Cajun Fettuccine Alfredo

What's in my Chico Bag?

Alex and I have been living in Chico, CA for almost four years now and I had not purchased a ChicoBag.

I have lots of other reusable grocery bags so I really never though about needing one before.  However, today I went to the store and left my other bags at home.  No big deal I'll just carry my items, but right next to the register was this beautiful ChicoBag and I could not resist.

 

Vanilla Extract

This year I decided to make home made vanilla extract to give as Christmas Presents.

I wanted something that was home made and practical.

Almost everyone needs vanilla extract at some point or another.

I found recipes and inspiration at Sprinkles of Parsley and Joy the Baker.

Check out these blogs for other great recipes!



Start with gathering your supplies.

If you don't live somewhere that has specialty shops this is where I ordered mine online.

Bottles from Specialty Bottle. I ordered 25 of the 4-oz clear round glass bottle with top.



Beans from Beanilla. I ordered 25 of the Bourbon vanilla beans to start with, then I ordered 25 more to add a little more flavor to the extract.



Next a co-worker of mine gave me this bottle of vodka for my project.



However, it only filled 13 & 1/2 bottles. So one more bottle was needed to complete the project.

Directions:

• Pour vodka, just under 2/3 cup of vodka per bottle, through a funnel into the glass bottles until it reaches almost to the top.
• Then cut your vanilla beans in half, then length wise to expose the seeds.
  
  
• Drop all 8 pieces of 2 vanilla beans into glass bottle.
  
  
• Screw on tops.
• Allow to steep for 6 to 8 weeks.
• Label as you see fit.  I just put a little bit of refilling directions and a Merry Christmas with a use after date!

Happy Christmas Eve. I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday!

Quest

I am on a quest to find curry leaves.

And before you say just buy some curry powder, here is something you need to know (and I just recently learned).  Curry powder is a varied mixture of spices, which does not include curry leaves.  Where as curry leaves are well, leaves.

I have searched high and low.

In town:

• Both Raley's (a local upscale grocery establishment)


• Winco (they have all those bulk spices)


• S & S Produce


• Asian Market


• Hers Asian Food Market

In Roseville:

• Williams and Sonoma (where I found another elusive spice, Black Mustard Seeds)


• Crate and Barrel (I was trying everywhere at the mall)

Anyways they were all great stores, but they did not carry the elusive curry leaves.

My friend who lives in Richmond, Virgina, offered to check her local stores for my leaves.  She is in the process of moving back to California so if she finds them then I would have them in about 2 weeks.

Failing that I'm going to order them from an online spice store.  I was hoping to find them locally, but a girls got to do what a girls got to do.

In Search For...

I'm searching for that final ingredient to make some authentic Indian Food at home. I had no idea that finding this final piece of the recipe would be so difficult. Or that Indian food was such a complex mix of so many different spices. Keep in mind that all of these are just for one dish.

This spices that I have collected so far.

• Coriander Seeds


• Cumin Seeds


• Chili Powder


• Ground Tumeric


• Cardamom seeds


• Fresh Gingerroot


• Garlic Cloves


• Whole Cloves


• Black Peppercorns


• Cinnamon Sticks


• Salt


• Black Mustard Seeds

The elusive Spice.

• Curry Leaves

I've searched high and low. None of the regular grocery stores in my town carry this spice. I tried the local specialty grocery store and still no curry leaves. Then, I made a trip to the larger metropolis hub and tried there specialty cooking stores. I found the Black Mustard Seeds, but still no curry leaves.

Tomorrow, I'm hoping that my journey will be at an end. I have learned of an Asian Market that is just a few blocks from my house. If I do not find the leaves there I'm going to have to break down and purchase them from the internet.

Everyone wish me luck.

The BBQ sauce experiment

The BBQ sauce experiment.

So I bought some chicken after work today. Drove home and convinced hubby to barbecue, well actually grill. So we were gathering all supplies and prepping the grill, when I realized that we have no barbecue sauce. Alex said no problem we'll figure something out. I get the great idea to try and make my own sauce.

Step over to the desktop and clicky clack. Up pops Neely's BBQ Sauce recipe on the Food network. No problem I think. I have these things. Meanwhile Alex realizes that we are very low on briquettes. So I say run to the store and pick up some sauce while your at it. Just in case.

At this point I have my trusty sauce pan in hand and have measured out the precious ketchup. There is really no turning back now. So I'm going forward and find I do not have all the ingredients that I need, here a sane person would accept defeat. But not me. I charge on full speed ahead. Making random substitutions along the way.

So here is the recipe that I made.

Ingredients:

• Almost 2 cups ketchup


• Almost 1 cup water


• 1/2 cup rice wine vinegar


• 4 heaping tablespoons brown sugar


• 5 tablespoons sugar


• 1/2 tablespoon fresh ground black pepper


• a sprinkle of garlic powder


• 1/2 tablespoon ground mustard


• 1 tablespoon lemon juice


• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

Directions:

• In a medium saucepan, combine all ingredients.


• Bring mixture to a boil, reduce heat to simmer.


• Cook uncovered, stirring frequently, for 1 hour 15 minutes.

Needless to say, we used the store bought sauce for tonight's dinner. Maybe this sauce will be used tomorrow or some other time soon. I'll let you know how it tastes.

Afterward: Alex says he likes the homemade sauce better than the store bought one. It's very peppery and has a kick to it.