down since Oliver loved it and ate it by the fistfuls and I'd like to replicate the recipe again.

What I used:

1 lb boneless, skinless chicken thighs
2 cups of your favorite salsa
Box of Rice-A-Roni Spanish Rice

Throw the frozen chicken thighs with the salsa into the crock pot and set it on low for 4-6 hrs, checking back once every hour. Once the chicken thighs look cooked but aren't falling apart, throw the rice and seasoning packet in. If the liquid looks low, add a 1/2 cup water but usually the salsa has enough liquid.

I set it for low initially for 2 hrs, and it needed another hour. The rice was cooked perfectly, I was able to tear the chicken into tiny pieces.

Oliver ate it by the fistfuls, using both hands. So did Jeff ... well, he used a fork. But, it was a success.